Stu Sells, Gerry Broadcasts

Yesterday I had a chance to sit in with Gerry Geurtz on one of the live streaming games from the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard being played this weekend at Toronto’s High Park Curling Club.

We were covering the game between Joe Fans and the short-handed Glenn Howard team and it was certainly a fun opportunity. I know there are lots of folks who have watched the games on line and Gerry’s done a good job bringing them to viewers.

What most folks don’t know is just how he does that. It’s really quite amazing to sit and watch him work the computer and the audio and the graphics and the camera switching all while still commentating. He’s a one-man technical crew with a touch of Vic Rauter all wrapped up in one. It almost reminds me of one of those one-man band guys who used to play five or six instruments at once.

Sitting down behind the sheet, there are a couple of computers open and one has the program that runs the camera shot as well as the graphics. Gerry punches up the proper assortment of shots (I believe there were four different cameras being used) and graphics (such as the name of the player throwing). 

On the audio end, he has four wireless mics worn by the players and depending on who is shooting, he brings up the levels of that particular team. And as opposed to the TSN broadcasts, the curlers sometimes forget they have mics – or possibly don’t care. It’s definitely not family listening!

On a second computer, he tracks comments coming in from viewers as well as following scores from other events.

The end result is a really professional looking show that streams out across the Internet. It’s very impressive what Gerry has brought to curling and his commitment to raising the awareness of the sport is second to none.

****

The Stu Sells Toronto Tankard has become a very popular event, drawing bigger and bigger names each time out. This year that included Brad Gushue, Jeff Stoughton and Mike McEwen, as well as Ontario squads such as Glenn Howard, John Epping and Brad Jacobs. The women’s side also had some strong entrants with Colleen Jones being the only out-of-Ontario rink.

It’s the one significant cash event in Toronto (although there will be a Slam here later in the season) and it certainly has been a success on many levels. Congrats to all the organizers for continuing with this event.

Most of the curlers I spoke to yesterday at High Park weren’t raving over the ice conditions. It wasn’t that they were bad by any means, but they certainly were tricky. Although there was a nice curl, the ice was never exceptionally fast and it tended to get slower as the game went on, more than one player told me. It was also a bit patchy with different speeds across different paths. That made it difficult to build any confidence.

The other negative I heard was about the late draws. There was a 10 p.m. draw Sunday and it made for a late night followed by an early morning for a few. But as Gerry Guertz said, it’s something to hopefully keep people at the club until later in the night, spending money at the bar. Not sure if that works on the Sunday of the long weekend and I didn’t stay around to see but there were a few mumbled comments about the late timing.

Still, it doesn’t matter what you organize, set-up or plan, there will always be some grumblers.

Mixed Doubles 'Trials' misses the mark

As discussed earlier, the Canadian Curling Association announced the creation of a national mixed doubles competition to determine this country’s rep for the world championship.

Except it’s not calling it a championship. Instead it’s the Mixed Doubles Trials. I’m not sure if that means trials as in trial run or if it means trials as in Olympic curling trials.

Whatever, it sounds just a wee bit pretentious and only adds to the silliness of mixed doubles.

And to add to the silliness, this Canadian Press story byDonna Spencer quotes CCA head honcho Greg Stremlaw as referring to the Canadian Mixed as the “Canadian mixed fours.”

Mixed fours? Really? Is this where we're going now? 

The reason for creating this national championship was to allow a proper mixed doubles team to advance to the world championships. This year, the worlds are being held in Fredericton, April 13-20. Previously, two members of the Canadian mixed champs went on to the doubles competition and it was always tough to decide which two. But it should be noted that whichever team wins the Canadian mixed will get two spots in the Canadian mixed doubles, splitting the team in two.

Those two entries will be part of a 32-team competition at the national finals and this is where it gets even more odd. There will be one representative from each province and territory (14) and then 16 open invitations being decided by the Canadian Team Ranking System. No residency rule will be in place.

So potentially Cheryl Bernard could team up with Wayne Middaugh and likely get an entry. Not because they’ve ever played mixed doubles before but because the regular (i.e. four-person) teams they play on have fared well over the last few years.

So you create a national championship because you have difficulty with two members of a four-player team being chosen to represent the country, and then half your field is selected based on play in four-person team competition.

You're trying to legitimize a new format to get it into the Olympics, and then you treat the national qualifier like some half-assed Friday night mixed league. 

Sorry but this is messed up. Either establish a mixed doubles competition or don’t. A half-way, part-qualifier, part-invitational, party-mixed-double, part-not isn’t the way to go. This system is ridiculous and seems to indicate a lack of serious intent to the format.

Mixed doubles gets is own championship

So just how are we going to pick a mixed doubles winner in this country? Jim Bender deals with that topic in his piece in the Winnipeg Sun, talking with Sean Grassie, who was half the team that represented Canada at the 2009 World Championship.

