Buy a shirt, help an Olympian

Not long after Russ Howard helped Team Gushue win the gold medal at the Olympics, I had the privilege of helping him write his autobiography. Of course a great deal of it dealt with that run to the gold medal and the madness that ensued from the time the team defeated Jeff Stoughton’s squad at the trials until it stood on the top step of the podium in Torino.

One of the most interesting stories of that trip was in trying to make arrangements to get the families to the Italy. That entailed air fare, accommodation and tickets to the events.

First of all, it was a logistical nightmare and second, decisions had to be made within a few days of winning the trials.

There were other issues too, such as the fact that the Canadian Curling Association not making suitable arrangements for the families, but the biggest issue was cost. Without looking at my notes, I believe it cost Russ something like $26,000 for his wife and two kids to make the journey, start to finish.

That’s very expensive but obviously it was worth it.

So why am I telling you about this? Because Team Jones is going to auction off the jerseys they wore at the Olympic Trials with autographs on them to help defray some of the same expenses for their loved ones to come and watch them go for gold. It would be awful if they weren't able to go simply because they couldn't afford it.

Dawn McEwan’s jersey is up on eBay right now and you can own it outright and help her send some of her family members to Sochi. (I’m going to assume the other jerseys will follow but I don’t know that – anyone?)

Here’s where you can go to bid on Dawn’s shirt.

As an added bonus, I understand the jerseys have been washed too before they were signed.

So get a rare piece of curling memorabilia and help the Olympicans.

More cowbell needed as curling fever starting to hit the U.S. ahead of Sochi Games.

Once again, America is on Curling Watch. 

As the Sochi Games approach in just a few weeks, there are stories about the Roaring Game popping up in various U.S. media. The sport obviously intrigues people south of the border and the result is more people trying it out or getting ready to watch it. 

In Alaska, Olympican Jessica Schultz returned home to Anchorage, Alaska for the holidays but took time out to put on a clinic and sign autographs at her home club, as this story reveals: 

Schultz spent a snowy Sunday afternoon at the Anchorage Curling Club, giving lessons, signing autographs and spreading the word about curling, which even in a winter city like Anchorage remains a fringe sport. 

"It's nice to come back to the roots, especially before a huge event like the Olympics," Schultz said. "I can touch base with where I came from.

 Meanwhile, those who won't play, will watch, such as this columnist from the Virginian-Pilot, who, like many, caught the curling bug. 

During the 2010 Winter Olympics from Vancouver, my brief, guilty pleasure was curling.Women's curling, at that. 

As Sweden and Canada curled long and hard in one of the closest medal games in Olympic curling history, I sat motionless in front of my TV. Now it's true that I often sit motionless in front of my TV, but in this instance, I actually was awake. And caught up in the action, if that's what you call it. 

In fact, Sweden beating out Canada for the women's curling gold medal is all I remember about the Vancouver Games, though I still can't explain what kept me glued to the couch that day.

And then there were these two guys from Buzzfeed, one of the most popular web sites in the U.S., who were given a curling lesson from two U.S. Olympians, Ann Swisshelm and Sara Anderson, and learned what so many do: It's not that easy!

Last week Ann Swisshelm (left), the 2014 U.S. women’s Olympic curling team’s “lead,” and newcomer Sarah Anderson (right), an alternate for the 2014 squad, visited the BuzzFeed office and took us to a local curling club to teach us more about the sport. Like many casual fans, we assumed we could immediately pick it up and dominate. We were very wrong.

Team Howard spoils Christmas for every men's curling team in Ontario

Not that it was a big surprise, but Glenn Howard confirmed he and his rink will be in  Smiths Falls for the Travelers Insurance Tankard (Travelers took over from the Dominion), sending a shiver down the backs of every other competitive men's team in Ontario. 

And a few days ago Glenn Howard assured the organizing committee that Team Howard will be in Smiths Falls for the Tankard. That is wonderful news!! Given the Howard rink's success nationally and internationally in recent years, we are assured of at least one world class rink in the event.

Howard, who gets a bye into the final as defending champion, will be going for his 37th  eighth consecutive Ontario men's title. And at least one prognosticator thinks this might be the year the streak comes to an end. 

The men's provincial championship is just down the road this season in Smiths Falls Jan. 27 to Feb. 7. But psychologically, it may be too far for Glenn Howard. After his huge, dispiriting disappointment at the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, can his heart be in yet another trip to the Tim Hortons Brier? He has been the Ontario Brier rep for the last eight tournaments.

End-of-the-year lists -- what would you add?

Here's a rather basic, Canadian-focused rundown of the stories of the year in curling from the Canadian Press via the Globe and Mail. Lots of attention given -- rightly so -- to Brad Jacobs and his rink.

