What is this? ... It’s art!

Congratulations to London, Ontario’s Peter McKinley , aka Listen to ME!!, who correctly identified the our running What is this? query. Some of our favourite – but incorrect – answers were “a refrigeration unit for cooling the TSN commentators’ wine” and “a personal memory disk from TRON.” Another offered that “if there was curling on 24 it would look like this.”

However, the answer is much cooler: it’s a work of art, by Canadian visual artist Jason Young.

Young works mostly in sculpture and has long been fascinated by the design qualities of the curling stone. The New-York based artist moved beyond his usual media and worked with a filmmaker to create the 10-minute short entitled The Curling Stones, which has played at various film festivals around the world, and which is available for viewing here and here.

TCN contacted Young just before we launched What is this? and Young has another curling project in development: one that will knock your rocks off. Guaranteed.

Check out the upcoming April print issue of The Curling News for an interview with Young and the inside scoop on his next curling film. And with some curling clubs set to close by the end of March, you’d best become a subscriber to ensure you get this issue.

TYLENOL* joins curling sponsor ranks

TYLENOL* Announced as Title Sponsor For Grand Slam of Curling Players’ Championship

CALGARY – Insight Sports Ltd. of Toronto has introduced TYLENOL* as the title sponsor of the Grand Slam of Curling Players’ Championship. The season-ending event will be known as the TYLENOL* Players’ Championship.

The TYLENOL* Players’ Championship, for both men and women, closes out the 2006-2007 season at the Calgary Corral, April 10-15 with a total prize purse of $200,000.

The championship is part of the Asham World Curling Tour’s Grand Slam of Curling series.

The women’s final will air on CBC Sports on Saturday, April 14 at 3:00pm ET, with the men’s final airing Sunday April 15 at 2:00pm ET.

“TYLENOL* is proud to support the Players’ Championship,” said Jennifer Williams, Product Director of McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the manufacturer of TYLENOL*.

“This event brings together Canada’s best curlers – they’re committed to their dreams, and engaged in a sport they love. We support that and wish them all the best in the competition.”

The TYLENOL* Players’ Championship for both women and men will include the top 16 CTRS (Canadian Team Ranking System) teams as of March 26, 2007. This is one of the premier events in curling, featuring the top squads in high-performance competition, and marks an important step within Canada’s Olympic qualification process for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Draw times at the Corral are:

April 10 – 5:30pm and 8:30pm
April 11 – 8:30am, 11:00am, 2:00pm, 5:30pm and 8:30pm
April 12 – 8:30am, 11:00am, 2:15pm and 5:15pm
April 13 – 11:00am, 2:00pm, 5:30pm and 8:30pm
April 14 – 1:00pm women’s final, 4:30pm men’s QF, 7:30pm men’s SF
April 15 – 12 noon men’s final.

“Calgary will be witness again to the greatest combined fields ever assembled under one roof,” said Paul Boutilier, Executive Director of the Grand Slam of Curling and the World Curling Players’ Association.

“Winning the TYLENOL* Players’ Championship means so much to the teams.”

“I have been fortunate enough to win the Players’ Championship four times, and yet I still remember that first victory in 1994,” said Alberta skip Kevin Martin.

“It is truly a player’s favourite when you bring the very best teams in our sport together for head-to-head competition.”

Tickets for the TYLENOL* Players’ Championship are on sale now in the Calgary area, and are available by calling TicketMaster at 403-777-0000 (or 1-888-833-4447 outside Calgary) or by purchasing online.

For more information and updates, visit the AWCT or CurlTV websites.

Insight Sports Ltd. owns and operates the Grand Slam of Curling, the most prestigious event series on the Asham World Curling Tour. The series is highlighted by the TYLENOL* Players’ Championship, one of the most important curling events on the AWCT schedule.

The world’s best curling teams, including those skipped by Glenn Howard, Randy Ferbey, Brad Gushue, Kevin Martin, Jeff Stoughton, Wayne Middaugh, Jean-Michel Menard, Kerry Burtnyk and many more, compete in the world’s only true “best-on-best” curling events.

The Grand Slam of Curling series also sees the competitors battle for valuable points on the Order of Merit List which not only determines the world’s best curling teams, but also contributes to the race to represent Canada at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Events include the Home Hardware Masters of Curling (Kitchener-Waterloo ON), the BDO Classic Canadian Open of Curling (Winnipeg MB), The National (Port Hawkesbury NS), and the TYLENOL* Players’ Championship (Calgary AB).

