Something that has always struck me as strange is why the CCA doesn’t better plan out its draws at both the men’s and women’s championships. By this I mean schedule the marquee games at better times.
Right now, the draw is done long before the provincial champions are determined and the winners get slotted in where their province’s holding pieces are. The result, time and time again, is that big match-ups are often held at the worst times. For instance, yesterday morning, Sherry Middaugh of Ontario takes on Jennifer Jones from Manitoba. Two big names. Two teams that love to mix it up. Two teams who could draw a big crowd.
And yet there they were, knocking heads on a Monday morning at 9:30. Unless you wanted to watch on your computer, you were out of luck. Not even any radio. Oh where’s Chuck Pachekowsky when you need him?
I can remember the same thing happening at a Brier a couple of years ago when one of the morning draws was Kevin Martin and Wayne Middaugh, when they were arguably the best two rinks in the game.
All of this comes at a time when big curling events can use walk-up sales. So why not strategically plan out your big games so they’re held at the times that will do that? Even though they said it was done randomly, for years the Ontario Curling Association had the Werenich-Howard tilt on Thursday night. Bingo – full arena. Have that game Monday morning and you have the bus from the retirement home.
Now to be fair, what constitutes a marquee game is subjective. And in an event such as this year’s Scotties, there are a lot of marquee matches. But it’s about time the CCA got into the new millenium and began planning this better. This is entertainment and right now, a lot of people are missing the most entertaining parts.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Scotties Weekend Observations
Observations after the opening weekend of the Scotties, albeit from television:
* Kelly Scott doesn’t seem to be firing on all cylinders, does she? I heard a stat on television during last night's game that said all of last year, her team only had eight points stolen on it. Then they give up six in one game against Ontario and three more to Saskatchewan last night. However, count this squad out at your own peril.
* Does the ice seem to be bordering on ridiculous? The rocks are finishing hard, almost too hard. This could get ugly.
* I have a new name to add to my list of all time great Callers of the Sweep. That’s a list of people who have exceptionally distinctive voices when the yell for sweeping, so much so that you think you're sweeping for your life. The list includes John Kawaja (perhaps because I had to listen to it for so many years), Richard Hart and now Amy Nixon. Even when you’re not watching the Alberta game, you can hear her call. When she yells, you get the idea that if you don’t sweep, the arena is going to fall down – there’s that much intensity in her voice.
* It wouldn’t be a curling event in Saskatchewan if there wasn’t a Bobby Corman sighting. Murray McCormick stated in his fine blog that he was in the crowd last night. Let the games begin.
* The Canada Cup is leaving Kamloops and heading for Yorkton. Is that a move up? Down? Sideways? Where is Yorkton anyway?
* The Ontario-Manitoba match this morning has the potential to be the most entertaining game of the week (unless they meet in the playoffs, of course). Two women’s teams unafraid to mix it up.
* Alberta might be the only unbeaten team so far, but it’s had a softer schedule than the other front runners. Let's see where the team is after a few more games.
* Kelly Scott doesn’t seem to be firing on all cylinders, does she? I heard a stat on television during last night's game that said all of last year, her team only had eight points stolen on it. Then they give up six in one game against Ontario and three more to Saskatchewan last night. However, count this squad out at your own peril.
* Does the ice seem to be bordering on ridiculous? The rocks are finishing hard, almost too hard. This could get ugly.
* I have a new name to add to my list of all time great Callers of the Sweep. That’s a list of people who have exceptionally distinctive voices when the yell for sweeping, so much so that you think you're sweeping for your life. The list includes John Kawaja (perhaps because I had to listen to it for so many years), Richard Hart and now Amy Nixon. Even when you’re not watching the Alberta game, you can hear her call. When she yells, you get the idea that if you don’t sweep, the arena is going to fall down – there’s that much intensity in her voice.
* It wouldn’t be a curling event in Saskatchewan if there wasn’t a Bobby Corman sighting. Murray McCormick stated in his fine blog that he was in the crowd last night. Let the games begin.