“Brad Jacobs might be the hottest curler in the world,” said Russ Howard, a two-time world champion and curling broadcaster. “They were very impressive. To go through the Olympic trials 8-0, that’s a pretty tough bonspiel.”

So what stories would you add?

In addition to the CP list, mine would also include:

** Nicolas Edin winning the world championship.

** The U.S. men having to fight for a spot in the Olympics.

** Russ Howard being inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

** The announced changes to the Brier and Scotties format.

** Eve Muirhead and Team Scotland winning the world championship

** Holding a world championship in Latvia.

** Al Cameron leaving the Calgary Herald for the CCA

Muirhead gets the NY Times treatement

Eve Muirhead gets the New York Times treatment ahead of the Olympics. It's a good story although a bit basic in some of the descriptions of the game, even for a non-traditional curling audience. Still, it talks about the pressure facing the rock-tosser who will represent GB in Sochi:

She will arrive as a reigning world champion, but also as the focus of a newfound Olympic interest in Britain, and particularly in Scotland, which claims to have originated curling on its frozen lochs and rivers in the middle of the 16th century. 

“Everything’s now focused on the Olympics,” Muirhead said recently after her daily routine of strength training and ice practice in the Stirling gym. Her profile, and the stakes, have never been higher.

There's even a tangent on the upcoming Scottish referendum about independence and attempts to draw Muirhead and other Scottish athletes into the politics. 

Alex Salmond, the nationalist leader and Scotland’s first minister, has worked hard, without notable success, to recruit Scotland’s top sports figures to his cause. Last summer, he ruffled feathers at Wimbledon by unfurling Scotland’s blue-and-white flag, the Saltire, at his seat in the Royal Box at the moment of Andy Murray’s victory in the men’s singles final, the first championship by a British man there in 77 years. 

Academic studies in Scotland over the past decade have aided the nationalist cause, at least indirectly, by finding a link between Scotland’s perceived underperformance in sports and a culture of defeatism among Scottish athletes, a pattern some have attributed to the centuries that Scotland has spent as a dependent part of Britain. 

But Murray and other top Scottish athletes, including Chris Hoy, a cyclist with six Olympic gold medals, have resisted the nationalists’ call. So, too, have the curlers. Although she speaks of Scotland as her country — “It’s nice to know that we have the whole country, Scotland, behind us”  — Muirhead shrugs off any suggestion of nationalist leanings.

“Right now, I’m just trying to get on with my life,” she said. 

Shortage of ice technicians threatens the game

By request, here is my story from the most recent edition of the Ontario Curling Report on the looming crisis in curling -- the shortage of ice technicians. 

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Curling crisis: Who is going to make the ice?

By Bob Weeks

In the market for a new job? Here’s one for you: It has long, irregular hours, you have to work in the cold and the pay is average at best. You hear from your clients regularly, usually when they blame their faults on your handiwork. But on the plus side, you do get the summers off.

Doesn’t quite sound like your dream job? You’re not alone. Across the country and especially in Ontario, there is a shortage of qualified ice technicians, the folks who flood and pebble and scrape your curling ice. The long hours and low pay have combined to chase people away from careers on the curling ice to the point where the potential for a drastic shortage in qualified individuals is looming. Right now, if you have a good, young ice technician in your club, then he or she is worth his or her weight in gold.

“It’s definitely a chaotic life,” admitted Dave Padgett, who tends to the sheets at the Bayview Country Club in Toronto and has been making ice since the late 1960s. “It’s not for everyone. But in the next few years, as guys retire, it’s going to be a problem if something isn’t done.”

“Dishwashers make more than ice technicians if you look at it on a per hour basis,” added Don Powell, who teaches ice making courses for the Ontario Curling Association as well as looking after the playing surface at the Weston Golf & Country Club and at major provincial and national championships.

The problem is one that’s apparent in the industry. Both the OCA and the Canadian Curling Association have been looking at ways to attract more people to the business but so far haven’t been able to come up with any solutions.

“There’s a definite shortage,” said Danny Lamoureux, the head of curling club development for the CCA. “We’ve known that for a couple of years.”

Lamoureux highlighted a couple of examples of the problem that made their way to the association’s office. A club that was advertising for a new icemaker received applications from six people. The club contacted the CCA to verify the experience of the six. Not one was known to anyone at the Ottawa national office or local curling officials. Six applicants, none qualified.

In another situation, a club in Saskatchewan advertised for an ice technician with the job including subsidized housing as well as a guaranteed employment in the summer months.

Not one application was received.

The reasons the industry has failed to attract newcomers are plentiful. First up, the hours can be long and tedious. Powell said for his work, he arrives at the club two hours before the first draw to prepare the ice, which means a 7:30 start for a 9:30 game. And his day ends when the 9 p.m. draw takes to the sheets meaning close to a 14-hour day.

His work varies between busy periods where he’s scraping or pebbling, and times when he’s waiting for curlers to finish their games.