Insight Sports Ltd. is a leading sports media and entertainment company operating three specialty television networks: CGTV, Casino and Gaming Television; GOLTV Canada, a 24-hour soccer network; and WFN: World Fishing Network, North America's only network devoted entirely to fishing. The company also holds a significant interest in the NHL Network, a 24-hour hockey channel. Insight Sports creates and distributes sports and entertainment content across multiple platforms, including broadcast television, DVD, on-line, mobile, in-arena and video on-demand. Aquila Productions Inc., a leader in sports television production, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Insight Sports.

Insight Sports also owns and operates the Grand Slam of Curling, the most prestigious event series on the Asham World Curling Tour.

Based in Toronto, the principal shareholders of Insight Sports include Larry Tanenbaum (Kilmer Enterprises Inc., a subsidiary of Kilmer Van Nostrand) and MWI & Partners.

What is this? – Clue #6

You thought we'd forgotten... right?

Game on, folks.

What.
Is.
This?

Way to go, Bro

HAMILTON – Well, here they are, ladies and gentlemen... your Canadian men’s curling champions.

At last. Now those white belts will match perfectly with Canada’s uniform colours.

Wonder if the other Team Canada, skipped by Kelly Scott – the alleged originators of the “No Pregancies” rule – will have anything to say to these victorious jokesters when they meet up at April’s Players’ Championship in Calgary?

And if you’ve still not clicked on the highlighted link in the lead sentence, we’re showing it to you again. And now for a third time. In other words, WATCH THIS NOW. Great stuff.

The photo above – by TCN Photo Editor Anil Mungal – shows Olympian Russ Howard congratulating his brother Glenn. And if you look carefully, you can see a good chunk of the Howard family clan beaming in the background. Nice touch with the trigger, Anil.

But did any photog catch Russ pumping his fist for Glenn during the final? The Wounded Moose chose to cheer for family over his former Olympic teammates, declaring that “blood is thicker than Screech.” No real surprise there.

There’s lots to read on the Brier in today’s media, so we’ll leave the bulk of the curling surfing to you, save for a couple of standouts that caught our eye. Specifically:

• Who’s the best ever? Sun Media took a quick crop poll on the Hamilton media bench but, of course, real curling fans have been there and debated that already... and they’ve even mulled over the best to never win a Brier ...

• Here’s one who is now out of that club: Richard Hart waxed philisophical about the 1998 Olympics after yesterday’s big win ...

• Interesting that a Brier media sponsor – we are assuming, of course – would publish a feature like this just as the event starts to climax... thoughts anyone?

• And in today’s same publication, an interesting opinion from Steve Milton: crazy as it sounds, he says the Brier needs to come back to Hamilton within five years ...

• Torstar’s Chris Zelkovitch seems to write a curling “appeal” column like this every year ’round this time, but we enjoy each one nonetheless ...

• And then there’s poor Gary Washburn; he’s simply baffled by the Brier as he visited from Seattle. Hamilton versus Newfoundland..? Hmm.

Too bad that Gary, like other media types, rarely gets the chance to just sit in front of a TV and watch (and hear) curling unfold before his very eyes. These guys, you see, are always working.

Take Mike, for example.

He’s not a journalist and he just plain loves curling. Not only has he never thrown a rock – like many U.S. scribes – he actually has “no f**king idea what’s going on”... and he loves it. There are lots out there just like Mike.

And speaking of The Blogosphere, there’s a goodly amount of curling commentary out there, so why not browse and compare these amateurs (below) with those professionals (above)?

In no particular order, we have JetBoots and his personal Brier wrap; followed by this far-out discussion on the “Canadadian sport of Moose Curling” ... and of course there’s Matt, who also scribbles for The Curling News, who posted a post about posting at the Brier. Er, sort of. Anyway, we like the Johnny Mac photo.

There’s also Townie Bastard who thinks Brier finalist Brad Gushue was a tad lucky heading into the final (but obviously not yesterday)... Jessmo who opines about Gushue’s search for respect... and finally, how about curling as a tactical engagement? And discussed as such amongst military afficionados? Check out this posting and feel free to jump in; ’tis an interesting concept that sadly seems in need of a kick-start.

