Burgundy on curling draws big TV numbers

It wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it seems that a large number of folks didn’t seem to mind Ron Burgundy spending some time in the booth with Vic, Linda and Russ on TSN’s curling broadcast.

The opening draw of the Roar of the Rings – which featured Will Ferrell in character for two ends – drew and audience of 632,000. That’s an increase of 32 per cent over the opening draw for the same event in 2009. The viewership peaked about half-way through the broadcast when 900,000 people tuned in to watch. Those are huge numbers for a Sunday afternoon, especially when curling is up against NFL football and other sporting events. 

While the curling was certainly an attraction, it’s hard not to think that the appearance of Ron Burgundy – the Anchorman – helped boost the numbers. The show also attracted attention far and wide including reports in the media in the U.S. (here, here and here) and the United Kingdom (here).

The evening draw of the Canadian Curling Trials showed a significant drop in viewers, bringing in 302,000. That’s still a very good number especially on a Sunday night, typically the biggest TV viewing day of the week. Most of the biggest shows of the week air on Sunday.

The Anchorman does the Roar

He came. He saw. He ate crullers.

Ron Burgundy, the character created by actor Will Ferrell for the movie Anchorman, made an in-character appearance at the Roar of the Rings, joining Vic, Russ and Linda in the broadcast booth.

It was two ends that will likely go down in curling broadcasting history.

Over the course of his appearance Ferrell, who wore a kilt along with his burgundy blazer, learned the nuances of the game, called a few shots, commented on the players, learned how to score and even timed rocks.

At times, his comments seemed to overshadow the actual curling while at others, he seemed to defer to the on-ice action.

The trio of regular commentators played along and Rauter kept at least a modicum of play-by-play so the game didn’t totally disappear.

Some of Burgundy’s memorable lines included:

On Jennifer Jones: “Of course when she’s not curling, she works as a rodeo clown.”

On Glenn Howard: "He is one of the legends of the sport. Even though he's an ugly, ugly man."

On his vocal warm-up mantra: "The muscular man from Manitoba touched his man-boobs."

After littering the screen with Telestrator rocks: “I think they’re mating with each other.”

On the ice conditions: “Are you allowed to put a foreign substance on the ice like olive oil or Parmesan cheese?”

On Winnipeg. “It’s the Paris of Canada. All the smells.”

On the meaning of Winnipeg: "What does Winnipeg mean?" "Its roots are in Latin of course. It means small tundra bunny who lives in the hole in the head."

Clearly, the appearance wasn’t for everyone’s taste. A few of the Tweets that came during Burgundy’s time weren’t favourable.

Not sure how either the curlers or the crew covering them must feel about having Ron Burgundy on hand to make a mockery of the whole thing.
— Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) December 1, 2013

It's one day and I'm already sick of the Ron Burgundy/Curling bit.
— Blair Pacheco (@blairpacheco) December 1, 2013

@TSN_Sports True curling fans can't be enjoying this. Ron Burgundy isn't doing curling any justice.
— Sweet Scottie (@sweetscottie) December 1, 2013

Watching @roaroftherings to see @RonBurgundy The only #curling game I'll watch all year #canada #tsn
— Megan (@MSargent15) December 1, 2013

Thank you @RonBurgundy for making curling interesting!!!
— Jon Valvano (@JVALVANzzz) December 1, 2013

Well that was the most entertaining two ends of #curling I have ever watched. @RonBurgundy #burgundyinthebooth #rotr
— Craig Savill (@CraigSavill) December 1, 2013

Just laughed constantly for the last 2 ends, great idea having Ron Burgundy commenting! #entertainment #beauty
— Ryan Harnden (@RyanTHarnden) December 1, 2013

Before he made it to the booth, Ferrell, in character, met with the press and answered questions about curling and his reason for being there. He also stole a Tim Hortons cruller, which he shared with a volunteer, and posed for his media pass, asking if he needed to raise his right hand to swear allegiance to any party. And he received a curling lesson from Glenn Howard and team.

And all along, he waved to the fans and signed autographs. 

So where do you stand on the appearance? Did it take away from a serious event or was it a great way to enjoy the game?? 

Prognostications and picks: who is going to win?

So who do you think is going to win the right to head to Sochi wearing the Canadian colours?

In these two fields, it's pretty hard to pick a winner; everyone has a legitimate change. I'd say the men's field is just a little bit deeper than the women's but there's no big favourites in either lineup. And this is the Trials, where strange things have been known to happen.

