A sound thrashing

VANCOUVER – As teams and officials struggle to escape snowed-in Chilliwack, TCN is warm and snug at a hotel minutes from the airport, and bound shortly for the Centre of the Universe.

It was the European curling universe which delivered a sound thrashing to Team North America at the Continental Cup, clearly viewable on CBC the final two days and, of course, on CurlTV every day, every draw since last Thursday.

For a quick study of the themes of the event, scroll down to the previous post and check out a barrage of exchanges between TCN and TCS (The Curling Show), which you can find under "COMMENTS".

You'd be wise to also check out the upcoming December issue of TCN, which will feature a report and op-ed from ace columnist Larry Wood. Why not subscribe today? You can only read it in the hard copy of The Curling News.

Line of the day: from WCF past president Roy Sinclair of Scotland, as quoted by Paul Wiecek in today's Winnipeg Free Press:

A guy slides down a hill on his back, and they call that luge. But if he slides down on his belly, well, that's skeleton. If those are two separate sports, then don't tell me mixed doubles curling isn't a sport.

The IOC will be voting on whether to include Mixed Doubles, which played to strong reviews in Chilliwack, at the end of the month.

Stay tuned ...

D'oh!

CHILLIWACK, B.C. – North American lead Natalie Nicholson (photo) couldn't have yelled it any better.

Not too long ago – Thursday night, to be exact – North America has a nifty lead over Europe at the Con Cup, and the Euros looked listless.

Now, Europe holds a near-insurmountable lead, 180 to 100, over the NAs. No more jet lag.

What's worse for the hosts is that only 201 points are needed to win the Cup and the $75,000 top prize.

Tomorrow it's two 60-point skins games, Kleibrink vs. Norberg and then Gushue vs. Murdoch. CBC's coverage should be quite interesting.

Spotted AK267 in the crowd tonight, hovering over the NA bench waving a huge double-sided U.S./Canadian flag. Way to go AK.

NA benchwarmers had their jackets on backwards, desperately working the rally outfits to help J.M. Menard beat Pal Trulsen (not) and Kelly Scott hold off the extremely strong Mirjam Ott (didn't work). Double-d'oh.

Over in Tokyo – way over – they're down to the Pac finals, click here for updates.

More tomorrow.

Big CBC weekend in store

CHILLIWACK, B.C. – The see-saw battle continues as Scotland's David Murdoch (CCA photo by Michael Burns) and Team Europe roared back from a poor opening day (and a 39-15 deficit behind Team North America) to almost tie things up Friday morning.

It was the European women who got the job done in the AM, sweeping their opponents in all three games to close the gap to 39-33.

In Singles competition, an interesting array of front-end players and thirds took part, not just skips. The North American women bounced back with some solid "Hot Shots" play and took the running total to 45-39. The men then took to the ice and it was all Europe and then some, as they shut the Northerners out 12-nil. Grand points total heading into tonight's men's team draw is North America 53 to Europe's 51, and look at the tantalizing games underway soon:

Gushue vs. Murdoch
Menard vs. Trulsen
Fenson vs. Uusipaavalniemi

CBC-TV kicks into gear with their first-ever Continental Cup coverage Saturday at 1:30pm ET, with the climactic men's skins finals set for Sunday at 12:30pm ET. CurlTV will still be handling non-televised sheets, so keep your computer handy along with the TV remote control.

What else is going on?

• Still more curling on TV this weekend, on NBC in fact. The Korbel Elite Curling Challenge was filmed in Whistler, B.C. last weekend and takes to the air Sunday between 2:00pm and 4:00pm ET. It's a battle-of-the-sexes between Teams Fenson and McCormick with special guest Olympic athletes – non-curlers – also taking part. Check out this cool USA Today story for a preview ...

• Here’s a U.S. development story out of Minot in the Dakotas; a peek at curling in nearby Fargo – yaah? – and finally a look at Vermont’s burgeoning curling club – the Green Mountain gang – in action ...

• Scottish curling coach Derek "Delboy" Brown has been tagged to replace Mike Hay in steering the national teams under the Scottish Institute of Sport ...

• Super-sub Jon Mead has served notice: he’ll spare for someone at Victoria’s Bear Mountain Classic in April, so long as curling doesn’t interfere with his tee times...

• Three Edmonton curlers – Kevin Martin, his second man Marc Kennedy, and Mark Johnson lead Adam Enright have followed the lead of Ontario’s Team Wayne Middaugh, and bought into the M&M Meats Shops franchise world ...

• Gay curling leagues have always been strong in Metro Toronto, as this Extra! story attests ...

• Big curling boardroom news: noted Canuck TV production guy Scott Moore is now on board with CurlTV, and Grand Slam founder Kevin Albrecht, ex of IMG, is now in charge at Insight Sports ...

Pacific playoffs

This news overnight from the World Curling Federation, and disappointment for TCN's Kiwi spies ...

"The round-robins and necessary tiebreakers have now been completed for both the women and men at the 16th Pacific Curling Championships being played in the Dydo Arena, Tokyo, Japan.

The men required one tiebreaker game to determine the four teams that are entered into the semi-finals. Korea (4-1), Australia (4-1) and China (3-2) were directly qualified, while Japan (2-3) defeated New Zealand (2-3) in a Friday night tiebreaker by a score of 8-4 for the last semi-final place. Chinese Taipei missed future action after finishing 0-5.

The Korean men were awarded first place based on their defeat of Australia in the round-robin, and they now take on Japan in the semi-finals, while Australia plays China. These best-of-three semis are played at the same time as the women's games on Saturday, 25 November. The two winners will qualify for the Ford Men's Worlds which will be played in Edmonton, Alberta, in late March 2007.

The five women's teams completed their round-robin on Thursday night. The Draw-Shot-Challenge results had to be used to determine the rankings for Korea, China and Japan which were all tied for first place with 3-1 records. Korea claimed first place (345.40 cm), China was ranked second (377.54 cm) and Japan was third (420.42 cm). New Zealand was ranked fourth based on their 1-3 round-robin record, and Chinese Taipei was eliminated after finishing 0-4.

The women's semi-finals, which are a best-of-three series, will have Korea playing New Zealand, and China taking on Japan on Saturday, 25 November. The two winners advance to the final, which is a single game on Sunday, 26 November. The winner of that final, or second place if Japan wins, qualifies for the Women's World Curling Championship being hosted in Aomori, Japan. The Japanese are automatically qualified as this year's hosting Association of the Women's World Championship."

