Scotties Thoughts

Scotties (I’m still calling it the Scott) TOH gets started tomorrow – a couple of thoughts and a prediction.

• Kruger Products, the sponsor, is a remarkable outfit. This summer, I played in a golf tournament out at Fox Harb’r that was a fund-raiser for the Sandra Schmirler Foundation. I met a few of the high mucky-mucks with the company, specifically John McClelland and Matt Blixt. All I can say is these guys are all class. They poured a great deal of money into that event and I know they do the same for the TOH. Every event should be so lucky as to have sponsors like this. They put their money and support behind the event because it’s the right thing to do. Yes, it fits with the organization’s corporate strategy, but they are also tremendous corporate citizens, better than any company I know. Good on Kruger.

• About this time of year, I hear all sorts of talk about a) the lack of aggressiveness by the women; b) the shrill yelling when calling sweeping and c) the hotness factor of some of the women. So dealing with them in order . . .

A) Lack of aggressiveness – yup, the women play a more conservative game than the men, to be sure. But I think much of that is predicated on the physical inability to throw the high hard one. If you’re going to have lots of rocks in play, you almost have to be able to move granite and if you can’t throw it hard enough to do that, then there’s no sense in playing that way. Still, there is a happy medium and I think the women who dare to take chances are usually the ones that win. Having said that, I wouldn’t necessarily include Kelly Scott in that group. She plays a smart game and one that allows her to win, but it’s not exactly the stuff of Martin or Howard. Jennifer Jones and Sherry Middaugh would be the two that I think aren’t afraid to mix it up.

B) The Shrill Yelling – Yup, they yell and once they start, they don’t seem to stop, do they? It seems that there has to be a constant verbal indication to sweep. It’s as if the third is saying, “if I don’t keep making noise here, they’ll stop sweeping.” I remember one year in Calgary a local radio station had a contest where it ran some sound from a porn movie and sound from the Scotties and had callers try to guess which was which.

C) There are some lookers it the field and there’s nothing wrong with that, is there? Hey, for years at the Brier the WAGS (wives and girlfriends) used to put out a rating of the guys butts. I think turn-about is fair play, right guys?

• Do you think the folks in Regina are over the top with this field? It’s as deep as it gets and if this doesn’t draw them out, then not much will.
• I’m sorry, but I don’t get the Hearti-gras thing. Can someone explain it to me?

So, after all that, here are my predictions for the week.
Page Teams: Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, PEI
Finalists: Manitoba, Ontario
Winner: Manitoba