Back in 1997 in Brandon, not many expected Mike Harris to win in a difficult field. And Brad Gushue admits his victory in 2005 was a surprise. It can and does happen. All it takes is a pick here or an off day for a player there and you never know what can happen.

As John Epping told me earlier this week, if you have to look for the free space on the bingo card this week, you're probably it.

So who is likely to win?

Don Landry takes a chance at ranking the field in his blog at the Eh Game at Yahoo.ca and does a pretty good job, I'd say.

Here's how I have the men's draw:

1. Glenn Howard -- the addition of Wayne Middaugh to the team last year has made this rink just that much better. They're all veterans who have played in as many big games as any and that will be a huge advantage as they get to the end of the week. It's likely the last shot for Howard and Middaugh.

2A. Jeff Stoughton -- also a veteran and a guy who has come close in the past, finishing second twice. I think these guys are as hungry as any team in the field.

2B. Kevin Koe -- I'm not quite as high on this team as others seem to be but I think you underestimate them at your peril.

4. Kevin Martin -- These guys just seem to have been missing half a gear over the last year. The departure of John Morris didn't help although Dave Nedohin is a great talent; can the team get inspired one more time?

5. Mike McEwen -- Four years ago, I thought these guys would be the favourites this time around. I wouldn't be surprised to see them win but it might be four more years until they're ready.

6. Brad Jacobs -- Hasn't been at his best this year but put on a good showing at the pre-trials so moving in the right direction. Hard to imagine the reigning Brier champs not being a favourite but here they are, in my book.

7. John Epping -- People underestimate this team. Don't -- it's sneaky good and has lots of experience in silver medallist Colin Mitchell and longtime competitor Scott Bailey.

8. John Morris -- Can Johnny Mo guide this team through this field? They're good but they're also pretty fresh as far as a team goes.

And the women's field:

1. Rachel Homan -- these women are just scary good. @FakeCCA always refers to them as cyborgs and it's funny because it's such a great description. To me, they have more shots than any other team in the field. Do they have the experience?

2. Jennifer Jones -- she's been building towards this week for a long time, changing her team with a single focus. Four years ago, she flopped. She won't do that again.

3. Sherry Middaugh -- This might surprise a few but I think this rink is ready to bust out. They have all the tools and the experience. It team dynamics counts for anything, then watch out.

4. Stefanie Lawton -- I'm always really, really impressed by this team and coming into this week, it reminds me a bit of Cheryl Bernard's team four years ago. Always capable, always a threat and ready for a breakout on a big stage. This week they're ready, prepared and focused.

5. Chelsea Carey -- Even though this team has played well on tour the last few years and piled up the CTRS points, I'm not sure they're quite ready to make the big step up yet. They need to show they can win big games and they don't come any bigger than this week.

6.  Heather Nedohin -- I love the way this woman plays the game. I love the way she calls the game.  She's super smart on the ice and fun to listen to when the mikes are on. However, I haven't seen any results this year that make me think they're gonna play as they did when they won the Scotties.

7. Renee Sonnenberg -- They looked really good in Kitchener a few weeks back, and certainly Sonnenberg has the chops to play in this field but not sure they have the horses to match up with the top rinks.

8. Val Sweeting -- Newcomers to this level, I suspect you may be talking more about this team four years from now.

Martin and Nedohin: together for now

Curling sometimes makes for strange bedfellows. And we're not talking about what happens at closing time at the Patch.

Go back in time and you'll find those who were enemies, suddenly making friends when the thoughts of possible victories stood out. Glenn Howard curled for Ed Werenich. Neil Harrison played along with Russ Howard. Sometimes, you just want to win.

That's the case with Kevin Martin and Dave Nedohin, who will hit the ice together this week at the Roar. Once bitterly divided, now teammates looking for a trip to Sochi. Jim Bender looks at the new relationship in the Winnipeg Sun and how both players hope it will deliver for them.

"Obviously, when we played against each other for so many years, two teams that were that good, playing out of the same club in the same city, just butting heads weekend after weekend, there was an incredibly strong rivalry that existed," Nedohin said after practice for the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings Canadian Curling Trials at the MTS Centre on Saturday. 

Ferbey, for one, wouldn't even talk to Martin for years after the asterisk remark, but time seems to have healed those wounds.

