Wonder Kid Curling

It’s all about the kids. And the Olympics.

Canadian Olympic TV viewers have been delighted by the new commercial spots for Wonder Bread, a sponsor of both the Canadian Olympic team in Beijing and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games overall.

Wonder, a Weston Bakeries brand, has a Beijing 2008 online campaign but chose the winter sports theme for its TV spots, which features tiny tykes attempting to ski, skate, bobsleigh and... you guessed it, throw curling stones (above, click to zoom in).

Brilliant move by Weston, and their agency, Round Table Advertising. The little ones are impossibly cute, as you can see by this link. You can also see the spot here, plus the :15-second all-curling version.

Cuteness sells. And we’re buying, particularly when we see two youngsters sliding rocks around amid slips and slides.

The tykes are hired actors (but of course) and the spot was shot last November. Turns out the “stones” are actually ice buckets that were partially filled with sand, glued shut and then painted to resemble real curling stones. VANOC and the Canadian Curling Association even gave their blessing to the new “rocks”.

Er... wouldn’t it have been easier to just call Asham?

Curling has its own :15-second vignette, while the link above showcases all sports in a :60-second spot.

“It’s a little different to see winter sports during the summer Olympics,” said Weston’s Lisa Dahl. And as we said earlier, that’s brilliant.

Here’s Round Table Creative Director Brent Peterson:

Wonder Bread is the favourite bread of Canadian children, and through Weston Bakeries, is an Official Supplier to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. This inspired us to show Canada that it is never too early to start dreaming. We thought it would be charming and entertaining to watch tomorrow's athletes as they discover, learn (and fumble through) their chosen sport.


And still with kids, both big and small...

• “Young people aren’t watching curling anymore,” says John Bernards, executive director of the International Association of Skateboard Companies. Bah Humbug, John. What–Ever. Get Bent, or whatever boarders are saying these days. You Gnarly Chode ...

• Sounds like reigning world junior curling champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland is also one heck of a golfer ...

• From curling’s favourite big kid: 2006 Olympic champ Jamie Korab has posted a behind-the-scenes video from his Italian experience ...

• For the kid in all of us: here’s a peek at a car racing video game featuring “curling” – in this one you eject your driver through the window and onto a curling target. Er, okay ...

• Turns out former Scottish world curling champ and current Brit Olympic team bigwig Mike Hay is in Beijing, after first going to Macao ...

• And two Canadian curling coaches are also in Beijing, Janet Arnott (of Team Jennifer Jones) and Scott Taylor (from Team Glenn Howard). This is part of a Canadian Olympic Committee “secret plan” to familiarize potential 2010 team mebers and coaches with the whole Olympic hoo-hah. Scott reports exclusively for The Curling News:

13 hour flight over was good. The new Beijing airport is fantastic. Road travel was easy using the special lane for Olympic vehicles. The sun is up but obscured by haze. Hot and humid. Off to the Olympic Village this morning.

Slow going on this BlackBerry.

What we have seen of Beijing is beautiful and clean. The people are very friendly. Many of them speak English, which makes it easy for us.

Our first full day kept us busy. We spent most of the day at the Athlete’s Village after we traded in our passports for one of the coveted accreditations. Security is tighter than at some airports. It boggles the mind to comprehend the time, effort, planning and organizing that must go into a facility that houses and feeds 10,000 athletes and 4,000 support staff. We had lunch in a more quaint setting that seats 6,000.

Our athletes are well looked after. The support staff have setup facilities to help them prepare and recover. It was great to see that many athletes have their country’s flag hanging from their balcony. The huge Canadian flag that had been smuggled into many previous closing ceremonies made it obvious where our athletes are located.

Our next stop was Canada Olympic House. It provides many services for the family and friends of our athletes. Fortunately for us we were considered friends – hey, we’re curlers! – and got the royal treatment.

Jet-lag is decreasing. We shouldn't fall asleep during the next day’s session.

Media day! We visited the International Broadcast Centre (IBC). We found out firsthand that you can’t get anywhere if your passport does not match the info they have on file. The half of the media centre that we saw is massive. It’s unbelievable how many media people are here. It can be a challenge for the athletes to make time for the media but how would their story get told without them?

With great anticipation we went to the Canada-USA women’s baseball game. You can’t get in if you have a bottle of water with you – just like boarding a plane. Canada took a 1-0 lead against the favoured USA in the bottom half of the first inning. Then the air cleared and the rain started. Watching the grounds crew cover the infield was entertaining. After we were soaked, raincoats were handed out to everyone. Our agenda did not allow us to wait. As we drove away on the bus the rain cover was being pulled off to resume play. My dream of seeing Olympic athletes in action has been fulfilled. Turns out the game was eventually called off, and our women's team will have a double-header tomorrow.

Back at the Canadian Performance Centre we got to hear from Canadian head coaches about how they help their athletes prepare for their Olympic performance. We took a tour of the Centre and outfitting areas. We had a dinner meeting tonight to cap off our 13-hour day... and it’s still raining!

