The December 2009 issue of The Curling News, our Olympic Trials special, is ready for your to devour.

Head to our website for hints on the contents, which include multiple Trials stories and previews (including picks from four TCN experts); The Curling News TV Guide; Santa Hemmings; Hollywood on curling (again); our annual book sale is on again; three free digital ways your curling club can boost its profile; and the remarkable story of a World Curling Tour skip who is blind in one eye.

And so much more!

Check it out, and be sure to subscribe today for super-fast service.

As for other curling news, be sure to visit and click “Follow” on The Curling News Twitter feed, which is overheating with content, including:

• the shocking double-extra-end finish to The Dominion Curling Club Championship

• additional pics of the mayhem on our Facebook Group page (join today!)

• yesterday’s World Curling Tour results

• two different world wheelchair curling event results

• the daughter of a famous curler is back in provincials

• a new iPhone curling application

• more Roar of the Rings team previews

• getting to know Jennifer Jones

… and more!

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What’s all this, then?

Meet Buttons, the newest curling mascot (photo by Anil Mungal, click to zoom in). Buttons was unveiled as The Dominion Curling Club Championship sprang into gear yesterday, and here he/she (?) is with L’Equipe Québéc, aka Team Quebec.

There are 28 teams here representing, for the first time ever, all 14 provinces and territories, including Nunavut… whose ladies team is a remarkable 2-1 early in the competition.

The action runs through Sunday at Toronto’s St. George’s Golf and Country Club. Fans can also follow online through The Dominion curling website which features the Canadian Curling Association’s live scoring system, Curlcast.

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The Team Kevin Martin sponsor is offering two western Canadians a chance to win a trip to the Roar of Rings, the Tim Hortons Canadian (Olympic) Curling Trials, on the championship weekend.

Click here to enter before 11:59pm ET tonight.

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Curling sponsor Tim Hortons  introduced a curling contest back in early October, part of their “Every Cup Tells a Story” campaign.

Websurfers were invited to tell their own curling story (involving Tim Hortons, of course)  and the public gets to vote, online, for the best tale.

The winning storyteller will be named Grand Prize Winner of a trip for two to the final weekend of the Tim Hortons Canadian Curling Trials in Edmonton, which starts on December 6. The trip includes flights, accommodations and tickets to the Women’s and Men’s Finals at the Roar of the Rings.

Storytellers could even upload their own photo to accompany their story.

Why are we using the past tense? Apparently, the contest is now closed.

Geez. While we are somewhat amazed we didn’t hear about this contest, we are also miffed no one told us about it. Like…. Tim Hortons? The Canadian Curling Association, perhaps?

While TCN Blogreaders might not be able to submit their own story, they can still vote on their favourite story, and help declare the winner. Visit this page and scroll through the multitude of curling stories, and cast your vote today!

TCN readers could definitely play a role in the decision, for there seems to be an eight-way-tie going on between For the love of the game (from Hubbards, NS); 3 Generations (from Waterford, ON); The Day I Knew (Bowmanville, ON); Horsmans take on Jimmy The Kid (Quispamsis, NB); Summer of 2001 (Chase, BC); How I Met My Husband (Belnan, NS); Twilight Curling (Calgary) and the story we voted for: A Curling Legend (Norwood, ON).

Anything else? Yes, lots, but you need to follow the TCN Twitter feed, to learn more about:

• how you can watch the Olympic Torch run LIVE online

• Fox Sports Austalia and their curling insults

• Roar of the Rings tickets: are sales lagging?

• video of Olympian Deb McCormick on Last Call with Carson Daley

• Yowza, Mr, Zawada

• Manitoba team heads to Dominion Club Championship

• PEI teams chasing Canada Games berths

and more to come throughout the day, of course…

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What’s in the news today?

