Despite recent health concerns it still seemed a cataclysmic death at the time. However, Doug would soon be followed by none other than Don Chevrier and then Don Wittman, making the 2007-08 season a stunning year of lost curling legends.
And we remember.
It’s the Brier, the Canadian men’s curling championship. And there is just so much out there to surf to, consult, read up on, etc. And, of course, to watch on either TV or your computer.
We can’t cover everything, but we will point you in a few directions. Then, we’ll wrap up some other curling stuff, and finish with our famous curling linkfest.
Item one: Jill Officer. The all-star second and Ford Hot Shots champion – not to forget 2008 Canadian women’s champion – can now throw a rock with her eyes closed (Kruger products photo by Andrew Klaver, above). That’s how easy the sport has become for this Sport Canada carded athlete. Just say “oooohhmmm”, open your hand, and be the rock. Oh yes, yogi, it’s that easy.
Now Jill will take a break from Ford Worlds preparations and staff the official Curling News-desk at the Brier media bench, blogging daily, right here, for one and all to read. She’s also writing an occasional column for the Winnipeg Sun (see points to follow) and ensuring the stacks of TCNs are on display in the Patch, Purple Heart Lounge, et cetera. Oh, and you might see this budding photographer out on the carpet, too, snapping some still images of her male counterparts. Naturally, the TCN servers will explode as viewers click here often to see how many of Jill’s favourite butt shots make these pages. Oh, behave!
So there you go. The Curling News Blog becomes Jill’s official playpen, starting tomorrow. Check back often.
Now, for those two Winnipeg newspapers, the Freep and the Sun. These guys will both go wall-to-wall over the next nine days, and while the Freep’s Brier portal just plain looks better than the Sun’s aging appearance, the Freepies are also boasting of AM draw coverage streamed live from their website. But then again, both CurlTV and CBC Sports Online are doing that, too.
Oh, and TSN.ca, too … after their live TV games you’ll be able to call up any games you missed online.
Like we said… where to start?
We’ve also decided to cut through the chaff and spotlight some cool Brier pre-stories, just for you. And they are:
– This feature on Manitoba’s quiet second, and the incident which drives him
– This look at curling’s true Odd Couple;
– This peek at curling’s Gambling Man;
– This mention that the fifth-end break of the semifinal – on the afternoon of March 15 – will feature a tribute to the big three of curling journalism, who all passed away in the last eight months: Don Wittman, Don Chevrier and TCN’s own Doug Maxwell. Don’t miss it.
– And finally, can it be true that TCN’s own Matt Hames was the only person to notice that the ice at the Scotties featured the brand new World Curling Federation expanded ice size of 15’7” (up from 14’2”)? We think so, and hold on to your seats folks, because the Brier features the same expanded ice, too.
And now, for your linkfest …
• DID YOU KNOW: that Canada’s William Dion finished first in the round-robin at the World Juniors, while Kaitlyn Lawes’ Canadian women are down 6-3 to Denmark midway through their tiebreaking match?
• DID YOU KNOW II: that the World Junior semis and finals are available on Curlingkanalen (which is Swedish for Curling Maniacs) and also on Eurosport’s Swedish website? The news is here …
• DID YOU KNOW III: that Kevin Koe has next year’s bye to the Alberta provincial? His squad is now thinking about a trip to Perth, Scotland next January for the big Masters cashspiel …
• Scotland’s Michael McCreadie plans to be back …
• Stranraer is rejoicing over two of their own …
• Teflon sandals? Vinyl brushes? Enthusiasm? You bet …
• Wow, these folks are organizing themselves early …
• And these guys, too …
• Dave curled in Finland the other day… maybe he’ll drop by Vierumaki tomorrow?
• Catester is quite peeved over the ridiculous slights to Colleen Jones and Kelly Scott …
• Here’s John Gushue, from St. John’s. And what are the chances there’s no relation?
• Was this truly the shot of a lifetime?
• Dude, you need a little more rotation on your throws …
• More pricing in Moose Jaw… will they ever see the finish line?
• Ken Peterson went curling in… Korea!
• A nifty curling graphic from SINC located here: topical as many a curling fan shall be dining in front of the TV in the coming days!
