Brier: The Mexican, McLovin and Babyface

CALGARY – We couldn’t say it any better than YouTube’s jujames, who asks: “What the heck is the deal with this? The TSN announcers said nothing.”

Click here to view.

Curling Politics

There’s a federal election underway in Canada, and the reigning Conservatives are pulling out the stops in portraying Prime Minister Stephen Harper as an Average Guy.

Average Guys, of course, love curling, as the Tories have now pointed out. They have supported said pointout with this YouTube video (screen capture above) of the PM at the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier in Hamilton, an occasion which we mentioned, among with many others (see here, and here and here).

In fact, we’ve always been partial to the PM’s curling pedigree – wethinks our first Harper curling reference was this photo of him posing with the legendary Sam Richardson.

Even the congratulations templates released by the PMO ring true, at least compared to those issued by The Other Guys. For example, compare this congrats note sent to the 2008 world champion Kevin Martin squad to this rather poor effort.

PMO release good, Liberal release lame. Kind of like the overall scenario facing the voters, don’t you agree?

We’re voting blue... aren’t you?


Elsewhere:


• They’re on the ice in Spain today, for the sixth Madrid International Bonspiel. One team making its tournament debut is “Nagano 1998”, the reunited Olympic champions from Switzerland, skipped by Patrick Huerlimann, who will also take in the big football game (Real Madrid vs. Numancia) on Sunday. Among the other 39 teams listed are the “Broomer Penguins”, the “B-52”, team “Vicious and Delicious” and, inevitably, “Priapismus Shuffle” ...

• U.S. wheelchair curling skip Augusto Perez is the keynote speaker at Syracuse University tonight ...

• It’s official: Russ Howard has split with longtime teammate Grant Odishaw, and has reunited with Jimmy “The Kid” Grattan ...

• Vancouver’s Kent Gilchrist wrote this follow-up piece on the Brazil/USA challenge ...

• And finally, calling all Winnipeg female curlers: you are wanted for a TV shoot – the new CBC-TV dramedy Throwing Stones – this Monday, September 15 through Wednesday the 17th. You must have your own gear and be prepared for loooong days. Contact Kari Casting or check out this posting at CurlingZone ...

What the... ?

EVELETH, Minnesota – No less than four such “What the...?” items for today. What the... is going on these days?!

• This Globe and Mail column focussed on Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton and the rapidly-disappearing “tuck-style” slide he uses to deliver the rock. Now look very carefully at this World Juniors photo at left (courtesy of Jim Law) . What do you see?

Tell ya what we see... a Scotsman using the tuck-slide. What the...? This is none other than young Glen Muirhead, son of the prrrrroudly Scottish skip who lost the 1995 Ford Worlds final to Kerry Burtnyk in Brandon.

This is how Burtnyk, Stoughton and a few other ’Tobans slide... so we must simply ask young Muirhead: What The...? is up with that? Eh?

• Exploding rocks. Which go “Poof”. That’s right. That’s what K-Mart thinks he’s discovered at the Brier. Although it sounds like he’s stealing Mark Nichols’ thunder. Mull this one over for yourself, courtesy of Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun ...

• Now you, lucky reader, can have your very own desktop version of the “Stoughty Spinerama” and the “Fry Handstand”, courtesy of this Hamilton Spectator Brier page (click on Curling trick shots). What the... ?

• Finally... we knew Ontario’s Craig Savill, like all good lead stoners, is there to be mocked (usually by teammates only). But it sure didn’t take long for yesterday’s pratfall to show up on YouTube, did it?

What the... ?