I am becoming Mister Softie

Okay. I will admit it. I got a little emotional watching the Scotties final yesterday. Just a little. I am apparently becoming Mister Softie, which conveniently is the mascot of the Scotties.

Seriously, I have been fighting a serious case of curling depression since Quebec provincials. Competitive curling has been a big part of my life, but there are times where the sport absolutely knocks you on your ass. I wanted to go to the Brier this year. I worked harder than I have ever worked to go, and I am not going. Screw you, curling.

I have been reluctant to even think about curling ever since. I played in some club games (since our competitive season is inevitably over), and have found myself impatient and irritable on the ice. I have not wanted to be there. (apologies to my teammates over the past few weeks). I don’t think I slammed a broom once at Provincials, but last week I threw my fragile, defenseless sliding broom into a wall after missing a shot. 

This year seemed to hurt more than others.

I really rued the idea of watching the inevitable barrage of TV curling that follows losing at Provincials. The Scotties. The Brier. After a year where I felt like it was ours to win or lose, it feels like you are forced to watch the girl who dumped you on a date with her new boyfriend.  

But the Scotties this year brought me back. It was that good. 

It was a reminder of what the sport is all about. It had drama, it had tales of redemption, it had underdog stories aplenty and it had a joyous ending. The quality of curling was very high. the Scotties reminded me that I love curling. 

So what happened?

• Kerri Einerson pulled out an extra end win. She gassed a draw to the 4-foot in the 10^th end for the win, before pinning it in the extra end. Every skip in Canada has felt her pain in 10. That feeling of having let down your team; that feeling of blowing what should be an easy win. The TV close-up actually showed her soul leaving her body as she watched her rock slide through the 4-foot. For her to come back and make the same shot in the extra end to win was a beautiful and fitting end to the week. They were the best team all week and deserved the win. Watching their emotion at wining was both moving and heartwarming.
• Team Homan is awesome. They are smart, and tough, and have only gotten better. They look so much more seasoned, and play with more feel than before. There has been a sense that they might not be as sharp - that maybe life is getting in the way of their curling. WRONG!
• Krista McCarville and her story is the reason I still curl. She is an amateur, playing with the pros and beating them. She has shown that you can win, and have a life. She does not play in the Slams, she has no giant sponsor. She is just good at curling, and loves it. If you are not cheering for this team at the Scotties, you must be the kind of sports fan that cheers for the Yankees, or Manchester United. But if you love a good underdog story, this was it.
• Loved watching Lori Eddy win a few games for Nunavut. She is an awesome ambassador for the sport. If you are not listening to her 2 girls and a game podcast, you are missing out.
• My Quebec friends had a rough week and finished at 0-7. But they played some big games. They took Carey to an extra end, and were close in 3 or 4 other games. I am sure they are pissed about not getting a W, but surely grew by leaps and bounds as curlers.  
• Loved the Aly Jenkins tribute at the opening. Aly Jenkins was a competitive curler from Saskatchewan who died in childbirth late last year. Also – the Devin Heroux piece on CBC.ca is a beautiful piece of writing. Worth a read (there must be something in my eye):    https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/curling/aly-jenkins-tragedy-family-1.5470246
• Lots of discussion early this week about TSN's choice of feature games. They showed the same teams over and over again (especially Jones), while shunning up and coming teams such as BC and New Brunswick, who were also in the playoff mix. I get that they want to show the most popular teams to draw the most viewers, but it would have been fun early in the week to see some of these teams. Back in the day, there seemed to be an effort to make sure everybody got one game on TV. I don't think this can work with the new format, so I understand TSN choosing the big names...but the fact is there is so much value for new young teams to get some TV time that I think more effort should be put into balancing this. 

Hey You Kids - Get Off my Lawn!!!

Oh my God I feel old. I have curled in Quebec Provincials before, and I have lost before. But this year seemed different. In years past, I lost to my peers. And when I won, I beat my peers. I felt like I belonged. This year I felt like a damn dinosaur. I did not lose to my peers; I lost to their kids! 

Seriously. I got knocked out by Bédard and Roberge’s damn kids!!! 

