That calendar again

I’m not a prude, nor am I a guy who doesn’t like to have a peak at the odd centerfold, but I’ve never really understood the whole women of curling risqué calendar thing.
Let me correct that. I understand the calendar and the fact that it raises money for worthwhile causes. Great idea. What I don’t get is the absolute media frenzy that occurs when it comes out. I do have a theory, however, and it’s not a nice one.
You see, to non-curlers, there’s this image of us brick-throwers as being toothless overweight, stogie-smoking hicks from the back 40 or the trailer park who wear big sweaters and swill beer between shots. Lots of people still laugh when they hear curlers are in the Olympics as athletes. This calendar defies that image to such an extent that the regular press goes overboard in reporting the story.
“What? There are hot chicks in curling? How can this be?”
If it helps to change that image that’s great, but I suspect this will remain more a novelty to the non-curlers out there.
For curlers, it's a fun item and a chance to see a couple of Canuck girls in the buff. Frankly, outside of Christene Keshen and Chrissy Cadorin, most people will have never heard of the others. Might as well put Pam Anderson in there. She'd sell more than the Polish curler -- bet you didn't even know there was curling in Poland.
That said, I think the calendar is a good buy to support the cause and that should probably be the bottom line.

Earle Hushagen: RIP

I received an e-mail over the weekend about the passing of Earle Hushagen, a legend in GTA curling circles. Earle is probably best known as the guy who ran Humber Highland, a 16-sheet facility in Toronto’s west end. He held court there from 1961 to 1990 when he retired and moved to Peterborough.
I played at Humber for a brief period in the early 1980s and competed in the Toronto Major League there for years. Earle was always front and centre either behind the counter or on the ice. He was always competitive and generally had good teams, and won the Ontario men’s once competing in the Brier in 1955, playing out of the Royals.
There was always a joke that when important games were played at Humber, Earle arranged the draws so he played on one of the same two sheets (I can’t remember which they were anymore) which came to be known as E and H.
Earle also won the mixed a number of times and then blossomed as a senior, too. He also ran a great pro shop, one of the biggest and best in the early days. People would come from all over the city to buy stuff there because you were generally assured of getting it.
With Humber being the home of the rental league and rental ice, it’s safe to say that Earle taught thousands of people how to play the game. He was a good teacher although I never really liked his slide; he always seemed to be riding out on the outside edge of his shoe with his weight too far back. But it was obviously effective.
Humber died a slow death not long after Earle left. I remember him telling me that he tried to help the owners get the City of Etobicoke (now part of the amalgamated GTA) to buy the place and it came close a number of times, but it never materialized. The place was sold to a religious group who turned it into a place of worship. Finally, a couple of years ago, it was torn down.
It’s gone and now, so too is Earle. His contributions, however, will live on.

Starting off the new season with a personal plug

With Labour Day behind us and with most (not all, certainly) but most of my golf work behind me for the year, curling comes to the forefront.
I read today that the first event of the season on Curl TV at the Saville Centre starts Sept. 18. Yikes. I remember when it wouldn’t be until Thanksgiving before we’d even think about looking for our curling shoes.
So time to blow the dust off the blog and get it ramped up once again. And what better way to start off than with a self-serving, promotional plug. Just this week, my new curling book arrived in stores across the country. Curling Etcetera: A Whole Bunch of Stuff About the Roaring Game is out and I’m hoping will help pad my RRSP and maybe pay for a new broom or two.
The book is a random compilation of all sorts of trivial and unusual facts about curling and the folks who play the game. It’s an easy read; you can pick it up and flip to any page and start reading as the items are all less than a page or two in length. I love the photo on the cover. I wish I could tell you I had something to do with it but one of the editors at Wiley, the publishing company behind the book, found that.
I hope you’ll pick it up at your local book store or perhaps order it online.