• DID YOU KNOW IV: that 2002 Olympic champion Rhona Martin appeared before a special Scottish sport participation committee inquiry last week (here and also here)? Here’s the wrap-up, but you can apparently view the proceeds online, too …
• And finally, it looks like we forgot about our Ithaca friends and their glorious championship, held in late December. News story here, and a plea from the ARSI for Olympic status in 2010 located here.
Our apologies …
The truth is, such writing is proving to be exceedingly, agonizingly difficult. And now, we are getting somewhat angry. What a disaster the last six months have been. The legends of our sport are dying, seemingly all in a row, and the legacy of curling is hurting, plain and simple.
Witt’s passing has brought forth a ton of great memories, and some of our favourites come from Murray McCormick, from Kirk Penton, from Ted Wyman, and from yet another Winnipegger, Paul Friesen, who attended yesterday’s funeral.
And leave it to the curling media, naturally, to talk loudest about Witt’s legendary sense of humour. Bob Weeks does so here, and he also points out here that competitors in this week’s Grand Slam will be wearing special “DW” crests on their uniforms.
Finally, we have Al Cameron, who in turn leads us into this fabulous, conclusive piece by Paul Wiecek. And one of his tales rings familiar.
The publisher of The Curling News, George Karrys, spent two years in the CBC Championship Curling broadcast booth, right beside Wittman, as the network’s research guy. At the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Karrys found himself hanging around the rinkboards – a favourite Witt haunting ground – on practice day, just before competition was to start.
“Witt was telling the story of how he was the first on the scene at the terrorist incident at the 1972 Munich Games,” said Karrys. “Everyone’s been writing about what he did to get so close, but they haven’t mentioned how he and CBC were there ahead of everybody, including the U.S. network which got all the credit for ‘on-the-spot reporting.’
“But Witt pointed out, in Turin, that CBC wasn’t running his stuff. Not until the Yanks, and the rest of the world, had arrived on the scene and started beaming their stuff out. Somebody at CBC management ‘chickened out’ right ast the start, and didn’t use his reports, and a huge opportunity was missed. ‘I couldn’t believe it’, said Witt. But typical of him, he probably didn’t talk about it much.”
It was at that point that Karrys turned to the veteran and said “Dammit Witt, I should write your book.”
“Witt turned to me and said, ‘Do you know any publishers?’ And when I said yes, he said ‘Well why don’t you look into that, Jorge.’ And, like Wiecek, I only turned in a perfunctory effort… perhaps thinking there would be lots of time.”
Karrys agrees that the world has lost a great man… not just the curling world, or the sports world, or even the broadcast world. Witt had time for absolutely everyone he came into contact with, and he was thinking of others – particularly his family – right up to his final day.
And now, in the dying days of CBC’s Season of Champions curling coverage, Witt’s famous, legendary championship calls won’t be a part of the final chapter.
As we said, what a disaster.
Watch for more special tribute content in the upcoming February issue of The Curling News.
Elsewhere… because this is just too damned depressing …
• Witt’s situation has thrown CBC’s curling coverage for a loop, but here’s a great story from Scott Russell on his attempt to fill the great man’s shoes – and the role “the curlers” played in helping Russell fit in …
• BLOGALERT: There’s new curling content in the blogosphere, folks, courtesy of Regina Leader-Post and SWEEP! Magazine writer Murray McCormick. We suggest you check out Bloglines on a regular basis …
• The Scotties are coming… and with two teams declared thus far – Quebec’s comeback kid, Marie-France Larouche, and PEI’s stalwart Suzanne Gaudet – the other provincials are up, running and wrapping up this Sunday. Here’s the list of provincial events and here’s some assorted updates and/or stories on…
Saskatchewan (and another one here), Alberta – with the Edmonton view here and thoughts from Calgary, here and here – Manitoba, courtesy of the Sun and the F-F-F-Freep… Ontario, thanks to Canadian Press, Nova Scotia, located here and here …
• Kevin Martin starts another Grand Slam run tonight in Saskatoon at the Masters of Curling – look for lotsa daily draw coverage webstreamed live at this page – and some media are actually starting to take notice of his five Slams-in-a-row win streak. As the story points out, there are some who wonder if KMart’s success is actually bad for the Slam property, and if fans are beginning to tune out.
