All hail our Curling History

Today’s blogpost is aimed at delivering well-earned congratulations and thanks to... another blog site.

Two sites, actually.

Many readers know that Curling Today is the official blog of The Scottish Curler, a wonderful curling news publication which happens to be older than dirt... just like ours!

As such, many readers should already be aware that a new companion blog has been launched, Curling History. This one is a partnership between SC honcho Bob Cowan and reknowned curling historian Sheriff David B. Smith.

The new blog has a sharp focus on all things faded and blurry: namely, the ancient history of our Roaring Game. And as readers are aware of our recent 50th anniversary and the celebration of all things, er, older than dirt... readers can be assured that we are quite interested in this new blog. And we invite you to get interested, too.

Our three favourite postings thus far, in reverse order, are:

3. How many have drowned? – why have we never heard stories of outdoor curlers crashing through the ice, nor seen photos nor drawings of such disasters? Well, now we have them!

2. Kerr’s History of Curling online - serious kudos to Bob on this one: we spotted the Electric Scotland curling initiative back in mid-May but neglected to run the story. And now the tale has been told in such better fashion! All we shall add are these quotes from Electric Scotland founder Alastair McIntyre:

Since publishing the first chapter, the webmaster of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club sent me a link to the History of the Strathcona Cup, which I’d added to the page. As he personally played in the last Scotland vs. Canada match, in Canada, I’m hoping he’ll do me a wee article about it and send in some pictures from it.

I would thus be happy to publish the first edition of Canadian Curling News if you would supply a copy!

Finally, as it happens I have had on my site for some time a wee curling game, which I commissioned back in Scotland. It goes nicely with a similar Caber Toss game!

Thanks, and well done, Alastair. And as we at TCN are well-known curling videophiles, here’s the link to the game.

And finally, our favourite:

1. Silver Broom, Perth, 1975 – ah yes, long-hidden colour photos of a magnificent event, now unearthed in the digital age. This is what it’s all about, folks. And Bob was there, of course, snapping the images of a previous, and glorious, curling era.

We have appropriated one of his pics for our story photo, above, as it shows a skillful western-Canadian-style tuck delivery in action, a delivery that was to become even more famous in the 1980s. Any guesses as to who this is, people?


Elsewhere:

• Famed front-ender Scott Pfeifer has a fractured fifth metatarsal in his sliding foot, and is now armed – er, legged – with a cast and crutches. Seems the second man for Team Randy Ferbey rolled his ankle in a workout on Monday, but aims to be back on the ice for late September ...

• Did you happen to spot the comment after our previous posting? Andrew T from the CCC reports that his group of curling diehards are abandoning the hockey arena and will move into a leased warehouse, and make their own ice in the facility. A huge undertaking indeed, and we certainly wish our Columbus friends all the best ...

• Need your summer curling fix? Here’s the final rocks of the Tropicurl in Pittsburgh, at which the Tam Heather skip made this nifty draw to force a tough last brick from his U.S. opponent, who missed the mark. But our favourite is this one, illustrating the Kids’ defeat of the Geezers ...

• The Gravenhurst, Ontario summer spiel is always a good time ...

• A new European Junior Curling Tour has been announced, with more here. There are three stops announced thus far and the project is steered by the Danish curling coach Sune Frederiksen (Czech Republic) with help from Norway’s Ole Ingvaldsen and Scotland’s Rhona Martin. This welcome initiative is sure to grow, and kudos to WCT-E ...

• Here’s a pretty good wipeout in Strasbourg, France ...

• This one is a beauty: an off-the-wall gem outdoors in the fading sun ...

• Bob Weeks talks golf and curling on The Curling Show ...

• In what was labelled by London’s venerable Daily Mail as “one of the most audacious recruitment raids since Australia poached a million Britons in the 1950s and 60s”, the Canadian province of Alberta has been calling on Britons to emigrate to Canada, and curling has apparently been mentioned as a lure. Well, then ...

• Here’s another sales page for the silly but cute Ice Cube Curling, and here’s an online promo, too ...

• And finally, commercial spots that poke fun at curling are nothing new, and we only fail to appreciate those which lack decent humour. But does anyone fail to see the irony in a sports betting company taking such a potshot? Canada’s Richard Daneault and Carter Rycroft star in this one from Spain – against their will, and that of CBC-TV, no doubt ...