Lots today. There’s a big Ontario player meeting tomorrow; some Seinfeld mischief; Jennifer Jones in Guelph; many hugs in Moncton; a Polish flame; Soo tickets already; the death of Gordie Weber and more.
But first – this nice photo of proud papas Neil Harrison (far left) and Paul Savage (far right) and their sons, Sean Harrison (inside left) and Brad Savage.
Sean toils for Team Chris Gardner, a fine young squad competing at the 2009 Ontario Tankard which is also off to China very shortly, for the 2009 Winter Universiade, otherwise known as the World University Games.
Brad throws lead for Team Peter Corner, currently in second place and confirmed for the Tankard playoffs this weekend.
The original Harrison and Savage, of course, are curling legends... and their old skipper, Eddie “The Wrench” Werenich was also at Woodstock yesterday.
You can read this story and much more by downloading the various editions of the daily event newsletter, the Bull Roar, from this webpage.
And don’t forget the first of our huge, multi-part interviews with The Wrench which is in the current February print edition of The Curling News. It’s typically controversial stuff, and you can’t read it online, so why not subscribe?
Believe us, you’ll be glad you did.
Anyway, this continues yesterday’s father/daughter theme starring Russ and Ashley Howard. And, although we’ve told you this already – come on, people – we are compelled to point out that still yet another Howard, Scott Howard, lost the Ontario junior men’s championship final on the same day his dad – Glenn Howard – lost the Casino Rama skins final to Randy Ferbey. You can see a photo of Scott Howard in action in the story link, too.
And now for the hard news.
The Ontario Curling Association will be present – with no less than six high-powered suits in attendance – at an Open Forum meeting with athletes Saturday morning in Woodstock.
The goal is to attempt to thrash out long-discussed changes to Ontario’s archaic playdown system.
The meeting is no surprise. The usually disorganized athletes have been united in recent weeks, and from the OCA perspective, the absence of a fellow like Wayne Middaugh – who wilfully chose to compete in a Grand Slam event instead of his last chance provincial playdown – tends to get people’s attention. As in fans, sponsors, et cetera.
“Let’s not do (zones and regional qualifying) in curling clubs in January on crappy ice with nobody watching,” says a rather blunt Richard Hart in today’s Toronto Star. “Bring all the best teams to one location at the provincial and then bring the fans in to watch it. It’s a great show.”
“Love him or hate him, Wayne should be here,” said Peter Steski. “Everybody wins if you have the best teams here – the curlers win, the OCA wins, the host committee wins, the fans win.
“I don’t see how anyone can lose.”
And what is the OCA attitude heading into the meeting?
“We don’t really care what the format is as long as the host committee’s needs are met and the sponsors’ needs are met,” said OCA exec Doug Bakes.
Okay, then... that certainly sounds promising.
Incidentally, the original version of this story, located here, concludes with more Steski hijinks – make that George Costanza of Seinfeld fame – and a washroom incident starring the event mascot.
Must be a Friday.
And on that note, here’s your Friday linkfest ...
• Moncton celebrated 60 “sweeps” before the Ford Worlds yesterday. The event included an outdoor rink set up right in front of city hall and the World Curling Federation mascot, Skip, engaged in a massive hug-a-thon ...
• Speaking of outdoor curling, you can do that tomorrow at Winterfest in Surrey, British Columbia ...
• Jennifer Jones did her corporate/charity thing yesterday in Guelph, Ontario ...
• Chelsea Carey is 4-0 in Manitoba STOH play, and we like the cool “downtown” squad photos on her team website ...
• Pat Simmons and Joel Jordison are headed for an A-side showdown at the Saskatchewan men’s Tankard ...
• Given the Canadian Juniors currently going on, you might expect that a new website which focusses on junior and university curling would be very active this week. You would be correct ...
• Speaking of youths, Trent University is hosting OUA curling action this weekend... and here are last year’s award winners ...
• Still with young people, the big flame in Poland has been lit for the 2009 European Youth Olympic festival. Yes, it will feature curling, but more on that later ...
• Early bird tickets are on sale for the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario... and while CCA’s Warren Hansen notes that “Right now, people in the Sault are the only ones aware of it,”... uh, whoops, it looks like we’ve just taken the news around the world!
Anyway, be sure to note the early bird event dates, due to the Vancouver Olympics: January 30 to February 7 ...
• DID YOU KNOW: that just a few days after dumping two-time world junior champ Charley Thomas from his men’s team, Calgary’s Chris Schille won a WCT-E event at Prague, in the Czech Republic? Well, now you do ...
• In this nice piece by Cookie Gilchrist, we discover that legendary Labatt sponsor liaison Gord Weber has passed away. Weber was instrumental in delivering Labatt Beweries into the Brier sponsorship in 1980, and was also a big booster of other sport and community endeavours ...
• The Associated Press has picked up on Pete Fenson’s defeat in the race for the U.S. 2010 Olympic berth, and scored some quotes from the disappointed skip ...
• Awright you Slave Lakers! Lots of pics and a video accompany this story on their men’s bonspiel ...
• Spain has their national mixed and mixed doubles playdowns this weekend ...
• Come on Robert, your pal Arnold expects more than this ...
• And finally, more images of Bob’s Birthday Cake, posted to a different blog. Geez, this guy is pretty popular. Or perhaps it’s the cake ...
