RAMA, Ontario – The ice was a wee bit straight and a bit picky early on. The word “picky” is one which makes Glenn Howard feel quite icky, as we all know from a year ago. Here’s to a hairless, debris-free Battle of the Sexes tonight.

This all-Alberta tussle is getting a bit weird. Randy Ferbey just took a big 5K skin in the fifth and then stole the sixth for a $9,000 to $1,000 lead over Kevin Martin, but in the last few minutes we’ve seen Ferb second Scotty Pfeifer and Martin third John Morris both boot a stone.

In Pfeif’s case, the stone was stationary in the rings, and all eight players merely stood and watched the TV replay on one of the three utterly massive 12 x 16-foot wall screens to decide where to replace the rock.

In Johnny Mo’s case, he was sweeping teammate Ben Hebert’s stone, and so it was promptly removed from play.

Martin is behind, but still in the game. This is the skins, after all.

The Curling News photo by Anil Mungal

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RAMA, Ontario – Randy Ferbey’s yellow and blue garb looks mighty electric under the bright lights at Casino Rama.

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RAMA, Ontario – Yes, we’re here and we’re on the air.

One of the advantages of competing in the Casino Rama Curling Skins Game is the stuff you win.

And we’re not just talking about the cash on the line.

This year’s competitor gift pack is chock full of goodies for each and every athlete. Pentax digital camera (12.1 megapixels), electric toothbrush, electric razor – women’s model for Team Jennifer Jones, we hope? – TSN jacket, $500 Via Rail pass… the list goes on.

Hey, it may not compare to the swag that Hollywood celebrities receive – even in an economic downturn – but it’s pretty fine nontheless.

And we’re assured there isn’t an entire “gift lounge”… just a well-stocked Green Room, but of course.

The Curling News photo by Anil Mungal

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Yes indeed, yesterday’s TV talk warmups – on both TSN and Rogers Sportsnet – were fun to watch. Never mind the sleepy Randy Ferbey, above (photo by TSN)… this was no snorefest.

You can check out the episode of TSN’s Off The Record right here (player is on the right-hand side of the page). But we also point out the Really Off The Record podcast located in the centre of the page (January 8). This audio-only show lasts 4:21 and features host Michael Landsberg asking the four skips (see yesterday’s blogposts) to play “CCA For A Day”, and declare how they would change the sport.

Fun stuff. Glenn Howard would force Kevin Martin and Ferbey to retire (much laughter) but in a frank and serious exchange, Martin and Howard clashed over the concept of Team Canada at the Brier.

Also, Howard declared – unequivocally – that eight-end curling games will be fully implemented across the spectrum of the sport following the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Hmm… does he know something we don’t?

You can also listen to the FAN 590/Rogers Sportsnet episode of Prime Time Sports featuring Martin and Jennifer Jones right here (click on PTS: 2009-01-08, segment two, starting at 18:20).

Today’s media roundup includes Bob Weeks on his blog and also in the Globe & Mail; Brian McAndrew of the Toronto Star; another pal, James Bisson at the Canadian Press and they guys at Canwest Media, too.

And don’t forget this here TCN Blog, whether you are watching from home or looking for the scoop from overseas.

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It’s almost 4:00pm ET, the skips have had their say (photo above courtesy TSN) and the taping of Off The Record is over – see previous blogpost here – so be sure to tune at 6:00pm ET tonight.

Or tomorrow AM for the repeat, and also tomorrow online via the TSN Player.

We notice that Kevin Martin was kept pretty far away from Randy Ferbey. Drat! (Click on the pic to increase size.)

As for the Skins Game itself, you can find an event preview story here, another one here… and the main event page is located here.

And now, tickets.

This weekend’s skins showdown is almost sold out. The Ticketmaster portal is apparently reading “unavailable” for many people. If you have this problem, and you dearly want tickets, you have two options.

1. Visit the Casino Rama box office in person.

2. Or choose the official secret method, divulged just for you courtesy of The Curling News. Call the Casino Rama Customer Service line at 1-8800-832-PLAY (7529) and very specifically say: “I want to buy a three-game pass for the curling skins game”.