That’s all for now, almost...

• DID YOU KNOW? ... that Canada and Scotland won the junior worlds?

• DID YOU KNOW II? ... that NBCSports.com will provide live webstreaming of Team USA curling games from the imminent Aomori and upcoming Edmonton world championships? This is pretty big news, if you think about it...

Calendar girl sings at Brier

HAMILTON – Guess who is singing the national anthem for both tomorrow's semi-final and Sunday's final games?

She made her debut Friday night at the opening ceremonies, and they've asked her back for more. It's none other than Lynsay Ryan (photo), daughter of two-time world champion Pat Ryan and herself a two-time Ana Arce calendar girl!

A suggestion for the final three: keep your mind on the game, boys...

And why not pay a visit to TCN's calendar page, dear reader, where – looky-looky! – a spring discount is in effect...!

The 2007 calendar features 17 curling athletes/models from around the world, strutting their stuff for much-needed funding (each earns a portion from the proceeds).

Support them today!

Stoughty Spinerama

HAMILTON – He did it again last night... here's the Jeff Stoughton showcase move, captured at Copps Coliseum. But will he (get to) do it on CBC-TV this weekend?

– TCN photo by Anil Mungal

Down but not out

HAMILTON – Northern Ontario lead Lee Toner lost it in this game last night, but was still determined to keep the brush head going. Attaboy!

– TCN photo by Anil Mungal

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... ?

Wayne, Yoni and Stephen Harper

Did you catch Wayne Middaugh on TSN’s Off The Record yesterday?

He swore he’d be up north snowmobiling for all 10 days of the Brier, but there he was, in TSN’s Toronto studio, babbling about the Brier, men’s versus women’s curling (hello!) and so on.

You can catch the show on the TSN broadband webpage, via the show link, but there’s more coming up. It’s Brier week on OTR as Mr. Hurry Hard, aka the Wounded Bull Moose (er, that would be Russ Howard) is on today’s afternoon show. Tomorrow, it’s the somewhat quieter (and other) Moose, aka Moosie, TSN commentator Ray Turnbull.

Big events like the Brier bring out all types. There’s really good journos, like the Globe’s Stephen Brunt, who when not crafting quality pieces like this is pretending – rather poorly, we might add – to know nothing about curling on The Bobcat’s incendiary FAN 590 radio/Sportsnet TV talk show.

There’s also misguided political miscreants who pipe up, like Yoni Goldstein did yesterday on the Nat Post’s blogsplotch. Curling Sucks? Now there’s a header designed to bring forth fire and brimstone. To hell with you, we humbly suggest.

Must be a Liberal. Canada’s curling-mad PM, Stephen Harper, is on his way to Copps as we type this. Maybe he can help Merk with the ice conditions.

Did anyone catch Danko? Let us know how The Mango Kid did on his debut curling night on Friday. Canada’s national music pub, incidentally, picked up our story from last week, even adding a mention of Hamilton’s legendary Dik Van Dykes and their Curling song. Awesome.

Elsewhere:

• DID YOU KNOW? ... that you could win a trip to the Ford Worlds? Get clicking ...

• DID YOU KNOW II? ... that Saskatchewan women’s alternate Sherry Linton wrote a daily dairy online during the Scotties? It’s still available, in all its glory, right here at Saskcurl. But just one question: what the heck is Flippycup?

• Finally, it’s official… a pipe band does indeed blare “louder than a jet engine”. And now we wonder if the Brier committee will perch a platoon of pipers way up in the Copps rafters for their closing ceremonies, amid growing spotlights, as they did in both 1991 and 1996? The soft part of our callow heart hopes they do, as those were quite the moments ...

World Juniors

EVELETH, Minn. – Enjoy the Brier, Canada, while much of the rest of the world focusses on this Iron Range town in northern Minnesota, and the annual World Junior Championships (Scottish fans in photo).

And yes, we’re here, as well. Hamilton and Eveleth, both at once. We couldn’t really call ourselves The Curling News if we weren’t able to be everywhere in the curling world at once... agree?

The host venue is Curl Mesabi, a remarkable eight-sheeter built a few years ago as a co-op venture between four local towns. Each of their curling clubs were struggling, and now they are together as one, and doing quite well.