Norberg, Kiwi curlers in a battle

CHILLIWACK, B.C. – Uh oh.

Europe, widely assumed to have the edge in overall team lineup, are on the defensive here at the Continental Cup.

And it's the big women's shooter, Sweden's Anette Norberg, that is struggling the most. Norberg herself missed gimme last-rock shots for wins in both the morning's Mixed Doubles competition and this afternoon's team battle versus Debbie McCormick of the USA. Takeouts, no less.

The latter shot was a gift double, left for Norberg after McCormick missed her last shot... for three and the win, after being outplayed by the Americans all game. Yikes.

Tonight it's the men.

Over to Tokyo, Japan, and the Pacific Championships (photo). On the women's side the hosts are through to the playoffs, along with China, Korea and New Zealand. In men's play, we'll let men's New Zealand third Hans Frauenlob take up the story... here's his insider's report.

Hi there TCN,

As usual it's an interesting event here in Tokyo. On the men's side, it's incredibly even; with two rounds to play in the round robin, China, Australia, Korea and New Zealand (yeah, that's us) are all on 2-1 win/loss records. Japan is 1-2 and Chinese Taipei is 0-3.

Four teams advance to the Saturday semis, and at this point its still anyone's tournament. Fourth round today, final round tomorrow morning, tiebreaks if necessary tomorrow afternoon and evening.

As an NZ-specific thing, if you want to see the shot of the tournament so far – and if you're a CurlTV subscriber – have a look at our game against Japan last night. Go to the sixth end and look at Dan (Mustapic, our skip) and his first shot. A double angle-raise-pickout that is as good as any you'll ever see – totally pumped us up and turned the game around.

In the women's, you know the playoff teams... what's interesting is that Australia withdrew from the tournament just prior to it starting.

Interesting aspects of the tournament:

• Curl TV is covering it, showing all Japanese games;

• Dave Merklinger is the icemaker, and his ice is quick and boasts about 4-1/2 feet of curl;

• about 80 media from all media types attended the tournament opening press conference!!

• the Japanese women's team are genuine celebrities here. Fans wait outside the arena for opportunities to take photos or get autographs. There is no doubt that the Olympics has made an impact on the profile of the sport in Japan.

Say hi to all our mates from Europe for us at the ConCup! Cheers!

Last call for Russ and Brad

CHILLIWACK, B.C. – The Continental Cup has roared to life, and you can check it out live at CurlTV, and via online scoring here.

And it marks the first time the 2006 Olympic golden duo of Brad Gushue (rear in CCA/Michael Burns photo) and Russ Howard (foreground) have been on the ice together since the last puck of Pinerolo in February.

And this week's event marks the last time, as well.

As readers of The Curling News well know, Gushue has replaced Russ with youthful Alberta import Chris Schille on the road to 2010, while Howard will seek his Brier fortune out of his hometown of Moncton, along with son Steven Howard. Thus, this fourth edition of the Continental Cup is the last hurrah of the men's Olympic champions, in terms of the once-controversial lineup change that brought Howard on board in October, 2005.

The squad faces Norway's Pal Trulsen, the 2002 gold medallist, tonight, for ultimate Olympic bragging rights.

Right now, Gushue and Kleibrink third Amy Nixon are tied 3-3 with Europe's Eva Lund (third for Anette Norberg) and Trulsen. Mark Nichols and Bronwen Saunders are brushing for the North American duo, while Trulsen second Flemming Davanger and Cathrine Lindahl (Norberg's sister) are sweeping for Europe.

Meanwhile, a blow to the NA squad as Nichols has taken himself out of the lineup for singles curling. He's got a bad wheel, largely undiagnosed, which causes pain on takeouts, particularly on speeding bullets like the ones he threw in the Olympic final.

"Obviously I would have loved to play singles, but it's in the best interests of the whole team and my leg," Nichols told TCN scribe Larry Wood. "I want to be ready to play the games, the teams and the skins."

Nichols has an MRI scheduled for early December.

Check back often as The Curling News brings you regular blogposts from the Continental Cup, plus the occasional insider's report from Tokyo and the Pacific Championships, which are a resounding success in curling's newest hotbed of Japan.

The Curling News – now 50 years old – celebrating with special archived content going back to 1957 (and all years in between) in EVERY issue, all season long!

Subscribe TODAY!

Curling Detour: Afghanistan

Yes, we're in Chilliwack B.C., but a quick jaunt across an ocean – and a rather notorious Gulf – to share greetings from ace curling scribe Bill "Gravy" Graveland (photo), of the Canadian Press.

Yes, he is in the Middle East – probably embedded with Canadian Forces – but we're really not sure. We do know this is a brief tour of duty for him, before he returns to the familiarity of curling ice.

Bill reports...



Dear The Curling News:

Sorry I didn't get in touch with you sooner but it's been crazy this past week... or is it two now?

First of all, there is no curling rink here. I know that will come as a shock to you but, on a positive note, there is a Tim Hortons... and a hockey rink... but alas no ice, and certainly no rocks. It might have something to do with the fact we're in a desert here in Kandahar, but word is the engineers are going to try and come up with ice for the hockey rink once winter fully hits... and after that curling ice is just a stone's throw away (intentionally bad pun). I am still expecting Shorty Jenkins to show up at any time!

The strangest thing about being here in Afghanistan so far is it hasn't stopped raining. It rains four times a day – big storms – with thunder and lightning. Tents are washing away and there have been floods all over the country with dozens of people killed.

For the first time in my life my luggage was lost on the way over here, and it finally showed up a week later. It's amazing how nasty a week in the same clothes can be!

Re. photo: the helmet and flak jacket are very uncomfortable, and excuse the whiskers. My fixer (interpreter and driver) insists that I have to grow a beard and wear local clothing when
I go into town. I'm sure it will make me look a lot like a local – LOL!

Take care and I will send you another photo if the beard comes in any better... and in my new Afghani clothing.

Bill

Ana on the air

A quick photo to show you as The Curling News travels from rainy Vancouver to rainy Chilliwack, and Thursday's start of the Continental Cup.

This is Ana Arce, chief architect, photographer and cover model of the new 2007 women's curling calendar called Fire On Ice. She was on Toronto's FAN 590 morning radio show recently, and you can listen to the interview – and purchase a fundraising calendar – at this page.