It is apparently important that you clearly state your intentions to buy a three-game pass. You need to be directed by Customer Service to the box office, and if you try to buy single-game tickets or any other package, you’re out of luck (as indicated by this recent Casino Rama posting). And if you don’t act quickly, you may be plain out of luck anyway!

Finally, our coverage. The Curling News Blog is still unsure of our coverage plans for the weekend, but if you are settling in at home to watch skins action – or cursing from outside Canada over the unavailability of the TV signal – be sure to check us out online when you take a washroom or fridge break. Like last year, you just might find us blogging live from the event.

Finally… don’t forget, the skins is televised in High Definition, and it looks utterly amazing. So if you aren’t yet set up with HD in your home, get on the horn and start arranging a viewing party at a friend’s place.

Game on!

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Some big-name curling champs – Kevin Martin, Randy Ferbey, Glenn Howard and Jennifer Jones – are headed to the 2009 Casino Rama Skins Game this weekend.

All four skips are now in Toronto and en route to TSN studios at the Rogers Centre for a taping of Off The Record, the sometimes-incendiary sports talk show with host Michael Landsberg.

The all-curling show airs tonight at 6:00pm eastern time.

It might be repeated overnight or tomorrow morning/afternoon, and it is sure to be available online tomorrow, as well – Canada only, we think?

Practice ice goes tomorrow in the casino entertainment centre and play begins Saturday with Martin versus Ferbey (1:00pm ET) and then Howard versus Jones (8:00pm ET). The final goes Sunday, at 1:00pm ET.

Many of you will remember our extensive 2007 event blog coverage, which told you about the ice, the ice temperature, the rock-star intros, the special-guest piper, the picks, the team from Newfoundland which perhaps woulda-coulda-shoulda been in the final, and much, much more.

(Search back to December 2007 in our blog archives for that much, much more)

Last year Off The Record – OTR – also hosted an all-curling Skins preview episode, and things got very interesting. Wayne Middaugh was on fire, first reminding Martin of his corn-broom incident at the 1991 Worlds and then stating, unequivocally, that “the Olympics have ruined curling.”

Wayner is always sure to be a hoot on that show.

Jill Officer, who plays second for Jones and who writes for The Curling News, was unimpressed enough to write a column in last year’s January issue asking Wayne just what the hell he meant by that.

Of course, if you subscribed to The Curling News, you will have read that story already. Hint, hint.

So what will tonight’s OTR reveal?

It should be fun with Martin and Ferbey in the same room. Maybe TSN will seat them side by side. Giggle.

Jones will get asked about competing against men, and Glenn will joke that while he’s a really nice guy he’s just going to have to kick Jen’s butt, because the skins format is too volatile to do anything but try and squash your opponent. No Mr. Nice Guy here.

Jones, as some have suggested, is like a lawyer in her interviews. Guarded, formulaic and cliched. Well, she is a lawyer, in fact. Host Landsberg, meanwhile, has been know to get under the skin of some guests, and he may feel he has to roll up his sleeves and do just that today. Anyone want to take that bet, Jones versus Landsberg? Who wins?

Finally, a word about tickets. Southern Ontarians are complaining that Ticketmaster won’t give them any options to buy, with the site listing the event tickets as “unavailable”. There are whispers that the event is “Sold Out”.

We have the scoop. And we’ll reveal it – along with the exclusive way to go and get what few tickets remain – later this afternoon. Stay tuned …

PS: Landsberg will be going back to his roots, at Vancouver in 2010. He is part of the massive consortium lineup of TV anchors, hosts and reporters who will be very busy at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. This story also reveals the names of the curling TV talent: Vic Rauter, Bryan Mudryk, Linda Moore, Ray Turnbull, Russ Howard, Cathy Gauthier, Dan Murphy, Michel Y. Lacroix and Guy Hemmings …

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The NHL pro hockey league will be using curling’s famed Eye on the Ice system for the annual outdoor Winter Classic at famed Wrigley Field on New Year’s day.

You can see the field of play being finalized here, also captured above, via web-cam.

The electronic system was created by curling ice maestro Hans Wuthrich, and despite the go-slow approach of NHL facilities guy Dan Craig, it’s only a matter of time – and money – before the system makes its way into each NHL building.

