Brier final -- thanks for coming out

Now wasn’t that too bad?
After a great week filled with some amazing shotmaking, some absolutely engaging playoff games, the final turns into a blowout. Pretty much all said and done after the fourth, really. Sad, especially for TSN which was showing its first final.
I thought the TSN gang did a great job building up the game. The preview show was well done although what was with the guy doing the voice over on the Koe profile? He sounded very weird, as if he was some sort of villain in a Batman movie. I’m also not sure the five minutes on the Territories was warranted considering this was the Brier final.
The opening tease with Russ Howard doing the voice over was excellent, the build-up with Ray, Linda and Vic well done. I thought Cathy Gauthier’s comment that “This has been the best Brier ice in the history of curling” might have been a little over the top though. All in all, not a bad job for a first stab at the big game.

* I’ve never given much credibility to the shooting stats they put out at the Brier because I’ve seen the people who do the marking, but. . . it was interesting to note that Steve Gould was listed at 100 per cent for the game. But if you think that’s amazing, Kevin Martin was marked at 97 per cent. For a skip, that is just off the charts.

* Is it possible that Jeff Stoughton will be the last of the toe-sliders in the Brier? They are definitely a rarity these days and not that many youngsters feature that style.

* A noted difference between Kevin Martin and Glenn Howard: K-Mart is much better at bringing the heat.

* Can’t remember the last time I read a reference to “the bouquet from a glass of Montcharet 1978” in the lede of a curling story. But you can read it here. Oh and just a clarification: Marc Kennedy is actually the Alberta second.

* In my Globe column on Saturday that dealt with possible changes to the Brier format that would allow for separate entries for each of the Territories and add a Team Canada, one idea was to keep the number of teams at 12 and have a relegation system where the bottom two teams would drop down into a challenge against those not in. So if that was in place for this year, would there need to be a playoff at the bottom because three teams tied at 2-9 (N.S., PEI and Territories)?

* While you were watching the Brier, Canada was finishing second in both World junior finals. Scotland won the women’s crown and Denmark – Denmark, for crying out loud! – won the men’s.