Jones, Howard and Lino

* Congrats to Jennifer Jones and her squad for another Scotties title. This one was well earned after getting off to a slow start, something that’s not unfamiliar for the foursome. I wonder if this will end any of the rumours of Cathy O-C getting the axe or moving on. After all, it’s hard to pass up another trip to the Canadian finals, especially since it’s in Charlottetown next year.
As impressive as the Jones team was, I have to guess many fans were hoping for that Cinderella story PEI team to pull it out. Kathy O’Rourke (whose haircut is probably closer to Cruella Deville than Cinderella) and her rink played solid except for that steal of two in eight. Ouch. But Erin Carmody was remarkable. My quads hurt just watching her stand in the hack and glare down at the broom for 30 seconds or whatever it was before she threw the rock. By the way, is she out of high school yet? She looks about 15.

* Glenn Howard went undefeated to win Ontario in Napanee. Brad Gushue takes Nfld/Lab. Yawn.

* Finally, here’s my story about Lino Di Iorio, the guy behind Balance Plus, who was rightfully fit to be tied when the CCA/COC started trumpeting all the top-secret results coming out of those two studies done at the University of Alberta and Wester using Own the Podium funds.
Lino’s been banging his head against the wall trying to get the folks up in Ottawa to buy in to his research with no luck. So he took his show to Scotland and other European countries, all of who have benefited. And many who were chuckling at how the Canadian media were reacting to the press conferences held to announce these revolutionary results. While we don’t know exactly what the Canadian studies came up with, a couple of people I talked to said they have a pretty good idea and they’ve known this type of stuff for, oh, almost a decade.

Scotties from my couch

So what’s going on at the Scotties? I don’t recall seeing so many missed shots in a big event. It’s not that the curling is horrible, just that you expect it to be a lot better at this stage.

I heard Vic Rauter talking on the FAN 590 radio in Toronto this morning and he was saying the ice has been giving the players fits, that it seems to change from morning to night. He too mentioned the number of missed shots. He also said that it’s very sensitive so if a player sets the rock back at all, it just never has a chance to get back. Quite often, too, the play gets better as the week goes on and the teams figure things out.

Still, while watching from the comfort of my couch, it’s easy to point out the flaws and point fingers. I’m sure it’s not nearly so easy when you’re there trying to deal with it. Still, I have seen some shaky deliveries with some drifting that almost always means a correction at release. You can get away with that in a club but not so on arena ice.

That’s another thing – the women don’t play as much on arena ice as the men. It’s a much different animal and if you’re an inexperienced team, it can be a tough learning curve. Of course that doesn’t really account for the play of PEI so far which has been the surprise. Of the teams near the top of the leaderboard, I suspect they’ve had the fewest hours on arena surface.

So far, the team that’s impressed me the most has been Ontario’s Krista McCarville. I was duly impressed with her rink in Edmonton at the Trials, with the aggressive style of play she used and the big shots she came up with. It seems to have carried forward – don’t forget she went through the Ontario playdowns undefeated, a remarkable achievement.

Still, it’s a long week and the halfway mark will only be hit today. Let’s see how things unfold today.

Chatting with Bernard

I had a chance to chat with Cheryl Bernard on Saturday as she and her team were in Vancouver for some pre-Games prep. Bernard is a classy individual who gives a great interview, offering up stuff other than the clichés.

When you talk to her, you get the sense she is very focused, very determined and very goal-oriented. So that’s why, she said, it’s been difficult since winning the Trials because her life really hasn’t been her own. She and her teammates have had to put on the leash of the CCA and COC and go here and there and do what they’re asked.

One thing she pointed out as sorely lacking has been the chance to play a competitive event. The squad went to Bern to play in one women’s spiel, but I think if I was the CCA or some bonspiel organizer, four years from now, I’d schedule a big women’s event in Canada in early January. Not only would you likely get the Canadian team, but probably most of the international rinks as well.

I do think it’s wise for the CCA/COC to have put a media attaché in place to help them deal with the crush of requests that invariably comes with being the Canadian curling team. When I did the book with Russ Howard after 2006, he talked about that as being absolutely smothering. Calls came from everywhere and a lot were from U.S. writers who knew basically nothing about curling. He and Brad Gushue had to deal with most of them.

This time out, Karen MacDonald is playing filter. I had no trouble getting some time with Bernard, however. MacDonald was superb in making all the arrangements. George Karrys/Curling Guru in the Sun has a story on the new attaché.

Back to Bernard and her mental fortitude. After talking to her and getting to know her somewhat, I think this is what will carry them through in Vancouver. While they don’t have a lot of international experience, they are so psychologically strong, they might have a big advantage over the rest of the field.