For those not following – the Quebec Men’s provincials were held last week in Valleyfield Quebec. The winner was Alek Bédard (son of former competitor and current senior champion Dan Bédard), who defeated Vincent Roberge in the finals (son of 2006 Brier champ and current senior champ Francois Roberge). We lost an absolute heart-breaker to Bédard in the Semi on Saturday night. He made 2 great shots in 10 for a deuce, including a hack-weight through a port that was maybe a rock and an inch or two wide. We had lost the 1-2 game to Roberge earlier in the day, after a pick on a draw against 2 got us down early. Bédard then beat Roberge in the finals rather easily for the win.

Screw you, young people. You guys are not supposed to be so good so quickly.

Seriously, I can only vaguely remember being 25. I threw a really nice rock at 25. I was brash, and I likely thought I was better than I was. But I lacked in experience. I made dumb calls. I fell into traps set by older, wiser curlers. I choked a lot. I missed big shots under pressure.  Only after YEARS of learning (through repeatedly screwing up) did I learn the wisdom and patience required to win.

But these guys have it now! Not fair. You are supposed to be young and dumb or old and wise, not 

young and wise. WTF?

This is a new wave in curling. Curlers are better at a younger age. Look at Quebec Provincials. Look at Dunstone. And Tardi. And Calvert. And Dropkin. And Felix. And Bottcher. And the juniors that were on TV this weekend. They are amazing, and come factory-ready to win in men’s curling. I think there are 2 reasons for this:

1. Better Coaching: Young teams are better coached than we were, often benefiting from their parents knowledge and from the enhanced level of instruction offered to the elite junior teams, either from Curling Canada or their provincial associations, or even from University curling programs in some provinces (unfortunately not Quebec). The closest we ever came to a sports psychologist was Doctor Bacardi, who helped console us after a tough loss.

2. TV: More curling on TV means that you benefit from watching more elite level curling with better commentary. Back in the day – we really only had the Brier, which was once a year. Now you can watch (and re-watch on Youtube) games almost every weekend – all with great commentary. And you are consistently watching the very best week-in and week-out. Few knew what the gear effect was before, or the drag effect. But now every ladder player in our club seems to understand the basics, and will use terms like “directional sweeping” and “control zone”.

So young Alek Bédard will now be introduced to the world of curling at the Brier in Kingston. The team also features Émile Asselin, who was my 5^th at the Brier in 2018 and who curled with us at the Tier 2 Slam in November. This is a classy team that will represent the province well, and will surely surprise the big teams who likely will have never heard of them. They go in as dark horse underdogs, but will surely end the week as something else.

Oh well. Another year over. The most annoying thing about losing at provincials if you are a Tier 2 team is you go from curling every day to not at all. Zero. I will not curl in a meaningful game until next fall.  Sigh.

***

Quebec Women’s curling seems to have rallied around my battle cry after last year’s under-attended Scotties. There were 8 women’s teams in Valleyfield – and the caliber of play was visibly up from last year. You can see that many teams have increased their effort level to be competitive.

The winners are some close friends of mine, and I could not be prouder of them. Noémie Verreault, Alanna and Jill Routledge and Marie-Pier Côté will represent Quebec in Moose Jaw. Alanna was my 3^rd at 2 Mixed Nationals, and Jill has played with me at Glenmore for a bunch of years. I can’t wait to watch them on TV.

***

A note on tie-breakers. This year on the women’s side, 4 teams were tied for the last playoff spot at 4-3. 2 of the teams were eliminated (Tippin and Boisvert) based on the rather arbitrary criteria of their record vs. the other 4-3 teams. BTW – the 1^st place team was at 5-2, so it’s not like these teams were a mile away. But the rules were clear and unwavering, so 2 teams got to go home because they lost against the wrong teams (even though both had managed to beat the 1^st place team).

For reasons unknown to me, tie-breakers have gone out of style. It used to be that the unwritten rule was that you could not be eliminated from a Provincial or a National if you have the same record as the team above you. If you are 4-3, and the 5 Teams above you are 4-3, then you are not out. But lately we have added the measuring of pre-game shootouts (which I believe should only serve to rank teams that have the same record, but not eliminate) and have limited the number of possible tie-breaker rounds to 1.

I think we need to go back to the old rule. The fact is that the teams at provincials have taken a week off of work, and many have devoted a significant amount of their life and time to be ready for this week. It just feels a bit too arbitrary to send them home on such a weak set of criteria. I understand that organizers want to limit ice time and be able to commit to schedules…but I think when so much is on the line – let them play. Even if it has to be a 6 end game!