20 teams (10 men’s and 10 women’s) are doing battle, live on CurlTV, and you can also follow the results on the event website, via the live scoring page, and also courtesy of the World Curling Federation, which is keeping track of things on their tournament pages.

Defending women’s champ Ludmila Privivkova of Russia, who stunned the field to win December’s adult European Championship, has looked fairly human so far, as has Canada’s Newfie contingent led by Stacie Devereaux.

On the mens side, Canada’s defending world champion Charley Thomas has two new teammates and boy, they looked very ordinary today versus Norway. Thomas kept his cool – as he always seems to do – as his mates struggled, and a brilliantly quiet come-around hit for two in the ninth made all the difference.

Meanwhile, the Scottish men’s team, led by Logan Gray, is in foul trouble... rocks have been kicked, expletives uttered, and brooms have been smashed, leading to two warnings, the second of them in written format. The clock is ticking... will the lads manage to quell their squirrely behaviour?

Everybody say Zowie!

HAMILTON – “Zowie!” was a favourite saying of former Rogers Sportsnet curling commentator Ed Lukowich. Actually, he might have only said it once, but that single offering has grown a life of its own and will no doubt live forever in the minds of a few curling observers.

Think about it... who says “Zowie”? Vic doesn’t. Witt doesn’t. But Fast Eddie does (or did). Too bad Eddie’s bosses turfed curling, a charter sport since their initial CTV Sportsnet days, over the summer in favour of a new youthful re-branding. A re-branding that has delivered some lousy audience figures of late. Sorry guys. You snoozed, and you losed.

Anyway, the Brier is now officially “Zowie” thanks to some wild games. Sask’s Pat Simmons just made a beauty angle raise for three to beat Alberta’s Kevin Martin. Ontario’s Glenn Howard was up 5-1 – as he was early on in last night’s nailbiter versus Manitoba – but Olympian Brad Gushue made the Shot Of The Week(TM) in the ninth.

Here’s a descriptive attempt. Gushue threw an in-off from a stone 10 feet out and two inches from the side padding – so one of those stones would have been well out of play at any curling club – and he hit half a rock, redirecting it onto his own, which drove Howard’s shot stone out. The newfies scored two, but Gushue was actually trying to hit the stone 1/8th of an inch less and drive the second rock across to take out another Ontario stone and score four.

The Gushies than stole in the 10th frame to tie and force the extra... but Gushue tanked his final draw heavy and Howard hit – for four – and a wild 10-6 win.

Ye Gods.

Meanwhile, ace TCN Photo Editor Anil Mungal sent along this image (photo above) from last night’s wild Howard-Stoughton tilt. Another beauty.

Oh yeah... and the Territories are now 4-0.

Zowie.

That’s the Brier

HAMILTON – It’s Sunday night, opening weekend of the Brier.

The afternoon draw saw a huge upset as, if you’ll mind the pun, Kevin Martin’s team was run over by Northern Ontario. That’s the Brier, the place a 53-year-old skip who went to the Seniors in 2005, can beat one of the favourites. The Brier is also why they don’t play the games on paper.

The afternoon draw also featured Jeff Stoughton and Glenn Howard (photo) in a three and-a-half-hour epic. It ended with Howard stealing the extra end to stay undefeated. Fans might be a little curled out from the afternoon draw because it’s a little less than half full for the evening draw. But the Keith’s Patch is probably full. And the Patch is something unique to the Brier. Part beer hall, all party, the Patch makes the Brier much of what it is.

One final note about the uniqueness of the Brier. Earlier this evening, the Brier honoured Ed Werenich’s 1983 Dream Team. Werenich, Paul Savage and Neil Harrison were interviewed in the Purple Heart Lounge. Among other things we learned from Harrison that Savage was a sandbagger at golf. That’s the Brier.

Right now, in Draw 5, Yukon/NWT is ahead 5-2 after just stealing 2. They are playing well, and with a win, would join Howard atop the leader board at 3-0. And that folks, is the Brier.

Off to the Patch.

– Matt Hames

Johnny Mo and cars

HAMILTON – The Brier.

After getting hit by a car a few days ago, Alberta third John Morris (photo) makes the trip to Hamilton and wins the car in the Ford Hot Shots competition.

You can’t make this stuff up.

This will go down with one of the other classic Brier car wins, in which Ed Werenich won the very first Hot Shots without – it’s been claimed – being able to see the other end of the ice very well. At all.

