Greetings Trollers and Baconettes! Esther Gin n Juice here, filling in for your beloved Troll/Bacon (who fell victim to the clock and had to rush out to work). Normally I wouldn't do this because my writing kinda sucks, but you better sit down because this news is MUY IMPORTANTE!
Our fabulous record label, Bacon Towne Records, has done it again! Our 8th, yes 8th record is being released tonight and YOU ARE INVITED TO CELEBRATE WITH US!
Who is the band, you ask? Well, it's only the most righteous band in the Tampa Bay area, Murder Suicide Pact! If you have ever been to Sound Idea records before they succumbed to the economy then you have met the lead singer, Bob Suren (who also runs Burrito Records and punkerwear.com). If you have seen MSP then you know how much they rip, and if you have plans tonight-be it your grandmother's birthday party or some other excuse-drop it and come out to Pegasus Lounge! Shoot, bring your grandmother, she will LOVE them!
Even if you haven't seen them or heard them before, they are so worth checking out. The entire band exudes energy that wakes the dead, and if you are close enough you may just get picked up by Bob and placed in a new spot. Shyaw!
Joe Kiser's riffs will stay in your head for weeks--finally, you can say goodbye to that Phil Collins song that is the bane of your existence!
As you can see here, audience participation is always welcome. This is where dreams come true, people!
Oh, did I mention your Collective Troll did all the photography for this post? Yeah, he's pretty talented, and I'm not just saying that because I am bound by contract!
Ok, drifted off a little there, sorry. Anyway, the show starts at around 9pm tonight, there will be 5 bands and MSP is thinking they will be up around midnight. We will be showing up around 11, and would absolutely love to hang out with you--so get your butt out there!
The address is: Pegasus Lounge
10008 N 30th St
Tampa, FL 33612
(813)971-1679
Ok, that's it for me, thank you for listening to my psychobabble. I promise to return your Troll in the same condition he was in when I took him-clean, pleasantly scented and gassed up. I am looking forward to meeting your grandmother. See you in the pit!
Go Rays! Go Bombers!! Go MSP!!! Esther Out.
As loyal Troll readers know the Bradentucky Bombers are the ORIGINAL roller derby league of the Sun Coast. 
From Parrish to Venice and everywhere in between. 
Recently an upstart league began play out of Sarasota, Florida. The town which borders Bradenton, AKA Bradentucky. 
The 2 teams met several months back in Bradentucky and the result was a huge win for the Bradentucky Bomber's Nuclear Bombshells. 
On Saturday August 7 the two teams met again, this time in Sarasota. 
The Sarasota Roller Girls billed this bout the "Big Payback". 
I don't know what the payback was, but the end result was another big Bombshells win. 
It was Malice in Rollerland's (29th?) birthday and she celebrated by scoring at will all night long and winning top jammer honors. 
Hell, even unlikely jammer Blaque Jac was lapping the competition and scoring 21 the hard way! 
She took MVP blocker honors and left the pink n black BLACK AND BLUE! 
The scoreboard at their rink only showed two digits so if you look in the background, please know that the score was 108-55 at that point. 
Just wanted to show off some pics and give props to my ladies. In the pics the Bombshells are in white. These aren't the best photos in the world, but they do show the dominance. 
These are action shots of a 5 on 5 bout and when you see nothing but white, you know there is a trail of SRG behind them somewhere. 
Oh, by the way, the Legendary Esther Gin N Juice did skate a little bit in this one and yes that sign from the ref means she is the LEAD jammer. 
Her winning smile says it all. 
Crash Test Barbie, Malice, Blaque Jac, Shitz N Gigglez, Foxy Felon, EGNJ, Rebel Hell Yeah, Calamity Jam, Sinda Roller, Skitzo Skater, Alley Capone, Mimi Sha'Boom and all the Bombshells rule! 
Case closed. For those inclined, our next home bout is on September 5th. You should be there regardless of geography. Like I said, the Bombers rule - it's worth the trip. Go Bombers! Go Rays. Out.
He hit nearly 300 homers, drove in more than 1200 runs and is a career .303 hitter. He played at the height of the steroid era, but his name never came up in allegations. He played hard, got dirty, wore black under his eyes and could flat out hit. Ten years after his retirement he is still one of the most collected players in the blog-o-sphere. Maybe that is why I was thinking about him and how someone with such a common name became such a huge star. 
Maybe it is because during my group break I pulled about 15 different cards of him. Maybe it is because I know that so many people collect him he is one of the few players (Carl Crawford, Larry Doby and Danny Tartabull being the others) that I will buy any card that comes for sale through the card shop. Honestly not that many do. I think The Thrill still has a ton of fans even in sunny Florida. One card did make its way to the card shop this past week though, ironically it came in with a Dewon Brazelton card-Dewon is another guy that I will buy anything that comes up for sale. I basically get on the hook for any Rays that come through the door, but Dewon and Jared Sandberg and Jonny Gomes are my favorite Ex-Rays to buy, but anyway… When my buddy Frank called to let me know I had some cards waiting I was excited, but nervous because I was low on cash. He assured me it would be under 20 bucks, so I told him I would be right over. I have to say I was a little surprised when I saw the cards of Clark and Brazelton both. Surprised and disappointed actually. 
Bummed because I had both cards already, but more bummed because they were both graded. I really don’t like graded cards. I have bought a few graded 1965s and it just amounts to extra work pulling them out of their cases. Upon closer inspection I nearly hit the ground laughing and I thanked Frank very much for grabbing these for me. He picked up a few other slabbed and graded cards for me too. 
One for the PC (and I love Dewon but would never have one of his cards graded, especially one that isn't mint!), one just for this story and one just for laughs. No offense to Jim Slaton, who had a very nice career, but who grades this stuff? Moreso, who gets a card like this graded? I should mention that the seller originally want $10 each for the graded cards. He didn't get it. 
I know this started off as a Will Clark story, but it was all just a set-up for a card from 1986 that was sold in a box, opened, sent off to Beckett to be graded and came back a 4.5. It is a very sharp card corners wise, but only gets a 3 on centering resulting in the laughable 4.5 grading. 
I see folks list 10s on eBay and mention that they are 1 of only 4 cards to get that grading, I wonder how many 1986 Topps Traded Will Clark cards there are out there with a 4.5 grade? I bet there are more players named Will Clark who played big league ball than there are 4.5 versions of this very card. Seriously, I think this could be one of one. It’s a keeper either way! Go Rays! Troll out.
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