Quebec got spooked one year over a decade ago when in a 10-team round robin, there was 7-way tie for the last playoff spot at 4-5 (yes that meant 3 rounds of tie-breakers). Since then – we have added more and more rules to try to eliminate even the remotest possibility of multiple tie-breakers, as if they were some sort of plague, and there is talk of eliminating them altogether. I say let them play!

Chant it with me: Let them play, LET THEM PLAY…you get the idea.

Open the Chute! Time for Provs - and to Stop Watching the Continental Cup

The week before Provincials is the single longest week of the year for a curler.

You feel like one of those rodeo bull riders waiting for the chute door to open and the chaos to begin. I have thrown more practice rocks than I care to count, the crest is sewn on the jacket and I have purchased a medicinal bottle of rye for the week. I am ready. 

Any predictions? Sorry, no.

I will say the men’s field is as strong as I have seen in a while, with a remarkably deep field of teams that have put more effort and time into improving their game. Add a couple of Ontario imports, a few wily veterans and you have the makings for a crazy week of curling. Can’t wait. Definitely worth a quick drive to Valleyfield to watch if you are a fan.

***

So I was watching the Continental Cup this weekend. At the risk of pissing off my Curling Canada friends; this event should not exist.

For the uninitiated, the Continental Cup is a TSN made for TV event that pits the best teams from Europe against Canada’s best in a “match-play” kind of format, featuring numerous formats such as mixed doubles, skins, mixed and regular curling. The teams are playing for a trophy and bragging rights, with the winners splitting some token amount of cash.

I get the idea. The premise sounds exciting: let’s do a Ryder Cup, but for curling. It all sounds like a good idea. Until you watch…

Here is the rub; as a competitive curling team, there are only so many things you are mentally able to give a shit about. This is true for all level of competitive teams, and in other sports as well.

In British soccer for example, there is the FA Cup, The Champions League, the League Title, plus multiple more pre-season and in-season shields/trophies. At a certain point, big teams end up focusing on or two events at most, often fielding a “B-team” when they play in events they care less about. But curling teams don't have that option.

It is true for my team as well. I love curling, and I love playing as much as I can. But do I have the same level of intensity in every event I play in? Of course not. But nobody televises my Tuesday night ladder games.

As much as you can try to be up for every single event you play in, the fact is that there are events that get you more jacked than others. The Brier. A Slam. Provincials. Canada Cup. Trials. As hyped as the Continental Cup is, and as much as I think the teams try to get into it - they are not. I don't begrudge the teams that are there. They try their best to look like they are giving it their all.

Sure they eat donuts on the bench while cheering. They use noisemakers like some suburban hockey mom cheering on her 8 year old. They wear cool lumberjack-like jackets. I think they honestly try their best. 
But you just can’t fake caring.

Also – this year we had the added joy of misogyny! We got to watch some of the country’s best male curlers mansplaining shot selection to some top women’s skips! As the Stones Across the Pond podcast described it:  the Saturday game was cringe-worthy, and a fine example for coaches to use to highlight bad team dynamics.

I don’t want to sound too much like an old man standing on his front lawn yelling at the clouds, but this contrived made-for-TV event has done its time. Maybe its time to think of some other ways of getting exposure for curling, and better using the platforms provided by a TV audience to sell the game. I understand that TV ratings drive decision making, but I find it hard to believe that this is the most compelling contest we can put on TV.

***

A shout out to Hudson Whitlock Curling Club for putting on a great spiel last weekend. The club itself is beautiful, they had great food, decent money, great ice, big crowds of people watching and live bands on Friday and Saturday (featuring Brian Greenway of April Wine, no less)!

Funny that at the end of the spiel, as they were handing out the prizes, many of the thank you speeches from the curlers said “thanks for running a great bonspiel – this is how curling tournaments USED TO BE.” 

It should serve as a great reminder that if you want to run a great tournament, try to make sure people are having fun first.

No! Not Another Sweeping Scandal - and Pay Equity in Curling.

Home for a Rest.

Team Fournier is taking a few well deserved weeks off after what was a pretty good curling season. I love curling, but it kinda feels nice to not be re-packing my bag – taking the clothes directly from the dryer and throwing them into my travel bag to take off for another spiel.