The column is here.

Jones pumps up the Scotties

Earlier this week I had a chance to talk to Jennifer Jones when she was in Toronto for her media rush ahead of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Jones is such a fun person to interview. She thinks about her answers (as you’d expect any lawyer to do), doesn’t offer up lame quotes and is really honest.

One of the best lines she said was that “if curling was predictable, it wouldn’t be any fun.”

For me, this year’s Scotties doesn’t seem to have any buzz yet, coming as it does just a week or so ahead of the Olympics. Jones hitting all the stops in Toronto –

Canada’s media centre but not necessarily its curling centre – helped. She did Off the Record and Prime Time Sports, the two big shows, and she met with all the newspapers as well.

But there’s little doubt that it will be tough for the Scotties to get much attention.

I’d be interested to see who is there covering the shootout from a media standpoint.
Here’s my Globe column on Jones and the Scotties

The Science of Curling

There’s been a lot written and reported about the top-secret-I’d-tell-you-but-I’d-have-to-kill-you research the CCA and COC spearheaded in recent years. Two independent studies were completed, one on sweeping at the University of Western Ontario and one on the delivery at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Both studies are said to have produced results that will possibly help the Canadian teams at the Olympics perform better.

I spoke with both Rob Krepps and Dr. Pierre Baudin, a professor of sport biomechanics, about the Alberta study and found it quite interesting. Essentially, the research revolved around trying to determine what factors came into the best release of the rock. So they looked at body position in the hack, foot position, hand position and lots more.

The study utilized motion analysis technology, which is sort of like a three-dimensional person come to life on a computer. A player wears a number of markers on their body and these are picked up by a number of strategically positioned cameras that record the action. Once it’s in the computer, you can change the point of view to see how a person is delivering (i.e. you can look at it from underneath the person if you wanted).

It also used video analysis and the use of lasers as another means of research.

Dr. Baudin said there were some pretty interesting findings and many top players were shocked to learn their alignment was way off when they were in the hack or throwing. But, he said, a lot of the players who may not have the best deliveries, still manage to make the shots. That’s simply a case of them being exceptionally talented.

The study, which I believe received a $100,000 grant from own the podium to complete, was a three-year undertaking and most of the top players in Canada have been part of the testing over the years.

Krepps told me that the results were offered up to the players but it was totally optional whether or not they put the tips into use. Certainly it’s not something that the players were told last week and expected to change in time for Vancouver. As well, Dr. Baudin said the adjustments in almost all cases – if adopted – were pretty minor, but could result in significant improvements.

What’s quite interesting is that both these guys more or less admitted that the Scots either are or were ahead of us in this type of research into curling. I’ve spoken to David Hay about this and he concurred that the Scottish Institute of Sport has been at this type of stuff for quite a while.

Nothing of the Canadian studies will be released any time soon, at least not in the delivery research. The CCA wants to keep it under wraps, even after the Olympics, to try and keep an advantage for future Canadian curlers. And as Dr. Baudin said, it’s really more about a legacy than it is about this Olympics.

BDO starts today

The third leg of the Grand Slam starts today and organizers held a conference call with Kevin Martin on Monday to promote the spiel. Have to admit that it's tough to focus on a Slam event with the Olympics just a few weeks away, but I'd say about half the questions asked were about the Slam, which is good.
And good for Kevin for doing this -- again. He did a conference call before the Guelph event a few weeks ago and also held court with the ink-stained types up at Casino Rama.
Of course the main question asked was what's going on with the team. They haven't exactly been lighting it up since winning the Trials, although they did take an extended break after winning in Edmonton. The boys went 1-4 in Guelph and were knocked out by David Murdoch in their Skins semi-final, although the team played pretty well the last part of that match, losing in a draw to the button.
Martin said he was hoping to play about 85-90 per cent in Winnipeg. That he said would mean they are moving in the right direction. If the boys played way up in the 90s, he stated, they'd be peaking too early.
I don't know . . . I'd kind of like to be playing really, really well going into the Olympics. Certainly Martin knows this path better than anyone, having been there before, but I wouldn't mind seeing them win the Slam event. I mean, I really liked the way Murdoch was playing in Rama. If you asked me right now who the favourite for Vancouver was, I'd say Murdoch.
Speaking of Murdoch, he's not at the Slam -- he's back in Scotland playing in his national playdowns this week. It's weird, but they're having round robin before the Olympics and then the Page Playoff portion after. You think they'd move things around like that in Canada?

Moosie ready to hang it up

My latest Globe column on Ray Turnbull ending his broadcasting career.