Are you watching all of the regionals?

It's one of the best times of the year to be an avid derby fan!  September marks the beginning of the WFTDA Regionals, and for five weekends, most of the hard core will be glued to their computer screens; if you're not one of the fortunate teams actually playing in Regionals, the next best thing you can do is watch each and every one of them online.  The best way to do this is to buy a full access pass to the events from the WFTDA.tv site.  Last year the WFTDA started offering the full access package to all of the Regionals and Championships, and although they had some bugs to work out, it was totally worth the purchase.

The full package is the way to go, because it allows you to go back and watch games again if you missed them or if you wanted to share them with your league during a bout viewing.  Each Regional competition costs $12 separately, and the Championships this year is $20, but if you get the total package, everything is included for $50.  That's a deal in my book!

Having people over to watch bouts on the weekend is fun as hell; we're a lucky sport, because this is like having five different Superbowls in a span of two months.  Sometimes you get overdosed with derby, but when is this a bad thing?  I have filled out a Regionals bracket every year, and I have screwed them up every year!  Someone in your league should definitely purchase this package and host viewing parties.  Become familiar with the far away members of the WFTDA!  "But Q, I don't care about any other Region than mine!"  Shame on you.  Just because you don't know someone on those teams, doesn't mean it isn't going to be kick ass derby to watch!  This is how we get to know what the West coast is doing without actually having to travel out there!  I have always considered Regionals a way of spreading derby viruses from one section of the country to another; it's gross but true.

So, forget your weekend plans for the next four weeks, invite people over, remember your time zone differences, and feast on the derby footage!  North Central Regionals start tomorrow, and you know I'll be cheering on Windy City!  DNN wrote a nice preview of the action here, including a link to the PDF of the bracket.  You can also catch the DNN power rankings link on the same page; who doesn't love it when the Regionals upset the rankings?  Don't miss it!

Image from WFTDA.com