I mentioned last blog that the “weekend warrior” idea of curler is a vanishing species. Big spiels now seem to assume that you can start on Thursday morning – which means 2 days off or often even more. Plus less spiels means that you have to travel further to play. We used to be able to do a competitive season out of Montreal without getting on an airplane: Toronto, Ottawa, Gatineau,
Charlevoix used to be as far as we would need to travel. Now we need to add events in the Maritimes and out West to be competitive.

I honestly do not know how the big teams keep up the schedule they are doing. I guess not having a day job to run home to is helpful, but for the teams that have young families at home this must be crazy tough as well. Travel is tiring. I passed by Rachel Homan in the airport on her way to Pictou, traveling with a baby, a stroller and about 700 bags. I remember how stressful and tiring it was to travel when I had young kids – I cannot conceive doing it while trying to win curling tournaments.

I assume that the big teams have very supporting entourages of helpers and families to facilitate things – but still - wow.

Some thoughts on some issues:

Sweeping Controversy – edition #37,859.

In case you missed it, there was yet another sweeping controversy at the European Championship.

Team Norway were leading a game by a lot against England and decided to give their 5^th man some ice time late in the game. He unfortunately used his own broom – instead of the broom of the player he replaced. This is against the rules, and Norway was given a LOSS, as that is the penalty for playing with an illegal broom.

Of course curling Twitter lost its collective mind, pointing their finger at an over-zealous official who applied the rules to the letter.

I have mixed feelings about this one. Of course I am a big believer in sportsmanship, and the spirit of curling, etc, but brooms are such a sensitive topic. After the years of acrimony we had over directional sweeping, the rules that have been put in place are there for a reason. The yellow heads wear out quickly; and by the end of a game are way less effective than they were in the early ends. Teams look for any edge they can legally get – some even manage their sweeping to save their broomheads until later ends. Bringing in a new sweeper with a new broomhead would be a big advantage. (I know this was not the case here – I am just pointing out why the rule exists). But Ullsrud should have known better, the rule exists for a good reason.

I think the problem is with the rule, not its application. The rule has to leave some wiggle room - some language that speaks to the intention or the relevance of the transgression.

Let me give you a hypothetical example to make it clear:  Brad Gushue and Mark Nichols go to the bathroom at the same time during the Brier final, and when they return, they accidentally pick up each other’s broom. Mark sweeps a few rocks with Brad’s broom, then notices, and tells the official. Technically, unless I am mistaken, the penalty for this transgression according to the rules should be loss of game. Ouch. No thinking person would ever apply that rule, but if an official applied the rule the way it is written – then the Brier final would end right there. 

How bad would that be? 

This rule needs to be re-written. The rule exists for a good reason – but needs to give some margin of application for context.

Pay Equity

Curling Canada announced this week that the winners of the Brier and the Scotties would make the same amount of money:  about $100K for the winners and $300K of total prize money.

This makes a lot of sense. 20 years ago, this would have been a harder case to make, as the Brier used to fill 20 thousand-seat venues while the Scotties was usually held in smaller towns. But then again 20 years ago the Brier winner didn’t even get prize money!

Today, more of the money comes from TV revenues and cresting – and the ratings and sponsorship for men’s and women’s events are similar. In addition – both the Brier and Scotties are held at smaller venues with similar attendance. You could still make a case that slightly higher attendance for the Brier should result in more $$$, but I think that the difference is relatively small and not worth the acrimony. Equal pay makes sense, and it is tough to argue that Rachel Homan / JJ / Einerson work any less hard than the men’s teams.

Equality is an especially big and symbolic step for a sport that was dragged kicking and screaming into the era of women’s equality in sport. My old curling club used to have a different membership price for Ladies and for Gentlemen curlers, with the Ladies being confined to curling within very specific times -and this was not that long ago. I guess it is the old golf club traditions that found their way into curling clubs – but women were almost always treated as inferior members. The sport had an inherent gender bias at every level.

While most curling clubs have at least entered the 21^st century when it comes to membership equality, there are still many remnants of past days that need to be updated if the sport is to be inclusive and modern.

The Royal Montreal Curling Club still has this as its crest:

Notice the motto in the middle: “How social the game and how manly”. I think the club founders in 1807 were being ironic, and just fighting against the people making fun of them for sweeping in a kilt. But still – your club motto excludes women. Hey, I am a big fan of tradition (and the RMCC has a fair amount of it - being the oldest club in Canada), but it might be time to update that one. And @Baie d’Urfe CC - we won’t even mention the ridiculously sexist murals still displayed on the walls of your ice shed. 