Not only do Martin and Sask rival Pat Simmons weigh in on this; Martin lead Benny “Heebz” Hebert has written a guest column in the upcoming February issue of The Curling News, coming soon to a mailbox near you. This column won’t be blogged or webposted, so you’ll need to find a hard copy of the paper. Good luck, as it’s a pretty popular tome… and we don’t send many bulk copies to clubs, as we’re sure you’ve noticed …
• Speaking of the Slam, Sask Curling is still miffed at the Asham World Curling Tour for scheduling the Masters on the same weekend as the provincial Scotties …
• Looky here, an all-Asham Curling Supplies team is still undefeated in the MCA Bonspiel …
• Way to go Waterloo, as a few brave souls did the outdoor curling thing last weekend. You can read about it here, and also view an exclusive video, featuring The Wrench among others, in the Jan. 21 posting Video Coverage …
• The curling rock episode of Discovery’s How It’s Made has made it’s way onto YouTube …
• Could southwestern Ontario be getting another curling facility?
• A salute to Doug Gillon, sportswriter for Scotland’s The Herald, who is helping his newspaper celebrate their 225th anniversary with this retrospective column (and we thought we have been around at 50 years!)
Gillon, of course, is the man who first brought the secret of curling’s official 1924 Olympic status to light, whereupon the IOC and WCF were pushed and shoved along to eventual super-confirmation by yours truly, the 50-year-old newborn …
• Speaking of Scotland, two locals made the finals of the successful new women’s cashspiel on the weekend, click here for the quotes and here for the news and great photos (postings from Jan. 18 thru Jan. 20) …
• Yeah, we love the 80s… the music, perhaps, but certainly not the hitting style of curling …
• Victoria has said yes to a curling academy …
• The Potomac hosted a successful open house the other day …
• And finally, NHL hockey’s Los Angeles Kings went curling the other day in Canmore, Alberta. They and some other teams – like the San Jose Sharks – tend to do this a lot. Here’s Kings goalkeeper Jason LaBarbera, to the Prince George Citizen:
I was on a team with Rob Blake, Mike Cammalleri, and (assistant coach) Nelson Emerson, and it was embarrassing. I’d never curled before, but we played three-end games and our team didn’t get one point. How do you not get a point?
(Anze) Kopitar fell on his butt on the ice once, that was funny. Some of the Euro guys had never seen curling before, they thought we were joking or something.
It is certainly a feather on one’s cap to be labelled (by NBC’s Dick Ebersol) as one of the two “greatest all-around sports announcing talents in North American history.” The other? The legendary Jim McKay …
Some tribute stories also mentioned current CBC curling legend Don Wittman, who is sadly missing this year’s Grand Slam of Curling broadcasts (thus far, anyway). Paul Friesen has a good one located here. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to Don and his family.
And now, prepare yeself for one of the biggest clickfests in TCN Blog history. Begin!
• Do you know the Discovery Channel show How It’s Made? Well, the show will finally feature the making of curling stones on tonight’s Episode No. 15 (9:00m ET on the Science Channel), which also looks at refrigerators, aluminium baseball bats and opalescent glass.
The show will make its debut on Canada’s Discovery Channel on January 15… and we’ve even listed the episode in the JVC Curling TV Guide in the upcoming January issue of The Curling News!
“We actually went to Wales, to the quarry itself,” said Nathalie Dallaire of Productions Maj, the show’s Montreal-based production company. “Then we finished up at Canada Curling Stone in London, Ontario.”
Speaking of CCS, there’s a fantastic feature on outdoor – or Open Air – curling in said January issue, including a sidebar on a world-famous rock band’s search for curling stones. Make sure you subscribe today, because you simply don’t want to miss this one!
• The San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club is pumped: they had a TV feature air Monday night on the local NBC station; they’re hosting an open house tomorrow ay 8:00pm at Sharksice in San Jose; and of course they’ll be watching the December 23 broadcast of the Korbel Elite Curling Challenge from the Rockefeller Center in New York, which airs at 2:30pm eastern time.