• TCN publisher George Karrys suggests in the Toronto Sun that Wayne Middaugh (CCA photo by Michael Burns), fresh off his qualifying run in Prince George, might want to grab some of that “piss and vinegar” that young Jason Gunnlaugson has been talking about. Is the “black hat” version of Team Middaugh ready to Roar?

• Speaking of the Gunner, a CurlingZone troll has sniped a guess at a poor won/loss record for the Beausejour, MB squad at the upcoming Olympic Trials. Does anyone remember Mike Harris in 1997? Bob Weeks certainly does…

• Sweden wins in Bern, Ulsrud captures another title, the 50th Monctonian is history; Fowler, Epping and McCarville are pumped, Mark Nichols wants to “get away from curling”, Sherri Singler speaks, the Canadian Mixed, curling academy goes green, and more. It’s all on the TCN Twitter feed, that is …

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And then there were 10.

The field for December’s Roar of the Rings grew by two teams yesterday as Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton and Calgary’s Crystal Webster (CCA photo above by Michael Burns) qualified for the Canadian Olympic Trials.

One more will be added by about 7:30pm ET tonight, when Kelowna’s Kelly Scott finishes her battle with Thunder Bay’s Krista McCarville in the women’s B-final. That game starts at 4:00pm ET (live on TSN).

Another will be added later tonight, when the men’s B-final takes place (starting at 9:30pm ET, again on TSN). That one will feature the winner of Edmonton’s Ted Appelman versus Mike McEwen of Winnipeg facing off against the winner of Pat Simmons (Davidson, SK) and Wayne Middaugh (Toronto).

What else is happening?

Well, the TCN Twitterfeed is humming again, click here (and click on Follow) to see nine Tweets from earlier this morning…

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What the heck is going on here?

Hang in there… you’ll find out later today.

BTW, today’s Twitterfest – so far – includes:

• TSN curling season kicks off today

• Two features on Debbie McCormick’s Olympic Team USA

• The fabled Monctonian turns 50 this weekend

• U.S. curlers invade Peterborough, Ontario

• Four summaries of Day Two pre-Trials action

Go to the TCN Twitter page and click “Follow” to… er… follow…

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And they’re off!

The practice rounds are finished, the new uniforms are in play (Team Brad Gushue photo by CCA’s Michael Burns, click to zoom in) and now, finally, the first stones are underway at the Road to the Roar, the official Canadian Olympic pre-Trials curling qualifier at the CN Centre in Prince George, B.C.

There is live scoring action on two fronts: at CurlingZone’s Gameday Scoreboard and also at the Canadian Curling Association’s CurlCast.

CurlTV.com is in the house, with their first match webstreamed live to subscribers (or pay-per-viewers) at 3:30pm ET today: Pat Simmons (SK) versus Jean-Michel Menard (QUE).

TSN roars into town on Thursday, with live action scheduled right through to Saturday’s C-finals.

For these and other curling TV coverage listings, we sincerely hope you are checking out The Curling News TV Guide in the November issue of The Curling News, which has been out for over two weeks now.

You are a subscriber, right?

The Curling News Blog and Twitter pages will be humming with action throughout the week: in fact, today’s Twitterfeed links to no less than eight preview stories, in addition to even more curling stuff.

You do follow us on Twitter, right?

Just checking.

The Road to the Roar: game on!

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Another reminder for you today, curling fans: if you aren’t following the The Curling News Twitter feed, you’re missing out.

Here’s what we’ve posted today:

• Is Nunavut curling on the upswing?

• SoCal curling on Nov. 7

• A look at the scorching Kelly Scott and Bob Ursel teams

• Edmonton now hosts a CCA national training centre

• DEKALB Super League is underway

• David Murdoch up for major award

• Five – count ’em, FIVE – exclusive pics from Wednesday’s NBC Olympic festival at Rockefeller Plaza: curling, the wheelchairs, Deb McCormick in a bobsleigh and even Jimmy Fallon!

Visit the TCN Twitter page and click on “Follow” at top left…

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