New Substack: Michi-chan Sports ~ Back in the plaid again!

From 2007~2010, I was living in Arizona and would have a presence at women’s flat track roller derby bouts (games). Known as “Michi-chan”, I was famous for my choice of a red plaid wardrobe. At the time, there were several different “leagues”, playing different styles of the game, each with their own varying rulesets and methods of scoring.

During that time, I was writing articles about derby, made videos, operated a scoreboard site called derbydata.com and even created the Arizona Power Rankings, which ranked each of the teams within those several leagues in a way where their scores could be balanced as if they were all playing by the same rule set. During the time, I was not just contributing content to my own properties operating as Michi-chan Roller Sports Productions, but I was also writing for regional and national sports related sites. The goal was to promote the sport in Arizona as there were a lot of leagues concentrated in the Phoenix area. There still is today. Slogans like “I want more derby!” and “our state, our derby” were coined by the mind of this Michi.

Derby is no longer the primary focus of my sports interests, but it still has a place in my heart and I do support these leagues, especially recently where the rest of sports is shunning those who are gender diverse, the derby leagues are welcoming trans, non-binary and intersex athletes with open arms. It is very enlightening to see, especially since this was something that I campaigned for in the early days. Not necessarily so I can play (I can’t skate worth shit), but for the many others who feel left out.

I have still kept an interest in sports over the years. My interests are not in the big four leagues, but in the ones that are not mainstream. This probably explained by attraction to derby back in 2006. Lately, this Bonnet Off blog has been full of fresh stories that are sports related. Perhaps too much sports. I have used sports as an escape from day to day issues, depression and stress. My involvement in roller derby was in a critical part of my life where I was making some major changes to myself. I felt welcome by most (but not by all) in the derby world; but for me, it was a major life lesson and I am grateful to everyone who I had crossed paths with in that circle (even the haters).

I miss doing sports writing, keeping stats, building sports related sites, etc. Fortunately, thanks to YouTube and other places, it is easier to “attend” games of different kinds and expand my horizons. As many of you have seen, I have taken particular attachment to Banana Ball and the Jomboy Media Warehouse Games.

With that said, I must also take into consideration what this Bonnet Off blog is about and why many of my readers signed up for it. This is a Substack about me as an individual and what is on my mind, free of the “corporate” restraints of speaking for REC Networks, an entity that I run in a very centrist manner. It would be very rude of me to flood this Substack with specific reporting about a game. At the same time, I sometimes want to write about aspects of a sport that are not specific to the game itself, especially in cases where I have personal experiences.

With that, I am introducing another new Substack site. Michi-chan Sports is the rebirth of the former “Michi-chan” persona to an certain extent, but will be a place where I can get more knee-deep into reporting and commentary that is not general in nature. This way I can keep this Bonnet Off Substack into more personal accounts of things that are on my mind, even if they leak into a sports theme.

I invite everyone who is subscribed to this Substack to please subscribe to Michi-chan Sports if you are interested in more sports related content from the Michi from a more journalistic standpoint. Just like back in those golden days when derby needed more love, I want to give a similar love to some of these other sports that are just slightly off the mainstream and may not find their way to SportsCenter.

Everyone, please have a safe weekend.

with derby love…
Michi-chan (#73)