Women were flying Saturday night when Olympia's Cosa Nostra Donnas took on Seattle's Derby Liberation Front. The roller derby teams skated, shoved, crashed, jammed, pulled and blocked their way through an hour of an oh-so-close match at Olympia's Skateland.

Seattle won 99-97. But back to the flying. I swear I saw Olympia's Tannibal Lector leap over a competitor to make her way to scoring a point. And there were plenty of skaters flying against their will into the laps of the raucous crowd.

The crashes looked bad. But the women jumped up faster than I can get up from the couch.

This was my second time attending a roller derby match. Growing up I religiously watched the Bay City Bombers on TV, but I admit I wasn't paying attention to the finer points of the sport. But now I actually understand how the scoring works.

This was the first match since the Oly Rollers -- the parent team of the Cosa Nostra Donnas -- became members of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association. But no worry, that credential did nothing to smooth the rough edges of the game.

Saturday was one of the nicest days of the year and the sun was still shining when the doors opened at Skateland and long lines of people of all ages hustled in to get the best spots on the floor. The doors were left open and as the sun went down, it seemed the skating got rougher. At one point the penalty box was filled to capacity and violators had to wait their turn to sit out violations.

The half-time show was an exhibition match between two junior roller derby teams, the Kitsap Derby Brats -- "Don't let our cuteness fool you" -- vs. the Seattle Derby Brats. The girls are between nine and 17.

What does this have to do with politics? Well, the DLF's motto is: