The Tankard has returned

A new curling sponsor was officially unveiled in Ontario yesterday: TSC Stores, the Incredible Country Hardware Store, which takes over title sponsorship of the Ontario men's championship.

Previously supported by Kia Motors (Kia Cup), Nokia (Nokia Cup) and Labatt (Blue Light Tankard and Labatt Tankard) the 2007 provincial shootout is scheduled for February 12-18 in Sarnia. The Tankard name now returns to the Ontario finals for the first time since 1995, as the new event title moniker is the TSC Stores Tankard.

“This is tremendous news for our Ontario Curling Association members and hundreds of thousands of curling fans across the province,” said Doug Bakes, Executive Director of the OCA. “TSC Stores is an outstanding organization, Canadian-owned, and expanding rapidly in the province. We are extremely pleased to welcome TSC Stores as title sponsor of our premier event.”

“Curling has a unique Canadian identity and community appeal,” said Greg Hicks, Chief Operating Officer of TSC Stores. “Becoming title sponsor of the Ontario Men’s Championship is a great fit for us.”

This may have been the worst-kept secret in Ontario curling, as this healthy CurlingZone chat thread indicates. Regardless, the announcement glosses over Kia's recent decision to leave the sport in Ontario – the Kia Cup remains in Alberta – and both OCA and their marketing agent are to be congratulated for a quick announcement of a new sponsor. A sponsor with a direct tie to competitive curling, in the person of TSC marketing guy Brent Palmer.

Elsewhere:

• There have been rumours and stories of VANOC's 2010 Olympic budget problems, but today's Vancouver Sun is in hysterics:

2010 Games in crisis!
Watchdogs sound alarm!
B.C. taxpayers on hook for about $1.5 billion and construction is moving too slowly!

We've heard this before. But today also marks the first time the proposed new curling venue at Hillcrest is labelled “at risk”, specifically:

Olympic organizers managed to get the IOC to agree to downsize the Games' arenas to NHL-sized rinks instead of the larger European surfaces that are the Olympic standard, as the report suggested. But a curling arena is still up for grabs – if it can't be built on the original $28-million budget it should simply be scuttled. The speed skating in oval in Richmond is also facing a scheduling crunch.

It all promises a showdown over the leadership of the Olympics, with the provincial New Democratic Party saying the reports suggest mismanagement, planning errors and cost overruns that are reminders of the indebted 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

And in another Sun story:

Calling for some “scope management,” the consultants also recommended scaling back some of the Olympic venues. This includes cancelling the Hillcrest Curling Rink project and moving curling events to another venue unless construction can come within the $28 million bid-book estimate, plus reasonable escalation.

Uh oh.

• On the positive side, Nova Scotia's Digby Curling Club – sorry, Curling Centre – is taking positive steps towards self-rescue, as this local story indicates. It all started with a call to the Canadian Curling Association, which promptly sent its Business of Curling seminar out east for a major powwow...

• More positives: the welcome return of CurlTV is imminent... whoops, actually, it relaunches today, in fact. CurlTV 2.0 is on the air, with all kinds of fabulous live webstreamed curling content ready to send directly to your computer. This season's sked of over 200 games is expected to include additional European content, a new host, an expanded Game Vault with some 160 archived matches to choose from – everything from the Brier to the Grand Slams – plus a new emphasis on news. Furthermore, there's a free sneak peak – within the members section – of Version 2.0 available to all, from September 26 to 28. Don't miss it.

• The Manitoba Curling Tour has been busy: their news release is out, hawking their schedule – which boasts increased money this season – and they've got a new website, part of the CurlingZone network. Great stuff. Coverage today from CJOB and also the Winnipeg Sun's Jim Bender, who also has a column today...

• Chiliwack, B.C. is gearing up for another season, which includes the Continental Cup. In this additional story, we discover that nearly 30 per cent of tickets were snapped up over the summer months...

• Finally, here's a new curling videogame for your mobile phone. Go have some fun. And have a great weekend...

Curling. What else?

Back from a break.

Curling season has started.

Lots going on.

Read and click.

More later.

Photo credit: Dan, of course. Where does he find these things?!

• Here's a great personal curling anecdote currently making online waves, and we can't imagine a better read to kick of the season. It comes from Moncton's Curling Beausejour summer camp, and it features Russ Howard working with an average joe, sharing secrets and insights about the sport that both love. This is what happens every year, weekend after weekend, at such instructional camps – the HOT SHOTS, at Kevin Martin's Academy, and so on – and it is really an experience not to be missed...

• From the Did You Know department: DYK that a Manitoba team won the season's first national championship (already)? Neither did we...

• Listen Up: you can check out new curling retiree Jon Mead on The latest episode of The Curling Show, and also U.S. silver skipper Debbie McCormick on Chicago’s 360 The Pitch radio show...

• Kevin Martin recently spoke to the Edmonton Journal (subscription only) about his new squad, and specifically new third John Morris. Some zingers from the Old Bear:

John and I? I think we're going to be a strong combination. I think it's good for John to get out of the skipping role. Now he just has to worry about getting in great shape and shooting – something that he's brilliant at – and that's it. He's just going to focus on playing great in every game and make every shot.

Er... every shot?

(If he misses), Being that I'm a bit older, I don't think it's going to be a problem. If I had a chance to throw for someone like Ed Lukowich, I would have just listened to him. The guy knew what he was talking about. It's the same token here. I'm older, and I think we're going to get along just fine.

As for Johnny Mo:

To curl in this game at this level, you need a pretty thick skin. We know what to expect from Kevin. I think that's part of constructive criticism. If I miss a shot or if I'm not throwing very well, I want to hear about it. I've worked with sports psychologists, and sometimes you need a bit of a release. I've been able to control that release, although it may cost the team a couple of brooms that I break along the way...

• Today's Saskatoon Star-Phoenix summarizes the women's teams competing in the wheat-sheaf province this season (subscription only). Of note is CBC-talkie Joan McCusker taking a break while her 1998 Olympic teammates continue; Sherry Linton joining up with the McIvors; and both the Sherry Anderson and Stefanie Lawton teams "going hard" this year...

• Vermont curling is now ready to rock n' roll...

• Alberta's Slave Lake CC needs an icemaker – right now – or the season may not start...

• Blog Report: what's this? Looks like a new Blog, based in Duluth, Minn., for area clubs. Wonder if anyone from Thunder Bay's Fort William CC will notice they've been excluded, in favour of historical rivals Port Arthur?... Patrick has been busy, attending the Powell River summer spiel, and also welcoming a pink brush in his house... and Texas Dan went completely bonkers with his Blog while we were away, continuing to post en masse about his HOT SHOTS Fantasy Camp experience: the entire collection is now online starting with Part I here, then Part II, then Part III here, naturally Part IV, and finally Part V. You go, Dan...

