Posted by: John Flick

Thursday night I was excited as I jumped in my car and began the trek up north to Edmond to meet a group of women who literally race through life. They are THE TORNADO ALLEY ROLLER GIRLS (there are actually four different teams in the OKC league). Simply put, they skate around a rink trying to bump off opponents.
Yes, I was going to put on a pair of skates and see what these young ladies could teach me, and I was pumped.
But while driving, it sunk in what I was really getting myself into. First of all, I'm not a strong skater (do those things have training wheels for the wheels?). Secondly, I have no pads for my elbows, knees, shoulders, ankles, backside, head, neck... who am I kidding? I wanted to be padded from head to toe. I was going to get creamed.
Then fate intervened. A strange noise came from my car. The steering wheel started pulling to the left. I looked in the rear view mirror in time to see rubber literally hitting the road. Part of my tire flew off then landed in a ditch. I got "Carano'd" (named after meteorologist Steve Carano, who, just a few weeks ago blew a tire as well). I had a flat tire and never reached my roller derby destiny. Perhaps it was for the best. My own "wheels" failed me... I can only imagine what would have happened on a smaller set.
Check out the Tornado Alley Girls on our morning show Friday. They also have an exhibition this weekend.