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Okay, so I didn’t go to the final game, and watched it at my in-law’s house. They had a pre-Christmas dinner. We do more than one Christmas on that side of the family.

As soon as the game was over and last rock was thrown… the TV was turned off. Sigh. My favourite part… and I missed it.

I don’t have much to say about the game, except for the obvious: the Kevin Martin squad was the team to beat. They played better, they were just plain better. They will be our best representatives from a skill standpoint… not that I’m in love with his international record but hey, let’s not beat a dead horse here.

I still see some shiny medals coming home to Alberta. I suspect gold in colour, but who knows.

I look forward to seeing how outrageous the John Morris campaigns will be. I’d imagine we’re going to be seeing him rake in some serious cash for advertisements etc. Especially if he helps bring home the gold. Right now, every curling fan in Canada knows who he is. The Olympics are a whole different animal. Dude is gonna be a star.

I like to think of opportunities for curlers at a time like this. The Martin and Cheryl Bernard team members are funded to the tune of $1,500 each a month, tax-exempt, for 30 months. And if they win gold, it will be even more profitable to stick it out and curl and curl and curl and curl and in some cases, treat it like a job.

Don’t get me wrong, nobody’s getting rich curling. But things like getting cash for Olympic medals (is it still $20,000 for gold?) certainly help out the wallet.

Just don’t blow it all on souvenirs.

Photo caption:

KMART: Geez young fellah, you are so gonna overshadow me in Vancouver!

JMO (contemplatively): Yes. I know.

[CCA photo by Michael Burns]

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EDMONTON – Come on. You read the blog mayhem from the Calgary Brier, right?

You know I had to “go there” eventually, right?

Okay, here they are… the long awaited All Star Hottie Teams at these here Tim Hortons Canadian (Olympic) Curling Trials.

I give no explanation for my picks, except for sheer hotness. There is a serious Alberta flavour here, but I did try not to be biased. Remember, there were six Alberta teams in the field…

I caught a lot of heck – Dalene Heck? – for my Brier picks, but I think these choices are, for the most part, obvious. Whatever.

MEN

Fourth – David Nedohin
Third – John Morris
Second – Carter Rycroft
Lead – The farmer from the Dekalb TV commercials. Note: there are two farmers, I’m talking about the scruffy cute one.

WOMEN

Skip – Crystal Webster
Third – Jeanna Schrader
Second – Sheri Singler
Lead – Chelsey Bell

** My husband wants a disclaimer here that his picks are Jennifer Jones, Kim Schneider and Kari MacLean and he thinks I should be playing lead on one of these teams. To THAT I say I’d have to start going to the gym.

Agree with my picks? Disagree? Feel free to discuss!

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TCN publisher George Karrys, who recently made his return as a Toronto-centric Sun Media curling columnist after a 10-year absence, revealed the existence of the Cup for the first time at last week’s Grey Power World Cup of Curling.

The tell-all can be read here.

And here, at last, is the world’s first exclusive photo (above) of the Carrot Cup, temporarily clutched by the jubilant pair of Ben Hebert (left) and John Morris from Team Kevin Martin.

For the record, Team Randy Ferbey held the Cup all summer, following the Grey Power Players’ Championship. Team Kevin Koe then won the Cup over Ferbey at New Westminster. In Mississauga, the Cup changed hands four times – from Koe to Martin to Team Brad Gushue to Koe again, and then finally to Team Glenn Howard.

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This image provokes some thoughts. One of which is that Rycroft is just as close to repeating his Olympic experience with Team Kevin Koe than John Morris, last year’s Canadian curling poster boy, is close to going for the very first time.

Another is that Rycroft makes this stuff look good.

John who?

The host nation unveiled its official Olympic wear for Vancouver 2010 yesterday – all except key athlete-only gear, like the ceremony and podium lines – to generally strong reviews (see here, here and here).

Another curler took part in the launch – Sonja Gaudet, who has captured world and Paralympic gold for Canada, and whose spot on the 2010 national wheelchair curling team was confirmed earlier this week. Gaudet’s HBC publicity photo should appear later today at Eric Eales’ excellent Wheelchair Curling Blog.

Make sure you check out the November issue of The Curling News for much, more on Vancouver 2010 and, of course, Canada’s upcoming Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials. That first print edition of the new season comes out in mid-October.

There was much talk about the new clothing, which has continued into today. There is also a political firestorm over the team clothing logo, which allegedly resembles the logo for the political party currently running the country. Sigh.

For the best look at the product lines, including videos, visit this special Hudson Bay Company Olympic site.

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Just prior to the Shorty Jenkins Classic tour stop in Brockville, John Morris hadn’t even seen a hard copy of his new book, Fit to Curl, which we first told you about in August.

Today, Johnny Mo has seen – and autographed – lots of copies, but his Kevin Martin squad has lost their opening tourney of the season.