More from British Columbia coming soon, so visit often ...

Once more with the rock

Yep, Team Anette Norberg have rocked out... yet again. This time on Eurosport’s Watts Pop TV show, where athletes show other talents that they have (or not).

In this YouTube video, taped in early October, the curling girls sing along to Joan Jett’s I Love Rock And Roll, followed by outtakes, along with a few bars of the AC/DC classic Girls Got Rhythm. Yes, they sure do.

“Watts Pop knew about the Hammerfall video and they wanted to do something similar with us,” lead Anna Svard (photo) told The Curling News. “The difference was that we had to sing ‘for real’. Very scary! At first we didn’t want to do it, but said okay after persuasion.”

Team Norberg is still atop The Curling News Top 15 despite losing on the weekend to Scotland’s Rhona Martin in the final of the Stockholm Cup. The gals are soon on their way to Canada’s west coast, where they’ll spend a few days in Vancouver before heading to Chilliwack for the Continental Cup, which has two air dates next weekend (Nov. 25 & 26) on CBC.

The squad’s growing legion of North American fans have suffered a blow with the dismantling of their blogsite, which was previously hosted by sponsor Johnson & Johnson. All that’s left is a link to the Hammerfall video. There is, of course, the team’s website, but there are no plans to post info in English.

Elsewhere:

• So, you’re the manager of the Hub City Curling Club in Saskatoon, and you open your electrical bill one day and see... a charge for $47,000 dollars. Whoops. Will TCN’s new Asham Club Corner feature be following up on this story? You bet we will ...

• They didn’t make the final, but the arch-rival Kevin Martin and Randy Ferbey teams had a little fun on the weekend, with curling fans in Lloydminster the beneficiaries. Quote of the day from the Ferb, directed at all front-enders everywhere: “The lesson you've got to take from this is even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.”

• Kudos to Lloydminster for dressing up their 20th anniversary Wayside Classic in fine style: namely with a huge $75,000 prize purse. It attracted more top-calibre squads, including champion Glenn Howard, who had super-sub Jon Mead on board in place of Richard Hart ...

• The Laurier University Alumni are the latest official partners of the Home Hardware Masters of Curling, the first Grand Slam set for late November in Waterloo, Ontario. The grads qualify for discounted tickets and it should be a noisy event, particularly when alumnus John Morris is on the ice with Team Kevin Martin ...

• DID YOU KNOW: that Canadian Curling Association CEO Dave Parkes has apparently served notice of his retirement date? It’s at the end of 2007 ...

• Quebec skip Eve Belisle – the darling of last spring’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in London – is skipping her province at the Canadian Mixed in Kitchener, and she’s alone in first place at 5-0 ...

• The Pacific Curling Championships are Nov. 21-26 in Tokyo, and the host nation’s matches will be available online through webstreaming. Who is the provider, you ask? Say hello to CurlTV Japan ...

• DID YOU KNOW II: that Toronto almost lost another curling club recently; the posh Granite Club, a near-victim of burst piping ...

• Al Cameron is declaring that Calgary will host the 2009 Brier (subscription only), even if the CCA won’t be confirming this for just under a year or so. The last Calgary Brier, in 2002, earned a record profit of $1.3 million on 245,000+ spectators, the third-highest total ever ...

• DID YOU KNOW III: that Canadian senior squads – like the superstar Anne Dunn foursome – continue to battle scheduling snafus that see national champions unable to defend their crown if they go to the worlds?

• Who’s up on Dean Gemmell’s The Curling Show? Why, it’s the gal with the pipes, calendar pinup and Olympian Christine Keshen ...

• And speaking of, the calendar, over 500 of the new 2007 curling calendars have been sold since last week’s launch. Featuring a whopping 17 athlete/models, bonus pages and some colour images, it’s the perfect holiday gift – and a fundraiser, too. Calendar queen Ana Arce flew into Canada from Spain last week, and you can hear her appearance on the FAN590 radio morning show here ...

• DID YOU KNOW IV: that a Quebec pequiste is using Canada’s national men’s championship – errantly – as a public relations tool for the separatist cause? TCN’s own Adam Daifallah is thoroughly unimpressed ...

• Two-time world champion skip Marilyn Bodogh’s bid to become mayor of St. Catherines earned bronze last night. The brash Bodogh won 4,412 votes to finish third behind runaway winner Brian McMullan, who scored 15,067 votes ...

• BLOGBITERS: in no particular order, we have ...

That Kid in Seattle;

Jose – who has no clue – in Portugal;

Pilot in Saskatchewan (that’s one dangerous curling team logo, my friend);

Hugrun in Iceland (Sigurvvegarar!);

... and these truthful Yanks, who have voted curling to be an honest-to-goodness sport, by a 5-2 margin. How about that.

• Finally, tiny Stevens Point, Wisconsin, is the hometown of USA Curling. It’s also the home of the world’s biggest trivia festival, of which a new film has been made, which features a famous local curler as one of the trivia answers. Looks like fun ...

The 2007 Curling Athlete Calendar

They're back.

And that's quite a back (above), that of Ana Arce, the creative director/photographer and also model – one of 17 – in the new 2007 Curling Calendar, formally titled Fire On Ice: 2007 Team Sponsorship Calendar.

Read Al Cameron's preview story here (also appearing in today's National Post) and, of course, you can read more and also order it here.

Also note the sharp new look for The Curling News homepage, debuting today. Not bad, eh?

Finally, note the November 2006 issue of TCN is out, with a wild-goggled Randy Ferbey on the cover. What's up with that? You'll have to subscribe to find out.

Oh yes, the season has really started now.

Home Hardware joins Grand Slam

An announcement is expected today that Home Hardware has taken title sponsorship of the first Grand Slam of Curling event of the Insight Sports era, The Masters in Waterloo, Nov. 28-Dec. 3 (CurlTV and finals on CBC).

The Home Hardware Masters of Curling also has a new website, located here, and Al Barber's local organizing committee has a great traveller's deal up for grabs, located here, with two options available for a combo game ticket/hotel package.

Prior to this big move, the hardware chain had been slowly warming to curling. They had taken minor sponsorships in the old M&M Meat Shops Skins (remember that?) and are selling Rusty Drew's famous Extender throwing stick. Also, a group of no less than 10 franchise stores in the Kitchener-Waterloo and outlying area (which also includes Galt and Elmira) recently banded together in time to sponsor the 40th anniversary of the big interclub competition, the Home Hardware (formerly Clarica) Bonspiel, which runs Nov. 20-25.

