$8,000 for a curling 8-ender

No, we are not making this up.

If you scored an eight-ender in 2006, you could win CDN $8,000.

And one team certainly will, on January 28.

Remember the days when a sponsor would award free stuff to a team that scored an eight-ender, that magical perfect end – all eight stones counting – which is curling's closest thing to golf's hole-in-one? We remember companies like Seagrams... Ford... even the now-defunct Cigar Institute of Canada, circa 1968 (and how did we know that one? Check out our next issue and the 50th anniversary retrospective section, of course).

Those days were long gone... until now.

Asham Curling Supplies, which markets the Furgale 8-ender brush, will soon be announcing the Asham 8-Ender Award, which will disburse an $8,000 cash prize to one of 145 teams – worldwide – that are listed as scoring an eight-ender during the previous 2005-06 curling season.

To find out which lucky team scores the big prize, tune in to CBC's coverage of the BDO Classic Canadian Open, the second Grand Slam of the season, live from Winnipeg on Jan. 28.

Asham, of course, is the title sponsor of the World Curling Tour, which features the four Grand Slam of Curling events as their crown jewels. And don't forget that CurlTV will be there throughout the round-robin and quarter-final action.

Speaking of the BDO, curling fans can count on a package deal from the Fairmont Winnipeg, where two room nights gets you two days of game tickets for a total of $150. Pretty sweet!

Briefly:

• The provincial Scotties are underway soon, so check this blog early next week for a handy list of all the event websites across the land. Another service we provide; aren't we nice!

• The Tim Hortons Brier Tankard usually goes on tour in late February, visiting the home club of each men's provincial champion before heading off to the big event. This year, a wee tour of the Hamilton area is on tap to drum up interest.

Just one question: is it really a tankard? Or just a trophy?

It is, of course, the original MacDonald Tobacco Brier Trophy (19-whatever through 1979), and wasn’t the tankard reference specific to the big gold beer mug Labatt built for that Brier era (1980-2000)?

Just asking ...

• DID YOU KNOW: That a one-day charity spiel in Midland, supported by the Middaughs, has raised $18,000? ...

• Mark Olson?

Did you say Mark OLSON?

Goodness, we haven’t seen him since... since... okay, since this ...