• And finally: news that the CCA had withdrawn funding – temporarily – from both the Club Development Fund and the Athlete Assistance Program was credited by some to Sweep Magazine. However, the scoop goes to – once again – the intrepid Allen Cameron of The Curling News and Calgary Herald. There's been some discussions of these and other CCA cost-cutting measures here and here, and InTheHack's Mike Potter takes the CCA to task here, and now we present the most recent original story verbatim...


CCA puts development funding on ice:
Association had based grants on future earnings

by Allen Cameron
The Calgary Herald
August 26, 2006

Desperate to get its financial house in order, the Canadian Curling Association has decided to stop what some already consider a dubious business practice.

For the past six years, the CCA has been using money it expects to make from future events to fund its well-received Curling Development Fund.

But with the CCA in the hole to the tune of at least $100,000 for the coming season, and with the Tim Hortons Brier next March in Hamilton hardly a guaranteed money-maker, the grants to clubs across the country will be suspended next year.

As well, the CCA told clubs that were successful in applying for development funds that the money may not arrive until next year, and that full payment won't come until 2008.

The fund has doled out nearly $1 million since its inception in 1999, with the money going toward such things as purchasing updated ice-making equipment, staging learn-to-curl clinics or promotions.

According to a letter sent earlier this month to clubs that received grants, the lack of profits from the 2001 Brier in Ottawa and Tournament of Hearts in Sudbury, Ont., should have stopped the development fund that year. Instead, "the CCA agreed to 'borrow' funds from the profits of future events to ensure the continuity of the fund."

That policy has continued, until what the letter refers to as a "budget crisis" forced the CCA's hand.

"It was never really a cash-flow issue because we never give out the cheques until eight months or so after the event," said the CCA's manager of curling club development Danny Lamoureux, who oversees the program. "But we've never been able to catch up, and the auditor finally kind of told us, 'Stop it. This is not a good practice.' But it was good for the curling clubs."

But Darin Eno, president of the Coronation Curling Club – one of the lucky applicants this year, receiving $750 for instructor training – isn't so sure.

"I'd just as soon they get their house in order. If it takes five years, so be it," said Eno, who hasn't been told when his club will receive the money. "Don't be giving money out if you don't have it. The first time they had to borrow against future events, they should have put a halt to it right there. I don't run a business like that, I don't run a household like that. I don't go borrowing money on hoping that an oil company will drill a well on my land. You can't do it."

CCA president Donna Duffett didn't return phone calls, while CCA CEO Dave Parkes is on holidays.

But a CCA director, who requested anonymity, was surprised to find out that the association had been giving out money that it didn't have.

"I'm against that because we can't guarantee future profits," said the director. "All it takes is one freak winter storm or one poorly attended Brier and there's going to be nothing there to borrow against."

The suspension of the development fund – Lamoureux said that it should return in 2008 bigger and better – is another cost-cutting measure that the CCA hopes will remove what has become an embarrassing deficit for one of the highest-profile amateur sports in Canada, including removing money from the Athletes Assistance Fund.

The top four teams at both the Brier and Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Lethbridge will be ineligible to receive AAF money – about $7,000 per team at the Brier and $4,000 per team at the Hearts – to cover travel costs and time off work; they will, though, receive the prize money that accompanies a top-four finish.

Attention Campers

Awww, ain't that sweet. The photo shows Swiss Olympic silver medal skip Mirjam Ott coaching a couple of tykes.

We've been promoting various curling camps throughout the summer, and now that many of them are underway or even finished, we thought we would recap. In no particular order:

• The first of four HOT SHOTS Fantasy Camps ended on the weekend, and Texas Dan was there in all his big, friendly glory. You can read his first of what will (hopefully) be multiple HOT SHOTS posts on Dan's Bonspiel Blog.

• The 15th annual Alberta Rocks curling camp filled the Leduc Curling Club for two separate camps this month, with 288 kids taking part. Most were from Alberta, but a few travelled from British Columbia, Saskatchewan and even the Northwest Territories to try to improve their game. Celebs on hand included Olympian Amy Nixon and world junior champ Charley Thomas, both of whom graduated from such camps earlier in their careers.

• The Ol' Bear, Kevin Martin, jumped into the camp game this summer with two academies, one for adults (just finished) and juniors (now underway).

• Naturally, there's the 14th annual Trillium junior camp (two of them) in Guelph, Ontario, held just prior to the first HOT SHOTS, and not too far away down the road. 192 curlers between age 13 and 19 over a two-week span.

So... are all these camps working?

Is it worth it to plant the seed of curling growth during the lazy summer months?

Specific to the issue of kids: are they staying with the sport, and are they maximizing their potential?

Jim Waite says yes, particularly to the last query. Quote: It's amazing how this camp is producing champions. Waite, the Canadian men's national team coach, also runs the Trillium (and Amethyst) camps and he proudly hangs a banner onsite, which features over 100 names of kids who have attended the camp and later competed in a Canadian championship.

One example is 17-year-old Jamie Parker. He attended his fifth camp last week and dreams of his name appearing on that banner. As Parker told the Guelph Mercury:

My friends made fun of me, and then I brought them out to curl and it was hilarious watching them. Now they have a huge respect for curling. Actually, three of the buddies that came out started playing and we came third at OFSAA.

Also:

• Looks like U.S. Olympic speed skating whiz Bonnie Blair went kayak curling. Yeah, that's right, kayak curling...

• 2005 STOH champion skip Jennifer Jones is an honourary chair for Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz' re-election campaign. How about that.

• OK, what the heck is this? Can somebody tell us? It's also here on YouTube, and it's quite cool, but that's all we know...

Bits & Biters

All kinds of blurbs to pass along today...

• Paralympic golden boy Chris Daw (photo) is in The Curling Show hotseat. Meanwhile there are some disturbing rumours floating around that Daw recently turned down a 150,000-pound wheelchair job in Scotland (that's right, pounds, which would be over 300K in Canuck bucks) to stay in and show loyalty to Canada, but is now struggling to keep his head above water. Say it ain't so...

• Meanwhile, two of Daw's arch-rivals on the Scottish wheelchair squad – which earned silver in Pinerolo – have retired. One of them, skipper Frank Duffy, has been struggling with ill health... in fact, Duffy suffered a heart attack after the competition and while still in Italy...

• First, the Vancouver 2010 curling arena promised for a vacant lot in Vancouver at a price tag of $28-million will now cost $37.1 million and has been moved to a heritage ball park, which will be destroyed in the process. Now, the city of Whistler has voted against building a stadium to host Paralympic sledge hockey, which means that sport – and wheelchair curling – will now move down the hill to Vancouver. Which also means the legacy of having all Paralympic sports in one area (Whistler) for the first time is toast, and we may yet see more Paralympic sports depart the mountain city. The official news is here, with a couple of stories here and here...