Welcome aboard, HH.

Elsewhere:

• Brad Gushue's Thursday started at 1:45 am eastern time, when he crawled out of bed to catch a 3:50 am flight from St. John's to Toronto. When he landed, he was scheduled to do three media interviews before hitting the ice at Brantford's Tim Hortons Classic tour event. Next week he starts a book tour for Golden Gushue, of which you can follow along and read blogposts from either the CurlingZone main page, or here. Busy, busy.

But if you want to see his squad in person this weekend, act fast... tickets are sold out for Saturday and Sunday, meaning today is your only chance to see them. Or Glenn Howard. Or Guy Hemmings. Or Jean-Michel Menard. Or... you get the picture.

• Meanwhile, Gushue's Olympic teammate Russ Howard is in P.E.I. for the popular Rodd Curling Classic. Howard will appear at the Charlottetown Curling Club today from 5:30 to 6:30 pm to meet fans and sign autographs, as well as to show off his golden hardware.

PS: Did you know Russ spared for Team Ferbey rock-tosser David Nedohin at last weekend's Meyers Norris Penny tour stop in Portage, where the Ferbs lost the semis to Russ' brother Glenn, the eventual champion? Well... now you do.

• Doug and Joan Middleton had quite a Wednesday. The Regina couple showed up at the Tartan for their weekly curling match, only to find out – from friends who had watched the TV news – that they had won a brand-new, fully furnished house, the top prize in the Hospitals of Regina Foundation's Lifestyles Lottery.
Oh... they also picked up a new Audi A3 2.OT car and $7,500 cash, to go along with the 2,400-square-foot, professionally decorated Wascana View showhome. The total prize is estimated to be worth more than $523,000.
"We just could not focus on what we were doing (on the ice)," said Doug. "It was the first game I can ever remember that I didn't mind losing."

• According to the Conman, Alberta's St. Albert Curling Club is rededicating the Friendly Giant Lounge tomorrow night in honour of the late, great Hec Gervais. Former teammates and family will be there ...

• Hamilton's mayor recently chucked a puck to launch the sale of mini-pack ticket packages for the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier. You can read Adam Daifallah's story about a possible new mayor of nearby St. Catherines in the November issue of The Curling News, now off to the mailhouse and headed your way. If you don't subscribe, you'd best get on that, eh?

• Finally... guess who's back? And taking shots at the CCA?

Er... that would be the Canadian Consumers' Association, not these guys. Whatever. Welcome back, Statman!

Friday curling roundup

The Curling News is now on deadline for the first (November) issue of the season, so there's little time to Blog today. Have you subscribed yet? Don't blow it, dudes and dudesses. The special 50th anniversary publishing season is one for the ages. Trust us.

• PHOTO: That's Guy Hemmings in Vermont, USA, on Wednesday afternoon, spreading the good curling word ...

• IN MEMORIUM: A celebration of life yesterday at Ontario's Peterborough Curling Club for Derek Whitehill, who was only 19 when he died in a single-vehicle crash on Monday morning. Whitehill was an avid player and also the junior curling columnist for the Ontario Curling Report, a position founded by TCN publisher gk way back in 1986 ...

• ACROSS THE POND: The Mother Club has a new president ...

• BUILDING IN B.C.: Williams Lake is fast-tracking construction of a brand new arena – which includes a dedicated curling pad – similar to that of Chiliwack, host to next month's Continental Cup of Curling. The local paper approves, and now nearby Quesnel is jealous as all heck ...

• FROM EDMONTON: Kevin Martin had some interesting musings this week. He's parking it while his three young turks are in Portage, MB this weekend along with super-sub (and former Jeff Stoughton third) Jon Mead. Johnny Mo will skip ...

• SHE IS THE LAW: According to Lyndon Little of today's Vancouver Sun, 2002 bronze skip Kelley Law is glad to be back and has her eyes on Vancouver 2010:

A chance at the Olympics is certainly a big part of it. To be part of an Olympics here in Vancouver would be exciting. I had some time off focusing my energies on family and work, but I'm ready to get back at it. The Olympics were the carrot that put it all together.

Georgina (third Wheatcroft) and I kept in touch all last season. I don't think I would have come back had she not been available. I missed the curling. I love the competition. I could never just curl for fun. But for me to come back it had to be with the right people.

The new Team Law is three-for-three in cashing Tour cheques thus far, with one event victory.

I think our strength as a group is our game planning and our work ethic. When I left, we were number one. I still feel that way, but I know it won't be easy. There's a lot of work ahead.

• THESE KIDS TODAY: Here’s an archived story on U.S. college interest in curling immediately after the Turin Olympics ...

• BUBBA: White-hot Kerry Burtnyk had more to say in the Winnipeg Sun this week ...

• THE DOCTOR IS IN: Famous curling headbands are discussed with Kerry Burtnyk lead rocker Cory ‘The Doctor’ Naharnie on The Curling Show ...

• SAY WHAT? Vartan Kupelian of the Detroit News has a nifty curling crack (look below the retro photo of Tiger pitcher Dan Petry). Do these U.S. sportswriters really know their small-town Canadiana, or are they just Googling?

• Ottawa Sun scrivner Joe Pavia wins this month’s award for best intro: At times, Jean-Michel Menard feels like moose meat. Check it out here ...

• FINALLY: This is where we could point out the depth and detail of The Curling News and this here The Curling News Blog, but we'll get right to this point. All due respect to this webmaster, and his intentions are good, but since CurlingZone and InTheHack are already hubbing all the news that is already auto-and-user-retreiveable, what’s the point?

Clear the track, Burtnyk's back

Kerry Burtnyk is five-for-five. That's right... since roaring out of retirement, the 1995 world champ (photo from victory number one in Gander) and his new youth squad have won all five tournaments they have entered, and they've completely overshadowed the much-ballyhooed and almost equally succesful other barnstormers led by Edmonton's Kevin Martin (who also won again on the weekend, incidentally). Burtnyk spoke with the Kamloops Daily News after beating Kelowna's Bob Ursel in the final of Monday's Strauss Crown of Curling:

I probably wouldn't have believed (the perfect record) because I don't think I've ever done that before. It's really amazing.
I knew when I recruited them that these were really good young curlers and we had a chance to be a good team. But they've played exceptionally well. Even when things are looking bad some times... they never give up. We've won some games when it wasn't looking so good.

