Bonnie Thunders: The LeBron James of Roller Derby

by em dash June 25, 2012 - 12:02pm

Thomas Gerbasi, who contributed to Derbylife a few weeks back with a profile of Shayna Baszler, has written an excellent piece on Bonnie Thunders and the modern sport of roller derby for The Daily Beast. There's also a video with it.

If you want to learn to write like Thomas Gerbasi, check out his excellent piece on sportswriting.

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Comments

Submitted by Tiggz on June 28, 2012 - 11:17am

The headline of this article is misleading and is irrelevant to the rest of the story. When I think of LeBron James, I think of a coward, an ego maniac, somebody who thinks of themselves as a second rate player. We have all seen Bonnie Thunders skate and none of these things apply to her.
There are many other athletes throughout history with recognizable names who have a much better stigma tied to them than LBJ; lets stop comparing our athletes to people like this.

Submitted by Hitsteria on June 28, 2012 - 2:14pm

I agree. I would think that it's more appropriate to compare Bonnie Thunders to a player who has won championships and been part of a dominant team.

Submitted by Mercy Less on June 28, 2012 - 7:52pm

anything about LBJ as an athlete because I don't follow traditional sports. The headline is in direct reference to the title of Thomas Gerbasi's article, he's the sportswriter who made the comparison. I don't see how referencing the title of his article in our article about his article is misleading or irrelevant?

Point taken about the athlete himself, who, again, I know nothing about except what Gerbasi writes. Who would you compare her to?

Submitted by Tiggz on June 29, 2012 - 11:12am

I was referring to the headline of the article itself, not the title of the post here on Derbylife. I saw the article a day before it was posted on Derbylife and had the same thought then. The title of the actual article is misleading because LBJ is part of a now-famous moment in sports history called The Decision. The article paints Bonnie in a really positive picture - the exact opposite of what most people think of Lebron. I understand what the writer is trying to say; he is comparing Bonnie to somebody who is an exceptional athlete. Except professional athletes are human, and they do stupid things. And those stupid things follow them and sports fans don't forget.

As for who I would compare her to, I would probably say Wayne Gretzky. He holds the record for leading point scorer in the NHL, and he is the only player to score 200 points in one season - a feat he accomplished four times. He has won 4 Stanley Cups, 5 Lady Byng trophies (the award for sportsmanship), 9 Hart trophies (MVP), and 2 Conn Smythe trophies (playoff MVP), among others. In his retirement, he owned and coached the Phoenix Coyotes, and coached youth hockey at a local Los Angeles area hockey rink.