New curling video

Hasta la vista, Hammerfall.

Wander off, Weakerthans.

There’s another curling music video in town.

We were first alerted to this by Nick Kitinski’s Facebook page. Kitinski is the bossman behind California’s Hollywood Curling Club and he recently wrote that he was “back from the Ice Rink where they were filming a curling segment for a Music Video!”

The band is called The Answering Machine.

The song is called Obviously Cold.

Here is the video.

Catchy stuff. Enjoy.

Careful With That Axe, Eugene

OK... does anyone know this yahoo?

According to police in Vernon, British Columbia, this nitwit took a few chunks out of the Vernon Curling Club with an axe. Of all the noive!

You can read the brief story here, which includes another photo.

Turns out this happened on March 18, just before the start of the most awesome
2008 Ford World Women’s Championship. Of course, you recall what happened during that tourney – more crime!

There was a happy ending to that tale, however, as the Vernon community raised over $10,000 to reimburse the affected teams. Now, hopefully this axe-wielding dingbat will get what’s coming to him.

Still with B.C., the CCA has opened its 2009 Scotties TOH office in Victoria; the story is here and another photo can be found here.

What else is happening, you ask?


• One of our favourites, The Weakerthans, have made a video for their curling song, Tournament of Hearts. It’s an odd work of art shot in black and white which mixes genuine ancient curling footage with modern fakery. Watch for lovelorn curlers standing on tables at your club this coming fall, yelling “Why?” ...

• The Capital One Grand Slam event schedule has been released, and Richard Hart from Team Glenn Howard is pumped.

“It’s a great schedule,” Hart told The Curling News Blog. “Quebec last year hosted an amazing Slam, and Winnipeg has been a great Slam market the last couple of years. We won the Slam when it was held in Waterloo, so that will be great for us. And I hear the women’s worlds in Grande Prairie was awesome a few years ago, so bring it on.”

• Remember Rockstar Curling? Sure you do.

There was some general moping when the proposed curling reality show delayed tryout announcements until the coming fall, but the project still seems to be a go. A new official-looking YouTube membership was recently taken out, with not one but two videos posted in the last 24 hours. PS: have you signed up yet?

• Not one but two former WCF presidents have fallen: Dr. Don Barcome Sr. in the United States, and Canada’s Clif Thompson ...

• Team World at December’s Continental Cup will feature Chinese teams for the first time, plus two rather big names behind the bench, as coach and captain ...

• The 2009 World Mixed Doubles Championships will take place in Cortina, Italy, the site of the 2010 World Men’s. The event runs late, in mid-April ...

• John Morris – and many, many others - beware: Scotland is making a move to punish the elite of the sport for leaning, grabbing and otherwise flopping on the ice after throwing. Other countries are sure to follow suit ...

• In curling club news, they’ve broken ground for the new Windsor CC in Nova Scotia; Quebec’s CC Lanaudiere is in trouble; and The Oshawa will survive: following last month’s ominous news, an extremely well-attended meeting has produced a new president and also a new plan of action.

“We’ll be putting together an aggressive membership campaign and are looking forward to another season of terrific curling on great ice!” said past president Rob Faulds.

We also hear the Toronto Curling Association has been helpful... but what of the Ontario Curling Association?

• And finally, the Quote of the Week comes from 1998 Olympic champ and CBC curling commentator Joan McCusker, regarding the influx of volunteers and sports fans from Saskatchewan who are expected during the upcoming winter Olympics:

“You know what that means – a lot of watermelon helmets going on in Vancouver 2010.”

Curling Stompers

This one is all about Stomping. And music. Oh, and curling, of course. And about links... lots and lots of links.

Blogreaders know we love music, and it’s connection to curling. Whether we happen to really love the artist, or, er, despise a particular song, or just recognize a curling connection.

So we simply cannot pass up the opportunity to throw a picture of Canadian music legend Stompin’ Tom Connors up here.

So what’s the connection?

Well, a new play focussing on this legendary character just may vault a Middaugh to Hollywood stardom. No, we;re not talking about Sherry or Wayne... we’re talking about their young daughter, Kelly.

As this story tells, Kelly starts her non-school acting career today (and running through June 21) playing the Stompin’ Tom’s sister in a local production.

Speaking of stomping, we ran a great photo of Arnold Asham in our April edition of The Curling News – did you catch it? Arnold was stomping it up at the Brier in Winnipeg, and our intrepid Jill Officer was on site to get the photos... and now there’s a few videos online, located here and also via a ton of YouTube links here, of his Stompers doing their thing at various events, including the men’s worlds in Grand Forks a few weeks later.