• So, you're a Canadian curler and you're upset that your national association is raising competitor fees. Our take? We're of two minds. First of all, $15 per event is a joke in this underpriced sport. You’re lucky you don’t pay between $500 and $1,000 per entry, like you do for a sanctioned World Curling Tour event. So quit your whinging! Secondly, as for the principle of the thing, that seems to be another story altogether...

• More Buckets tales following Monday's funeral, from Terry Jones and ex-Journal and The Curling News scribe Ray Turchansky. Finally, a service wrapup from the Con Man...

• Scottish national team members are now in dry-land training...

• As expected, Winnipeg's fire-razed Thistle club may not survive...

• A tale of McGill students charging forward with University curling...

• And finally, a great outdoor curling/activity piece, and in a New Zealand newspaper to boot!

Goodbye Sportsnet curling

A shocker this week that the Rogers Sportsnet era of curling is over... but first, a pink brush update!

The BalancePlus breast cancer campaign is almost – but not quite – over. The limited-edition batch of 100 pink-handled brushes sold out quickly, and $10,000 has been raised for breast cancer research, but you still have a 1 in 8 chance of scoring one of these babies. And, these last eight sticks shall be autographed by two BalancePlus curling squads: Team Anette Norberg and Team Glenn Howard.

Simply head to this special BP page and fill out your entry ballot to win... and start crossing fingers and toes. And congrats to BalancePlus on a successful pre-season campaign to boost a worthy charity.

Now... just a couple of months following the upheaval in curling’s traditional CBC/TSN landscape (effective fall 2008, of course) word has finally broken that Sportsnet’s coverage of high-performance curling is over and out. And the beleaguered CBC may be back in the game... the Grand Slam game, that is.

Debuting with GMC World Curling Tour coverage back in 1999, the network then known as CTV Sportsnet debuted an all-new talent lineup of play-by-play man Rob Faulds and colour commentators Ed Lukowich and Marilyn Bodogh, both world champion skips in 1986 (and Bodogh again in ‘96). Curtis Saville, the son of Edmonton-based hockey and curling supporter Bruce Saville, produced the shows and recent years saw Rick Davis in the director’s chair.

The decision came down a while ago, and according to workhorse newsbreaker Al Cameron of The Curling News (naturally) and the CanWest news chain (subscription only), Sportsnet has dropped curling as part of a “revamped programming lineup aimed at attracting younger viewers. Ratings – Slam finals generally attracted respectable numbers – were not an issue, but the older demographic of the viewership was.”

World Curling Tour honcho Paul Boutilier was reportedly advised of the planned departure, thus freeing him up to deal with other networks. Cameron reports that the rumour mill is talking about CBC, but Boutilier refused to confirm.

“I think, from our perspective, you'll see a certain recognition of the series at a very high level,” was all Boutilier would tell Cameron. “Certainly, as a series, it's a big step.”

Such a deal would mark a huge boost to CBC Sports, and allow the national broadcaster to maintain its association with the sport it has pioneered on TV since the 1960s.

Voices:

It's part of the new direction we're heading here. It's a programming decision, and it (curling) doesn't really fit in with our plans as far as programming goes. We had an excellent relationship with them, and we wish them all the luck in finding another partner to air this product. It's a great product, and we're sure they'll find somebody.
– Andy Shapiera, Sportsnet communications officer

We're disappointed to lose a partner who's been involved in the Grand Slam from the very start. But, in that industry, you could be right back on the network within a few years.
– WCPA President Paul Boutilier

I'm kind of unhappy about it but, on the other hand, my winters have been so busy, so I can kind of concentrate on my U.S. curling stuff. Sportsnet has been great for the sport; I've enjoyed working with them, it was a great association. I have nothing but good things to say about them.
– Ed Lukowich, former Sportsnet curling analyst

Meanwhile:

• This news, of course, would mean that the Grand Slam of Curling is back for a sixth season. Perhaps not uncoincidentally, a Halifax paper ran a piece this week on the Slam returning to tiny Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, with a date to be confirmed...

• Word that Brandon’s Wheat City Classic WCT spiel has been cancelled may be just the tip of the iceberg, as the “leasing arrangements for the Golf and Curling Club have been terminated effective September 30, 2006 and the operation of our facility is being returned to the City of Brandon”...

• The cavalry are riding to the rescue in Saskatchewan... we hope. The CCA’s Business of Curling symposium rolls into the wheat province next month, aiming to streamline and professionalize the business model of struggling curling clubs. And not a moment too soon: 10 years ago the Saskatchewan Curling Association boasted 250 curling clubs: now they count under 200 and the numbers continue to decline...

• New Zealand curling sees a new face at men’s skip position. Dan Mustapic, one of the expat Canadians who played second for homegrown Sean Becker at the Turin Olympics, skipped his new-look squad to victory over Becker at the recent NZ national championship. The team now heads to Japan for the Pacific Championships later this fall in an attempt to qualify for the Ford Worlds in Edmonton. This was the first real national championship as the NZ Curling Association moves away from team selection criteria in favour of on-ice performance. Bridget Becker won the women’s title...

• According to this MacLean’s story, Winnipeg’s Granite CC gets a cameo appearance in the new 2007 film Blue State...

• The PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) is underway in Vancouver, and today’s sport-themed parade includes “human curling rocks”...

• Great Goodbyes: a while ago we detailed the breakup of Team Ralph Stoeckli, and a new lineup – complete with Italian flavour – for former third Claudio Pescia. Well, the new Team Stoeckli website isn't quite up and running yet, but the old lineup that entertained worldwide fans for six-odd years has posted a fond farewell to its fans, check it out...

R.I.P. Buckets

Before we begin, another photo of the Olympic and world champion Team Anette Norberg from this past weekend's rock-n'-roll gig... this one from backstage with loveable rivetheads and co-conspirators Hammerfall. We just can't get enough.

Just a year or so removed from his enshrinement in the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame, curling journalist Don "Buckets" Fleming has passed away. The legend, whose writing for both the Edmonton Journal and Canadian Curling News (the predecessor to The Curling News, from which this Blog derives) was also accompanied by a career covering the racetracks, is fondly remembered in various news stories this week, including a great piece from Journal writer Jim Matheson (subscription only). An excerpt:

Don Fleming, who became forever known as Buckets when he cavalierly phoned down to the front desk for a bucket of ice while playing cards as his hotel was going up in flames, passed away Saturday night at the Grey Nuns Hospital.

The former Journal sportswriter was one of the city's most colourful personalities, talking about friends White Shirt Munro and Blackjack Milne in his horse-racing columns. He also spent decades covering Briers and world curling championships, along the way getting chummy with the infamous German playgirl and alleged spy Gerda Munsinger, who caused a scandal in the Canadian government in the late 1960s.

"He was the last of the characters," said Canadian Curling Association events manager Warren Hansen.