TCN Blog readers, of course, are aware of the show and also the fact that it will now mark Peja Lindholm’s final North American television appearance …
• Now over to Mexico, where Alice and Pabu are excited about Mexico City’s first outdoor ice rink. Naturally, they’ve made the call for curling to get on the agenda …
• There’s lots of media interest in The National down in “The Hawk”; such as local stuff, Halifax stuff (here and also here), good old CP wire, their competitors CanWest and, of course, CBC, too. In fact, the host broadcaster is also big-time: in addition to semi-final and final action on the Mother Corp. network this weekend, each draw has a match webstreamed live from the CBC dedicated curling page. Hardcore fans will note this is a CurlTV production, delivered to CBC …
• The new Grand Slam website is rocking, too, located here… and of course there’s The National subsite, over here …
• Yes, The Hawk is popular even without The Ferb. The question now is: will he be ready for playdowns in February?
• Santa is coming: but how does the jolly one know if he’s at a curler’s house?
- Instead of cookies and milk, he finds pins from an obscure curling event
- All the Christmas music playing is recorded by a bagpiper
- A wee man is walking around grumbling. Santa thinks he’s an elf, until he sees “Icemaker” written on his back
- As he exits, a sign attached to the chimney says “No Alcohol Beyond This Point.”
Good stuff, and you can find these and more in this recent column from Joe Pavia of the Ottawa Sun …
• Wheelchair curling icon Chris Daw is hanging up his Extender, at least for this season. The CCA story is here, and there’s a CanWest story here, although wheelchaircurling.com had the story first.
Daw, who is busy promoting the sport in an off-ice role, was also recently elected as curling’s first-ever board member to Athletes Can, and while he won’t be wearing the national uniform this year, Canadians should be happy that he didn’t leave the country altogether …
• Meanwhile, is the Jim Armstrong wheelchair controversy really over yet…?
• The competition schedule for Vancouver 2010 has been released …
• Here’s a look at the Ingerlund gals who did so well in B-Division action at the recent Le Gruyère European Championships …
• Hate to rain on a parade, but we don’t believe Mr. Watkins is the world’s oldest curler. The Curling News did a story a couple of years ago on Regina’s Phil Ward, who we think is still going strong at age 102. In fact, spies recently told us he still drives himelf from the seniors home to the Tartan Curling Club! Any comment, Guinness?
• Multiple sclerosis? No problem for this brave gal… just go curling!
• Here’s a curling-themed computer wallpaper for you …
• Here’s a look at the defending BC men’s champions, who have a bye to this year’s provincial …
• And here’s a peek at Mr. Brad Gushue’s biggest challenge on The Rock, good old Mark Noseworthy …
• Al Cameron says two of Jeff Stoughton’s teammates have undergone disciplinary action, but so has a team in Saskatchewan – in a matter of speaking – for prize splitting …
• Mabel DeWare and Bud Gerth have been named Honourary Chairs of the 2009 World Men’s Curling Championship in Moncton. DeWare skipped the only team from New Brunswick to win the Canadian women’s title, back in 1963. She was also vice-chair of the 1980 Air Canada Silver Broom men’s worlds in Moncton and the 1985 Brier. Gerth was chairman of the 1980 Broom and also chaired the Moncton 100 in 1990, the largest cashspiel ever held …
• Here’s a preview of January’s Ramada Perth Masters, which will see current stars Glenn Howard) and blasts from the past (Eddie Werenich) make the trip to Scotland in January…
• Looks like amateur photographer Takeshi loves his BalancePlus shoes …
• Texas Dan tells us the second annual Texas Open Bonspiel is on deck for April 11-13, and it sounds like a hoot …
• Speaking of hoots, Duluth’s annual House of Hearts Celeb/Charity Bonspiel takes place during the closing weekend of the Brier, and the organizers plan to charter a party bus departing from Winnipeg – and the Keith’s Patch, no doubt – directly to the spiel. Goodness …
• Finally, where the heck are Willie and Wissel, the two curling trophies from December 11’s Entrepreneur Curling Bonspiel in Apeldoorn, Netherlands? They’ve gone missing, but this here blog would indicate they are on a great adventure. How about that?
What’s surprising is the entire caper has garnered some Dutch press, and things seem to be coming to a head for January 6… although we’re not sure why, nor in what context. Perhaps a sudden influx of comments and suggestions from TCN Bloggers – please click on “comment” – would take these escapades truly international? Who knows… but let’s find out, shall we?
And on that note, the TCN Blog is officially on vacation until January 4 or so. Merry Ho Ho, everyone …