As it should.

The story itself is located here.

Shortly after Chicago, Wuthrich will jet to Ontario for round two of the Casino Rama Curling Skins Game, a TV extravaganza we covered last year a) rather b) extensively (and in many blogposts in between) …

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RAMA – Things change really, really fast in the Casino Rama Skins Game. Yesterday we opined that Wayne Middaugh might miss an out-turn peel one out of 100 times.

Make that two out of 100. Wayne flashes an out-turn peel in the sixth end for a gimme skin for Martin. From then on in, the Ontario team struggled to even score.

It got ugly. If this was a boxing match, they would have stopped it. Opponent Kevin Martin threw guards on his lack rock in seven and his last rock in eight. Polar opposite of the desperation heaters he was hurling in the first half.

And these were guards on guards.

So Martin plays about as badly as a team can possibly play to win a Skins championship. He wins a grand total of 61,000 and owns bragging rights over Middaugh for another year.

Couples finishes second is the headline on the golfer’s website. Here, you can replace that name with Middaugh.

Cheesy winner’s quote, no doubt drafted by TSN press office:

“This event has been a real treat. I’ve never played in such a special venue like Casino Rama before,” said Martin. “It’s almost Christmas time and this will surely make it a happy holiday season.”

Ugh.

We’re outta here, hope you enjoyed it. We sure did …

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by Matt Hames

RAMA – Dang, it’s cold in here.

At his presser yesterday, Martin talked about the ice. He said that it was the same speed in practice as it was for his 14K draw to the can.

That’s awesome, because we’re in what’s called the casino’s Entertainment Centre. It’s a big room with seats. When it was built, no one could have envisioned a curling game played here. Boxing? Sure. But curling?

We already wrote about the plant that is located on a concrete floor.

The picture you see here is the reason it’s so cold in here. That’s a big hose (photo) connected directly to outside. Cold, crisp Barrie-slash-Rama air from outside is being pumped into the arena to keep it a cool 55ºF.

Martin was marvelling about the ice conditions. He rightly pointed out that this proves that a curling event can be held almost anywhere.

We’d add “anywhere that outside cold air can be pumped inside.” Not sure how that would work in sub-tropical climates.

Game on. Martin vs. Middaugh. We’ve got the chills.

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by Matt Hames

RAMA – First off all, apologies for technical problems that are preventing these here blogposts from loading instantaneously onto Blogger. Seems there’s a technical problem between here and Germany, where our fearless leader is blogging from the European Championships.
So it seems this is appearing as Not-Quite-Live; hope things get better.

Now, the final. Without question, no athlete on either team could remember how many times they’ve played each other.

Consider this: Wayne Middaugh’s charter lead Scott Bailey was the alternate on Kevin Martin’s team at the last Olympic Trials. And yes, he did play. Also a couple of cashspiels in advance, too.

Last night after the semi-finals, Kevin was asked about playing Wayne today in the final. He said they are great friends who have done battle countless times in the past. But he also asked, somewhat rhetorically, what could be better?

Indeed. What could be better?

You have Wayne Middaugh, who for years and years used the TSN Skins game as his personal ATM machine, versus Kevin Martin, arguably the best shotmaker in the game.

When we looked at the draw, I kind of hoped for a Martin/Middaugh final. It’s not that we would have been unhappy with a Gushue/Howard final… we would have talked about the Brier rematch, of course.

No, we like this one. It’s two guys who love cash and can mash with the best of them. It’s two guys who like rocks in play followed by the runback bullet.

The really good news? The game should feature really good ice. Yesterday was the first game played in the facility. The ice staff (Hans and company) learned a lot yesterday and will use that knowledge to make the conditions even better.

IOW: if you had some chips, you should bet on an epic match.

One note: yesterday Middaugh and Martin were yellow. By virtue of winning the initial draw the button contest before the event, Martin had choice of hammer or rocks. He picked the yellow rocks. Meaning Middaugh gets red for the first time. Meaningful? Doubtful. Gushue had red yesterday and was, quite frankly, all over Martin like a technicolour T-shirt.

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