Rules and how to interpret them

OK a short blog here and for which I’m looking for feedback. This weekend, I’ve been playing in the Dominion Regional playdowns (yes, your humble servant is a club champion!). One of the new rules introduced this year for any competition leading to a national championship is that you flip a coin before the game with the winner of the flip getting choice of rocks or practice.

At least, that’s what I’m sure it was supposed to be.

Here’s what the rule reads: “. . . teams will conduct a coin toss to determine choice of stone colour or first practice.”

Now what we were told was that the winner of the toss gets a pick of either rock colour or first practice. And the loser gets what’s left.

So let’s say Team A wins the toss. It chooses red rocks and therefore automatically gets second practice (which I believe is preferable). The loser of the toss, Team B, gets no say in anything (unless, of course, the winner of the toss picks first practice) and has to take first practice. Whoever wins the toss also can’t select second practice.

Does that seem right? Shouldn’t the scenario be winner of the toss gets choice of rocks or practice the loser gets choice of what the winner doesn’t select.

I tried to argue this with the volunteer official but she said, no, the loser of the toss gets no selection.

What do you think? Is this a misinterpretation of the rule? Or is the rule just stupid?

Middaugh on a roll

Sherry Middaugh and her team are on a roll like no other squad -- men or women -- in the land. The rink already has three big wins this young year, with the third coming at the Southwestern Ontario Women's Spiel.

Longtime curling reporter Steve Green of the London Free Press asked Middaugh the obvious question about her early success in this article:

"Never," she said if she'd ever started a season this well. "But then again, I've never played this much so early before, either. To have five events midway through October is something else; most clubs have only just got their ice in."

One of those clubs that has yet to put its ice in is the Charlottetown Curling Club, home of the runner-up rink of Suzanne Birt. Her team was 17 days between throwing rocks before it arrived in London. That's tough.

Meanwhile, over on the men's side, there are a couple of big events coming this weekend. In Kamloops, the Crown of Curling gets underway Friday and the chairman told the local media thinks his event might be the oldest going.

“This event is the longest-running curling event, we think, in Canada,” said bonspiel chairman Len Bosch.
“This is a longtime event and we want it to get better and continue.” 

I'm assuming he means longest-running cash/competitive event. Anyone know any different?

 

No surprises for Overton-Clapham

I caught up with Cathy Overton-Clapham yesterday just before she hopped on a plane to head home to Winnipeg with the hardware and cheque from the year’s first Grand Slam.

I asked Cathy O if she was surprised that her young team managed to wade through the elite field of the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic in Calgary.

“I don’t want to say we were surprised,” she stated. “I think we’re really pleased. Winning any Slam is a great achievement.”

Overton-Clapham has suited up this year with the youthful squad of Breanne Meakin, Jenna Loder and Ashley Howard. If nothing else, the team has good curling genes with both Meakin and Howard being the daughters of world champions Rob and Russ respectively.

But clearly they’ve found a bond early in the year that’s allowed them to win one of the biggest titles in curling.

“We made good shots all weekend,” said the veteran skip, who knocked off Shannon Kleibrink’s team in the final. (It was sans Kleibrink, who is rehabbing after kidney surgery – third Amy Nixon was calling the shots and throwing last rocks.)

Overton-Clapham was clearly reveling in the results, and beating the top teams in the world, but also in the excitement she saw in her front end.

“Everything is new to them,” she chuckled. “Ashley is in awe every time she steps on the ice and sees all these curlers she grew up watching.

“They’re going through this all for the first time so it’s fun to watch.”

Overton-Clapham, 42, said it reminded her of being on the ice with Connie Laliberte when she was starting out her competitive career. Like them, she was wide-eyed but still focused on execution. And she added that there aren’t any problems with the age difference, either on the ice or off (that was after pointing out to me that she wasn’t “that old.”)

They’re on the same page when it comes to commitment to the game and they don’t have to fight over what music is playing in the car on the way to the rink.

You can't help but like Cathy O's enthusiasm for the game and her delight for how her new team has come together so quickly. She is effervescent when she talks about their performance and of how she's excited for the year ahead. 

The team is coached by Rob Meakin and when he’s unavailable, Russ Howard steps in as he did on the weekend at the Slam. Overton-Clapham says they help build confidence with the girls, providing assistance with everything from matching rocks to post-game debriefs.

And, she added with a smile, she only had to tell the talkative Russ to stifle it once over the weekend.

Overton-Clapham is hoping to add another Manitoba title to her list of laurels – she is the defending champion, after all – and spent the summer working out as part of her goal. She stated that she is feeling no aches or pains and avoided the traditional cortisone shot that usually accompanies the start of a season.

The campaign is still young and there’s more cash on the line, but for her and her young charges, this year is all about getting back to the Scotties and a shot at another national title. So far, they’re off to a great start. 

TSN the right spot for curling

At the risk of showing some obvious bias, I thought it was great news for everyone that the Canadian Curling Association and TSN signed along-term deal for curling coverage in Canada.

The two inked a deal that will see the major curling events on TSN through the 2019-2020 season.

Now you may say what’s the big news about that? After all, we’ve come to expect curling on TSN. It goes together like pebble and ice. It would be sacrilegious to see it somewhere else.

But these days, the landscape in sports broadcasting has changed. Right now there is a battle between Sportsnet (Rogers) and TSN (Bell) as the two try to lock up rights to various sporting championships, not only for television but all media – digital, mobile and more.