The Canadian Curling Association has decided to hold a separate championship for mixed doubles this year, which is a good and overdue move. In the past, Canada’s representative in this world championship has been half the Canadian mixed winners. That hasn’t always gone over smoothly.

“I like the idea of having a separate championship because you don’t have the problem of deciding who gets to go and who’s not going,” Grassie said. “That makes it tough on a team.”
Grassie was forced to make that decision just after celebrating his victory with the other three. While Grassie has never said as much, it did create some hard feelings with those left behind.

So far, there are no details about the first Canadian championship but it’s expected to come in an announcement this week. According to a previous CCA statement, teams can be comprised of players from different provinces.

Mixed doubles, of course, came to be because curling’s world powers believed it could be added to the Olympic roster as a second discipline. It's been a part of the Continental Cup since its inception. To me, it still seems goofy. I know those who’ve played it say it’s fun and different, but seeing people get up and chase a rock down the ice to sweep it seems silly and a bit demeaning to a sport that already gets laughed at by those who don’t know what’s going on.

Wouldn’t it be better just to add a straight mixed event, you know, the one that has four players on a team? I realize that that means an added expense of two players per squad, but really, is it that much more expensive? This is the cash machine known as the Olympics remember.

"Competition proves fierce among national women’s curling heavies"

Great to see that the Edmonton Journal's Norm Cowley is going to be penning a regular curling column. The first entry of Rock On is here.

However. . .

Not so sure that whomever wrote this headline really thought through the double entendre.

"Competition proves fierce among national women’s curling heavies"

I'm not sure many of the women would be too happy being known as a "heavy."

If I was a braver man, I might offer up a few more lines.

Olympics done, clubs look to attract members

Here's a solid story in the Richmond Review that details the struggles and successes of the Richmond Curling Centre as it seeks new members. It's probably a story that could be written about just almost any curling club in the country.

“We enjoyed a huge increase in participation after the Olympics when it seemed everybody wanted to try curling,” says Doug Bradley, the longtime manager at the Richmond Curling Centre.
“Our rental business was up 25 per cent over night and league curling was up probably 10 per cent or more.,” he says. “We were packed solid.”

But the surge felt after the Olympics is waning and clubs are looking for ways to get younger folks in the building and keep them. The club in Richmond has found some innovative ways.

For some, time is another obstacle.
A typical eight- to 10-end game requires two to three hours to complete. But more notable is that fewer people—in today’s fast-paced world—are willing to commit to a full season. As a result, Thompson says curling centres are exploring such options as a 10-week season.
“If they like it, then they can commit to another 10 weeks,” she says, noting that it also helps that the games are played on the same night and at the same venue.
“It’s also a relatively inexpensive game to get into,” says Thompson.

Seems like the Richmond Curling Club is working hard to find the answers. But this is something this blog has looked at in the past: how to turn the excitement and attention from the Olympics into a program that gets -- and perhaps more importantly -- keeps curlers on the ice.

In my humble opinion, we need help from the CCA and provincial associations to continue and strengthen the awareness program for the sport and bring it to areas where curlers aren't, i.e. don't preach to the choir (how about advertising on something other than curling broadcasts?). Canada's ethnic background is changing and the need to appeal to these new Canadians is vital.

There's also a need for clubs to break the pattern and allow new ideas such as the 10-week program offered by the Richmond CC.

Anyone with any success stories to share?

Tap-dancing, field goal kicking likely out for de Cruz

A Post Media story from Kevin Mitchell details a freaky tough break for a Swiss curler who was attempting to help out a stranded motorist.

Swiss skip Peter de Cruz and his team were in Saskatoon preparing for the Point Optical spiel. Out for dinner, they came across a woman who had driven over a cement barrier and they helped her lift the front of the car off it. Unfortunately the barrier ended up on de Cruz’s toe and he ended up on crutches. His toe appeared all bloody and it's extremely painful, putting his participation in the big cashspiel in doubt. 

"The (barrier) wasn't attached to the ground and it flew at my legs. I caught it right on the toe," he recalled. "It hurt alot -- a lot of pain. I took my shoe and sock off and it was bleeding everywhere.

If de Cruz can't start, coach and retired player Claudio Pescia will suit up for the Swiss rink. 

“You can’t smoke cigarettes or drink beer on the ice anymore."

There aren’t too many curling clubs that can boast of being around for a century, but the Vancouver Curling Club is celebrating its centennial in 2012. A lot has changed for the club over the years, including the new facility it inherited after the 2010 Olympics. 

Now the club is trying to recruit new members for the upcoming season. As Sam Corea, one of the club’s volunteers said, perhaps disappointingly, there have been a few changes over the years.

“You can’t smoke cigarettes or drink beer on the ice anymore,” said Corea. “And today’s ice is so well maintained, you can’t blame the ice ifyou’re not playing well.”

Dang. And I was so close to signing up. Not sure if that’s a great sales pitch, but there’s a nice article here about the club.