I am confident that although most of the responses to this announcement will be positive, the same old tired arguments will be trotted out on Twitter and at the end of the bar at curling clubs. Here is the one I hear a lot: “If women want to be treated equally, then we should just let them play in the men’s events.” Yes, it is a fact that the best men’s teams would beat the best women’s teams, the same way it is true that Roger Federer would likely crush Serena Williams. But that is not the point. The point is what do people want to watch. Curling is a sport where watching a women’s game can be equally as entertaining as watching a men’s game. TV ratings seem to prove this point. 

Happy to see Curling Canada taking the lead on this, and the sport will get a lot of favorable press as a result. Now we have to see if it will filter down and have a positive impact on the number of women playing the sport, especially in my home province.

The life of a Tier 2 curler, and Don Cherry thoughts

Oh the life of a Tier 2 curler! I am on a flight to Halifax to play the Stu Sells 1824 Classic after having spent a week in Nova Scotia last week as well. We were fortunate to be invited to our first ever Tier 2 Grand Slam event last weekend in Pictou, Nova Scotia. We got to play against some of the best teams in the world, and hang out with the very best as they played in an adjacent arena in the Kioti Tour Challenge.

Sadly, we lost the semi-finals to Korey Dropkin from the US, who went on to win the finals the next day against Tanner Horgan.

So how was it?

First of all, the overall experience was awesome.

It is not a Brier, but is pretty much the next best thing. The amount of volunteers needed to run an event like this is amazing. There were drivers, officials, ushers, ticket sellers, and countless other red-jacketed and perpetually smiling volunteers to help.

There are also crowds. The main arena held around 2000 people, and it was often close to full for the evening draws. The Tier 2 had virtually no crowds earlier in the week, and had a few curious onlookers by the weekend. Of course the finalists got to play in the big arena next to the actual Slam final.

It is a truly remarkable experience. The Slams have really elevated the “Showtime” part of the game, with walk-in music and entertainment. The Pinty’s pub (located behind the sheets on the arena) is actually a fun place to hang out during and after the games. I think I ate about 100 of their boneless chicken thingees. Pretty sure if you were watching the games on TV, you likely would have seen me inhaling chicken wings at some point in the background.

For a town like Pictou, you can see that this is a big deal. You had the feeling that the whole town was out to watch and support the event. They filled the arena during the weekdays with local schoolkids. ON the weekend – the arena was pretty much full. I am also impressed at how many people seem to travel from across the country to watch the slams.  

All in all, this was fun. Of course it is made to make us Tier 2 folks aspire to the big show – to give us a taste of the life of a Tier 1 curler in Canada. And of course, it got us thinking on what it would take for little Team Horses to get to the show.

To get into the Tier 1 events, you basically have to crack the top 15 in the world. So how do you crack the top 15?

•          Easiest way is to already be there. As soon as you win games or qualify in the Slams, you are pretty much guaranteed to stay there.
•          You can use the Gunnlaugson model – which is to play in 15-20 events per year (outside of Provincials/Brier). This is a tough one for most teams. This works well for the European/Asian teams that are funded by their local Olympic programs to travel full time in Canada and around the world accumulating points.
•          You can win the Tier 2 Slam, like Korey Dropkin did after beating us in the semis.
•          You can win the Brier

That is pretty much it. There is no other way to crack the top 15. If you want to play with the big boys (and girls), you have to go all-in. You need an abundance of these three things:

1.       Talent: Everybody is so damn good now. There are so few misses at this level. There was a particularly insightful interview with Brad Jacobs on after he won the Tier 1 event. He said that the level of play is SO high in today’s game that you basically have to go all-in every-end. There is no more defensive curling. Epping played 100% against Howard during the round robin – AND LOST. It’s not good enough anymore to not miss, you now have to make better/harder shots than the other team.
2.       Time: You need lots of time. Curling used to have room for “weekend warriors”, teams that would play weekend spiels to hone their skills and then take a run at the Brier. But these events don’t allow for that. We had to fly there on TUESDAY morning– we played 2 games on Wednesday, 2 games on Thursday, and then had Friday off. Basically – to play the Slams – you need to take the week off to play a few curling games. This is a huge barrier to entry for most curlers, limiting the field to basically pro-curlers, independently wealthy types and those fortunate enough to be able to work remotely. It seems more and more we play in spiels where we hardly play. Thank God for Netflix.
3.       Money: You need sponsorship to play at this level, even if you are wining. I look at our past few 3 spiels. We qualified in Toronto, failed to qualify in Medicine Hat and lost the Semis in Nova Scotia. For that, we won $7500. Not bad – better than a lot of teams. But wait, our expenses for these 3 spiels: around $10000. And that includes sleeping in my sister-in-law’s basement! And that does not include the medicinal Rye and Cokes I need to consume while spieling.

