Curling party website

If you recall September’s launch announcement for Season of Champions TV, you will also recall mention of another new website coming soon: AtThePatch.ca ...!

This morning, the official website of curling’s biggest party palace – the Keith’s Patch – went live... check it out!

Curling fans can eyeball the bands listed to play at each of the SoC major events, as well as other information... and fans can even follow announcements on Twitter!

And we’ve got another idea for the CCA web moguls. We suggest building a place on the site for party fans to upload their own party pics... much as The Curling News Blog did during last year’s Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary: once, twice, thrice and again.

Patch it up, people!

Brier Patch IV: Keep your pants on, friend

by Dalene Heck

CALGARY – More Patch pics tomorrow, but for now, another from last night... which feels like last week already.

Oh Dougie! Your hard work and determination to get onto this blog did not go unnoticed. Nice to see that you took “Argyle Friday” to a whole new level ...

Brier Patch III: Argyle Turtles

by Dalene Heck

CALGARY – If you didn’t get to see my group of argyle friends in the crowd last night, then you may have heard them rocking some tunes with their turtle whistle necklaces.

They call themselves “The Argyle Turtle Band” and were the opening act for Streetheart. At least, that’s their version of last night’s events ...

Brier Patch II: Stalker confrontation

by Dalene Heck

CALGARY – To my pleasant surprise, all-star hottie third James Grattan (left) did not run for the hills when he learned who I was. He was aware of his “hottie” status thanks to skip Russ Howard, who actually showed him this blog!

James even offered to keep the Crotch Cam alive by promising to send other pictures, for apparently team New Brunswick has more stylin’ belt buckles in their arsenal.

And yes, that’s me in the middle. Pleased to meet ’cha!

Brier Patch I: Wild autographs

by Dalene Heck

CALGARY – If you are a regular patcher, then it probably wouldn’t surprise you to know that this is only one of a few pictures I have of some wild autograph sessions.

Click to zoom in. How many sigs do you recognize?

The question is, will she ever wash her chest again?

Brier: Patching it up

by Dalene Heck

CALGARY – In 2004, the following words and definitions were added to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary:

“Double-Double” - a coffee with double cream and double sugar added
“Hurry” - the curling term meaning “sweep”

I have a new challenge. If the intent of the Canadian dictionary is to accurately include staples of Canadian culture, then there currently is a glaring omission that needs to be corrected.

The dictionary includes a few definitions of the verb “patch” or “patching”, most of them having to do with repairing or mending. Applied to curling, these existing definitions would suffice to describe what most people need the morning after a good night out at the Keith’s Brier Patch at the Tim Hortons Brier.

Headaches being repaired with a bottle of Tylenol. Relationships being mended with a quick conversation: “You know I was really loaded when I said that about you last night, right? I’m sorry...”

However, the current definition obviously needs to be expanded to include the actual art of enjoying the Keith’s Brier Patch itself. The art of heading to the biggest party in Canada with 3,000 or so of your closest friends and enjoying a few cold Keith’s with your favourite curlers while being entertained by some of Canada’s best musical acts.

Some examples of the use of the word “patch” in this form are:

“Are you going patching tonight?”

“Sorry, I patched it up too good last night. Going to have to take a night off so that I can continue to patch the rest of the weekend.”

Assuming I will have to submit an official definition for consideration, I have started to make some drafts:

v. patch, patch-ing, patched

1. To partake in the extra-curricular activities offered at the Canadian Men’s Curling Championship, as sponsored by Mr. Alexander Keith at the Brier Patch.

2. To consume ridiculous amounts of alcohol and stalk favourite curlers for autographs, pictures, or to offer strategies for future games.

3. To rush the stage for Streetheart.

Perhaps #3 isn’t quite appropriate, but it is what I personally plan on doing while I “patch” it up tonight. Those boys? I’m Under Their Thumb (2:20 into the video, and it’s awesome).

For a lot of curling fans, the Brier Patch is as important to the tournament as the actual competition. Thus, I will endeavour to find out how to correct this gross oversight in the authority of our Canadian language. And until I make the official submission for review, I will continue to do as much research as possible to ensure I get the definition right. This will be a tough sacrifice, but somebody has to do it.

See you tonight...?

Brier: So much fun I forgot to eat

by Margo Weber

Like seriously.

When I weighed myself this morning I was three pounds lighter than I was yesterday morning. My intake for the day included one large malt, one piece of Hawaiian pizza and about 15 vodka and diet cokes.

Ugh.

So this is my post-patch update. I wish I could tell you I remembered it all. But I can’t… I started off the night playing “flips” with some friends. For those of you not familiar with this game, it’s a Brier Patch favorite.

Four people play odd-man-out coin flipping until there is only one person left. That person buys the round. I played five times and lost four. Do the math, people.

At $6.00 a drink that’s $96.00. My $80.00 budget for the night was no longer sufficient and I found myself at the Patch bank machine in no time. Needless to say, I stopped flipping and starting buying two drinks at a time for myself.

Fellow blogger Dalene Heck and I spent some time with Ontario’s classy Richard Hart (I think I’m coming around to cheering for Team Ontario, ha ha!) We also threw in a couple high fives with Craig Savill who looked like he was having a great time.

And we had a couple minutes to buy Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories a Bud Light or two... he needed it after yesterday’s 0-2.

I ditched the morning draw in favour of hanging out with my family, but am on site at today’s action. Might make another Patch appearance tonight, although I can pretty much guarantee it will not be a do-over. Ouch.

Patch entertainment tonight? The Ryans, aka three-time Brier champion skip Pat Ryan (photo above) and his hawtie daughter Lynsay Ryan, who is an orginal Women of Curling calendar girl, too.