New curling championship; Korab madness

Just a few days after The Dominion golf-fest for the Sandra Schmirler Foundation (see previous posting) comes word that Canadian curling’s favourite insurance company is jumping in – again – with two more event sponsorships.

This is in addition to their partnership with Canadian Curling Association, which offers an amazing curling club insurance program, plus their work with numerous curling teams and grass roots events.

First came word of the new name of the Toronto Curling Association’s Junior Bonspiel, a legendary post-Christmas affair which has served as a kind of curling exchange program with Switzerland. Past champions – which indicate just how old this venerable event is – include Wayne Middaugh, John Kawaja, Alison Goring, Mike Harris and many more. Glenn Howard even lost the final.

Now comes the news of a new national event aimed at recreational club curlers, known as The Dominion Curling Club Championship.

Imagine winning your club championship, and then having a national championship to go to for your efforts!

With the first such championship set for November 2009 in Toronto, and with plans to take the event across the country in the years to come, this is yet another step in The Dominion’s direct outreach to the average curling club and its local community.

Great news and we look forward to further details coming in the future.

What else is happening? Tons, actually ...

• Team Brad Gushue lead man and chief funnyman Jamie Korab has been busy. His company, Bell/Aliant, is an official Canadian Olympic partner and sponsors four athletes, all of whom will be in Beijing for either the Summer Olympics (which starts Friday) or the Paralympics (which begin September 6).

Turns out Korab went around with a professional crew and filmed them in action, and conducted some interviews. He also tried their sports out... yes, we’re serious!

See Jamie try kayak! And fencing! And wheelchair basketball! And good heavens!

So is the beloved Korab the new Rick Mercer? Or not? We’ll let you be the judge – you can find the various shows here ...

• Speaking of Korab, his teammate Mark Nichols, sister Shelley Nichols and 2006 Paralympic wheelchair curling champ Chris Daw recently made a recent show of support for CanFund, aka Canadian Athletes Now ...

• 2007 world champ Kelly Scott is happy to announce the arrival of her first child, Nash MacKenzie Scott, on July 24 ...

• 2007 world men’s champion Craig Savill was married August 2 in gorgeous Prince Edward Island ...

• With new beginnings come sad endings, and we say farewell to Elmer Schmidt, a community curling legend in Regina ...

• World Junior champions Team Chris Plys hosted a recent golf fundraiser for the coming season ...

• The methodical drive through the curling world continues for Compete-At software, who have now partnered with Curl BC in western Canada ...

• We have yet another Texas curling feature, this one out of Houston ...

• Looks like some out-of-town friends recently enjoyed curling (and kayaking) ...

• Much ado about New Zealand, as their nationals are underway (here and here) and it looks like they’ll be doing more outdoor rock chucking this week, starting today, in fact ...

• Michael Little has reposted his ode to curling from two years ago. We love this, specifically:

I used to believe that the world was divided into those who loved anchovies and those who would rather starve than eat one. Now I am convinced that the world is divided into those who don’t get curling, those who love curling, and those who would love curling if they only gave it a chance.

We also love the name of Michael’s blog, but for otherworldly reasons which have nothing to do with curling ...

• And finally, we at TCN can remember the times when curling was scoffed at in the press... and even further ago, when it wasn’t even mentioned in the press. However nowadays, irregardless of sarcasm, we have stories – like this one – in which curling is actually praised while luminary summer Olympic sports, like athletics, get lampooned.

Is this really happening? Perhaps one day we’ll wake up, and it’s all been just one crazy dream ...

Team Gushue speaks

EDMONTON – Alberta native Chris Schille, the second for Brad Gushue, is here at the Ford Worlds, in the runup to Wednesday’s Tylenol Players’ Championship in nearby Calgary.

Moments ago, Schille was dispatched to the Rexall Place media workroom (photo) by his skip to meet the media and explain the unpopular decision to drop popular lead Jamie Korab.

Apparently, the team members had spoken “a lot of times over the past few weeks” and it had “been talked about prior to the Brier”, and the situation all came down to “some on-ice problems, and we had discussions about it throughout the year.”

It was “a real tough decision” and “it really broke our hearts to make this decision.”

It was “almost a clash personality-wise” and “near the end, Jamie seemed not to be in the direction we were going.”

When a reporter asked about Korab’s commitment, Schille said no way, Jose: “Not at all, his work ethic was terrific.”

Another reporter asked about a reported incident between Gushue and Korab at the Strauss Canada Cup, right after the team’s tough loss in the Brier final, and Schille confirmed it to be “an example” where “Brad was saying one thing and Jamie was hearing another… Jamie took it the wrong way.”

Schille said that Korab “started to get a little bit on the negative side… we were trying to build on something they did last year (the 2006 Olympic gold) and (Korab) seemed to be going in another direction.”

Schille also added that “Brad is being attacked about this, especially out east… it’s not really about winning at all costs, it’s about doing the right thing for the team.”