The Brier: Bronze Zombies and Geek Shuffleboard

More random Brier thoughts:

- Smart money would have bet the farm on Kevin Martin not winning the Brier this year. Rumours of their impending breakup are likely true, and teams about to breakup never play well together.
Just look how well Martin did in the Brier just before he broke up with his previous team...(I believe that was the year JM won).

- So I am watching the bronze medal game on TV. Looks like a funeral. You would think these guys would at least try to put on a show for the fans...instead of an extract from the zombie curling league.
I have seen more adrenaline and passion in the day ladder at my club. There might be a couple of hangovers on the ice...

- I have little sympathy for these primadonnas not wanting to play a bronze medal game. Most curlers have had to get up on Sunday to play the C-Semis in some crappy open spiel for the chance to win a toaster in the finals - we all did it. they should have to do it to!
I mean they are playing for 10K...you would think you could extract a little excitement.
Play it up for the crowd. Play it like an exhibition. Show the fans that you are capable of having fun. Have a guy from the crowd come down and call a shot...Have fun. The game needs it. I think it will become a good addition to the Brier.

- I think PEI should not be fined for quitting early. C'mon. It must have been painful to watch. They could have passed a hat around the crowd to pay the fine. Nobody wants to watch Howard throw 2 ends of peels....Put them out of their misery. I think they should have fined them if they had kept playing...for cruelty to spectators! It was bad enough people had to watch 5 ends of that "game".

- 3-8 - not a great performance form the Quebec team. I know they are rookies, but I think we all expected a little better. Let's see where these guys go from here. At least they looked good at the banquet, which apparently had a 70's theme.

I am still a bit peeved that the Toronto Sports Network never saw fit to show any of their games. I know they were never in contention, nor one of the favorites, but at least a morning game...I mean C,mon. I had to watch Gratton twice (snooze), Gushue, Martin and Howard more times than I could count and they even featured Shawn Adams at least once.
Thankfully, they did not show any PEI games. Those guys were truly awful. I have played some good teams from PEI before. Apparently, they were all unavailable this year. Seriously, they would be no better than 4-3 in this round of the Glenmore A ladder.

- Shot of the week - the double raise double that Kevin Martin made to beat the Territories. He deserved to lose that game...that was an amazing shot! That must have made the guys from Northern Ontario throw up a little bit..

- Prediction for the final: Manitoba squeaks out a win. I think they are due - especially Mead who still loses sleep from the Olympic Qualifying final in 2005, where they lost to Gushue in part due to a missed sweeping call from Mead.

- So rumour is that JohnnyMo is leaving Martin, and Nicholls is leaving Gushue...could we see a JohnnyMo / Brad Gushue combination taking a run at the next Olympics? You heard it hear first.

- Just saw Nicholls' tear-soaked final interview...Christ the guy is barely 30. Give me break. He is taking a couple of years off...he is not retiring forever.
I don't doubt the sincerity of his tears, just feel a little perspective is in order.
Maybe he is vying to be the next Scotties spokesperson.

- OK - I am a big fan of developing curling...but if I see that Rocks and Rings commercial one more time I am going to go JohnnyMo on my TV set.
Will shuffleboard and sweeping on a gym floor actually help create a positive image for curling? - or will it just make the sport seem geekier? The kids in the commercial look happy, but maybe its because they got to play shuffleboard instead of climbing the rope and doing sit-ups in gym class.
If you want to get kids curling, my experience is that you have to get them out on ICE. I have seen  (and participated in) a number of programs run at curling clubs by volunteers for local schools that surely create a more positive impact on the game than a one-time visit from the shuffleboard nerds with the signs and the plastic rocks with wheels. Glad to see our CCA contributions are so well spent.

- So what happens to Kevin Martin if JohnnyMo leaves the team? What about Stoughton if Mead is done...will Howard take another run at the trials? Expect the announcements to come out in the next month or two, fast and furious, as the Olympic qualifying run starts next season. If the big guys are going to change teams, now is the time.

- I will miss fakekevinmartin on Twitter after the Brier. I wonder if he will keep it up.