A New Season, With Stability

Well, this is a new curling season.  I have new pants.  I have a new broom.

And, for the first time in about a decade, I don't have a new team.  My team this year - for league play, anyway - is the same team I ended last season with.  And I feel good about this.  We finished strong, and I spent my summer studying strategy.

It's good to have a stable team.  I know how each member of my team will throw.  I know my lead will put up two fantastic guards, every time.  I know my 2nd will throw takeout weight when she needs to.  I know my vice will draw right where he needs to.

And I know my skip will lose games for us.  That's OK.  I'm the skip.

The Best Curling Video Game Stars An Italian Plumber And A Blue Hedgehog?

Given the lack of curling ice over the summer in the Northeastern United States (or at least my access to it), I have taken to practice my curling strategy using the great medium that is video gaming.  Here's the problem - no one has figured out how to make a truly great curling video game.

Curling Season Is Almost Over.... Or Is It?

For many of my readers, curling season has ended.  Many more of you are seeing the season winding down.  The women's World Championships are done, and the finals of the men's Worlds are coming in just a few short hours.  Next week, the Player's Championship, the culminating event of the Grand Slam of Curling season, is coming.  Many of our clubs have gone to slush, or will in the next two weeks.  My home club goes to slush on April 21st.

Curling is done for the year, or is very nearly so. At least, that's what conventional wisdom says. But here in the US, it's not exactly true.

A Wicked Guilty Pleasures Special Cross-Post!

As many of you know, this is not my only blog.  I have a little blog that is dedicated to musical Wicked Guilty Pleasures that I co-author with my friend, Scott Colvin.  Today, I posted the 2nd tribute to great songs about curling. The first was a spotlight on the song "Tournament of Hearts" by The Weakerthans, the greatest song ever written about curling, to coincide with the end of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Today, to celebrate the end of the Brier, I posted this spotlight on the 2nd greatest song ever written about curling, Johnathan Coulton's "Curl".  You can certainly go read about this on my other blog - and please do - but I wanted to make it easy for you to see this one.  So, to that end, here it is, in its entirety!

Sheet A

I fell while curling last night. I don't fall much anymore, but every once in a while, I can and do slip a little bit.

This wasn't a little slip. This was a spectacular flop on my back. I hit the ice hard, and kicked a stone (at rest, not on the move), sending it airborne. I didn't hit my head, thankfully, but my back and elbow were sore, as was my toe (from kicking a stone) and my pinky. And it knocked the wind out of me for a moment.

I continued to play - I lost, but I wasn't going to let my fall be the reason why. And today, my pinky, ankle, and neck are sore, but I am otherwise OK.

I was playing on Sheet A.

My second week curling, ten years ago, I was sweeping a stone with a fellow curler, Ben Emerson - he has since passed away - on Sheet A. He fell spectacularly on his back. He did hit his head - as I recall, there was blood - and that ended his season. It nearly ended his curling career, right when it had started.

I don't like Sheet A. I can't avoid playing on it, but I get bad feelings every time I play there. Not only are there several injuries in its history, it plays funny. Rocks curl sharply towards the wall, as if there are magnets attracting them there.

And yet, I usually play well there. I've learned its foibles, and I'm usually extra careful there. I tell my team to be careful there as well.

But, as I learned - or, rather, was reminded - last night, curling can be a dangerous sport. I had gotten comfortable with Sheet A, and I let my guard down. But I kept my head up, literally and figuratively. Even though I lost my match, I feel Sheet A and I have a working relationship now.

Until Sheet A trips me up again. Then all bets are off.

I’m as serious as a poutine shortage in Chicoutimi during a curling bonspiel.

I know, I moan a lot about the dearth of curling on television in the United States.  That, however, is not what I am referencing here today. In fact, quite the opposite.

“I’m as serious as a poutine shortage in Chicoutimi during a curling bonspiel.”

Dateline: October 31, 2011. The show: How I Met Your Mother.  Those who are familiar with the show will know that it is centered around a group of five friends in New York City.  One of these friends, Robin Scherbatsky, is Canadian.  This particular aspect of her character is a running joke throughout the show.  In particular, Doogie Howser Barney Stinson is one who makes fun of her Canadian heritage.

On the October 31, 2011 episode, titled "The Slutty Pumpkin Returns", it is discovered that Barney's grandmother is from.... Manitoba (gasp!). Needless to say, this sparks a rapid-fire bunch of references to Canadian things. I mean, normally, Robin does make a lot of Canadian references that her friends don't get (but I do!), but this was a lot, even for her.

About halfway through the episode, Robin let this zinger fly:

“I’m as serious as a poutine shortage in Chicoutimi during a curling bonspiel.”

Let me repeat that, so you get it.

“I’m as serious as a poutine shortage in Chicoutimi during a curling bonspiel.”

Did you get all that?  Let's put aside the curling reference for a minute - oh, don't worry, we'll get back to it.  There were THREE Canadian references of varying obscurity in less than two seconds.  Land speed record.  And, for those who are not aware, Chicoutimi is a small city in northern Quebec.  With a fairly significant curling club.

Poutine will rate its own blog post, but for those who are unaware, it is Canadian health food.  And by health food, I mean it is French fries and cheese curds covered in gravy.  Aside: I've never actually had poutine.

If you didn't get the curling reference in the quote, then I suggest you go back and read all the other posts in my blog.  Don't worry.  We'll wait.

I was very excited that a hit television show in the United States was making such a bold curling reference.  Really, the only other show in the United States that dared to mention curling was actually a Canadian show being replayed late night on Chicago superstation WGN.  Ah, how I miss Corner Gas.

Yes, that is Randy Ferbey, friends! My curling fan readers will get the reference.  For those who don't, Mr. Ferbey is a sales rep for Asham Curling Supplies.  Oh, he is also a six time Brier champion - his first was in Chicoutimi in 1988! - winning the world championship four times.  He's quite a good curler, to say the least.

On further investigation, however, I made an exciting discovery!  This isn't the first time How I Met Your Mother has mentioned curling!  In fact, it is no less than the third episode in which curling has been mentioned.  One time, mentioned in this Curling News blog entry, complete with interview, occurred in the episode entitled "Duel Citizenship" during season 5.  You'll see the brooms and stones at the approximate 2 minute point.

Why this particular women's curling team is keeping stones scattered all over their hotel room, I don't know.

The next reference is from the Season 6 episode, entitled "Glitter".  In this episode, it is discovered that Robin, already known to be a teen star from Canada who went by the stage name of Robin Sparkles..... You know what.  Let me allow the Wikipedia article to say it better:

"(Robin) Sparkles also appeared on the Canadian educational children's show Space Teens with Thicke where two teen girls traveling through space in a curling stone–shaped spaceship "solve mysteries using math" featuring the song “Two Beavers Are Better Than One” further parodying Canadians"

Robin got her own Wikipedia article.  Who knew?

I'll be watching for the next curling reference on American television. This many references on one popular television show is an excellent sign that curling is becoming more mainstream and more accepted here.  I'd like to take at least some credit for it..... but I won't.  Not today. 

Ow.

I've had a twinge of pain behind my left knee for about a month now.  Not too serious - I was taking it easy on it as much as I could.  It did make it rather difficult to run, but it had been improving.