The stories about Fleming, who also covered hockey in his early Journal days, were legendary and always a hoot. He loved being at the track and the curling rink and he could spin a tale of hard luck better than anybody else. But nobody was funnier or more oustpoken than Fleming, who went to work for Northlands when his Journal days ended in the early 1980s.

"At the '72 Silver Broom (worlds) in Garmisch (Germany), all of sudden, Gerda Munsinger was sitting with Buckets at the media bench. Nobody could figure out how or why he knew her. But the people from Air Canada (the sponsors) wanted to get her the hell out of there, I know that. Buckets... he was a real sweet talker," said Hansen.

"After the '77 Silver Broom in Sweden, a bunch of Canadian writers went to Copenhagen for a few days and I remember Buckets playing gin rummy with another reporter from Calgary named Al Dahl for two days. He thought he'd taken all of Al's money. Trouble is, Al didn't have any. When Buckets found out, he threw Al's typewriter out the window from the 15th floor.

"He'd sit there for 15 hours a day, watching the Alberta rinks play from start to finish and he'd keep track of all their shots. He got mad when the Canadian Curling Association brought in their own scorers (for percentages)," said Hansen, laughing softly.

Indeed. Fleming deserves a spot in the statistics hall if fame, too, as Matheson learned from his own father – another Canadian Curling News legend – for the story:

"Buckets started the scoring system (percentages) for curlers at the Brier," said another Canadian Curling Association Hall of Famer Jack Matheson.

Former TCN publisher and current Editor Emeritus Doug Maxwell also pays homage to the Buckets legacy in a chapter of his new book, Tales of a Curling Hack, coming out this fall:

I first learned about shooting percentages in my rookie years at the Brier. Buckets Fleming – Donald Schubert Fleming to quote the name on his birth certificate – was the learned and fun-loving curling writer for the Edmonton Journal when I first met him, and I was fascinated to watch him score a game. He had a pad of newsprint and a stub of a pencil, and before each game he’d rule off a scoring grid so he could do his math work. I don’t know how he managed to see everything that was going on in the arena, carry on a conversation with whoever was seated next to him, and still manage to score every shot of every Alberta player. He didn’t worry about the other games. After all, he was writing about his beloved Albertans and, of course, his stats efforts would aid in his subsequent analysis and coverage of the game.

Later, I tried to emulate Buckets and score a game myself, and discovered it definitely wasn’t easy. It did have one unassailable advantage, though; it forced you to watch every shot of the game.

R.I.P. Buckets. Another loss from a time when The Roaring Game was breaking new ground – and some of the rules ;) – with each passing day.

Elsewhere:

• Scotland's world men's champion David Murdoch has a team change heading into the 2006-07 season. Second stone (and former skip) Warwick Smith has left to return to the tee, and will compete with former world champion skip David Smith (no relation) at third, and front-enders Craig Wilson and Ross Hepburn. Murdoch has slipped Lowell alternate Peter Smith into the lineup as a replacement (P. Smith actually played some of the '06 WCC early rounds when Warwick – again, no relation, but Peter and David are brothers: confused yet? – went down with a back injury).

And if that's not baffling enough, Team Tom Brewster has a humungous change for next season: third Graeme Connal has left to play with Peter Loudon and will be replaced by – wait for it – Hammy McMillan. COME ONNNN!...

• There's lots of European events underway early this fall – next month in fact – starting with Switzerland's Baden Masters, which features returning Canuck champ Kerry Burtnyk. Norway gets underway shortly thereafter with the Bompi Cup, and while Bern's venerable Bund Trophy tournament is sadly no more, the World Curling Tour Europe has stepped up with the host club to create a new event, and they've already got 26 teams signed up. Where, oh where, is that kind of take-charge action on this side of the pond... eh?

• $134,000 in grants for curling clubs have been announced by the Canadian Curling Association, as part of the 2006 Curling Development Fund. Something tells us, however, that Gravenhurst will be using their $3,000 stipend towards the cost of a new roof, not a scraper...

• And finally, an irritated Sports Guy North has now officially put our sport – and TCN – on notice. Hmm. This is a full-fledged PR disaster! Sitting in the penalty box alongside Kelly Hrudey and mosquitoes (not from Winnipeg?!) simply won’t do. Perhaps a free copy of the 2007 calendar (when printed) and a couple of free Keiths’ at the Brier Patch in Hamilton will change SGN’s mind and bring ye olde TCN back into the good books...

Norberg Rocks Out – Again

It's true. Tens of thousands of screaming rock fans, bright lights and a huge stage... and there are the Anette Norberg team members, onstage with Gates of Metal festival-closers Hammerfall, rocking out to the now-ubiquitous curling/metal anthem “Hearts on Fire”.

Some Swedish media reports mentioning the team's appearance – on backing vocals – are located here and here.

Another photo and the team's thoughts on their appearance are now posted on their Blog, which also details other appearances they've been doing; a recent foot injury to second Cathrine Lindahl; and also the low-key but important announcement that they do intend to defend their Olympic gold medal at Vancouver 2010.

Team Norberg's Blog has also shown an increase of English-language postings in recent months. Great move, ladies, as your international fan base – including metalheads – continues to grow.

Canuck curling fans can catch Team Norberg in action live in Chilliwack, BC (and/or on CBC-TV) at the Continental Cup of Curling in November. The event will mark the squad's only North American appearance this season.

Elsewhere:

• Aberdeen, Scotland has been awarded hosting rights for the 2009 European Championships, and here's the media reports from The Beeb and The Scotsman. It's a major coup for the Scots as the event will be the last major international tourney before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games... and it also provides an opportunity to improve upon their hosting of the controversial 2005 women's worlds.

Julia Bracewell, Chair of sportscotland said:

Curling is an important sport to Scotland and we are delighted that the 2009 European Curling Championships have been awarded to Aberdeen. sportscotland invested £800,000 of Lottery funding towards the development of the Curl Aberdeen facility, to support the development of the sport in the North East and it is great news that it is to stage this prestigious event, showcasing some of the world’s top curlers immediately prior to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Scotland last won the European title in 2003, when current world men's champ David Murdoch announced his arrival on the international scene by winning his first major title. Murdoch won bronze at last year's Euro titleshoot in Garmsich-Partenkirchen, Germany, which hosted 29 men's and 23 women's squads. The 2006 Europeans take place in December in Basel, Switzerland.

The last European Championship to be held in Scotland were at the Dewars Centre, Perth in 1992. Perth also welcomed them in 1988, whilst Aviemore hosted in 1978...

• Interesting that Manitoba's Jennifer Jones would be invited to golf in the Pro-Am of Canada's national women's (LPGA) golf championship. Yes, it's underway in London, home of the recent 2006 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where Jones competed as Team Canada. But BC's Kelly Scott was the eventual champion, after all...

