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Brian Burke loves curling

AdminIFDI — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:56:07 +0000

So, the National Post is reporting that Yank hockey guy Brian Burke, who is General Manager of both the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and the U.S. Olympic team, had something to say about curling the other day.

“They’ve got curling on TSN and I’m just gripped by it,” said Burke, which according to the writer said this in a “tone that suggested he was not all that engrossed by the sweepers and their rocks.”

Well.

Burke is a Minnesota boy, so we figure the Post blogger simply misread Burke’s tone. The guy wouldn’t be so dumb as to offend his fellow Minnesotans on the U.S. Olympic curling teams, right?

Plus, our ace Photo Editor Anil Mungal found this photo of Burke, and here it is, with no Photoshop work done to it whatsoever.

See? BB loves curling!

Postscript: as we’ve pointed out before, Canadian Olympic curling skip Kevin Martin is a bit of a hockey player (photo below left) and trained with the Guelph Storm back in December– even scoring a goal.

Does this confirm that curlers can play hockey? And does this popular story (and video) link confirm that hockey players can’t curl?

Just asking …

[Click on photos to increase size]

Curling Eye on Hockey’s Winter Classic

AdminIFDI — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:09:00 +0000

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) …

Olympic Curling Test

AdminIFDI — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:15:00 +0000

Test the Nation is a popular TV show which originated in the Netherlands and has now found success in Canada, via CBC-TV.

This Sunday evening, an episode called Test the Nation: Sports will be aired, featuring contestants assembled into various teams to battle each other – and with the Canadian public also getting in on the action, either via TV or online.

The teams are:

Refs & Umps
Armchair Athletes
Sportscasters
Cheerleaders & Mascots
Olympic Medallists
Team Extreme

There are a few celebrities hanging out – like former NHL star Paul Coffey – and you can see some behind-the-scenes action in this video.

What’s the curling angle? Well, Team Olympic Medallists features no less than five curlers, in addition to a nifty mixture of other Olympians from various eras, and at various levels of fame.

“It was a ton of fun being part of the show,” says 2006 gold medal champion skip Brad Gushue. “There was trash talking, jokes flying around and we were treated great. It was great to be part of it.”

Joining Gushue were fellow 2006 curlers Amy Nixon, Glenys Bakker and Christine Keshen – the entire support staff for bronze medal women’s skip Shannon Kleibrink – and 2002 Olympic silver men’s medallist Don Bartlett.

So… Brad… any curling questions?

“There were a couple curling questions,” Gushue acknowledged. “One about the Patch and one about the correct terminology for a burnt rock. One of the answer options for that was Gushue. Pretty funny… I had to sacrifice a wrong answer on that one!”

So, who wins?

We’ll all have to tune in to find out. According to a survey on the show website, Sportscasters are the top pick to win with over 30 per cent of the vote, while Armchair Athletes rank second (over 25 per cent) and the Olympians third (over 15 per cent). Interesting that Refs & Umps get no respect, with less than 10 per cent!

Another opinion says the Olympians “are so engorfed in their own sports…” Wow. check out the video at 3:41 for that hilarity.

Canadians can tune in or log on Sunday night at 8:00pm eastern time, while outlanders can also take part via the show website.