* The Canada Cup is leaving Kamloops and heading for Yorkton. Is that a move up? Down? Sideways? Where is Yorkton anyway?
* The Ontario-Manitoba match this morning has the potential to be the most entertaining game of the week (unless they meet in the playoffs, of course). Two women’s teams unafraid to mix it up.
* Alberta might be the only unbeaten team so far, but it’s had a softer schedule than the other front runners. Let's see where the team is after a few more games.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Scotties Commercials
After one day in the books of play at the Scotties, there is a lot to write about. For instance, I could talk about Manitoba winning two games and looking very solid. Or I could talk about Ontario stealing six points on Team Canada. Or I could talk about how mystifying the play of Kelly Scott was or how I think that as Jeanna Schraeder (or Jenna Shrader as I called her in yesterday's Globe) goes, so goes Team Canada.
Instead, I’m going to talk about something really riveting – the commercials. Yes, while watching Ontario-Team Canada yesterday afternoon, I was once again floored by the commercials on a curling broadcast. Here’s what I mean:
* Curling is a sort of self-propagating business, isn’t it? I mean who would buy all the commercial time if there were no future events? Yesterday, there were commercials for next year’s Scott and the Continental Cup. There were probably others, too, but I think they all started to run together. Curling must be the only sport where that happens.
* OK, somebody has to tell those people at Strauss just how horrible their ads are. I was at a friend’s house yesterday and when she saw that commercial for the first time, she started laughing. She seriously thought it was supposed to be a joke, sort of a Rick Mercer thing. That was the one that concludes with Colonel Saunders peddling that three-wheeled golf cart. I’m sure the folks at Strauss are great and goodness knows they’ve been backing curling for a long time, but these ads can’t actually help them sell any of those heart drops, can they? (And do you think Randy Ferbey really takes those? Maybe he drops them into his beer.)
* Is it just me or do the same ads come on at every break? That likely means the CCA’s sponsorship guys haven’t been able to sell all the inventory (so clients get their ads run again and again; it’s called bonusing) or the clients have only one ad. Methinks it’s probably the former.
* The best ad, by far, is the Scotties one where the clerks sweep the woman’s shopping cart up to the check out. I like that one, at least I did the first 47 times I saw it.
* What was that ad I saw in the ice on the sheets? I think it said Saskatchewan Tourism. Isn’t that an oxymoron?
Instead, I’m going to talk about something really riveting – the commercials. Yes, while watching Ontario-Team Canada yesterday afternoon, I was once again floored by the commercials on a curling broadcast. Here’s what I mean:
* Curling is a sort of self-propagating business, isn’t it? I mean who would buy all the commercial time if there were no future events? Yesterday, there were commercials for next year’s Scott and the Continental Cup. There were probably others, too, but I think they all started to run together. Curling must be the only sport where that happens.
* OK, somebody has to tell those people at Strauss just how horrible their ads are. I was at a friend’s house yesterday and when she saw that commercial for the first time, she started laughing. She seriously thought it was supposed to be a joke, sort of a Rick Mercer thing. That was the one that concludes with Colonel Saunders peddling that three-wheeled golf cart. I’m sure the folks at Strauss are great and goodness knows they’ve been backing curling for a long time, but these ads can’t actually help them sell any of those heart drops, can they? (And do you think Randy Ferbey really takes those? Maybe he drops them into his beer.)
* Is it just me or do the same ads come on at every break? That likely means the CCA’s sponsorship guys haven’t been able to sell all the inventory (so clients get their ads run again and again; it’s called bonusing) or the clients have only one ad. Methinks it’s probably the former.
* The best ad, by far, is the Scotties one where the clerks sweep the woman’s shopping cart up to the check out. I like that one, at least I did the first 47 times I saw it.
* What was that ad I saw in the ice on the sheets? I think it said Saskatchewan Tourism. Isn’t that an oxymoron?
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
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
• 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
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Ferbey-Martin and rivalries
Kevin Koe’s struggles against teams named Ferbey or Martin continued last night with a loss to Ferbey. The Ferbster now meets Martin tonight in a battle for the first qualifier.
