TV quote and Monsieur Ferland

Joe Pavia of the Ottawa Sun almost, but not quite, reveals what this here blog revealed last month (see Sept. 29 post) regarding the new TV curling scene. A good recent quote from CCA chief Dave Parkes though: "We've listened to the reaction of the fans and I think they are going to be happy."

Once again – for those who are still in the dark – this guy is busy buying a new set of outrageous neckties.

On another note, we spoke to an excited André Ferland last night.

The Quebec curling pioneer is pumped about his new Performance website, which is hereby relaunched with Flash animation, all-in-one online shopping, and even an archive of some of his best curling columns from the past: topics include rock timing, meaningful practice, brushing technique (naturally) and so on.

There’s more. “After this year, I’m retiring,” André announces. He explains that son Martin will take over day-to-day operations as manager, and as owner André himself will drift away. Sort of. “I’ll still be around,” he says.

Ferland isn’t coaching any high-performance teams right now, but he still volunteers his technical and clinic expertise with Curl-Québec. Hmm... how much of a retirement is this, anyway?

On the ice, Martin Ferland is into a bang-up fall as third for the revitalized Team Pierre Charette, who rank sixth on The Curling News Gold Trail (and seventh in the weekly Top 10) with over $18,000 in winnings thus far.

Back to André. There are some great stories over the years. A strong booster of junior curling, he even stormed out of the first-ever CCA committee meeting concerning qualification for the Olympic Trials (in 1995 or so) because the committee refused to include juniors.

Now, of course, his Performance brush is used by everyone – there’s even an alliance with fellow tradesmen like Asham and BalancePlus – to the point that the Hammer and the Brownie (remember them?) are little more than stock club brooms these days.

Magnifique.