2006 Olympic champion Brad Gushue made it two Tour wins in a row with an 8-6 see-saw win over the Martinites in Brockville.

After Martin scored an enormous four points in the first end, the Gushues replied with a single and then a huge steal of three to tie the match.

After exchanging singles for three ends, the St. John’s foursome posted a critical deuce in the seventh end, and followed that up with another steal coming home.

The victory comes just days after the squad’s season-opening win in Switzerland.

In the semis, Gushue had upset two-time defending Shorty champion Glenn Howard by a 5-4 count, on the strength of key steals in the fifth and sixth ends. Howard grabbed a deuce in the seventh but the Newfoundlanders held the fort and scored one in the eight for the victory.

In the other semi, Martin battled Ontario’s Dale Matchett and finally prevailed 9-8 in an extra-end.

Other men’s qualifiers were Edmonton’s Kevin Koe, Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson, Quebec’s Robert Desjardins and Sarnia’s Heath McCormick/Peter Steski tandem.

In women’s play, young Ontario phenom Rachel Homan prevailed against Quebec’s Eve Bélisle 9-4 in the final. Down 3-1 in the third end, the 2009 national junior finalists took three and then stole consecutive pairs to build an 8-3 lead.

Bélisle had upended China’s Bingyu Wang 7-5 in the semi-finals, while Homas took out Brantford’s Jo-Ann Rizzo by an 8-2 count in the other semi.

Homan’s Ottawa foursome had also beaten the Chinese 7-6 to finish atop their pool at 5-0. The world champions from Harbin finished 4-1.

In Edmonton, Kelowna’s Bob Ursel scored four points in the seventh end to shock hometown hero Randy Ferbey 5-2 in the men’s final.

Four out of the first five ends were blanked. With Ursel holding a slim 1-0 lead in the sixth, the Ferbey Four cracked a deuce to go up 2-1, before Ursel pounced for the big four-count.

Ferbey had made a comeback in the semi-final in dumping crosstown rival Jamie King 8-6. Down 5-1 after three ends, the three-time world champions scored seven points over the next five ends to reach the final.

Ursel defeated Pat Simmons of Davidson, Saskatchewan 5-3 in his semi-final.

On the women’s side, Edmonton’s Cathy King upended Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard, the 2009 Alberta champion, by a 7-3 scoreline.

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Johnny Mo, who plays third for Kevin Martin’s 2008 world champion team, is releasing Fit to Curl: A Sport-Specific Guide to Training for the World’s Greatest Game.

“I’ve seen the game evolve,” says Morris. “The old stereotypes about curlers just aren’t true anymore. If you look at the top players, nearly all of them are very fit athletes with Olympic aspirations who devote a great deal of time to physical conditioning.”

Morris points out that high-performance curlers aren’t the only ones who can benefit from the sport-specific training offered in the book.

“The book is written so that curlers of all levels can follow a program that suits them,” says JoMo. “Even the recreational player who curls once or twice a week and competes in a couple of bonspiels will enjoy the game more by working out just a few hours a week. They’ll be able to contribute more when they compete and feel better about their overall level of fitness.”

Filled with color photography of many of the world’s top players – the pics are supplied by CurlingZone’s Dallas Bittle, SWEEP! chief Jim Henderson and, of course, Anil Mungal of this here The Curling News – the book details the physical demands of the sport and offers three levels of training programs – with calendars – to “make it easy for people to incorporate a fitness routine into their life. Even the typical curler who juggles family, career and the sport can find time for the workouts – many can be completed in less than an hour.”

Morris, who also skipped teams to world junior titles in 1998 and 1999, also suggests that “Whether you’re delivering a stone or sweeping from end to end, curling places unique demands on the body. It only makes sense to follow a training program that will help you feel fresh and perform better on the ice.”

Morris wrote the book with Dean Gemmell, who played lead for Quebec in the 1988 Brier and now produces a popular podcast called The Curling Show from his home in Short Hills, New Jersey. A side benefit of working on the book, remarks Gemmell, is that “I’m a more fit curler at 42 than I was at 20.”

Gemmell also notes that one dollar from the sale of every book in Canada will be given to the Canadian Curling Association to support junior curling programs throughout the country.

“John believes strongly in the value of curling in the life of a young person,” says Gemmell. We hope that this might help introduce a few more kids to the sport or keep them playing.”

Fit to Curl is available for purchase as of now through the official website and in curling pro shops. Shipping commences on September 8.

The website offers a 17-page preview download, which includes the table of contents and some fine pics, including one classic from 1993. Yes, John, Sav’s hair is worse than yours.

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TORONTO – Curling superstar Kevin Martin missed a live radio appearance in Toronto on Wednesday due to the Tamil protests rocking Canada’s largest city.