When I interviewed Koe about a month ago, he said his record against the two teams wasn’t all that hot and it showed again last night. Of course not many teams have a good record against those two teams, so Koe’s in good company.
So the folks in AB get another round in the Martin vs. Ferbey battle. This year, of course, Martin has been the better team as Ferbey’s mediocre (for them anyway) play continues. Al Cameron had an interesting thought at his blog (and great reports from Spruce Grove), that perhaps the Ferbey rink is at or past its best-before date. Every team seems to have a shelf life, that’s for sure. You can only go at the pace required for success for so long. Real-life suddenly starts to stare you in the eye and relationships can become frayed when you consider that most top competitive curlers see more of each other than they do of their spouses or girl/boyfriends (or both – hey what happens on the WCT, stays on the WCT!), at least in the winter months.
To be honest, the Ferbey Four have lasted longer than most teams at the top of the heap and a win at the provincial final would make most people forget about the previous months of the 07-08 season. They are good enough that if the fire ignites, then they can roll through anyone.
So tonight it’s Ferbey-Martin. Cameron states that this is arguably the best rivalry in the history of the sport and he might be right. This one is nasty on the ice and not much better off of it, especially between the two skips. There’s certainly no love loss here.
Other great rivalries? The only one in my mind that comes close to Ferbey-Martin is Howard-Werenich. For a long time, those two guys didn’t like each other either, and it was pretty much team deep, but those hard feelings have softened slightly. The big cresting lawsuit of the 1990s, brought Werenich and Howard together somewhat. Glenn Howard even played for Eddie for a year.
A few others:
* Werenich and any Swedish curler
* Werenich and the CCA
* Gushue and Stoughton -- this is a good on-ice rivalry, not much personal bad blood. Also the teams haven’t played each other enough to make if a fully blown head-knocker.
* Doran Johnson and Kevin Park – and they were on the same team!
* Canadian curling and Dave Parkes
* Kelly Scott and Jennifer Jones – although they won’t admit it.
When I interviewed Koe about a month ago, he said his record against the two teams wasn’t all that hot and it showed again last night. Of course not many teams have a good record against those two teams, so Koe’s in good company.
So the folks in AB get another round in the Martin vs. Ferbey battle. This year, of course, Martin has been the better team as Ferbey’s mediocre (for them anyway) play continues. Al Cameron had an interesting thought at his blog (and great reports from Spruce Grove), that perhaps the Ferbey rink is at or past its best-before date. Every team seems to have a shelf life, that’s for sure. You can only go at the pace required for success for so long. Real-life suddenly starts to stare you in the eye and relationships can become frayed when you consider that most top competitive curlers see more of each other than they do of their spouses or girl/boyfriends (or both – hey what happens on the WCT, stays on the WCT!), at least in the winter months.
To be honest, the Ferbey Four have lasted longer than most teams at the top of the heap and a win at the provincial final would make most people forget about the previous months of the 07-08 season. They are good enough that if the fire ignites, then they can roll through anyone.
So tonight it’s Ferbey-Martin. Cameron states that this is arguably the best rivalry in the history of the sport and he might be right. This one is nasty on the ice and not much better off of it, especially between the two skips. There’s certainly no love loss here.
Other great rivalries? The only one in my mind that comes close to Ferbey-Martin is Howard-Werenich. For a long time, those two guys didn’t like each other either, and it was pretty much team deep, but those hard feelings have softened slightly. The big cresting lawsuit of the 1990s, brought Werenich and Howard together somewhat. Glenn Howard even played for Eddie for a year.
A few others:
* Werenich and any Swedish curler
* Werenich and the CCA
* Gushue and Stoughton -- this is a good on-ice rivalry, not much personal bad blood. Also the teams haven’t played each other enough to make if a fully blown head-knocker.
* Doran Johnson and Kevin Park – and they were on the same team!
* Canadian curling and Dave Parkes
* Kelly Scott and Jennifer Jones – although they won’t admit it.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)