OK, still think that this curling-music thing is a little weak? How about this: Peter Loewen is just loving the curling song by The Weakerthans, and lo and behold, that song was dedicated to a Scottish fan – and music journo – at a Weakerthans’ gig in Birmingham, England the other night.

Still very weak?

OK, then... now we’ll let your fingers do all the talking ...


• Team Kelly Scott has been inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame ...

• Team Michelle Englot is moving on with a new third; former vice-skip Darlene Kidd is hanging them up, and will be marrying Scott Bailey of Team Wayne Middaugh in July ...

• The Sun says Manitoba curling needs some help, pronto, while the Freep says good luck with that ...

• 14-year Saskatchewan Curling Association boss Stan Martin has died, at age 78 ...

• Olympic champion fifth Mike Adam has gone home to Lab City ...

• Kirkland Lake CC in northern Ontario needs new brine pipes, and they’ve raised two-thirds ($50,000) of the funds needed so far ... meanwhile, Alberta’s Fort Saskatchewan club wants a 50K loan, and Saskatoon’s now-defunct Hub City CC has reopened... as... this ...

• Congrats to Moncton’s Lorne Mitton, a former CCA president and overall curling dynamo, on his recent retirement from the mayor’s office ...

• Who is all for curling in Fenland, England? Well, this fellow is, and we are, too ...

• What, more curling club arson mayhem? This time in Chilliwack, B.C., which hosted the 2006 Continental Cup of Curling ...

• Brampton’s Dave Stewart has made it into his town’s Sports Hall of Fame, and as first reported a month or so ago, northern Ontario curling coach Tom Coulterman gets inducted into his hometown sports hall tonight ...

• They’re still curling in Bratislava, Slovakia ...

• And finally, ESPN sports legend Chris Berman was asked about curling.

Whadaya know, Boomer?

“Curling – not a lot. It’s a big thing, it goes slow, you sweep it with a broom... It’s interesting, it’s good humour – or, as you say up here, hu-more. But I’ll be the first to admit – don’t ask me to dissect the world curling championships.”

How come it’s so popular up here and not in the States?

“Don’t know the rules. Doesn’t mean it couldn’t – especially late at night with the bar crowd.”

A Wrenching TV weekend

Ontario curling fans are in for a treat this weekend, as legendary two-time Brier and world champion skip Ed “The Wrench” Werenich will put on the headset and become a TV curling commentator.

The Wrench (photo) will actually be in his second stint as the colourman for the Toronto Curling Association’s Energizer city spiel, one of the oldest and largest tournaments in the world (Winnipeg’s MCA Bonspiel, hosted later this month, is another massive event).

And you thought golf’s Johnny Miller was a blunt instrument. Hello!

Eddie will commentate the Open (Men’s) final on Saturday, January 12 at 8:00pm ET across the province’s Rogers Television Network. The Seniors finale will air the following Saturday, January 19, at 8:00pm ET, also on the entire Rogers network.

Both finals will also air this Sunday, January 13, albeit on Toronto-area Rogers stations only: The Men’s at 2:00pm ET followed immediately by the Seniors at 4:30pm ET.

Eddie is also scheduled to appear at an outdoor rink in Waterloo, Ontario on January 19, to promote February’s TSC Stores Tankard provincial.

Here’s a surprise: apparently no one can recall if or when the Ontario Men’s Championships have been held in Waterloo. “It hasn’t been here in our time,” says former K-W Granite Club president Lew Ayers.

No way, we say. There must have been a Tankard hosted in K-W. Calling all curling historians: confirm or deny, please.

In other big Toronto news, the pre-sale of half-price ticket packages (only $150 instead of $300) for the Toronto 2009 megaspiel at the Air Canada Centre has been extended to March 15 (hooray!)

In a message sent late yesterday to the city’s 23 curling clubs, the Toronto Curling Association said:

Pre-launch ticket sales for the Toronto 2009 curling attraction are increasing as word about the ‘once in a lifetime event’ spreads! The support from the clubs is gratifying. This Grand Slam event will put Toronto on the curling map.

Paul Boutilier, Executive Director of the Asham World Curling Tour has just advised the official launch has now been scheduled for early April 2008. TCA clubs can continue with the discounted pre-sales until March 15, 2008. Enclosed are several stickers to place on your posters.

Initial payments of $75 (half of the package price) minus the $25 club portion = $50 for this championship event will not be requested from the clubs until March 15, 2008.

We know that two of the Canadian men’s participants will be Glenn Howard and Kevin Martin. Details about the ‘Patch’ and the Saturday night entertainment will be announced shortly.