Martin and cohorts, including third John Morris, are in Toronto for appearances with team sponsor Uncle Ben’s, which will see the curlers attend tonight’s Blue Jays baseball game at the Rogers Centre.

Yesterday, Martin was to appear alongside former pro hockey GM and current Rogers Sportsnet personality Doug MacLean for the last half hour of the Prime Time Sports show on FAN 590 all-sports radio, which is also broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet.

But the latest in a series of metro Tamil protests – which saw some 12,000 people marching along downtown streets while police barricaded all connecting sideroads – jammed up traffic to the point that Martin finally arrived at the FAN studios with just seconds left in the program.

Globe and Mail columnist Steve Brunt was the guest co-host, and he offered his opinion that Canadian curling has the most difficult qualifying procedure of all the Olympic sports, due mostly to the sheer number of elite-level teams that hail from from Canada.

What about hockey, asked host Bob “Bobcat” McCown?

No, replied Brunt, that team is selected and besides, there is still a much higher percentage of Canadian elite players in curling than in hockey.

In case you are wondering, Brunt doesn’t talk or write much about curling, but he has scripted the occasional gem, such as this one from 2007.

MacLean was then introduced and both McCown and Brunt guffawed that “MacLean hates curling anyways”.

MacLean, of course, immediately protested. “No, I love curling,” he said, and the Sportsnet guy then proceeded to declare that he knows “Canadian junior champion Susan Gallant, who is from Summerside, PEI.”

Uh… did MacLean mean Canadian junior men’s champion skip Brett Gallant, who is from Charlottetown?

Whatever.

The show then moved on to hockey, which is at least 80 per cent of the show’s content at any given time.

Martin finally arrived and was rushed into the studio.

“So were back, and we’ve got about sixty seconds,” said McCown. “Kevin Martin is here. Hi Kevin. Bye Kevin.” Laughs all around.

“Welcome to Toronto.” Indeed!

Brunt noted KMart is a “pro curler” and the Old Bear promptly denied this, saying “Nope, there’s no such thing.” Everyone promptly agreed there wasn’t enough time to start debating that issue… which could lead, of course, to this issue.

The only real question for Martin concerned his summer plans. “You take an hour off in the summer and then you’re back at it?” asked McCown.

Martin replied, to some surprise, that he is on vacation now and gets back into training on August 4. And that was that, show over.

Hi Kevin. Bye Kevin.

Martin photo by Anil Mungal/Capital One.
Protest photo by Mark Blinch/Reuters.

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MONCTON – The Moncton Coliseum was full to the rafters Sunday night, and I was able to witness a rather amazing 50th anniversary men’s world championship final.

From my part, I’d like to thank gk for the opportunity to blog from this event. It was a blast!

Kudos for Moncton for the organization: everyone here ensured that the event is a success. Even the nightlife of a relatively small city offered plenty of entertainment throughout the week and I must tell you, those long nights are starting to show.

To quote the three-year-old daughter of a Finnish curling legend: “Mommy… Daddy smells like curling again!”

Thankfully, I’ve got no spouse nor kids waiting at home.

In addition to sleep deprivation and liver poisoning, I will go home with plenty of memories and new friends. After seeing a major curling event in Canada, I’m definitely tempted to come and check out another… perhaps next year’s Tim Hortons Brier in Halifax?

While I was disappointed for my brother Kalle (with me in the photo) and the Finnish team, I know they enjoyed themselves, from the moment they started their training camp in nearby Amherst, Nova Scotia to the final round of drink tokens in Sunday night’s Keith’s Patch.

And now that the week is over, it is also time to announce the winner of our “Hottest Player of Worlds 2009” vote.

Although I felt like an utter and complete bimbo for organizing it, the people in Moncton seemed to enjoy a bit of cheeky fun… and even the local media was happy to feature it to emphasize a different aspect of these big curling events.

When choosing my list of candidates, I consulted the media guys who were happy to help, once they had gotten the “I’m not gay, don’t ask me!” out of their system.

In addition to the voting possibility here at the blog – check out the first six candidates (and comments) here, and the final six candidates here – there was a paper vote available at the arena, and hundreds of ballots were cast.

For starters, all 12 nominated players received votes so there truly is an abundance of hot men in this game!

Also, three other gentlemen outside of our vote had caught the eye of the female spectators, and are nited for the record: Switzerland’s Markus Eggler, French front-ender Jan Ducroz and Scottish third Ewan MacDonald.

The result of the balloting went down to the wire. The difference between the winner and the player who came second was only two votes and our top two hotties hogged more than half of all the votes for themselves.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is your Top 5:

1. Thomas Ulsrud (Norway)
2. John Morris (Canada)
3. David Murdoch (Scotland)
4. Andreas Lang (Germany)
5. Tied: Thomas Dufour (France), Jan Hauser (Switzerand) and Jiri Snitil (Czech Republic).

Thank you Moncton… and farewell!

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