Why the big battle? These days, sports broadcasting is appointment broadcasting. With the advent of DVRs, sports is one of the few things people will sit down and watch live or when it’s first aired. So sports makes money.

As far as curling goes, the guy heading up Rogers Media these days is Keith Pelley, a former producer of curling on TSN. You can be sure he knew the value of curling as a sports property. While I doubt that Sportsnet made any serious play for curling, I’m sure there was interest.

So now you can expect to see TSN roll out lots of extras in its curling coverage. First is a big beef up of the French broadcasting, with Guy Hemmings providing the analysis alongside Michel Lacroix. And look for lots more in the mobile and web areas. You’ll be able to watch the Tim Hortons Brier and Scotties Tournament of Hearts on your cel phone and on your computer. And is it possible curling play-by-play may return to the radio? TSN has radio stations in Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal which might be good places to air a national final.

There’s lots on this deal to be finalized, I’m told, in terms of specifics of coverage but it seems that both parties – the CCA and TSN – are pretty happy with it all. 

How early is too early?

Last night I played my first curling game of the year. Sept. 27th. That’s early for me and probably about the earliest I’ve ever thrown a rock.

I was sparing in the last round of the Oakville CC’s summer league, which, to my surprise, is jammed to the rafters.

Of course the competitive players are three or four spiels into the season already, a season which seems to start earlier and earlier. Most have been on the ice through the summer months as well, either for a week or two at a camp or in a league such as the one they run in Oakville.

I’m not sure about you, but I think that a good break in the summer is needed, not only for knee-sliders such as me, but just about everyone. I remember my son playing hockey 12 months – a regular league in the winter and then three-on-three in the summer – and it led to burnout. Same thing in golf. I did a feature for TSN this year on a school in Orlando that allows Canadian kids to come down, go to school, either on-line or in the local community, and work on their games while it’s snowing up north.

Too much, but that’s just me. I enjoyed last night’s contest because it’s close enough to the start of the season that it felt like the beginning of the year (we begin for real just after Thanksgiving), but I’m not sure I’d want to play all summer.

Richard Hart on retirement

The timing of our lunch was rather appropriate. Last Thursday, when he would normally be making the trek down the 401 to Brockville for the Shorty Jenkins Classic, Richard Hart was saddling up to a table in a pub near Pearson Airport.

For the first time in ages, Hart isn’t suiting up along side longtime teammates Glenn Howard, Brent Laing and Craig Savill. As most fans know by now, he’s retiring from the competitive part of the game to spend more time with his family and at his job.

Most of our interview will appear in the Globe and Mail and Ontario Curling Report in the coming weeks, but safe to say that an hour with Richard is never enough for all the stories, all his sharp observations about the game and his funny stories that usually left me trying not to snort the Diet Coke out my nose.

Hart is one of those genuine people in curling. Honest, forthright and extremely likable. He’s a go-to guy for us scribes who want a good quote.

And he really, truly loves the game. That’s so obvious whenever you’re around him and what must have made his decision to quit agonizingly hard.

He told me that the idea of parting with the pebbled ice was on his mind for about four months and he had long conversations with his wife, who ended up encouraging him to keep playing. But in the end, it was clear to him that the drive and desire weren’t at the top of his priority list any more.

He’ll still likely spare here and there and he’s also going to coach his two sons in Bantam curling. Of course thanks to the draconian coaching standards put in place these days, this past Olympic medalist, world and Canadian champion was slated to attend a two-day coaching course so he would be allowed to do that. (That’s a rant for a different day.)

I think Hart will miss the game, but I suspect curlers and curling will miss him more.

Di Iorio, Harrison to work with Russian curlers

News will be released officially in the next couple of days, but it appears that Neil Harrison and Lino Di Iorio will be hired by the Russian Curling Federation to work with the national teams in that country.

I spoke with both men on Monday from Russia where they’ve been working with the men’s teams at a clinic. While they haven’t signed their names on the contact yet, they expect to in the next 24 to 48 hours. Harrison will handle the strategic aspect of the game while Di Iorio will take over the technical side. This comes after a plan to bring Randy Ferbey over fell away.

Di Iorio told me that he was contacted by a Russian official, who asked for the names of some possible coaches for their team as it prepares for the Olympics. Di Iorio, who developed a innovative and logical delivery method that has been met by rave reviews among those who to whom he’s taught it, offered up Harrison’s name on strategy and said the only person he could recommend for the technical side was himself because all the rest were teaching the CCA’s methods, which he believes are not scientifically beneficial for any player.

After submitting a proposal that was met with positive reaction, he told the Russians that he and Harrison would travel to Russia on their own dime and show them just what he was capable of. That’s the trip they’re on right now and it’s paid off.

Despite admitting they were not ready to win a gold medal right now, Di Iorio was full of optimism for the Russian curlers.
“They are exceptional athletes,” he stated. “They can slide, they can sweep but right now they’re having trouble hitting the broom. That’s what we’ll correct. I’m confident we can get them throwing consistently.”

Harrison was equally positive. “Once they start hitting the broom, the strategy becomes a lot easier,” said the former world champion who will travel with the team to B.C. next month as they play some events.

Asked if there was any trepidation over the sudden change of heart shown Jason Gunnlaugson, Harrison said he wasn’t certain of all that went on with that deal but that both sides have out clauses that can be exercised.

“Right now, it’s a three-year deal with the aim of the Olympics,” Harrison said.