It's an all-Scotland Blog today, as the lineups have been announced for the Scottish entries at the European Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, next month.The men's squad quite obviously favours the David Murdoch team, world runner-ups to Canada's Randy Ferbey last April, while the women's foursome is a mixed bag, featuring three skips: 2002 Olympic champ Rhona Martin, 2002 world champ Jackie Lockhart, and last year's Scottish champ Kelly Wood (photo).
So what does this mean for hopefuls like Tom Brewster, who are on the outside looking in? Does this mean Murdoch et al have the overwhelming edge to be named to the Turin Olympic team for Great Britain, or could it mean that Brewster's crew have performed well enough that the selectors want to see more of Murdoch in action before the final selection is announced on Dec. 23?
Who the heck knows?
Meanwhile, BBC Sports will air a Radio Scotland documentary on Dec. 24 -- the day after the final Olympic selections are made -- featuring those three women's skips and their efforts to qualify for Olympic glory. "On Thin Ice" is the show title.
Incidentally, quite a good chunk of the Euro shootout will be available on Eurosport, Europe's sporting mega-channel, with production once again by Rick Davis and other Canucks who also work in curling coverage for Sportsnet, TSN, CBC et al.
Count me in the ABGB – Anybody But Great Britain – group when it comes to Torino. To me, the idea of an Olympic team being selected by a group of curling technocrats is just awful – it goes against so many of the qualities that make the sport great. (I realize other countries may also be selecting their team instead of having a championship, but none seem to have had the process and attention of the Scots.) I love the UK, but I'm hoping these all-star teams are nowhere near the medal stand in February – the last thing we need is more countries considering this approach for 2010.
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