By James Brains (via Lansing City Pulse)
Sometime around 1 pm on Sunday, with about 100 fans gathered inside the Lansing Center, a chant broke out from the Ohio Roller Derby cheering section.
“I say ‘Rat’! You say ‘Chet’!”
“RAT-”
With cheeky grins, the crowd replied “CHET”, sounding suspiciously like the sh-word.
The chant was for Ohio jammer Ratchet. It was also, somehow, a perfect introduction to what the 2026 WFTDA North American Playoffs brought to downtown Lansing over Memorial Day weekend: a hard-to-explain, genuinely compelling sport with a devoted community, an irreverent sense of humor and stakes most people don’t realize exist.
Photo Credit: James Brains/Lansing City Pulse
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