2. Carolina Rollergirls
City: Raleigh, NC
Category: Spectator Sports
Address: 1025 Blue Ridge Rd.
Description: If your idea of entertainment is a dozen women zooming past on urethane wheels, all of them bruised, broken, and crashing into each other, the Rollergirls provide a few hours of intense and cringe-inducing fun. Officially, they’re skating in circles, passing each other, elbowing for position, but few of the fans really understand the rules. They’re here to watch Penelope Bruz or Kelly Clocks ’em smash teeth. The pack of skaters whiz around a circular track inside the butterfly-shaped Dorton Arena on the N.C. State Fairgrounds, making a hum like a hornets’ nest. They combine rugby-style pileups with a gritty playfulness, and to see their intensity on wheels is to love them. You’ll be glad they skate in Raleigh, and you’ll take pride when they frighten teams from bigger cities.