Great news, and you can read more on the Toronto 2009 website, and also our own exhortations located here.


Elsewhere:

• Everyone is watching the Edmonton vs. Kamloops battle to host the 2008 Canadian Olympic Trials, but has anybody thought about where the pre-Trials Qualifier should be held? Winnipeg has, and will be bidding, and now Prince George, B.C. wants it, too (click here and also here) ...

What’s interesting about the Trials hosting battle is that the person generally acknowledged to be the top CCA grass roots event manager – Edmonton’s Janna Tominuk, who steered last year’s Edmonton worlds and the 2005 Edmonton Brier – is now working for Norm Daley’s Strauss Canada Cup out in – you guessed it – Kamloops...

• Wednesday’s curling episode of Little Mosque on the Prairie is already available on a streaming website, and there’s also this detailed episode summary, with photos, located here ...

• Last month, the Korbel Elite Challenge was aired, and the outdoor show – taped from New York City in horrid conditions back in October – has caused questions about its value as a promotional opportunity. Well, San Jose, California also had an outdoor promotional sheet set up last month, and the conditions actually looked slightly better than that of Manhattan.

Alice was there, and Pabu has mirrored the NBC report, while he waits for news about curling in Mexico City (unlikely at this point).

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the brilliantly-named Hollywood Curling Club (“Where We Curl Like Stars And Do Our Own Stunts!”) is busy with another outdoor curling exhibition tomorrow, complete with live KTLA TV coverage; this will mark the station’s second curling “show” since November (here’s the first). Sunday is yet another open house, this time in Panorama City.

Great stuff, guys. To keep the PR machine rolling, we suggest a temporary befriending of the train wreck known as Brit-Brit (aka Britney Spears), with the goal of getting her out onto the ice along with her pack of paparazzi. But we’re sure you’ve thought (briefly!) about this already...?

• Here’s a look at curling in Boise, Idaho ...

• And the Cape Cod CC has a new $470,000 upgrade...

• Still with U.S. curling, Scott says that Portland’s recent open house was busy enough to make it tough for him to get hands-on access to the Roaring Game, which is good news, we guess ...

• And let’s not forget Catherine, who curled in Chicago ...

• Here’s a brief look at outdoor curling in Boston, circa 1903:

• Four curl in O-H-I-O ...

• And this U.S. baseball fan played in Quebec at the tail end of ’07 ...

• There’s some big bureaucratic news out of Scotland ...

• And a spotlight is thrown onto curling in Wien, aka Vienna, the beautiful capital of Austria ...

• Meanwhile, here’s a French news story on curling – which has nothing to do with the worlds nor the Olympics – and this is certainly something new ...

• Here’s a calendar of new hoped-for holidays, and we agree with February 23, don’t you?

• This blogpost tells us about a typical curling weekend – lots of curling and late nights – in tiny Hanley, Saskatchewan, from the eyes of a retired RCMP dispatcher. Long live grass roots curling in these, sadly, fast-disappearing prairie towns ....

• Bill, from New Jersey, puts The Weakerthans’ Reunion Tour album – and their tune now known as The Curling Song – at number four on his Top 10 list for 2007 ....

• Today’s Winnipeg Free Press sees writer Chris Cariou quoting 2005 Manitoba champion Randy “Lunchbox” Dutiaume as calling himself curling’s Homer Simpson.

“I stumble and I have a booger hanging out of my nose,” Dutiaume explains. “I’m just meat and potatoes.”

God, we love this guy. Thanks heavens the Brier is in Winnipeg, so he’ll be there, no matter how his provincial playdowns end up ...

• DID YOU KNOW: that B.C.’s Blind Championships are underway this weekend?

• And finally, four Canadian teams are in Switzerland battling at the International Bern Damen Cup, including Kelowna’s Kelly Scott (who will stay on for Scotland’s new Glynhill Ladies International the following weekend), Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones, and Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink and Cheryl Bernard ...

Curling Indy

Vroooom.

Check out this speedy little number. It was designed for entry into an online contest run by the folks at IndyCar. Click to zoom in on the car detail.

The contest is still on, so please vote here – click on the fifth star, of course! – and tell your friends, too. C’mon... the racing world won’t know what hit them!

The news of this work – and the sight of it – came as a pleasant surprise. After picking ourselves up from the floor, we asked Steve Lobel – the creative eye behind ProCurler Curling Stuff – what, in tarnation, inspired him to design a car sponsored by yours truly, The Curling News,among others?

Q: What was your inspiration?

A: I just stumbled across the contest site while looking up stats from another favourite sport.

