Curling Print: the Ferbey Four

So, Randy Ferbey and his troops went back to the future with their absolutely enormous win over Glenn Howard in the final of the Grey Power Players’ Championship.

Actually, it’s been quite a season for the Ferbs.

Their increasingly desperate search for that elusive spot in December’s Olympic Trials saw them travel the country at a frenetic pace, with Ferbey and lead Rocque Marcel competing, at one point, for 10 weekends in a row prior to Christmas.

Then there was the big win at the Casino Rama Skins Game in January, which featured the Ferb’s first win over arch rival Kevin Martin in some 10 or so attempts.

Then came their second straight series of three losses, all to KMart, to lose the Alberta Tankard championship. Off Martin went, to his fourth consecutive Brier.

After licking their wounds, the squad travelled to Bear Mountain – played some golf, threw some rocks – and started gearing up for the Players’ Championship.

And the rest, they say, is history. Or in the case of the Ferbey Four, the chance to rewrite history, come December.

All of this adds value to a special collectible artwork print the Ferbs have for sale, by artist Janet Deane (above, click to zoom in). Yes indeed, the Olympic Dream is alive and well.

Fans can select a limited edition Giclee framed print in two sizes, either 22x35 or 14x22.

Order through this website.


Elsewhere in this world of curling... which is still very much active, by the way...

• The World Mixed Doubles are into the playoffs in gorgeous Cortina D’Ampezzo in the mountains of Italy, and there is tons of stories and pics available front and centre at the WCF website.

. At this time of writing, Hungary has emerged through two sets of tiebreakers to take on Finland, and the winner plays undefeated Canada in one semifinal. China and defending champions Switzerland are in the other semi.

Canadian competitor Sean Grassie is a budding journalist – as we explained during the Canadian Mixed – and Grassie is once again writing a column on his experiences for his hometown Winnipeg Sun. You can find his thoughts, in order, located here, then here, then here, and from today ...

• And let’s not forget the World Seniors, underway tomorrow in equally gorgeous New Zealand ...

• DID YOU KNOW: that a car blog – of all things – got in on the Ford Worlds excitement in Moncton, with two postings, here and here? Well, okay, now you do.

• Speaking of Moncton, Swiss third Jan Hauser, who ranked in the top 5 of the TCN Blog’s “Ford World Hotties” competition, seems to have his very own, er, dedicated fan ...

• Seems that after saying something rather forceful about Scotland, Cary was forced to eat some crow ...

• And Canadians should eat crow. Not only did the Lockerbie four win three in a row against the red and white, the hosts then proceeded to play the wrong national anthem... a point we have previously noted, and which gets some (fortunately) good-natured Scottish griping here ...

• Yes, it was a victorious return for the Scots, and good ol’ Bob was there, too ...

• WCF President Les Harrison sent in this letter of thanks to his hometown newspaper ...

• It’s finally happened. Osama Bin Laden has appeared in a curling spoof.
Funny yes, or funny no?

• DID YOU KNOW II: that amid the hullaballoo over KMart throwing his world championship away, the Old Bear did it again, at the Players’ Championship?

• Curling has got Jackie going ARRGGHH. We know the feeling ...

• And finally, poor Aaron. His curling debut was total FUBAR ...

Ford World Curling: Let’s Dance

by Katja Kiiskinen

MONCTON – Who is that dancing behind the President of the World Curling Federation, Moncton’s own Les Harrison?

Or, steering the President, more likely?

It’s a young fellow who simply won’t take “no” for an answer. Particularly when it comes to dancing.

You shall dance with him! Oh yes, you shall!

More on this fun fellow in the next blogpost ...

Boat on the Hill

GANGNEUNG, Korea – Have you heard about the boat on the hill?

Yep, the Sun Cruise Hotel is one of the host hotels here at the Mount Titlis Women’s World Championship 2009, and apart from some iffy wine choices, the place is utterly spectacular.

True, the concept of designing and building a landlocked cruise liner for a hotel seems a bit odd. But everything from the rooms (with heated floors) to the grounds – full of walking gardens and sculptures etc. – to the breathtaking views of the Sea of Japan is simply... well, breathtaking.

Hotel website located here.

On the ice, China’s Bingyu Wang just defeated Denmark’s Angelina Jensen in the 1 versus 2 playoff by a 6-3 score. The Chinese will appear in their second straight world final on Sunday.

Tomorrow it’s Canada versus Sweden in a battle of women’s curling titans, with the victor battling the Danes in the evening’s semifinal.

The World Curling Federation game summary should be posted shortly.

World Junior Curling

VANCOUVER – Yes, The Curling News is here, too. But of course.

It’s World Juniors semifinal night, starting up at about the sixth end of tonight’s Brier semifinal, and Canada is involved in one of the matchups.

Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg, last year’s 2008 world bronze medallist, will take on Martina Baumann of Switzerland with the winner meeting two-time defending champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland in Sunday’s final (9:00am Pacific time).

Tonight’s men’s semifinal features Denmark’s Rasmus Stjerne taking on the defending world junior men’s champion, Chris Plys of the United States. And faithful bog readers will recall that Plys is, of course, a Dude.

Canada’s Brett Gallant awaits the winner in tomorrow’s men’s final (1:00pm Pacific time). Gallant smucked Denmark in this afternoon’s page 1-2 game by stealing six in the sixth end. Eurp.

You can see a great “mad face” photo of Gallant at this WCF story page. The WCF photo above, shot by Yadranka, is a little less psycho-looking.

The WCF – the Fed – have been here all week, as they were the previous week for the World Wheelchairs. Backtrack through their site for all the stories of the past two weeks.

Swedish skip Oskar “The Professor” Eriksson, last year’s men’s silver medallist, still has a crack at bronze, as does Russia’s Margarita Fomina on the women’s side.

It’s been an awesome tournament, here at the official Olympic and Paralympic curling venue at next year’s Games. And yet another world championship wraps up tomorrow... to be replaced by faraway Gangneung, Korea ...

More athlete scrutiny: ice marks

TORONTO (Not Calgary Again) – More whispers abound, this time that the CCA is looking closely at what curling countries are doing about the new World Curling Federation rule regarding athlete “damage” to the ice surface.

The rule came out in the fall – highlighting a three-step disciplinary process for said damage – and Scotland, for one, jumped on it immediately.

That’s right, folks. The final step in the process is heavy: player expulsion from the game!

There are also reports that the CCA has quietly spoken to certain athletes (and they have been doing so throughout the season) about their own chances – or likelihood, barring changes to personal tendencies – of being nabbed in this web.

It’s a web which gets spun very seriously a little over a week from now in Gangneung, Korea at the Mount Titlis World Women’s Championship and then next month at the 50th anniversary Ford World Men’s in Moncton.

The above funny photo (by Anil Mungal, of course, courtesy of Capital One) is from the fall Tour season, and is light in tone.

But John Morris took some serious flak at last year’s Brier – and the one before that – regarding knee and hand prints on the ice and to be perfectly fair, he “didn’t do anything different than (he’d) been doing all year.”

Check out some of the players in Calgary after they’ve released their stones, or as they sweep, particularly with dual grippers on their shoes.

As the worlds draw closer, have you noticed any differences?