I've got a dirty secret. I'm a Texan.

I was born in Bryan, grew up in Dallas, and went to Rice University in Houston. Since then I've bounced back and forth between Texas and California, but whenever I can I try to make it back to Austin.

Over the next three weeks I'll be updating the OP blog daily with some of my favorite things to see, do, and eat while you're in Austin for the World Championships.

TXRD

A few years ago one of my wife's classmates was featured on an A&E show called Rollergirls. I was pretty "meh" when I first heard about it, as my only exposure to Roller Derby was from the incredibly cheesy shows that would run late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. I know it may be hard to believe for some of you, but back in the day there were only a dozen or so TV channels, cable was a rarity, and THERE WAS NO INTERNET!

Sorry about that. I panicked for a moment.

Anyway - back to the story. Roller Derby back then was lame. The production values were crap, they could barely skate, and G.L.O.W. did a much better job of putting ladies in skimpy clothes into more "compromising" poses.

So when Stacey said her friend was on this show, I was pretty skeptical. But it didn't take long for me to get hooked. The stories were awesome, the bouts were rocking, and these women could skate. I played football in High School, and I've seen my share of teeth-rattling collisions. The bruises some of these girls go home with are real.

Now Roller Derby is getting cool again. A couple of the women from the A&E Rollergirls were in "Death Proof", and Drew Barrymore's new movie Whip It comes out next weekend. But if you want to see the real deal, you're not going to find anyone better than Austin's own TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls.

The TXRD Calvello Cup Championship is going to be held on Saturday night, October 10th, at the exhibit hall right next to us. If you don't get a chance to play in our Bounty Tournament you should be next door checking it out.