“The schedule changes a bit but there aren’t any days at our club when there isn’t any curling. It’s seven days a week, ” he said, acknowledging he has a part-time staff that helps make the workload manageable.

The duties of an ice technician vary from club to club, depending on how busy a certain facility is, how many sheets there are and how many players. Some clubs have moved to volunteers to care for the ice, a trend that worries the community of ice technicians, more for the inconsistent and possibly unplayable conditions that result than the effect on paid jobs.

“It’s not good for curling,” said Padgett, a second-generation ice technician. “But what are these clubs going to do? There’s just no money.”

That’s the second problem. Ice technicians are not paid all that well. While there are some at private clubs that can draw a decent salary, most just eke out a living or need to supplement their curling work with other duties.

Doug Bakes, the general manager of the Ontario Curling Association, estimates that about a third of the roughly 200 clubs in the province have a full time ice technician, which includes those who are employed seasonally and some who are given other jobs at a facility when the curling season is over, such as on a golf course.

This summer, there were 16 jobs that opened up for one reason or another; it caused a shuffle of ice techs from club to club to club and left a few position unfilled. In those cases either volunteers pick up the slack or an ice tech may end up taking over more than one club. In all cases, services get stretched and conditions suffered.

If there is one trend seen by those taking up the pebbling can, it’s the number of retired people getting into the business. At an OCA clinic in the fall, there were nine participants: eight were retired from various careers.

“The new people coming into the job tend to be retired folks, who are looking for a way to supplement their income in retirement,” said Bakes. “That’s good but we would still like to get younger folks in [the job].”

Powell said that while he’s seen a number of younger people start down the path to a career as an ice technician, many give up the business when they see the hours and the compensation.

Padgett agreed and added that it’s a tough work schedule for those with a family.

“I know one young guy in the business who said that he never sees his kids because he leaves for work before they get up and comes home after they’ve gone to bed,” he stated. “It’s a hard life if you have kids.”

There don’t seem to be any easy answers to getting more people into the business although the CCA is looking at options, as is the OCA.

Ontario currently runs clinics ranging from a Level I, which covers the basics, up to Level III that deals with the intricacies of everything to do with ice and rocks.

“Level 1 courses are jam-packed,” said Powell. “In fact we turn people away. Level 2 there is a significant drop off, nowhere near as many and for level 3, again another big drop off.

“I also see the same clubs sending a different person to level 1 year after year.”

Those tend to be volunteers, Powell said.

With so few people getting into the business the future is downright scary. Padgett predicts that it might become a bidding war as clubs that have financial resources scramble to get qualified individuals. That doesn’t mean the pay will go up significantly, Padgett predicted. That will take time.

“I’ve been talking to the OCA for a long time about the problem,” he said. “I think they should hire a qualified guy to go around and work at each club with the staff for a few days. At least that would help with the conditions.”

Both Bakes and Lamoureux acknowledge that this is a problem without any easy answers.

“The CCA has some ideas on how to attract people into the job as a career,” said Lamoureux. “We’re targeting younger people. We’ve also been talking to a lot of golf people to see how superintendents attract people as well as if they can combine jobs.”

Bakes said the OCA is looking at a re-vamp of the ice technicians’ courses as a way to assist. But he knows the situation has no quick solutions.

Both associations spend a lot of money on coaching and on improving players, but without good ice, it won’t matter how good the curlers are. It’s a problem that needs attention. Now.

U.S. men's Olympic hopes rest on tiebreaker

The Olympic hopes of the American men’s curling team is resting on a tiebreaker it will play on Saturday against Korea.

The U.S. has to win that game and then defeat the loser of the 1 vs. 2 match between Germany and the Czech Republic. The winner of that latter contest moves on to Sochi.

All four of those teams finished the round-robin at 5-2. Based on round-records, Germany was awarded first place, Czech Republic second and the U.S. and Korea tied for third.

The position of the teams, playing in Fussen, Germany, wasn’t determined until the final stone of an extra end in the final game of the round robin, according to this WCF press release.

The dramatic climax came in the game between Japan and Germany. The Japanese men were already out of contention but that did not stop them fighting all the way, forcing an extra end with a single steal in the tenth end to level the game at 7-7. 

When Germany's fourth player Felix Schiulze came to play his last stone, he had to out-draw a Japanese stone partly frozen on the eight-foot ring. To his relief he managed it, much to the delight of the home crowd. 

The result of this was that Germany, the Czech Republic, Korea and the USA all shared the same won five, lost two record. 

Using their win-loss record among these four, Germany ranked first and the Czech Republic, who beat New Zealand by 7-6, ranked second, meaning that these two will play the 1v2 Play-off game on Saturday night at 20:00 (CET).

In women’s play, China and Japan have earned spots in the 1 vs. 2 game despite there being one more round-robin game remaining.