Q: Why a curling theme?

A: Well, I wanted a theme that would get American race fans scratching their heads a little. Perhaps it will drive them to a website to explore the sport further.

Q: Why did you include The Curling News?

I picked The Curling News as a main sponsor because the logo just screams curling, and I hoped you might put it in the paper and on the blog! My company, ProCurler.com was an obvious choice for a “B” sponsor. As for Tim Hortons, other than their generous involvement in curling, I happened to be sipping on my fifth cup of the day when they came to mind.

On a final note, we forgot to ask Steve why he picked number 77... and then, of course, we remembered. His father, Art Lobel, played third for Quebec’s Jim Ursel at the 1977 MacDonald’s Brier.

And won.


Some weekend clickings for you...

• Monday November 26 sees a media launch and reception for the BDO Black Book of Curling, with Glenn Howard and Richard Hart in attendance, as well as authors Dallas Bittle and Gerry Geurts. Location is Toronto’s Granite Club, in the curling lounge, with food (and books) provided ...

• With all the women’s Slam excitement this weekend, don’t forget The Schmirler ...

• First they appeared – along with Randy Dutiaume – in a TV commercial; now Kerry Burtnyk and Jeff Stoughton have been formally unveiled as spokesmen for the upcoming Winnipeg Brier...

• Canada’s Season of Champions event calendar is offering a new ticket package called Rocks in Your Socks ...

• Here’s a report on Tuesday’s news conference announcing the Tylenol Players’ Championship, which is returning to St. John’s ...

• Wheelchair curlers have another championship to strive for: the first Paralympic World Winter Cup will be held in Sweden in 2009 ...

• The Weakerthans’ Tournament of Hearts was the song ’o the day at KEXP in Seattle ...

• Here’s Jessica Goes Curling, part two ...

• Detroit Lakes is rocking ...

• DID YOU KNOW: that Salmon Arm, B.C. gets the Canadian Juniors in 2009?

• Scotland’s NCA is sadly dead... again...

• Here’s a major league update from T-Bay ...

• Hey, wasn’t Dusty Baker a baseball player-turned-manager ...?

• And finally... right back ’atcha, Chris!

The Weakerthans

While various rock acts have been known to play at large curling events – say hello Randy Bachman, Ashley MacIsaac, David Wilcox and Danko Jones – Canadian folk-rockers The Weakerthans are the latest musical act to follow in the footsteps of Hammerfall, Gob, The Tragically Hip and The Constantines in crafting real curling themes into their music.

The new song Tournament of Hearts – which can be heard on the band’s MySpace page – is hard core curling, with its references to “championship banners going yellow on the wall” and “peeling off the (beer) label as they peel the corner guard.” It is, however, a love song... just as Men With Brooms is really a love story.

Frontman John K. Samson – throwing a rock with a cool hat above – speaks about curling in this video mobisode, and in fact quotes from a legendary curling book (anyone recognize the cover? We do).

There are also stories available from CP and Canuck music mag Exclaim!, while our good friends at Chart have a mostly negative CD review here.

Will the 2008 Tim Hortons Brier committee draft these proud Winnipeggers into playing a gig at the Keith’s Patch in March?

• Police have already arrested three people following yesterday afternoon’s suspected arson job on the Windsor Curling Club ...

• Yorkton’s popular stop on the Asham World Curling Tour has been cancelled for 2007.

“On behalf of the Yorkton Curling Club and the Curling Classic committee, we unfortunately have to announce a one year leave of absence from the PharmaChoice Curling Classic for 2007 due to team scheduling conflicts and other extenuating circumstances that are beyond our control,” committee chair and 1999 Brier semi-finalist Gerald Shymko told the Yorkton This Week & Enterprise.

“We will be working hard to alleviate any conflicts for 2008 and will be putting our efforts into making next year's spiel bigger and better than ever.”

The good news is while the eight-year event will be on hiatus, chief sponsor PharmaChoice Western will continue supporting the local curling club.

“We’re not just laying down and letting this go,” Shymko added.

“We’re hoping the scheduling works better where the teams can travel and come back to Yorkton next year. And, we’ll be going all out to get the spiel back into this community.”

• Speaking of Men With Brooms, here’s what writer/actor/director Paul Gross is up to these days ...

• Got a suggestion for a podcast guest on The Curling Show? Just mosey on over to the Zone and name your name ...

• Joe Pavia spoke with KMart over the weekend ...

• Finally, the European Mixed Championships are underway in the Spanish city of Madrid, and local voices are are starting to noice (here and also here) ... plus, Bob Cowan is actually there ...