A lesson from Kevin Martin and other stuff

Here's my latest Globe column on the curling lesson I received last week courtesy of Kevin Martin (and why he owes me a beer!)

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Nice to see the Gushues win the Grand Slam event in Guelph yesterday. The win has been a long time coming for the N&L squad but they've been too good and worked too hard over the last few years not to notch one of these. They had good results at the start of the year but Gushue said they were actually playing poorly. That seems to have changed, I'd say. Now we'll see if they'll be able to ride the wave to the Brier.

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So many great stories out of the Scotties qualifying -- Amber Holland (Sask.), Kelly Scott (B.C.) and Krista McCarville (Ont.) advance after Trials appearances, Holland after playdowns were relocated after the fire in Kindersley. A fourth, Shannon Kleibrink, gets upset by Val Sweeting and her youthful squad in Alberta, which also handled Cathy King in the semi. Could be a heck of a shoot-out in the Soo.

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I love this. . . the "nanny state."