Back to the Brier. When looking at the field, three teams stand out from the fray – and that ignores the Olympic Gold Medallist. It wouldn’t be a stretch to put Glenn Howard, Jeff Stoughton or Kevin Martin on your list of possible Brier winners. Brad Gushue and Pat Simmons might have something to say about that before the week is over, and there might be someone else who comes up in the cracks and pulls off “a Menard”. Perhaps even the crafty 51-year-old veteran from Quebec, Pierre Charette. But safe money is on one of these three.

This morning, cruising into the Steel City from New York, we noticed a car on fire on the Niagara-bound QEW.

We tell you that because one of the three is on fire coming into Brier play. At the Ontario provincials, the Howard team decimated the field. Going back to last year’s Brier, with the notable exception of the final-game the lost to Menard, the Howard team seems on a mission to win.

Listen to these game scores from last year’s Brier: 12-6, 9-4, 10-5, 8-5, 9-5, 74, 7-4, 10-7, 7-5, 8-2. The final they lost was one of their only close games... and that after spotting the Quebeckers a 4-0 lead. At this year’s Ontario final, they didn’t play a meaningful 10th end.

As you may have guessed, this watcher is betting on Howard. But there’s just so much more curling to come ...

– Matt Hames

The Curling News: March issue

Just a ton of links and stuff to show you good folks, but first, a quick look at this month’s issue of The Curling News, and what goodies await those who are getting it this week ...

• Tim Horton’s Brier: the class of the field, 1991 memories, and how dare you, Paul Dobson!
• Doug Maxwell’s all-time Brier all-stars;
• They Said It: our popular collection of curling quotables;
• Curling 2020: a very different demographic;
• Asham Club Corner: U.S. rocks, Swift Current and Pugwash;
• The Curling News TV Guide: where to get your fix in March;
• TCN’s 50th Anniversary Special: The Hackner Shot, 1993 Brier shenanigans, and the 1979 Gathering of Champions;
• TCN Newsdesk: Danko rocks, Gunnlaugson and Villard turn heads, the Juniors, Randy versus Kevin (again), the Goldline Mobile Pro Shop, and more;
• Japan goes bonkers over curling, just in time for this month’s Women’s Worlds;
• Rodger Schmidt on the Universiade: the most important curling event you’ve
probably never heard of;

... and more!

And so... what else is going on?

• The oddsmakers have spoken, and have given Alberta’s Kevin Martin a 2/1 edge to win the Tim Hortons Brier, which starts Saturday on CurlTV, TSN and also on TSN Broadband (two daily draws and three draws on March 8).

Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton carries 5/2 odds and Ontario’s Glenn Howard is 3/1.

Pinnacle Sports (who?) must have missed yesterday’s news that Alberta third John Morris was struck by a car. Literally.

Yes, Johnny Mo got hit and was sent flying about 15 feet. The young horse says he’s “OK” and is hoping to be ready for Saturday. We wish him the best, but... he’ll probably feel worse after the weekend, and of course CCES and WADA are both on the scene, so he’s got to watch what he takes for the pain and stiffness ...

• Speaking of doping control, easy there Ewan MacDonald, one shouldn’t freely discuss the “s” word in the press ...

• And speaking of Scotland, here’s a feature on the men’s victors who are headed to Hamilton, led by Warwick Smith ...

• Kelly Scott is going to Japan, and while it’s nice to see that political bloggers can be curling fans too, did anyone else feel that the STOH final was a tad lacking? Weeksy sure did ...

• The World Wheelchair Championships are finished, and Canada’s Chris Daw gutted out a separated shoulder (!) to finish fourth overall ...

• It’s super-sub Steve Bice (who?) on the latest installment of The Curling Show...

• DID YOU KNOW: you can watch Canada Winter Games curling on TSN and also on APTN? The women’s Yukon team makes a great story, as does that of the reps from the town of Manotick, Ontario ...

• Back to the Brier: The Spec is making some rather bold promises about its upcoming Brier web coverage; we’ll see about that, right gang? ... and has anyone reading this ever heard of Al Harnden? We sure have. It’s great to see “Snapper” back in the show, even if it is a tad unexpected. TCN will never forget his explosive retort to his brother Eric 17 years ago at the 1990 Brier: “No bumps, we’re hitting the damn thing!” He did too, all the way to the semi-final.
One thing not mentioned in the CurlTV story is that the 21-year-old Jacobs, who throws last rocks, is Harnden’s nephew ...