On the women's side, Victoria's Pat Sanders won her second Crown title 10 years after her first, beating China’s Bingyu Wang in the final. That’s right... just a year after Japan’s Ayumi Onodero became the first Asian team to win World Curling Tour title, the impressive Chinese national team almost equalled the feat. Said Sanders, who had been crushed 10-1 by Wang in the A-qualifiers:

I saw throughout the whole weekend that they were playing really well and just trouncing their opponents. It was worriesome as to how to play them. We decided that we would play more open and not let them build up the rocks that they had been doing, and then try and make our opportunities as we went along.

• Speaking of Martin, he spoke to the Edmonton Journal prior to last weekend's win in Bonnyville:

I can see the energy on the ice. And people who have been watching me say we have more energy And that's a good thing.
I think we're a little surprised to see where we are. Now if we can make it 23-2 (they are now at 28-2) in the next 25, that would be fantastic. Winning is easy. We'll see how good this team is when we're on a six-game losing streak.

• OK, so Colleen Jones didn't meet up with her ex-teammates out in Moncton (new skip Mary-Anne Arsenault lost out on the quarterfinals) but Jones' new skip (and old buddy) Kay Zinck won the event, making CJ one-for-one as a women's third. As CJ told the Chronicle-Herald:

I’m a little sore today. But I kind of enjoyed the sweeping part of it because it’s a full exercise. It felt good to be involved in that part of the game. I quite like the early read on third.
What I loved the most was the interaction you have with the other teammates. Skipping is a lonely position. Frankly, I think I was tired of the pressure of being skip and having to make last shots all of the time.

Incidentally, any controversy that may (or may not) have happened between Jones and her former teammates was replaced by the unanimous show of support for Kim Kelly, who lost her mother Audrey late last week. The Moncton organizing committee and the Zinck and Aresenault teams graciously re-jigged their draw times to allow both squads to attend Saturday's funeral in Amherst. PEI's Nancy Cameron replaced Kelly in Moncton.

• In other spiel action, Saskatchewan's Sherry Anderson is back in a big way: her squad won the second women’s Grand Slam in Winnipeg, beating defending champ Jennifer Jones in the final:

• 2002 golden gal Rhona Martin will make a guest appearance on the UK’s Catherine Tate Show:

• Maple Ridge curling club, just like The Curling News, is celebrating its “golden” anniversary this season, and they've even got a promotional video posted on YouTube ...

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Like what you're reading? You ain't seen nothing yet. Subscribe TODAY to The Curling News, now celebrating its remarkable 50th Anniversary publishing season! You won't want to miss this extra-special season of wall-to-wall curling coverage, featuring archived stories from the last 50 years reproduced in every issue!
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

• Kinda forgotten in the hoopla about Burtnyk, Martin and Colleen Jones-At-Third is Team Randy Ferbey. They're doing well, but were bounced from Flint without qualifying, a rarity these days. Pat Simmons beat them in an A-final while another Sask squad, skipped by Bruce Korte, eliminated them in the C-qualifier – in just four ends – by a 9-1 count. It was the third straight Tour win for Korte in head-to-head matchups with the Ferbey4 ...

• Italy made it to the Euro Mixed final, on home ice, before bowing 7-4 to Scotland ...

• Golden boy Brad Gushue is on this week's episode of The Curling Show ...

• Oh, the mysteries of curling rocks. Inserts? Ailserts? To sharpen, or not to sharpen? Penticton thinks they have the answer ...

• More from the Strauss Crown of Curling: USA coach and former Sportsnet talkie Ed Lukowich played lead for Pete Fenson yesterday when regular third Shawn Rojeski had to return to work. Jason Larway – who spared for Doug Pottinger all weekend – moved up to third. The revamped Team Fenson was trounced 10-0 by Ursel in the semis, after winning their quarterfinal 7-5 over Grande Prairie’s Kurt Balderston ...

• In a previous post, we quoted CCA development guy Danny Lamoureux on how curling clubs must change, once and for all, the way they operate. Some of our dear readers were even inspired to comment further.

Now scribe Al Cameron has an in-depth interview with Lamoureux in today's Calgary Herald (subscription only) and this is now a clear sign of a nationally-driven campaign to drag clubs, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century. Here's some gems from the interview, which is a must-read for any club brass, vilunteers or dynamos:

"Clubs have to change the way they're thinking, said Lamoureux, the former manager of the Ottawa Curling Club. "We're so stuck, and I was too, with the way we always did things that we never tried to do anything differently. It was the same thing over and over again, and the world was changing around us, and curling clubs weren't doing anything to take advantage of that. It's time to catch up."

Some clubs have already accepted that message. The Calgary Curling Club, for instance, draws high praise from Lamoureux for creating an instructional curling league, in which new or novice curlers can access instruction for a full season, as opposed to the traditional way of doing things.

"We've always given newcomers one day of instruction, take their cheque and wish 'em good luck," said Lamoureux, who's urging other clubs to adopt the popular Calgary model. "Then we hope like hell that they keep coming back. Most of them never do; we'd lose 50 per cent the first year and the second year we'd keep 10 or 20 per cent of the hardcore people."

Then, there's the perception from non-curlers that a curling club is a members-only deal. One way around that, suggests Lamoureux, is an easy fix: simply replace the word "club" and replace it with the less-intimidating moniker "centre."

"A couple clubs were saying that people were afraid to come in, because it was a 'club,' and they thought they had to be connected or rich to get in," said Lamoureux. "Curling is hardly an elite sport; I mean, golf is way more elite. So we have to get rid of that. Everybody's welcome, it's easy to learn, it's affordable and it's lots of fun. And it's not just about the two hours on the ice; it's about the hour or 90 minutes afterwards that's the best part of curling."

Once you get them in the door, says Lamoureux, curlers should be treated better, whether it means upgrading food and lounge service or – Lamoureux's pet peeve – ice conditions.

"A lot of ice has been crappy," he said. "The attitude was, 'Well, it's the same for both teams.' Well, like hell it is. Bad ice is no good for anybody. Good ice has to be a requirement. People watch it on TV, they see it swinging, they see it's fast. More women and children are curling and, with the no-lift delivery, if it's not quick, there's no point. If I can't get the rock to the other end, I'm outta here."