• Finally, here's a cute news feature on the only all-curling supply shop in British Columbia's Lower Mainland. Who cares if it's the middle of summer? As we've already pointed out, the sport is already underway in various pockets around the world...

Think Pink

BalancePlus, the Science of Curling, are longtime supporters of The Curling News. But they could be complete strangers and we'd still put their latest innovation front and centre in today's post.

Hot on the heels of an Olympic fundraiser which benefitted Canadian and international teams in Torino 2006 (which you can read about in the upcoming November issue of TCN), BP are at it again. This time they've thrown their hat – er, products – into the charity ring.

Purchase a shocking pink-handled BP carbon-fibre brush and a whopping $100 from each purchase goes to help the fight against breast cancer. This is a limited-time promotion, so head to their website right away.

Team Glenn Howard, also sponsored by BalancePlus, will be using the pink brushes when curling roars into gear next month. Coupled with the wide, white belts they debuted last season, it should be quite a display.

Curling in Africa

We recently stumbled across this ancient story – okay, 1982 isn't that long ago, but ours is a pretty old sport, right? – describing a curling experience in the Ivory Coast, some 24 years ago (photo).

And in true curling fashion, it has an amusing twist – er, rip – at the end. Great stuff.

Meanwhile, one of the worst-kept secrets in curling is about to be officially revealed... next month, that is. That's when a news conference is planned to announce that Winnipeg will host the Brier in March 2008, their first Tim Hortons hosting gig since the 1998 event, won by Ontario's Wayne Middaugh over Quebec's Guy Hemmings.

In revealing the news, Winnipeg Free Press writer Paul Wiecek states that “The last major curling event held in the city was the 2003 world curling championship.”

Eh? Whaa..?

What about the Grand Slam of Curling, which has found a comfortable home at Winnipeg's new MTS Centre the last two years? With big-name teams, national TV and record World Curling Tour crowds to boot?

• D'OH: A lovely little tornado touched down in the Ontario cottage town of Gravenhurst this week, causing assorted mayhem. It also, rudely, tore the roof off the curling club. Which had just been replaced a couple of years earlier, naturally...

• Politicians in Moose Jaw are finally going to vote on their proposed new curling (et al) facility, but the situation still sounds a complete mess...

• It didn't take long for former Toronto Olympic/CBC curling guy Mike Harris to be labelled a local Calgary yokel. The Calgary Sun called him a “city sports star” in announcing that Harris, Calgary Stampeders quarterback Henry Burris and former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy were the honourary co-chairs of yesterday's 11th Annual Scotiabank Charity Golf Classic in support of the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter, played at Calgary Elks Lodge & Golf Club...

• The Curling Show has the one and only Kerry Burtnyk in the house. The world champion is back on the ice this fall after a one-year hiatus, and is steering a bunch of youngsters to boot. Check out Dean Gemmell’s Q&A today...

• Look, folks, we hooked another one...

• And speaking of Blogspots... Blogcritic’s resident curling expert has discovered The Curling News story about Italy’s Joel Retournaz defecting to Switzerland, and the one-liners pour forth:

Those Swiss lulled us into a belief they were this adorable little country that couldn't harm a fly, all the while feeding us Toblerone until we don't know what hit us.

Well Italy, hope you enjoyed your curling phenom while it lasted. If you need him, he's in the Alps right now with the sound of music.

Zing!

Curling in August

Guess what: curling is back.

It’s Game On in Edmonton as the Saville Centre (photo) is open for curling business. They’ve actually had ice since last weekend, and they’ll be tinkering through this week before opening it to the public on Saturday.

They’ve got Pre-Season Leagues, a combined golf/curling day called the Sticks & Stones Classic, a new series of kid’s clinics called the Summer Sliders Camps, and also Kevin Martin’s Academy of two camps, one for adults and one for juniors. All of these can be accessed from the Centre’s page on Summer Curling.

In another week or so, both Oakville and Guelph, in Ontario, will be open for thriving summer league and bonspiel play.

Yup, it’s that time again.

And we were just getting used to summer... weren’t we?

• The fallout over the loss of Toronto’s enormous Avonlea facility seems disconcerting: there is no word of a rescue plan, no intense political lobbying – and this is a municipal election year – and no committees being struck. There may be anger, but no action. Or so it seems. Anyone... ?
Meanwhile, the Toronto Star reports that its online story, located here, was the 10th highest story viewed and forwarded on Friday. Other media reports include the Toronto Sun, the National Post, and the local North York Mirror.

• On the high-performance team front, there is big news from Atlantic Canada. On the heels of their announced induction into the PEI Sports Hall of Fame (taking place September 2), Suzanne Gaudet’s 2001 world junior champion team has now decided to reunite for the 2006/07 season...

• Despite missing curling’s medal podium at Torino 2006, UK Sport has tripled curling’s annual sport funding to 1.1 million pounds, putting traditionally well-funded sports like alpine skiing to shame and raising some eyebrows...

• It looked like a typical U.S. journalist-goes-curling story. We suppose it is typical, in terms of having a familiar start (reporter is confident), middle (reporter is in disbelief, and some degree of pain) and ending (reporter has respect). But what a great piece of writing it turned out to be... and the fellow didn’t even comment on the difficulty of sweeping. Here it is, from Sweet Home Chicago...

• The all-Olympic lineups are now confirmed for the return of the Continental Cup of Curling, this coming November in Chilliwack, BC...

• Blogspots: Camper Dan is going wild, and he doesn’t even start Hot Shotting for another five weeks... incidentally, can anyone guess who Dan is admiring in this previous photo-posting? We know who it is... but then, we know everything, right?... and this guy seems, on first glance, to be a complete arse, but hey, this was Blogpost number 38 during a 24-hour Blogathon – for charity – so maybe we’ll cut him some slack. Just this once.

Avonlea curling club doors shuttered

The rumours are sad but true: on Tuesday the official word came about the death of Ontario's last 16-sheet curling club, the storied Avonlea.

This morning, the Toronto Curling Association issued a news release:

TORONTO – Avonlea Curling Club, the last of the 16-sheet curling facilities in Ontario, is closing its doors.
The owners, a private partnership, have sold the property on Railside Road in Don Mills, just steps from the Don Valley Parkway and Lawrence Avenue. The club will close on August 15, 2006.
Club Manager Dave Gardner said “The current owners received an offer they couldn’t refuse.” Gardner indicated that the club, which opened in 1961, was facing a number of repairs over the next few years, and “the current owners did not find it financially feasible to continue to operate it.”
Home to an estimated 1,500 curlers, Avonlea also enjoyed a championship pedigree. It was the home of the Dream Team, Ed "The Wrench" Werenich's Toronto squad which dominated curling in the 1980s, winning the Brier and World championship in 1983.
Team member Paul Savage said “This is a sad day because I have a lot of great memories. I threw thousands of hours of practice rocks at Avonlea.”
The club was doing well with membership and was especially popular with recreational and industrial leagues. “Avonlea had approximately 30 rental leagues with 1,500 curlers, many of the other local curling clubs are already full and don’t have room to accommodate them,” Gardner said.
Ron Tolhurst, President of the Toronto Curling Association, brushed off suggestions that the closure is a bad sign for metropolitan curling. “Curling couldn't be any stronger,” Tolhurst said. “Membership is exploding after the 2006 Olympics, and Hamilton is hosting the Brier in March. Growth is assured right up to Vancouver 2010. This is just part of the natural evolution of the sport in Toronto, which is unique to the country in its size and in competition for recreational dollars.”
The Toronto Curling Association (TCA) is a volunteer organization dedicated to the promotion of the sport of curling in the greater Toronto area. All 22 curling clubs in and around Toronto are members of the TCA.

