The Curling Show

We've been proud to partner with curling's first-ever podcasting show this past season. Available at their website, or from iTunes, or via Yahoo!, The Curling Show has showcased some solid and entertaining Q & A with big names – and some lesser known but still fascinating names – all year long.

Dip into their archives and check out interviews with ballsy veterans like Kevin Martin and The Wrench; relative newbies like Jean-Michel Menard; The Superwoman of Curling, Anette Norberg, and other characters like The Doctor, Johnny Mo and the legendary Johnny K.

And they've finally nailed the elusive chief of The Curling News, George Karrys, for a two-part summary show that is now posted online.

So who dat in the photo?

Nope, it's not Karrys, although the tall hair might just work for him as well... it's none other than Curling Show host and honcho Dean Gemmell, the former Brier competitor out of Quebec who now resides in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and pines for the day when curling rears its head in his current base of operations.

Elsewhere:

• Okay, Carter Rycroft can talk now. His new squad of Blake MacDonald, Kevin Koe and Nolan Thiessen is confirmed in today's Calgary Herald. Rycroft, of course, is the ex-second for 2002 Olympic silver medallist Kevin Martin; Koe was third for the now-Martin-bound John Morris; MacDonald is a two-time provincial finalist (twice bonked by the Ferbey 4) with Team Jamie King, and Thiessen – lead puck for 2006 Alberta finalist Mark Johnson – also counts a 2003 curling gold from the World University Games on his resume.

Sez Koe:

None of us have played together, but if you look at our past history, we've all had success everywhere we've gone. We're all pretty good friends, we're all about the same age group – what's not to like?

• TCN caught up with David Nedohin recently, and asked for a comment on the new Team Martin. The last-rock Ferbster was much obliging, and offered this:

I don't think there is any question as to the talent of the players on the team, and that they'll be a major threat over the next few years. However, similar to the development of any team, the chemistry of these four individuals together has yet to be seen. If they can gel, and each player accepts the roles and responsibilities of their position, they will be a formidible force.

• Anyone who doubts that the accomplishments of amateur athletes have little or untraceable positive impact on kids – and by extension, society as a whole – needs to read this story, which tells how Marcia Gudereit's 1998 Olympic gold helped build and deliver an Olympic silver medal, eight years later in Turin...

• This just in: those cool tractor photo cards are now a collector's item, as Kubota Canada has forwarded a joint news release, announcing the end of their curling sponsor parternship with Team Jeff Stoughton.

As the story goes, skip Stoughton met a Kubota honcho on a plane and the two hit it off, resulting in what the now-changed-up Team Stoughton described as the best team sponsor in curling. The five-year partnership is now over, but hopefully Kubota will be back someday. Their investment helped Stoughton stay near the top of the curling ladder... and according to Team Stoughton's many female fans, also brought hot orange into curling fashion just as it became trendy...