"No other sport has the free promotion that we do," said Lamoureux. "There are so many people out there who love the sport, and we're perfectly positioned to get 'em all in to play. We just have to change the mindset."

Get yer tickets

Before we begin, there's much ado about the new Team Randy Ferbey unis this fall. And as the CurlingZone photo (above) from the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Westcoast Classic shows, there's a bit of long hair goin' on with the front end. By the way, the shoes are yellow and black too, courtesy of Asham.

The Ferbs made the semis at that event, BTW, and are currently ranked #3 on The Curling News Top 15 list.

Tickets, tickets, get yer tickets... the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier tickets go on sale today, with a variety of packages up for grabs, such as the Grand Opener, the Night Owl, the Early Riser and, of course, the Grand Champion. Hurry hard, folks, because the show – at Hamilton's Copps Coliseum in March – is not to be missed.

Meanwhile, BDO Dunwoody has returned as a Grand Slam of Curling sponsor, and their third consecutive BDO Canadian Open hits the ice at Winnipeg's MTS Centre – site of the 2008 Brier – in late January. Various Peg media stories – here and here, plus Paul Wiecek's subscription-only Free Press – have the ticket sales story from that region; they are also on sale now.

Not to be outdone on the Slam front is the growing hoopla over the first event, Waterloo's Masters of Curling.

In addition:

• It's always good to see some grass roots curling news hit the Quebec papers ... just one small note: many Quebec athletes qualified for the recent Canadian Olympic team, but no curlers (or so we think?) ...

• Tonight, the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame welcomes curling builder Murial Fage. Still an active curling volunteer, Fage is battling cancer as she serves on the Board of Directors of the Sandra Schmirler Foundation ... which has a new pin available this season, as well as a new partnership with their first curling event fundraiser: the venerable Kurl for Kids in Toronto, merely the world’s largest charity bonspiel with over $1.7 million earned since 1990. And in related news, the Schmirler Curling Classic – the Regina staple on the women's side of the Asham World Curling Tour – has a new title sponsor, CU Electronic Transaction Services ...

• Sun Media's Rob Brodie offers another Nancy Lee commentary here ...

• This rivethead doesn’t like Team Annette Norberg's entry into heavy metal mania. We politely disagree. In your face, Fist! ...

• Here's a Solvakian media report on their nation’s progress at the European Mixed, which wraps up in Italy on Sunday...

• A recent announcement saw Kruger Products offically take over the name of Scott Paper Ltd., the long-standing sponsor of Canadian women's curling since 1982. The event, now in its 26th year, is now known as the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Event guru Robin Wilson spoke to The Curling News:

What is truly amazing is that a company that has changed hands three times since 1995 has maintained its long time sponsorship of women's curling in Canada. I think I can speak for women curlers across Canada when I say how much this sponsorship continues to mean to us and how we will continue to support the company and its products as it (with its changing faces) continues to support us.

You can read more about the origins of the sponsorship – it really is a fascinating story – in the upcoming November issue of TCN.

• Read The Curling News every month and check out our new feature, Asham Club Corner, for cool newsbites from the club curling world. Like this: the classic shopping mall exhibit is a tried and true way of promoting a club in the community, just check out this display in Bathurst, New Brunswick this week. Any other clubs still doing this? It’s a no-brainer, folks...

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Think this Blog is cool? Subscribe TODAY to The Curling News, now celebrating its remarkable 50th Anniversary publishing season! You won't want to miss this extra-special season of wall-to-wall curling coverage!
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

• The 20-team Lady Monctonian Invitational tourney, which runs from today through Sunday at the Beausejour Curling Club in Moncton, New Brunswick, may feature the first head-to-head battle between Colleen Jones – now third for Team Kay Zinck – and her old squad, which now has TCN correspondent Mary-Anne Arsenault throwing skip rocks. It may not be a true battle to some, however, as Arsenault sparkplug Kim Kelly has been replaced by PEI import Nancy Cameron for this event.

As Jones told the Halifax Daily News this week:

They’re just an opponent to me now. But that’s the same way I look at everybody else. I tend to look at the whole field and not just one team.

• Finally... hold on to your seats, folks, and enjoy this retro curling promo from 1986, originating from Manitoba. Anyone recognize some of the faces?

Shark Curling

So, the coach of the NHL San Jose Sharks wanted to take his squad curling, declaring the other ice game to be “Canada’s national sport, the Briar (sic) being more important than the Stanley Cup”.

Well, Ron Wilson did just that, with goaltender Evgeni Nabokov (photo) apparently participating with enthusiasm, but on the most obviously talentless foursome.

There's even a match report on the Sharks' website, which was reported in Spain, of all places.

• On the club curling front, there's some crazy-bad news out there. Fort Frances in northern Ontario is in trouble, and the curling club is asking the town for a $72,000 tax bill write-off; Dryden's Eagles Landing Golf & Curling Club has closed their curling operation, with the private owners claiming the 200-strong membership (they need 500) isn't enough to keep eight-sheeter going; and Summerside, PEI's Silver Fox club is in a complete and total uproar. A major developer plans to bring a large shopping centre project to the town, and all are on board except the Silver Fox, which would lose between 25 and 100 parking spots. Check out the increasingly public ugliness here, and here, and here.

On the plus side, the Misty Isles CC in B.C. is once again up and running thanks to donated time and equipment. Can we have some more "plus" stories, please?

• Nancy Lee is leaving CBC Sports for the world of IOC broadcasting, and her last known deal seems to be the signing of the Grand Slam of Curling. Her legacy is opined upon by Chris Zelkovich and William Houston, with surely many more to come. Meanwhile, Houston says various industry Canucks are up in arms over an American being hired to steer the TV production of Vancouver 2010 ...

• Today's Conman column in the Edmonton Sun tells of Cathy King’s recent Swiss effort, her world memories, and Alberta's femmethoughts on their revamped 2007 playdown system ...

• Jim Bender of the Winnipeg Sun throws the spotlight on the troops serving under the resurgent Kerry Burtnyk ...

• The Winnipeg Free Press (subscription only) recently reported that everyone in the online curling world had a cashpiel result wrong: turns out two-time defending Manitoba junior champion Calleen Neufeld actually won the final of the Agricore United Curling Classic in Beausejour last weekend. So why did the MCT, CurlingZone and even the Free Press initially announce opponent Darcy Robertson as the 6-5 winner (Neufeld actually won by a 7-6 count)?