And just like that, a major Toronto curling legacy is over. Let the anger, confusion and – finally – resignation spout forth.

Elsewhere, the news – most of it good – has been piling up...

• Hugh Millikin has won the 2006 Australian title, and is off to the Pacific championships in Japan. Here’s a pre-event story on one of the challenging teams, and here’s a post-event story on yet another opponent...

• First Rhona, now David: world champion skip David Murdoch is helping to promote London 2012 on a road tour, which stopped in Dumfries yesterday...

• We’ve another curling camp to tell you about, this one in Moncton, N.B., which will feature Russ Howard and Colleen Jones as guest instructors August 21-25...

• VANOC says that CCA head ice technician Hans Wuthrich will “oversee” the curling ice in 2010, but the WCF actually has the final say on who the true Olympic ice chief will be, and that decision has not been finalized yet...

• Still with B.C., the 500-strong Peace Arch Curling Club wants to do some renovating... to the tune of a whopping $3 million...

• Moving a tad east, curling will be a featured sport at the inaugural Outgames in Calgary, in April, 2007...

• Hey, Canadians: did you catch the new CBC comedy/drama Northern Town earlier this week? It takes place in far-off Henderson, in the Yukon, and the first episode featured our hero Brian (Luke Kirby) chasing a metorite when he should have been focusing on the big bonspiel with its $20,000 prize. Hmm. Curling in a small northern town. The big prize. Meteorites... as compared to NASA astronauts. Sounds ever-so-slightly familiar, doesn’t it?

• New Kevin Martin third John Morris, who will instruct at the September HOT SHOTS Fantasy Camp in Oakville, Ontario, is fighting fires in Vermillion, Alberta this summer...

• It’s been known for some time that Kelley Law is back on the ice this fall, and with former 2002 Olympic teammate Georgina Wheatcroft along for the reunion ride. The front end comprises Shannon Aleksic and Darah Provencal. "I'm so excited to get back in the thick of things," Law recently told the Vancouver Sun.
Team Law, minus their skipper, recently took part in the Four Foot Curling Camp in Mill Bay, and curling-crazed Blogger Patrick has been documenting his week at the camp online, in three parts (so far)...

• Still with Blogspots: this Blogger, impressed with Torino curling TV numbers, recalls his one and only brush with the sport... and we’re assuming this Swedish blogger is also discussing his (or her) first brush with the sport, but, er, can anyone read Swedish to confirm?...

• Recently we told you about unorthadox off-season uses for curling clubs, such as shelters from forest fires and police command posts. Now you can add – wait for it – roller-derby training ground to that list...

• Finally, a Public Service Announcement: the Ottawa Curling Club rocks this Saturday night with a stag & doe for 2005 Scotties finalist Jenn Hanna, who is soon to be married. Tickets are $5.00 at the door...

Olympic curler leaves country

Stunning news on the European curling front as the identity of the new player on Claudio Pescia's Swiss team is now public... and it's Joel Retornaz, the young Italian hero of Torino 2006 (photo).

Pescia is the former third for Ralph Stoeckli, 2003 world runner-up, fifth in Turin and a regular face on the World Curling Tour, including the Grand Slams. After six years curling together, Team Stoeckli has split, with Stockli and Simon Struebin enticing Markus Eggler, a 2002 Olympic silver medallist with Andi Schwaller, out of retirement to hold the broom and throw second stones. Jan Hauser, the 2003 world junior bronze medallist for Switzerland, throws third rocks.

Stoeckli was looking for a four-year committment to qualify for the curling show at Vancouver 2010. Pescia, Pascal Sieber and Marco Battilana weren't prepared for that, preferring to plan year-to-year while setting short-term goals. As such, rather than retire or take a breather from the sport, the three decided to stick together and bring in a new player.

Pescia, who holds dual Swiss-Italian citizenship and skipped Italy at a world championship years ago, spoke exclusively to The Curling News:

I met Joel in Lowell and spoke to him about his future, because I'm always interested in Italy's curling destiny, since I still feel a bonding after the five years I worked and played for them. It came out that Joel wasn't quite sure about (the future of) his Olympic team, since it was hand-picked. Then he lost the Italian championship against Stefano Ferronato of Cortina, because Joel played with his very young local team. So he may or may not have been picked as a player for the Europeans in December, but he didn't feel that comfortable with that situation.

Then I knew that Marco and Pascal always had a good time with him at curling tournaments and championships. We thought he might be the right candidate for us, since he's got a Swiss passport too. I remember him way back in the 90's, when I played and taught in Italy, when he was a young talented boy, willing to learn. All that helped us choose him as our new player.

There was another problem. Swiss curling is in transition: no longer will the national team qualify for the next season's European and World championships (winners will compete in the same year as much of the rest of the world does) and curling clubs hold team spots in the premier A-league – not the teams themselves. Which team would get Stoeckli's spot representing St. Gäller Bar? The alternative is to start fresh... but in C-League, with a two-year wait to get to the premier league.

Pescia:

The rule change, that forces new teams to start in C-league, is an unlucky thing. I personally don't like it at all. Luckily for us, everything went well: CC St. Galler Bär chose our team, surprisingly, and Ralph had to look further and found CC Basel-Regio... which had an A/B spot in the league. The former skip of that team quit playing and so Ralph could take over. It's Markus Eggler's home club anyway.

At the moment as we applied for the spot, our choice of Joel wasn't public yet... only for the board of the club which had to making the decision. I wanted to keep the integrity of everyone, in case the club decided against us. Most probably we wouldn't have formed this team, and Joel – maybe myself too – would have gone back to Italy! I don't think Marco and Pascal wouldn't have played for another club, and probably would have quit competitive curling, for a while at least.