Ticket sales slow at the Roar

Sales at the a box office for the Roar of the Rings haven't exactly been purring along. As Paul Friesen points out in his story in the Winnipeg Sun, not a single draw -- not even the playoffs -- is sold out. Winnipeg fans haven't rallied to the cause to watch the best in the business but that's apparently not too much of a worry for the CCA's Warren Hansen:

“We’ve done pretty well here,” Hansen said, Thursday. 

“At the end of the day... I would guess we'll have about 150,000 to 160,000.” 

The 2008 Winnipeg Brier attracted 165,000 fans. The last Trials, in Edmonton, came in around 176,000. 

“It’s pretty hard to compare,” Hansen said. “Because things are much different than they were in 2005. Back in those days we were still selling a lot of weekly tickets. And that has diminished slowly but surely... it’s more opening and closing weekend packages and individual ticket sales. The world has changed. 

“Our demographic is getting older, people have less time and less money.” 

And those old-timers also don't necessarily want to get up out of their La-Z-Boys and traipse down to the arena when they can fire up the telly and watch Vic, Linda and Russ (as well as Ron Burgundy). When your demographic is older and continuing to age, you're not going to get people coming into the building as much. That's nothing new; it's been that way for a while now. In other words, curling is a bit of a victim of its own success, at least as far as television coverage goes.

But the Trials was always supposed to be a little different. It's the best of the best and held once every four years. You'd think there wouldn't be any difficulty in filling the arena, at the very least for the final games. Maybe the fans in Winnipeg want to see who is going to be in those games before forking over their money. Get a Stoughton or a Jones in there, and sales will probably rise.

Curling simply isn't the guaranteed sell out is once was.

Coupling up at the Roar

Paul Wiecek has a fine tale of the four couples that will be competing at the Roar of the Rings starting on Sunday. As he points out, there are four couples in the field: the Nedohins, the Middaughs, the McEwens and the Jones/Laings.

Of course as Wiecek points out, that's the four that we know about. Who knows what might happen by the end of the week. And, of course, over the course of the competition the numbers could fluctuate. You just never know what these crazy curlers are up to.

There will be at least four couples competing among the eight men's and eight women's teams at this year's Roar of the Rings -- Ontario's Wayne and Sherry Middaugh; Alberta's David and Heather Nedohin; Manitoba's Mike and Dawn McEwen (née Askin); and Manitoba's Jennifer Jones and Ontario's Brent Laing. 

We say 'at least' four curling couples because it's not like they keep track of such things in a program somewhere. And this winter has been, after all, unusually cold on the Prairies.

But of the couples who we know about, Dawn McEwen said being in the biggest event of a lifetime while your spouse is doing the same isn't easy. 

"It's hard," says Dawn McEwen, the longtime lead for Jennifer Jones who married her longtime off-ice partner earlier this year. "If this were an event that I wasn't competing in, I'd be at his beck and call -- whatever he needed to perform well. But obviously that's not going to happen. 

"We've talked about it and decided that what's best for us is for both of us to just kind of do our own things next week. We're not even going to watch each other's games at the arena. It's just added stress that neither of us needs. If Mike's game is on TV, yeah, I will watch. But I'm not going to sit in the arena and gnaw my fingers off sitting because I'm so nervous. 

"It's so stressful to watch him play. I'd rather compete myself all day long than have to watch him -- and especially at an event as important as this."

The full piece is well worth the read; it's a human story of these athletes.

Pre-qualifying format a "huge opportunity" says Hansen

The location for the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts was made official this week and everyone was overjoyed to know that they'd be heading to scenic Moose Jaw, home to the Snow Birds and giant murals. 

Along with the location, the announcement included the news (at least it's still probably news for some) that this event will see the change in format for the event. For the first time, it will include a pre-qualifying where the final field will be determined. There will be 15 teams for 12 spots, including a Northern Ontario entry. 

The CCA's Warren Hansen gushed about the format change to the Moose Jaw Times-Herald: 

"I think the change that we are actually going to see 15 teams eligible to participate in the Scotties is a huge milestone," Hansen stated. "It has been discussed for years and we had long, serious discussions two or three years ago and now we can bring it to fruition."The fact that every province and territory, including Northern Ontario, will have an opportunity to participate is a huge breakthrough."

Which I'm sure is exactly what they're thinking in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Starting in 2015, the last-place finisher from 2014 will go into a pre-event qualifier along with Northern Ontario and two Territories entries. They'll play for the last spot into the 2015 field. The other three teams will be given a bag full of tokens for the Heart Stop Lounge.