So for our team, we are definitely short on #2 and #3.

But it was sure fun to forget about that for a weekend and play in the same event as the best in the world.

Random tidbits from the season so far:

-          We had a great game in Toronto against Kevin Koe. We were 2 up playing 8 and gave up a 3 to lose on a shot I did not think was even there. Damn Kevin Koe. I guess I am not the first guy he has done that to.

-          For those of you asking – Will’s baby (la petite Billie) is out of the hospital and apparently doing well! Amazing that something so small and cute could be related to Will!

-          Played against a guy named Rylan Hartley in Toronto. This guy is a curling freak. He has been playing for all of 18 months – yes 18 months, and yet looks like he has been playing for 18 years. The guy is in his late 20s, and owns his own company which allows him to practice every day. He even rents ice in the summer to keep practicing, and pays pro teams for coaching advice. Not sure where he will be in a few years, but look out for a guy that has lots of #2 and #3 from my list above.

-          Big congrats to JS Roy and his mixed team (Amelie Blais, Dan DeWaard and Brenda Nichols) on winning the Canadian Mixed, and in a perfect fashion. JS has become one of the best in the game, and proved it this week. They will be a cool Team Canada. Almost makes me want to play mixed again…almost.

-          We can’t seem to beat a Japanese team this year. We have gone 0-2 against the Japanese this year. Maybe we will have to emulate them and start doing calisthenics in the parking lot before every game. Wait….No.

-          Stu Sells – AKA Stuart Sankey is now sponsoring/running the best Tier2 events in the country. He runs every spiel like a party – our next event is the 1824 Stu Sells Halifax Classic. This is probably the best Tier2 event in the East – and word is they are trying to get even bigger next year. And I love Halifax.

Some non-curling content.

Okay will venture into the Don Cherry debate that seems to be everywhere this week.

First of all, I am not a Don Cherry fan. It is tough for me to like a guy that is so biased against the Habs, against anyone who is not like him, and clearly does not like the fact that his neighbors in Mississauga might come from somewhere other than Canada.  I don't like the fact that he does not like french. I really don’t like that he over-promoted violence and fighting, got rich off of it and then spoke out against the idea that maybe repetitive concussions are not good for your long term health.

But like most people, Don Cherry is both good and bad. Sure he comes off as an asshole to a lot of people, but he seems to have a big heart when it comes to veterans, youth hockey and animals. It’s hard to hate that.

But I think the Don Cherry firing is an issue of something bigger: as a society we have lost our ability to debate. We have people rant and rave on one side of any issue – and then they claim victory because no one is around to oppose them. Don Cherry can dump on immigrants, and no one makes the counter point.

• Don Cherry is not unique. I have met hundreds of Don Cherrys. Don Cherry is one side of a debate.
• Don Cherry is my uncle, who watches Fox News all day and blames Hillary/Obama/Trudeau/immigrants for everything they don’t like in the world.
• Don is free of nuance, of listening to opposing views or self-doubt.
• Don Cherry is that guy at the end of the bar, who reduces every issue to its simplest form, and does not waste time trying to understand or sympathize with the other side of an argument. You are wrong and he is right.
• Don Cherry does not apologize, even when he is wrong, like he was this week. 

Does he belong on HNIC? I’d say no. His views on hockey are pretty outdated. He often does not really say much or add anything to the game anymore. And when he strays into politics – he belongs there even less. HNIC is not the place for a guy like that, he probably should have been fired long ago.

But that does not mean I am not interested in what he has to say, even if (and ESPECIALLY if) I do not agree with him? Of course I am. Freedom of speech is tricky that way.

So here is my pitch for a new show:

Put Don Cherry on a panel to talk hockey/politics/whatever. The panel should be people who disagree with him. Include Haley Wickenheiser. Have Jahmeet Singh on. Include guests that can challenge him. Let’s have some friendly debate.  Let’s stop shouting at each other over Twitter and actually see people who do not agree talk face to face. Have someone “neutral” refereeing.