Team Pescia has a new website and a goal, which is to win the Swiss championship and fly to Edmonton in April (current 2006 Swiss champ Andi Schwaller will rep Switzerland at December's Euro shootout). Retornaz still lives in Italy, so the squad will stay close to home and compete on the World Curling Tour Europe. 19-year-old Mario Freiberger has also joined the squad as alternate, and according to Pescia, he has an interesting Canadian story:

He (Mario) is happy to be part of a competitive men's team and is the perfect alternate cause he's a back-ender too. He's got an interesting background. He spent one year in P.E.I. as exchange student, played local bonspiels there and by accident he played in the Canadian Juniors for P.E.I., because their skip broke an arm right before the event. They asked Mario to throw fourth rocks and play third! They even reached the semi-final, but don't ask me when that was!

Retornaz now joins a list of Olympic athletes who have left their birth country for another. After a dizzying winter and spring of fame and glory, which saw millions of Italians watching his efforts on TV and roaring their support in public, what does he say about his newfound efforts to compete for Switzerland?

Don’t forget I am only 22 years old! I mean, I am still very young and I have the chance to play in the strongest national championship in Europe, with one of the strongest teams in the world. I don't think I could ask for more right now. If I don’t take his opportunity now, I don't think I am ever going to get it again.

Curling Stratusfaction?

Not really.

Although seeing as professional wrestler Trish Stratus (laying the boot in photo) is not only Canadian but hails from – and still lives in – TCN's current hometown of Richmond Hill, we're happy to lead off with "her" story today.

One of the worst-kept secrets in Canadian TV sports – er, "Sports Entertainment" – is now official: WWE wrestling, primarily a Monday-night show, has left TSN and will settle in at The Score as of August 7.

In the past, the soon-to-be exclusive curling network has come under fire for pre-empting the Scotties and Brier in favour of wrestling. No problem now, right? Wrong, as the Globe reminds us why the rasslers are departing in the first place: Monday Night (NFL) Football is taking their place this fall. And there's no way curling will beat out the NFL for the live spot.

One aspect of the WWE news conference struck us as oddball: according to this report, the wrestlers joked about TSN's recent misbehavour, ie. that "now there would be no pre-emptions from hockey or curling." The Sun Media chain went so far as to quote wrestler Edge, who took umbrage at the "primal Hurry Hard" crowd.

These are definitely jokes: as Canadian curling fans know, their sport almost always took a back seat to the rasslin', not the other way 'round. TSN did earn some props this past season for finally putting curling first, and the wrestling divas (male and female) firmly in second, but this was a fairly new legacy.

So there you go. Now curling fans have to worry about NFL football... as well as hockey. As for TCN? We're still hoping to someday run in to Trish at the local DQ.

In other news:

• VANOC, still dealing with constant budget queries, is under fire today for the failure of Toronto's Olympic Spirit. The $50 million interactive complex closed its doors yesterday after first launching during the 2004 summer Olympics. Curling was represented by a land-based game, several displays featuring Olympic curling gear, and also equipment donated by Asham Curling Supplies. Read about the closure – and the infighting within Canada's Olympic family – here and here...

• The Royal Montreal Curling Club will celebrate 200 years of curling in 2007, and members have started a petition to have a stamp commemorated in this honour. Add your name and support by clicking here...

• Speaking of clubs, police and other emergency services seem to be using them quite often in the summer. During the Edmonton Oilers' run to the Stanley Cup hockey finals, wild street parties forced cops to set up a prisoner processing centre at the Granite Club. Earlier this month, raging forest fires in B.C. and Saskatchewan forced fleeing residents to shelters at the Dawson Creek and Chetwynd clubs. And just this week in tiny Spiritwood, Sask., the local curling rink served as police manhunt command centre before a murder suspect eventually turned himself in ...

• Across the pond, 2002 Olympic curling heroine Rhona Martin is one of two athletes touring about to promote the London 2014 summer Olympics, and one of her (hopeful) heir apparents is thrilled to receive new government funding...

• ESPN 2 recently rebroadcast the Ford World women's championship final, giving fans another look at U.S. champion Debbie McCormick's close battle for the title, eventually won by Sweden's Anette Norberg. But could you ever guess that ESPN Brazil would also show it, followed by another packaged show from the men's world's in Lowell? Of course you couldn't, but here's the proof...

• Finally, a fun look back in time, particularly for those following the current growth of curling in the U.S.

In celebrating the 125th anniversary of The Aspen Times, their editorial staff has been reprinting a story or two from each year the newspaper has existed – a total of 125 historical selections over 125 days. Here's a recent reprint, dated 1967:

National curling tourney in Sept.

Enthusiasm generated by last weekend's curling competition here between Denver and Aspen teams has resulted in a larger-scale return match April 15 through 17 and plans for a national bonspiel at Aspen Sept. 1-4.

In the weekend tilts, Denver sweepers won three out of four contests at the Brown Ice Palace. Saturday, they posted 8-4 and 9-7 victories.

On Sunday, the Carbondale Quik Brooms registered the only local win, an 8-7 triumph. Denver bested Aspenites in the final 13-5.

Save a prayer

Gerry Peckham, Canadian curling's long-time Manager of High Performance, may be down but he's not out.

Peckham was felled by a heart attack on or about July 5/6, and is now resting at home. He's had an angioplasty and also has a cardiac shunt inserted into a remaining blocked artery, which will be dealt with further in the coming weeks.

The key driver of Canada's National Team program and many other HP files before and since official Olympic status was achieved in 1998, Peckham's deft hand is no doubt still on his computer mouse... despite what must be fairly serious relaxation orders from his doctors.

All the best to Gerry on his road to recovery!

Ooooh. That looks sweet.

Back in black, baby.

The Black Book of Curling is back. The second edition rolls off the presses later this summer, chock full of new features, stories, stats, previews and you-name-it. It's a whopping 300-pager, it's the essential guide to curling and you simply must have it. And now you can reserve it – saving cash on shipping (plus tax for Canucks) – by pre-ordering today.

And yes, TCN is shilling this in rather shrill fashion. Hey, we're biased, but we admit it. Fact is, we think it's just that darned good... and it makes the curling fan within us all warm and fuzzy.

Produced by CurlingZone, the 2006/07 edition boasts a whack of new content, plus the return of the controversial rankings of men's and women's teams. Said Dallas Bittle, CurlingZone co-founder:

We're totally jacked about the new Black Book, and there's tons of new stuff in here that I can't reveal yet. There will be more previews and setups on teams and events happening this season. As for last year's rankings, the formula had just enough subjectivity in there to freak people out, like when Colleen Jones ended up ranked 16th. We have a new formula that is totally objective, and we're listing the Top 100 Men and Top 50 Women's teams in the world.


• Meanwhile, it's still camp time, folks. Adults can get in on the Fantasy action at multiple HOT SHOTS camps, while both adults and juniors can work with Kevin Martin and friends at two Edmonton-area camps in late August. Juniors alone are curl-camping right now, in Füssen, Germany and also in Saint John, N.B.

In fact Saint John is hosting the fifth annual Whitecap Curling Academy, which encompasses two full weeks and wraps up on July 21. The star factor is high, with three members of Team Gushue's Olympic Gold champs – Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam – there for the entire thing.

