Some things are better left unseen: how they make hot dogs, what salmon in a can looks like before you make it into patties and fry it, me in a bikini and what my bearings looked like until an hour ago. Yikes. That's what my skates and wheels look like? No wonder it's like skating on shag carpeting!

I know, I'm horrible at skate maintenance lately. I have no problem taking apart someone else’s skates and tinkering and cleaning and modifying things, but when it comes to my own, I’m pretty hands-off with them. The most I tend to do is loosen my trucks and think about new wheels and cushions. Case in point: I have a set of four yellow Wicked Lips sitting in a box somewhere, not because I don’t love them but because I’m too lazy to get four pushers, groove them so they all match and put them on. So instead I skate on marshmallows and wonder why I’m so out of breath after endurance drills.

After practice today, I called my sister who went to the Tiger's game last night and her friend caught a foul ball. I didn't get a chance to talk to her last night, so I called her as I was dragging myself out of the rink.

HER: You sound exhausted!
ME: I am. I think I'm dead. Really truly dead. Seriously, I feel completely dead. I just finished derby practice.
HER: You're crazy, why do you do that to yourself?! You always sound half asleep afterward.

That got me thinking... why DO I do it?

"So, why are you reffing? Why not be on a team?" -- I get asked this often. In fact, every time I mention I'm training to be a referee. But! But I'm a girl! If I can skate well enough to pass basic skills testing, why wouldn't I be on a team? Nobody likes refs! I hear all these and more. So? Why AM I doing it?

Well, the truth is, there are a lot of pros and cons for both being on a team and being in the zebra pack. Do I wanna be on the track in a team? Well, sure. But the more I would think about it, the more I would find myself leaning toward being a referee. The big reasons are because if I take one good solid blow to my right knee, I'll be getting surgery to fix it and be off my feet for a long time, and it's slightly less likely that will happen with me skating inside and also because I'm not taking my skates off just because of a silly fear of injury.

Reasons for me being a ref: