Sweden Rules the World

I haven't actually seen the final game of the Women's World Championships (yet) but I was assured that it was a pretty good game that could have gone either way. Ultimately Annette Norberg continued to be the best there is: back to back worlds, the Olympics, can't get much better than that!

I quite like her team. I like the Debbie McCormick team as well though, although they need to do some work on their strategy. If they can get the strategy down, then they will continue to be a force to be reckoned with. They were entertaining, and I can't say I was disappointed when the US beat the Canadians on Saturday. Sacriledge? Nah, I'm all for the best team winning. And Kelly Scott's crew were not the best team, nor the most entertaining.

And so ends the women's curling season! Not a bad one, over all. And I never thought I'D say it... but I need a break (but only until the men's worlds start on Saturday)! Let's just bring back Jennifer Jones and Jenn Hanna and Stefanie Lawton and Heather Strong at the national level.... and things will be exciting again next year.

The End of an Era

For someone like me who's grown up with Colleen Jones being ever-present in the world of curling, the news that her team is splitting up is a little sad. I am very glad I got to see them in action--and playing pretty darn well!--at this year's Scott.

http://www.tsn.ca/curling/news_story.asp?id=159716

Curling and 'Clue'?

"Team Canada playing red with the hammer in the 8th"
Doesn't that sound like something you'd say while playing 'Clue'?

Brier vs Scott

Like last year, I am very disappointed in the Brier after watching an outstanding Scott and once again feel that the quality of curling and the excitement for the audience was way better at the Scott. With the exception of the Tiebreaker and the 3-4 Game, all the games were full of suspense and mostly excellent shot-making: the Brier has been full of misses. The final hasn’t happened yet, but based on the draws all week and the playoffs so far, the men have not given us nearly as much excitement.

Also the layout of the ice, the scoreboards etc aren’t nearly as pretty as for the Scott. And I very much dislike the one-arm colour for the men’s jackets and shirts: it’s not attractive. And the quality of the broadcast doesn’t look as nice as the Scott. It’s not as nice to look at. (And no, I’m NOT talking about the players!)

Women’s curling rocks.

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.