But first – this nice photo of proud papas Neil Harrison (far left) and Paul Savage (far right) and their sons, Sean Harrison (inside left) and Brad Savage.
Sean toils for Team Chris Gardner, a fine young squad competing at the 2009 Ontario Tankard which is also off to China very shortly, for the 2009 Winter Universiade, otherwise known as the World University Games.
Brad throws lead for Team Peter Corner, currently in second place and confirmed for the Tankard playoffs this weekend.
The original Harrison and Savage, of course, are curling legends... and their old skipper, Eddie “The Wrench” Werenich was also at Woodstock yesterday.
You can read this story and much more by downloading the various editions of the daily event newsletter, the Bull Roar, from this webpage.
And don’t forget the first of our huge, multi-part interviews with The Wrench which is in the current February print edition of The Curling News. It’s typically controversial stuff, and you can’t read it online, so why not subscribe?
Believe us, you’ll be glad you did.
Anyway, this continues yesterday’s father/daughter theme starring Russ and Ashley Howard. And, although we’ve told you this already – come on, people – we are compelled to point out that still yet another Howard, Scott Howard, lost the Ontario junior men’s championship final on the same day his dad – Glenn Howard – lost the Casino Rama skins final to Randy Ferbey. You can see a photo of Scott Howard in action in the story link, too.
And now for the hard news.
The Ontario Curling Association will be present – with no less than six high-powered suits in attendance – at an Open Forum meeting with athletes Saturday morning in Woodstock.
The goal is to attempt to thrash out long-discussed changes to Ontario’s archaic playdown system.
The meeting is no surprise. The usually disorganized athletes have been united in recent weeks, and from the OCA perspective, the absence of a fellow like Wayne Middaugh – who wilfully chose to compete in a Grand Slam event instead of his last chance provincial playdown – tends to get people’s attention. As in fans, sponsors, et cetera.
“Let’s not do (zones and regional qualifying) in curling clubs in January on crappy ice with nobody watching,” says a rather blunt Richard Hart in today’s Toronto Star. “Bring all the best teams to one location at the provincial and then bring the fans in to watch it. It’s a great show.”
“Love him or hate him, Wayne should be here,” said Peter Steski. “Everybody wins if you have the best teams here – the curlers win, the OCA wins, the host committee wins, the fans win.
“I don’t see how anyone can lose.”
And what is the OCA attitude heading into the meeting?
“We don’t really care what the format is as long as the host committee’s needs are met and the sponsors’ needs are met,” said OCA exec Doug Bakes.
Okay, then... that certainly sounds promising.
Incidentally, the original version of this story, located here, concludes with more Steski hijinks – make that George Costanza of Seinfeld fame – and a washroom incident starring the event mascot.
Must be a Friday.
And on that note, here’s your Friday linkfest ...
• Moncton celebrated 60 “sweeps” before the Ford Worlds yesterday. The event included an outdoor rink set up right in front of city hall and the World Curling Federation mascot, Skip, engaged in a massive hug-a-thon ...
• Speaking of outdoor curling, you can do that tomorrow at Winterfest in Surrey, British Columbia ...
• Jennifer Jones did her corporate/charity thing yesterday in Guelph, Ontario ...
• Chelsea Carey is 4-0 in Manitoba STOH play, and we like the cool “downtown” squad photos on her team website ...
• Pat Simmons and Joel Jordison are headed for an A-side showdown at the Saskatchewan men’s Tankard ...
• Given the Canadian Juniors currently going on, you might expect that a new website which focusses on junior and university curling would be very active this week. You would be correct ...
• Speaking of youths, Trent University is hosting OUA curling action this weekend... and here are last year’s award winners ...
• Still with young people, the big flame in Poland has been lit for the 2009 European Youth Olympic festival. Yes, it will feature curling, but more on that later ...
• Early bird tickets are on sale for the 2010 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario... and while CCA’s Warren Hansen notes that “Right now, people in the Sault are the only ones aware of it,”... uh, whoops, it looks like we’ve just taken the news around the world!
Anyway, be sure to note the early bird event dates, due to the Vancouver Olympics: January 30 to February 7 ...
• DID YOU KNOW: that just a few days after dumping two-time world junior champ Charley Thomas from his men’s team, Calgary’s Chris Schille won a WCT-E event at Prague, in the Czech Republic? Well, now you do ...
• In this nice piece by Cookie Gilchrist, we discover that legendary Labatt sponsor liaison Gord Weber has passed away. Weber was instrumental in delivering Labatt Beweries into the Brier sponsorship in 1980, and was also a big booster of other sport and community endeavours ...
• The Associated Press has picked up on Pete Fenson’s defeat in the race for the U.S. 2010 Olympic berth, and scored some quotes from the disappointed skip ...
• Awright you Slave Lakers! Lots of pics and a video accompany this story on their men’s bonspiel ...
• Spain has their national mixed and mixed doubles playdowns this weekend ...
• Come on Robert, your pal Arnold expects more than this ...
• And finally, more images of Bob’s Birthday Cake, posted to a different blog. Geez, this guy is pretty popular. Or perhaps it’s the cake ...
1 comment:
“Let’s not do (zones and regional qualifying) in curling clubs in January on crappy ice with nobody watching,” says a rather blunt Richard Hart in today’s Toronto Star
I would like to make a comment about the quote from Richard Hart. I think it is very disrespectful to ice technicians as well as culers and spectators that do watch. You must think that you are too good for club curling so what does that say for others.
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