I’m a big fan of the Bill Maher show on HBO. Bill is in an unabashed liberal, but the show is at its best when he has prominent Republicans on his show. The debate is fun to watch. People speak freely. I don’t think we have an equivalent in Canada. We need it. I’d watch. And either way – we would not need to fire anybody.

4 Rye and Cokes and a Bag of Jalapeno chips - and Other Life Choices

Buuurrrp.

Okay maybe 4 rye and cokes and a bag of jalapeno chips was not the ideal post game snack.

We are at the Moosehead Fall Open Classic in Ottawa, and we have qualified for the quarterfinals tomorrow morning at 11. Team Fournier is playing pretty well so far this spiel, we are 3-0 and get to sleep in tomorrow morning while other teams are still fighting to get to the quarters. But I’m up at 4 am in our crack-house AirBnB with a wicked heartburn due to my poor nutrition choices…so why not write a blog to spend some time.

Amazingly this is our second event of the year. I say amazingly because most curlers in Montreal have not even thought about curling much; my curling club only put its ice in this week, and most clubs in the area are also just kicking things off. We played in the Shorty Jenkins Classic in Cornwall a few weeks ago, and most big teams played the weeks before that in Oakville or elsewhere.

For some reason, competitive curling season seems to start earlier every year, as teams try to get a jump on the season, meaning we are walking into curling clubs more in shorts and flip flops than in winter coats. I am not sure what has driven competitive curling so aggressively into September and even August, when I feel like I should be golfing or at least enjoying our far-too-brief summer.

One thing that is stunning especially about playing in the August-September spiels is just how many teams around the world have now made curling their day job. I snuck out of work on a Tuesday morning before the Shorty in Cornwall a few weeks ago to throw a few practice rocks, and had a tough time getting a sheet of ice. All the Euro-teams and Asian teams were there early in the morning practicing with their coaches, fitness trainers, psychologists and nutritionists (who clearly would have advised me against the rye-jalapeno chips decision). As you watch them, you realize that this is their job. Curling is not a hobby, or a past time, or something they do for fun. This is their job. They are paid by their country’s Olympic committees to get as good at curling as physically possible. That means fitness training, sports psychology, video review and lots and lots of practice.

It goes without saying that when I was coming out of juniors, curling was never a career choice. Not that I was ever good enough at the time to even have contemplated this, but curling was always something you did when you were not at work. I am not sure if I could handle devoting my “life’s work” for something as potentially frustrating as curling. Don’t get me wrong – I love the game. But I love it at least in part because it is not everything. If I win great, if I lose life goes on. Either way I am still back at work on Monday. I have had some brilliant moments curling, but I have also had some soul-crushing losses, where it felt like some cosmic force is working against you.

Imaging your job is curling, and your season comes down to one game (as it often does). And you lose that game on a random “missed-shot” by the other team that creates some unintended wiki-ticky bullshit lucky result. It’s happened to me countless times in my life (both for and against). Curling is a game that lends itself to these type of conclusions; there is a fair amount of randomness that can decide the outcome, even at the highest level. The difference between two evenly matched teams can often come down to a lucky break; to an unintended consequence. Now imagine that your career success or failure depends on this!

I was thinking about this last week as well. I was watching a movie on the golf channel about Bobby Jones. Jones golfed in the 1920's and 30's, and was the best in the game at the time. But despite the financial rewards that were available, he chose to remain an amateur. He played golf as a game, and ended up quitting early to become an architect or something (I fell asleep before the end of the movie :-)). So despite being remembered as one of the best to ever play - golf was never his job. 

The pursuit of excellence in the name of Olympic glory has certainly added so much skill development and shot-making to the game. It has elevated the quality of play to the point where teams just do not miss. Even with a 5-rock free guard zone, the best teams are able to control ends – to move guards around at will and control so much of the outcome. But even with that, there is still that element of randomness to the game. It’s what makes it so much fun to PLAY and watch, but often makes me happy that I have a job to go back to Monday morning to pay the mortgage! The fact is I still curl because it is fun, I am not sure how much I would enjoy it if it was my job.

Thank God – I just found a Rolaids in the bottom of my shaving bag. Salvation.