The Battle of the Sexes at the Skins

The TSN Curling Skins gets underway this weekend with the matchup between Cheryl Bernard and Kevin Martin providing most of the hype so far. Here's my Globe column on the topic.

I'm no fan of the Continental Cup

Call me a curmudgeon, but I’m not a big fan of the Continental Cup. For an event that is continually compared to golf’s Ryder Cup, this has all the intensity of a church rummage sale.

The problems with this event are numerous, in my humble opinion. First, the prize pool is a paltry $91,000, with the winning side getting $52,000 split between the all the players. That works out to $2,000 per player (the coaches get paid too so Harry can look after his Greyhound bill).

OK, maybe we can live with that. But I just abhor the format. The regular games? Fine. The skins? OK, but the Mixed Doubles and the Singles?

I understand the reason behind the Mixed Doubles. The curling powers have been trying to find another discipline to put into the Olympics and so this was the testing ground. It’s an inexpensive format for something like the Olympics since there are only two players per team.

It just doesn't look professional. Or even natural. There’s just something weird about someone jumping up and running after a rock to sweep. Reminds me of a game we'd play in junior curling where someone would throw a hit and we'd try to sprint past the rock on the next sheet, seeing if we could beat it down the ice.

I’ve always said that the format that's missing is double-rink, the old form where two teams from one side play two from the other with the total score of both games counting.

It’s exciting, it’s interesting and it has lots of possibilities with say, a men’s team and a women’s team joining forces.

Next, the points system. Does anyone understand it? If you do, does it really make sense? And has North America already won? 30-6 after one day is a big lead. I think. Or maybe it's just a two-possession lead. And if anyone can find a breakdown of the system on the web site, please send me a link. I sniffed around for a while and couldn’t find it.

Also, there’s no way this should take place ever year (excepting the Trials years). Once every other year or once every four years would be much better to make this somewhat special.

Finally, there just doesn’t seem to be any intensity in this at all. The players are all yucking it up and slapping each other on the backs and banging thunder sticks together and singing Kumbaya My Friend, Kumbaya.

Gag.

I pine for the days when Ed Werenich told Stefan Hasselborg that he was going to stick his broom so far up his ass he’d be pulling hog hair out his nose.

Tune me out, sorry.

Globe column on the EQ head

Here's my Globe column on the new broom head that came out following the Olympics.

It certainly has generated a lot of buzz in the curling community. We had a story in the Ontario Curling Report and the Canadian Curling News also did a big spread. I've had a lot of people asking about it and yes, I use one. I find it makes a significant difference. So by reading the article, you'll know I obviously wasn't at my peak effectiveness before a la Hebert and Kennedy.

The Goldline . . . so far

This week in Toronto, the massive Goldline Bonspiel is going on. This is the unofficial city championship, at least at a club level. The spiel has been going for more than 100 years and for those who’ve been tossing rocks for a while, it’s still known as the Canada Life. That company paid the freight for the first 100 years and since that time a number of other sponsors have come along – Energizer, The Brick and now Goldline, which does a fair bit to help out curling in and around Ontario.

There are roughly 1,200 curlers playing down here ranging from Brier champions to Sunday morning knee-sliders.

The best part about this event is that you can’t take a stacked team into it. There are tight rules about who can play front end and the result is that you get true club teams playing down for a big championship. And you get a lot more teams entering because they know there’s a chance they can go far. You also get to play at all sorts of different clubs as (if?) you progress.

The measuring sticks are the days of the week. You start with two games Saturday to determine your event and then keep playing through the week as long as you win.

This year, having reached the ripe old age of 50, we entered the Senior division and started at East York. We won our first game against Dixie’s Frank Schneider, surging in the late ends. The second game we played Terry Samuels of Thornhill and after getting out to a 6-1 lead, held on for a 7-6 win.

Monday night we got past a determined St. George’s rink skipped by the veteran Elgin Horton at the Cricket Club and Tuesday defeated Kurt Tamowski of Oakville in a game at Richmond Hill.

The Senior division doesn’t have as many rinks at the Open event so tonight we earned a well-deserved bye.

The Weeksy Awards

My take on the last year, as it appeared in the Globe and Mail.
The Annual Weeksy Awards.

Curling Books Under The Tree

This is the first year in a while that I haven’t had a new book released or one still on the market, and that was as much by my choice as anything as writing books really takes a lot out of you. It’s also the first time in a while that I can recall that there haven’t been any new curling books out. Colleen Jones’ book Curling Secrets was released last February and that appears to be the most recent.

In any case, if you’re trying to pick up a book for someone you know curls, here are my top picks, excluding my own handcrafted tomes and any instruction- or fitness-based books. You can probably find all of these somewhere through the internet.

1. Burned By The Rock – Jean Sonmor
In my humble opinion, the best curling book ever written. It’s a bit dated these days but it follows the lives of the top curlers of the day, which was the early ‘90s. Great stories about Hackner, Werenich and Howard really peeled the cover off what was going on in the competitive scene. A very entertaining read.

2. Open House: Canada and the Magic of Curling
Scott Russell crafted a great look at the game and why it’s so appealing to Canadians. I love how he tries to expose the attraction of the game, something tough to understand for an outsider.

3. The Roaring Game
Author Doug Clark rambles through some interesting topics of note in the game, covering off everything from Shorty Jenkins to the business of the sport. I like his style and approach in this one.

4. Canada Curls
The late, great Doug Maxwell probably knew more about the sport than anyone and put together a great opus on its history. It’s done in a light manner and tells some of the great tales of the game that only Doug could deliver.

5. Sandra Schmirler
The heart-wrenching story of the Olympic gold medalist who passed away far too early in life. Perry Lefko wrote a beautiful book here that will move you even if you never knew Schmirler the Curler.

6. Curling
Warren Hansen’s coffee table style book is one you can sit down with and flip pages getting engrossed in the pictures and words.

7. The Black Bonspiel
W.O. Mitchell’s great Faustian story of a curler. I’ve read this one so many times the pages are getting worn out. Great fun and truly a Canadian legend.

My take on the McEwen Rink

Here's a story that took a little while to get into the paper -- you might notice a funny post-date reference near the end -- but is my take on the success of the McEwen rink.

these guys really seem to be enjoying themselves. Interesting, during the interview with Mike, I asked him with his financial success so far this year if he' treated himself to anything. He said no but it was going to be a very good Christmas for some people near to him. So if you're expecting a present from McEwen, expect a good one!