More on the Tax Man

After yesterday’s story in the Globe about Wayne Middaugh’s tax problems, there have been a lot of questions raised, mostly on curlingzone.com. Let me answer a few in brief here:
 Middaugh didn’t claim any bonspiel winnings nor did he have the team run like a business in any formal way. As far as I know, like every curler, he just went along assuming bonspiel winnings would be tax free because the CRA would lose money on the deal with all the write offs. I don’t know of any curler who has ever claimed cashspiel earnings.
 There is some speculation that someone went to the CRA and “squealed” on Middaugh which started this entire episode. That person, by the way, is not a curler and has nothing to do with curling. That is an unproven allegation and Middaugh doesn’t really know anything about that. It was information provided to me by a third party.
 In the past, the CRA has said that is would only allow expenses to be claimed by teams that “had a legitimate chance at winning prize money.” So every Tom, Dick and Harry can’t enter a spiel and claim the expenses, according to the agency. I’m not sure how they’d make that distinction.
 In a previous life, I used to work for the Ontario Lottery Corporation (now called the OLGC) and in the CRA, lottery winnings are not the same as bonspiel winnings because lottery winnings are earned by chance where as curling winnings are gained by skill.
 No other curlers have been tagged, but it’s expected this could be a precedent-setting case, if rumours are true.
 Wendy Kane from the WCT was contacted to comment on the story but she never returned my call. In my mind, the PA HAS to take up this case and go as far as possible with it or the cashspiel scene and the Grand Slams will change drastically.

The Taxman Cometh

Here's my latest Globe story. The paper decided to move it to the news section, which is an interesting spot for it.

I've actually known about this predicament for some time but Middaugh wouldn't comment on it until he'd exhausted all his avenues of appeal. That came last Friday. Not sure what happens next but you have to wonder if the CRA will come after other curlers. I've heard through the grapevine that more than a few are a little nervous.

I'm also a little surprised the WCPA/Tour hasn't come to the financial defense of Middaugh and the boys as that would seem to be precisely the thing for which it was created.

One thing I found out that isn't in the story is that this won't affect any Sport Canada funding. The Athlete Assistance Plan doesn't stop if a player earns money or is a professional. Athletes in beach volleyball, tennis and basketball are all professional and all get AAP money (rest easy Jennifer Jones and Kevin Martin). Athletes are allowed to turn down the money, so when the NHL players make the Olympic team, they opt out as they simply don't need the money.

I think this is probably just the start of this story.

Brier to Toronto with MLSE support in major deal

The Brier is coming to Toronto. Word late last night came to me that the CCA has announced Toronto as the site of the 2010 Tim Hortons Brier. What’s more, thanks to an arrangement with uber-sports group Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the Canadian men’s curling championship will be coming to Toronto on a regular basis.
The deal, to be announced later this week, will see the Brier held in Toronto on even years through 2020. The championship will be held at the Air Canada Centre in 2010 with it moving to the Ricoh Coliseum after that. MLSE has the option to move back to the ACC if it sees fit.

MLSE, which owns the Leafs, Raptors and soccer club Toronto FC, has been hoping to add more sports franchises to its stable and believes it can make the Brier run in Canada’s largest city. It has reportedly guaranteed the CCA $2 million for each year of hosting. The arrangement also sees MLSE put up a $5 million payment on signing the deal. The CCA board is apparently ecstatic with that as it will allow it to get out of debt.

One source said MLSE originally wanted a five-year consecutive deal, but the CCA declined saying it still needed to take the event to other locales in Canada.
With the deal, the CCA gets security and MLSE gets some continuity to build on. Its marketing power in the Toronto area makes it possible to sell the event to corporate Canada.

“We see this as a huge opportunity,” said Lawrence Christbaum of MLSE. “Curling is a growth sport with the Olympics and we believe we can make it work in Toronto.”
Whether the Toronto community will support this is another matter, but with MLSE behind it, it’s a good start.

Worlds a record for TSN

The Women's world championships set a viewing record for TSN. Not surprising with Jennifer Jones on her run and the Cinderella story of the Chinese curlers. Here's the release from TSN.

TSN’s coverage of the 2008 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship was the network’s most-watched World Curling event ever with an overall average audience of 381,000 viewers, as Team Canada skip Jennifer Jones clinched gold on home soil.

The previous high for a World Curling Championship on TSN was 366,000 viewers in 1996.

TSN’s prime time telecasts during this year's Worlds averaged 487,000 viewers. The most-watched telecast was Friday evening’s Page Playoff game (March 28) which drew 613,000 viewers as China defeated Canada 7-5.

TSN televised all 11 of Team Canada’s round robin games, as well as the Page Playoffs.

TSN.ca had live coverage of 6 World Curling Championship draws, while all 13 draws were available on-demand. The website averaged nearly 8,000 unique visitors per draw, marking a 160% increase over last year’s World Curling Championship.