Event chairman Doug May eventually took the blame telling the Freep how he faxed in the score from the ninth end to both radio station CJOB and the MCT website, setting in motion a rather wrong chain of events. D'oh!

Neufeld took the snafu over her first-ever women's title in stride, telling the Freep: "It's too bad the result went out wrong. But we still got the ($1,500 winner's) cheque, so that's good."

• Did you know the European Mixed Championships are underway right now in Claut, Italy? Well, now you do ...

• Here's a media peek at the Scranton CC in Pennsylvania...

• RONA, an official Canadian Olympic partner, is busily crossing that country and unveiling the names of 100 athletes who will be supported under their “Growing with Our Athletes” program, but so far there’s not a curling name among them...

• CurlingZone has a nifty poll question up asking “Which marks the furthest event to which you are travelling to watch live curling?” ...

• BLOGBITES: for those curlers who regularly suffer the pain of playing on hockey ice, here’s some moaning and groaning from the other side of fence: hockey players who are appalled to see curling rings painted on their ice ... Team Bender has snapped back at critics of 2005 Manitoba champ Randy Dutiaume ... here's one fellow's loooong explanation of a curling experience in Wake Forest, North Carolina ... and the new CurlDuluth blog is just weirding us out ...

• And finally, another timewaster: if you can get though Biathalon and Ski Jumping, “Nordic Chill” will reward you with a non-sliding, five-rock exhibition of curling... where a single bounce along the side boards is apparently quite legal...!

Stones: It's Only Rock 'N Roll

As good old Regina, Saskatchewan basks in the glow of having the world’s greatest live rock band visit their digs for two massive sold-out gigs – complete with private parties and cultural visits – we must mention a great sign that has appeared in front of the Queen City's Highland Curling Club: OUR STONES ARE AROUND ALL WINTER!

The first TCN spy who emails us a photo of this sign wins a copy of Doug Maxwell’s 2004 tome Canada Curls: The Illustrated History of Curling in Canada. Send your photo to us at: photo_contest@NOSPAMthecurlingnews.com ... but make sure you delete the NOSPAM before hitting send.

Incidentally, the esteemed Editor Emeritus of The Curling News will soon have a new book out, Tales of a Curling Hack, appearing in bookstores any day now. The book launch takes place October 17 in DDM’s hometown of Markdale, Ontario.

Also incidentally, we also want a photo from Regina skip Michelle Englot. Apparently she was among a rare group of fans who had an opportunity to meet the Stones up close. They looked like they have lived a long, hard life, Englot told the Regina Leader-Post.

Fork it over, Chelle.

Just one question... did anyone take those guys curling? Eh?

• Waterloo, Ontario was yesterday's site of the first Grand Slam news conference of the Insight Sports era. The lineup of 18 teams competing in the $100,000 Masters of Curling Nov. 29-Dec. 3 at the Waterloo Memorial Recreational Complex (er, not RIM Park) are, in no particular order:

Randy Ferbey, Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard, Brad Gushue, Kevin Koe, Jean-Michel Menard, Pat Simmons, Pierre Charette, John Base, Don Walchuk, Mark Johnson, Pete Fenson, Tom Brewster, Kerry Burtynk, Mark Dacey, Bob Ursel, Jeff Stoughton and Wayne Middaugh.

There will be an order of these teams announced soon, as the Asham World Curling Tour has revamped its points ranking system and will unveil it next week. The rumour mill says the new system will mesh with the Canadian Curling Association's CTRS rankings, making the WCT and Grand Slam series an integral part of Canadian team qualifying for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

World Curling Players' Association exec Paul Boutilier was in Waterloo, and labelled the city a logical choice to host the hastily arranged event.

"We were looking for a spot that had the experience, certainly from a committee standpoint, to roll out these types of events and the (K-W) Granite Club has had that experience," Boutilier told The Record.

Organizers are holding the event in partnership with K-W Granite and the City of Waterloo.

"One of the reasons we did get asked was our reputation of being able to mobilize bodies quickly and effortlessly," said K-W Granite president Neil Miskell.

"Everything's fallen into place. The names are going to help sell the tickets and I think we're going to be able to put on a first-rate event."

The championship of the $100,000 tournament is scheduled for noon on Sunday, Dec. 3, and tickets – available in five day all-event packages or two-day weekend packages – are on sale today at 10 am at the Rec Complex or through TicketMaster outlets.

• In last weekend's Tour news, Charette and L’Equipe Performance enjoyed un victoire; Kelly Scott won the women's first Grand Slam of the season in Calgary; and this story on Kevin Martin’s second straight win at the PricewaterHouseCoopers Westcoast Classic has a nifty note at the end: the tournament’s website (powered by CurlingZone) handled 200,000 visitors, tops on the World Curling Tour among non-Grand Slam events...

• The Spoof, by all appearances a poor man’s version of The Onion, has taken on curling, “the sport of dorks"...

• It was Arnold Asham's big night yesterday as he formally received the Manitoba Aboriginal Entrepreneur of the Year award, as given by the University of Manitoba's Asper School of Business. You can read more about Arnold's passion in this Manitoba Business News cover story, or you could download a nice PDF version here ...

• Jeff Stoughton, the latest skip to fall to the red-hot Kerry Burtnyk in a cashpiel final, is online over at The Curling Show ...

• The new flick Trailer Park Boys raked in $1.3 million on its opening weekend, upending the most recent English-Canadian top scorer Men With Brooms, which earned $1.04 million back in March 2002 ...

• BLOGBITS: Texas Dan is back from spieling in Chicago, here and here, and with prolly more to come ... Kelly in Edinburgh tried curling ... as did busy mom Jay, now covered in bruises... this guy insists it’s Team Nichols, not Team Gushue ... welcome aboard to the Calgary Rookies ... and finally, we can put Bowser and Blue to rest, as there’s a new curling song to check out ...

• Last but not least, a new timewaster from the guys who brought you Cow Curling: their latest is called... Attack of the Funky Disco Zombies. Not really our kind of thing, but there you go.

Jill Everest

TCN readers will recall that columnist and 2005 Canadian women's champion Jill Officer was headed off to climb to Mount Everest's base camp back in the spring.

As the photo shows, she actually went through with it. :)

Here's an intro to Jill's column appearing in the November issue of The Curling News about her experience. Make sure you sign up today to receive TCN on your doorstep. You won't want to miss a single issue of our 50th anniversary publishing season. Over to the Jillster.