Said Curl Atlantic's Karen Ouellette:

It’s wonderful to have the guys back this year. They’ve always been a hit among the kids and this year is especially significant after their gold medal win. They set a great example of what this camp wants to project to our region’s future champions.

Said Nichols:

It’s important for us to be here at camp to remind these kids that they could be there (the Olympics) someday. It wasn’t that long ago that we were sitting on the floor listening to speakers like the kids here this week and wondering if we could ever win a gold medal. We want to give back to them the way others helped us.

Also instructing are world junior champ Stefanie Richard from Summerside, P.E.I and Canadian junior winners Andrea Kelly, Jodie DeSolla and Jared Bezanson from New Brunswick.

World Curling Tour: online for 06/07

The World Curling Tour website now shows a schedule for both the 2006-07 men's and women's event season, plus an online registry for competitors.

Teams and events have both been clamouring for this information: so there it is! Update your daytimers! Book flights! Reserve the beer kegs!

Er... that last one is for the event host clubs and committees. Naturally.

Meanwhile:

• Remember last night’s meeting (see the previous day’s Blogpost) in Moose Jaw? The farce continues, in some shape or fashion...

• Utica, NY will play host to the 2007 US national championships...

• Remember Dave Parkes? The head honcho of the Canadian Curling Association ventured on to The Curling Show recently for 22 minutes of podcast Q & A...

• Remember Mike Harris? Ontario Olympian, Brier skip and CBC talking head now living in Alberta and claiming he won’t be curling this fall? Well, he’s back, and Calgary’s Al Cameron has the scoop (subscription-only)...

Skip: Mike Harris
Third: ex-Winnipegger Garth Smith
Second: Jim Bush, brother of Cathy King lead Tracy Bush
Lead: Bob Genoway

Schedule:
Calgary Premier Super League and Alberta Kia Cup playdowns only.

Quotes:
(Mike Harris) I wanted to stay on the ice, for sure. I'll be playing mixed with my wife as well, so I'll be on the ice a couple times a week, but no bonspiels. It's hard to expect to be competitive if you're not doing the work. You know what? If we make provincials, I'm looking at it as a great year. That's the way I'm looking at it. It's a relative thing, I suppose. I'm hoping everybody's going to be good, and I'm sure they're hoping I'm going to play well.

(Garth Smith) The fit is really good. We've got young families, we've got work commitments. There's always that balance of wanting to curl competitive because you're still in your quote-unquote prime.

World's biggest curling stone

That's some big rock.

This 1.5-tonne curling rock is made of steel, foam and fibreglass and was unveiled late last month in tiny Arborg, Manitoba. It's just the latest big thing to be placed along North American highways with the aim of stopping people's cars, enticing them to take photographs and spend some cash at the local 7-11.

But it's got Thunder Bay, Ontario completely up in arms. They've had the world's largest curling stone for 46 years – built to celebrate the 1960 Brier – and now they've been upped by a prairie town boasting 957 residents. Alf Childs, the T-Bay rock's caretaker, says the metallic Manitoba creation doesn't even look like a curling stone."That's an affront to granite right there," Childs told the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal.

But check out this guy, he's really fired up at "those bastards in Manitoba"!

• Speaking of famous rocks, the Stone of Destiny has found a new home...

• Spies tell us that Glenn Howard and Sherry Middaugh have been honoured by their home Coldwater Curling Club for their 2005-06 on-ice exploits – Howard lost the Brier final and qualified for the Olympic Trials while Middaugh finished fourth at the Trials – and will receive a cruise. Isn't that generous! Two questions: do they have to bunk together, and can Sherry bring husband Wayne?

• After many trials and tribulations there will finally be curling in Vermont this fall, which has got one ex-Ottawean all pumped up...

• Elsewhere in the U.S., the annual Cape Cod Summerspiel wrapped up on the weekend...

• Some guy from this organization not only wants his "sport" to join the Olympics, but he cites curling as a reason, saying it "requires less physical stress than some other sports"...

• Could curling be in trouble in both Gander, NL and Port Alice, B.C.? Powell River (also in B.C.) wants a new facility, and Moose Jaw will once again debate their proposed facility tonight...

Go curling with the HOT SHOTS

It's that summer curling camp time of year, and TCN's fave is the HOT SHOTS series run by David Gravelle. Why? The fantasy camp angle, but of course.

There are two camps in Oakville, Ontario on August 25-27 and September 8-10, and the lineup of instructors has just been announced. August will feature 2006 Brier runner-up and twice Brier and world champion Glenn Howard among many others. September's camp will see a Yankee invasion led by 2006 world runner-ups Debbie McCormick – also 2003 world champ – and teammates Nicole Joraanstad and Natalie Nicholson, as well as new Kevin Martin third Johnny Morris, again among others.

Meanwhile there are still spots open at HOT SHOTS camps planned for Duluth, Minnesota (October 27-29), Barrie, Ontario (November 4-5) and Madison, Wisconsin (November 10-12). Sign up today for one of the best on-ice (and off-ice) experiences you will ever enjoy!

On the youth beat, Jim Waite's Ametheyst camp is underway and will conclude on July 7, with the Trillium camp set to begin soon. The dual website for both camps is located here.

What else is up, you ask?

• Monday's Edmonton Journal featured new Banff resident Mike Harris, and how he is coping with his new golf job and life in the mountains of Alberta. Harris said the phone has been ringing steadily and he's also been visited by Edmonton's Don Walchuk and Saskatchewan's Pat Simmons, while CBC cohorts Joan McCusker and Don Wittman have merely threatened to drop in.

There's one group dropping by in August that has got Harris pumped: Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Sergio Garcia, Big John Daly and Calgary's own Stephen Ames are in town Aug. 7-8 for the nationally-televised Telus Skins Game...

• Attention World Curling Tour players: organizers in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan are celebrating their 20th anniversary Wayside cashspiel with a whopping $75,000 prize purse, including a $5,500 qualifying payout. The news is so fresh, the event website wasn't updated at the time of this writing...

• 2007 Brier chair Dwayne Piper has been busy promoting his mammoth event in and around Hamilton...

• This is also a busy time of year for the CCA's Danny Lamoureux and his curling club growth and marketing program known as The Business of Curling. Here's a report on a struggling curling town (Digby, NS) and their newfound willingness to look at new ways of operating the sport in their community. If you're a club owner, president or passionate volunteer who is tired of the same-old/same-old – God knows our sport is chock-full of too much of that – this program is simply a must...

• The International Paralympic Committee has confirmed that the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games will feature 10 wheelchair curling teams, up from Turin’s eight...

• Finally, West Toronto (ie. Mississauga) curlers may want to check out a new historical – and oddly-titled – book, From Frozen Ponds to Beehive Glory, which features the Dixie Curling Club...