• Imagine: Beerology 101 might never have happened if not for a chance meeting ’round a table after the curling game...

• Ha ha, we like this (wait for the last scene) ...

• Sadly, a group of Scottish curlers are in tough after their rink burned down ...

• Okay, so Sherry is back in the Canada Cup and the world is right again. Too bad she, and all the other teams, be competing in an empty Kamloops arena, for yet another year...

• And finally, here it is: The Shot, the ultimate horror for ice technicians everywhere ...

Danko Rocks Brier

This is excerpted from the Newsdesk section of the latest print edition of The Curling News, on sale now.

HAMILTON – The following is presented with apologies to Sweden’s Anette Norberg and her friends in the heavy metal band Hammerfall.

But when Danko Jones hits the stage on Friday’s opening night of the Tim Hortons Brier in Hamilton, it just might mark curling’s true hard rock moment.

Light years away from other curling openers – the country-pop of Blue Rodeo, the regional vibe of Ashley MacIssac or the classic canrock drone of Trooper or the Stampeders – Danko Jones, a Toronto-based three-piece with scores of fans in Scandanavia and Europe, is by far the loudest and fastest rock band to ever play a curling event.

Jones, the singer-guitarist of his self-named group, isn’t into sports, and he has virtually no familiarity with curling. “I just listen to music,” he told The Curling News.

But he’s looking forward to the gig. When informed of curling’s legendary older demographic, Jones didn’t bat an eyelash.

“I love playing in front of those (new) people, it’s great,” he said.

“There’s something to be said about playing for the converted, and a lot of bands like to do that. But that’s too safe for rock n’ roll.

“It’s fun. It always yields some interesting responses.”

Idle Sons, Danko Jones, and headliners The Trews open the Tim Hortons Brier March 2 at 7:00pm, on the OLG Entertainment Stage in the famed Keith’s Brier Patch at the Hamilton Convention Centre.

What Is This? Clue #5... Now It Gets Weird

What is this? - Clue #4

The curling coin

Heard about the coins?

The Royal Canadian Mint is releasing 17 Olympic sport coins between now and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The first batch goes on sale today, at Canada Post outlets, RBC bank branches and at Petro-Canada gas stations.

And the first coin features curling. Specifically, the image of a female curler.

The inaugural curling coin, a 25-cent piece, shows the athlete in the process of throwing her rock on a stylized Maple Leaf background. Up to 350 million of the coins will be put into circulation before the 2010 Games.

Petro-Canada customers can now swap their regular coins for the curling quarter at no charge. Petro-Canada retail locations will also sell an exclusive Vancouver 2010 coin sport cards, featuring a special colour version of each circulation coin embedded in a laminated sleeve. The curling quarter sits within a green collector’s card with an additional curling graphic – yes, it looks cool, and is well worth the $7.95 price tag. What’s more, a portion of the proceeds go to Canadian athletes and coaches through the Petro-Canada’s Fuelling the Dream Fund.

Judging by the lineup The Curling News saw at a Petro-Canada internal launch yesterday, the collector-card versions will be very popular items between now and Vancouver 2010. There was also a media launch in Calgary yesterday, featuring three members of the bronze-medal Shannon Kleibrink team.

Considering the lack of attention that women’s curling received in the early days, the coin is a huge step forward, six-time Canadian champion Colleen Jones told Canadian Press.

“I think it’s fantastic that they’ve chosen curling in their first of a series and the fact they put a woman on a coin is wonderful,” said Jones. "There are so many female curlers in the country and so many great players too that to honour the sport and honour women in sports is great."

Now... the next step is to get a curler on the face of this coin. Can you imagine?

Elsewhere:

• It’s not just the Canadian women who decide their national champion this weekend; it’s also showtime in Scotland (men and women) and Switzerland (men and women), too ...

• And not to forget the World Wheelchair Curling Championships, drawing to a close tomorrow in Solleftea, Sweden ...

• Hamilton – next week – is under the microscope ...

• There’s a political scandal with curling overtones brewing in Albany, N.Y – and yes, we’re serious ...

• Will we have more clues of What Is This? posted soon? You bet we will. Keep the speculation coming ...

What is this? - Clue #3

What is this? – Clue #2