Katmandu, Nepal. Definitely culture shock.

Just getting out of the airport, into a taxi and to our guesthouse was absolutely insane and chaotic. There are people everywhere, literally.

After reviewing some stats on my return home, I determined that for every square kilometre of Nepal, there are 5,120 people. In Canada, for every square kilometre, there are only 3.5 people! That should give you an idea of the insanity in their country. Plus, there is no organization to the traffic, and since cows are sacred, they tend to stand in the middle of the street and you're forced to drive around them.

Once, while walking around, we saw piles of garbage in the street, mangy dogs everywhere and we were almost run over – numerous times – by a taxi or motorbike.

But after spending a month in Nepal, trekking through the beautiful Himalayas and viewing the highest mountain in the world, I learned a lot about the Nepalese people, culture and country. It was an amazing experience.

The trek itself was extremely difficult, beyond what I had imagined. The first few days were the worst until we got over that physical and mental hump where things actually becomes a little more natural, and easier. But the most important thing though is that we made it: the Base Camp of Mt. Everest and the summit of Kala Pattar (photo), a viewpoint for Everest.

Is there a curling angle? You bet there is. Be sure to pick up a copy of TCN this fall and check out my column for more.

Elsewhere:

• National Geographic’s Pulse of the Planet is a two-minute “sound portrait of the planet earth” (like that segue from Everest?) The most recent podcast is on “Curling: A Most Social Game”, and the link offers the show text plus the .mp3 itself...

• Speaking of podcasts (another segue) we will indeed call those guys at The Curling Show crazy, because they've got not one (WCPA prez Paul Boutilier), and not two (2007 Tim Hortons brier honcho Dwayne Pyper) but three (last rock Ferbster and CurlTV guy David Nedohin) podcasts up and running. Click away...

• NEWSFLASH: the opening Grand Slam, The Masters, has moved from Kitchener's venerable Auditorium to RIM Park in Waterloo. It says here that this is a good move, given the imminent event date (late November) and the cool factor of this brand-spanking-new 4,500-seat arena...

• Speaking of Slams, the first of four women's Grand Slam events is under way in Calgary. The Trail Appliances Autumn Gold features 32 teams, a $56,000 purse, reigning champ Jenn Hanna of Ottawa, the national teams of Russia, China and Japan, a whack of big-name western squads, and two games broadcast each day on CurlTV. There are also an additional four events on the Asham World Curling Tour underway this weekend...

• My goodness, such language! The Canadian Curling Association is getting a severe PR slap from Quebec's provincial government over the alleged reason why the 2008 STOH went to Regina instead (original La Soleil story here). The CCA is denying the playing of the language card, and they have received some unlikely support from the Conman. Now we have Anglo and French-Canadian media guys going at it. Fascinating.

• Winnipeg is, not surprisingly, crowing about Kerry Burtnyk's storming return to the sport...

• Just in case you missed it, Vancouver's Brent Pierce and resurgent Kelley Law were the Vernon WCT spiel champs...

• Ontario's Royal Kingston Curling Club is no more... but don't panic. The grand opening of their brand-new facility on Day's Road takes place tomorrow. However, it will be bittersweet as they will also pause for a moment of silence over the recent passing of club dynamo Marv Valensky (cancer at age 57). While we await photos of the new unveiling (attention Kingstonians!) you can view photos of the ancient and historic old barn here...

• Another NEWSFLASH: former Scottish and Brit Olympic curling coach Mike Hay has just been bumped up a notch. Soon after resigning as the chief curling honcho, he's just been appointed Olympic Performance Manager for Winter Sports...

• Finally, we simply don’t understand why zero bids were placed on this classic item. What in tarnation is wrong with you people?

Behold: a curling shopping mall

They're yelling for photos from Ontario's recent Mallspiel, so here's The Curling News to the rescue... with a first glance at the show that was the BDO Galt Curling Classic.

Arena ice, located in a shopping mall surrounded by some 167,000 (weekly) wandering souls. Right next to the food court, with an Asham Ontario store temporarily set up. And with a sixth lane of ice, "Sheet F", dedicated to community participation, where about 200 newbies got to try the sport for the first time. Not bad.

We haven't seen this sort of thing since... well, the Telus Classic inside the enormous West Edmonton Mall, back in 1995. Which The Curling News will be revisiting, along with so many other amazing archived stories – dating back to 1957 – in our upcoming 50th anniversary season. Have you subscribed today?

There will be a 2007 event, by the way... in fact the BDO Galt Curling Classic is now confirmed for the next three years. Don't miss it.

Also:

• Al Cameron speaks with Kevin Martin and John Morris in today's Calgary Herald (subscription only). Having lost just one game this season – the final of Gander's Don Bartlett Classic to the number-one ranked Kerry Burtnyk – Martin had this to say about his brand-new squad:

There's a huge adjustment, just because I hadn't changed anything for so many years, and now I change everything. But 15 (wins) out of the first 16 games is a pretty strong start. John played very well (in Sunday's final). And I think I played 50 per cent – I made my first rock 100 per cent of the time and missed my second one 100 per cent of the time. And you don't win many curling games when you miss the last one all the time.

• According to today's St. Catharines Standard, local city councillors have broken the Ontario city's grants policy and voted to give free ice time to the M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors, which will overwhelm their town in February 2007.

A key factor in the decision to waive nearly $14,000 in rental fees was the prospect of St. Catharines' charms being highlighted during CBC-TV's two-day coverage of the event's finals.

"This television coverage is really fantastic and it means a lot to our community," said Doug Geddie, chairman of the host committee, after showing a clip from CBC's coverage of the 2001 championships – which was also hosted by St. Catharines. Geddie added that in addition to scenic shots, the city's name is included in television graphics and mentioned in on-air comments, and buying the same amount of coverage would cost $50,000, while "500,000 viewers tune in for a national curling event."

Councillor Peter Secord was bullish on the deal.

"You are talking a huge deal here," said Secord. "When we are sitting at the table, pie-in-the-sky is an event that would bring the CBC into town. That is one of the things we dream about. This event is the one we would love to have: St. Catharines on the big screens across the country. This is a no-brainer."

• Here's our curling logo-slash-mascot of the week – for no particular reason – the Chesapeake Crab...

• And finally: God help her, but Nerdygirl is addicted...