Final Observations

The curlers were generally friendly and social with the fans, which was really nice to see. Curling etiquette was much in evidence on and off the ice. I loved to watch the players watching themselves on TV, or looking up to see the lie of the rocks in the house as viewed from above. Most of the teams sang Oh Canada, which I think inspired all us fans to sing too: never heard so many people singing our national anthem.

The curlers use an awful lot of hand signals that you don’t notice when you are watching on TV, mostly because the camera is rarely focused exclusively on the skip or the sweepers. During the Olympic curling I saw a lot of hand signals from Amy and Christine, but couldn’t remember from the times I’d watched the Scott ever seeing a lot of hand signals. But there were. I noticed Heather Strong in particular often went two or three shots without even saying a word while calling the shots; other skips never called anything without speaking. Colleen’s signal for a centre guard was the coolest: flat hand turned vertically, pointing from her forehead down the centre line.

You forget how ugly the pants are after a day or two.

I love the Scott jackets: I hope they keep them like that for a year or two more at least. You know instantly what province a player is from. They’re way better than the ones at the Brier.

What I didn’t like was the purple jackets each player was given and possibly required to wear when not playing… I thought they were an ugly colour suiting almost none of them.

The curlers, when given a chance, constantly expressed gratitude to Scott Paper (“buy Scotties, buy SpongeTowels!” exclaimed Christine Keshen). Hear, hear.

The ice was superb all week, no frost and very consistent. I don’t imagine anyone complained about it.

It was very strange not watching the draws on TV. But if I had to choose between TV and seeing it live… live every time. For me curling is as much about the people as about the shots—and I was well-satisfied.