Yeah, we're still catching up on giving recognition to these rad folks. From August 2015 . . .
Easy Mode was bestowed with his derby name after perfecting his track setup technique while volunteering at BAD games — something he has done consistently since 2013. You’ll find him in the stands at just about every game flashing his enthusiastic smile and chatting up his neighbors about the idiosyncrasies of roller derby strategy. When asked for an inspirational quote, he replied “Carthago delenda est!” We’re not sure why he wants Carthage destroyed, but we are sure that we’re totally inspired to have such rad volunteers. Et tu, Easy Mode?
Photo credit: Shannon Woods
Name: Matthew “Easy Mode” Pecot
If you have a derby name, what is it & what’s the story behind it?
Easy Mode. It took a while for one to stick, about two years I think. I was Amazing Alfredo at Great America for two summers (“Guess your age, weight, or the month you were born!”), but it wasn’t until this season that someone came up with Easy Mode. I’d been helping set up the apex, I think I’d printed out my Excel map at that point, and someone mentioned that it was going really smoothly. Almost like playing on Easy Mode.
Like In-N-Out, the potential for innuendo is just a plus.
How long have you been with B.A.D.? What brought you to B.A.D.?
Just over two years. A friend of mine had come over from [Silicon Valley Roller Girls], and I’d gotten the derby bug watching her play there, finding ways to help with teardown when I could. I followed her to B.A.D, just in time for the second-to-last bout of 2013, at the Oakland Convention Center, I think it was.
When you’re not supporting our league – what else do you enjoy doing?
I’m a gamer, which makes sense because that’s my industry, and I’m also a big reader and a wannabe writer. My housemate and I are starting a comics podcast soon, so I live smack in the center of the Geeklands.
If scene tourism is a thing, I definitely do that. Every time I go out to drink with devs, or go to see The Birthday Massacre and Combichrist, I spend the next fifteen hours convinced those are the people and activities I’ll spend the rest of my life with. Warning: Contains dangerous amounts of enthusiasm.
What do you love about roller derby?
Three key things:
– The accessibility of the culture. When I wanted to get involved in roller derby, I volunteered; when I wanted to talk strategy, the other spectators were just as enthusiastic and ready to talk; when I thought the derby girls themselves were awesome, they invited us all to the afterparty.
– I love the rules set, and how much it’s willing to change. Baseball and football, even basketball, are calcified in some ways. I hate the last minute on the clock of an NBA game, and they’re never going to change it drastically, they might just make minor changes. When minor penalties made the game worse, derby threw them out.
– Derby ain’t perfect, but it’s a much safer space than most for women, LGBTQIA, and PoC folks. That’s a culture that I want to support, be a part of, and try to replicate pieces of in the other spaces I live in.
Share your favorite derby memory/moment from 2015.
This might be cheating, but I loved talking about the 2014 Championships and that final play. There’s something about shared memories and giant moments in sports that give everything that comes after it so much emotional weight. Whatever your opinion on that play, it was definitely worthy of talking about over and over again.
Share one of your favorite motivational quotes with us.
“Carthago delenda est.”
Hey, I said I was a geek.