Tuckers won't die!

One of the more interesting topics discussed last week with Ray Turnbull and Terry Braunstein was whether or not the tuck delivery was going to die out. Of course, Manitoba is just about the only place where it’s still used and according to the two Winnipeggers, there’s no chance it’s going away soon.

My favourite description of the slide was coined by former Toronto Star curling writer Tom Slater who called them “toe-sliding bottom feeders.”

Most of the top young teams are tuckers – McEwen, Gunnlaugson, et al – and Turnbull attributed it to the youngsters following in the footsteps of the now old(er) stars such as Burtnyk and Stoughton.

It’s sort of strange that Manitoba is pretty much the only place where people use this style of delivery. It’s almost as if there’s some tribe there and they speak a different language that no one else understands. No, wait, that would be Newfoundland and Labrador.

In any case, judging by the success over the years and of late, it shows the tuckers aren’t at any apparent disadvantage.