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Rick Mercer is probably Canada’s most successful political TV funnyman. His previous show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, has had some fun with curling over the years… from spoofing a widely-panned CCA commercial to Raj Binder’s brilliant appearance at the 2005 Olympic Trials… which featured a flummoxed Wayne Middaugh, Jeff Stoughton, Shawn Adams and Russ Howard.

Now, the Rick Mercer Report has produced a curling item… a mock commercial spot for the mock CBC-TV show Full Contact Curling, which we now present for your viewing pleasure.

And there’s more. There’s always more…

• This poor fellow from Massachusetts looks like he was the victim of Full Contact Curling… and the debacle ocurred on his second stone of two back-to-back games! We love his opening line: “Let it never be said I’m not completely honest, even when it involves my total humiliation.”

• Well, looks like the Mississauga News figured out that Ontario provincial competitor Chrissy Cadorin is a calendar girl …

• Meanwhile, the Ontario STOH blog has some funny stuff posted. First, a good zinger was dropped by one of the competitors at the team meeting. Second, they’ve posted a request for info on Jenn Hanna’s choice of pants. Finally, one match from Tuesday night was interrupted by a “Beer Time Out”, we kid you not. Okay, the writer actually called it a “bar” time out (look under “9th end”) but all we can think about is… KEGGER! …

• Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink is fuelled by the fire and Al Cameron handicaps the Alberta STOH field …

• Here’s a preview of the Sask women’s titleshoot now underway – new format and all – in Swift Current. Clearly, the “Miller” sisters have a lot on their minds these days …

• And here we have a preview of Team Rob Lobel, set to begin play at Monday’s TSC Stores Tankard Ontario men’s championship …

• DID YOU KNOW: that an Ottawa heart attack victim was saved at the RCMP curling club? …

• Speaking of Ottawa curling, we see that Joe Pavia now has his very own mugshot… woot!

• They’ll be Jam Pail Curling in Smithers, B.C. next month …

• Damned snow… no backyard curling for you!

• Riverview, NB will buy a corporate package for the massive Ford Worlds in Moncton (good choice, guys) …

• Here’s a cute kiddie curling pic… with the requesite helmet, of course …

• The story of Scotland’s Fife Curling Trust and it’s million-pound plan for a new rink in Cupar has hit the mainstream news, but of course curling fans have long been informed, courtesy of Curling Today …

• Clubs across PEI are going hard with The Dominion Curling Club Championship… is your club involved?

• Team Vic Peters is done for the year, in a mild blow-up fashion …

• Geez guys, that house is a mess… and we LOVE IT …

• And finally, congrats to Zach, an avowed “LifeGetter” from Binghamton, New York.

Feeding off a rather interesting conclusion – namely, that “when it comes to a lot of cool things, America is lame and nobody participates” – Zach and his brother made the long trek to Rochester, NY for a day of open house curling.

Make sure you click on the link above. Nice story and pics, Zach. Welcome aboard.

And just like that, slowly but surely, curling’s gradual conquest of the United States continues its march …

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Today’s big news, that Capital One has joined the Canadian Curling Association family, is simply fabulous for the sport of curling in Canada. And for multiple reasons.

For those who have been living under a rock, Capital One is the title sponsor of the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling. To recap, the elite series of men’s and women’s cashspiels started off as a major thorn in the Canadian Curling Association’s side, but years of gradual discussions has paved the way to an informal relationship. Most recently, the Slams have been included in CCA high-performance strategy, as a valuable training and scouting ground for the association’s 2010 Olympic planning.

Now comes word that Capital One has joined the CCA sponsor family – as a supplier, officially – making them a formal member of the Season of Champions.

This is awesome on so many levels.

First, any possible notion that bitterness remains between the former foes – the CCA and the World Curling Tour and Players’ Association – simply cannot exist. The Grand Slam is the crown jewel of the Tour and Players’ Association (as owned and executed by Toronto’s Insight Sports) and Capital One now has its foot in the same door that welcomes Tim Hortons, Kruger Products (Scotties), M&M Meat Shops and more.

Second, the deal gives the CCA its first financial services partner since CIBC, which owned naming rights to the Canadian Mixed far too many years ago.

Third, Capital One’s tight relationship with the athletes – see the latest evidence of that here – will continue to rub off on the CCA, which has already made great strides in reconnecting with those who actually play the game on TV… the boob tube being, of course, the sport’s main revenue-generating vehicle and, historically, the strongest tie to the public.

Fourth, look carefully at the deal. Capital One will not sponsor a SoC championship – why would they, when they have have the Slams? – but, rather, is the host of the official credit card of Canadian curling. But there’s more… they’re also a CCA development partner, through the Rocks and Rings program.

This is very cool.

Development partners are hard to find. Because development is, in the eyes of marketers, not very sexy. Capital One, to their credit, already executes a development program, through the Slam’s “School of Rock”, in which athletes work with thrilled kids on the Slam ice surface at each event.

CCA development programs could use a shot in the arm, and perhaps Capital One is aiming to help deliver Rocks and Rings on a grander, national scale?

Fifth, allow yourself to imagine more and more rewards – starting next season, hopefully – for earning points on the Curling Platinum MasterCard…

Sixth, and possibly number one in the long run, is this. The successful negotiation and confirmation of any major sports sponsorship deal – given the current economic climate – makes curling stand tall and rather proud today, even as the rest of the sports world seems to be falling apart (see also this… and this… and this).

Finally, we note that the Rocks and Rings program – which brings the world of curling to a school for a full day, and for only $150 – is not owned by the CCA, but by a third party… namely Chad McMullan, the proprietor of Rock Solid Productions. Great to see McMullan add a second venture, in addition to the Toronto-based corporate outings, to his all-curling stable of properties.

Whew. Anything else… for now, anyway?

• Here’s Women of Curling Calendar girl Chrissy Cadorin in action at yesterday’s Ontario Scotties. Odd, that Cogeco TV coverage. The OCA considers it sponsored by Scotties; the main Cogeco website considers it to be sponsored by Scotties; but there is zero mention of the sponsor on the actual broadcasts of the “2009 Ontario Women’s Curling Championship” …

• Dean Ross defeated Dan “Hit Man” Petryk to grab the last spot into the Alberta provincial. The 2008 Mixed champ – who finished fifth with Susan Connor at the first World Mixed Doubles hosted in Finland last March – will make his third Alta men’s appearance. There’s more on Ross here …

• Let’s hear it for the front-enders! Former second stone Robyn MacPhee beat her former skip among others to take the PEI Scotties title …

• Will veteran Ontario front-ender Kim Moore – lately throwing second for Sherry Middaugh – be hanging them up after the current drive for Vancouver? Moore also talks about losing the 1997 STOH final to Sandra Schmirler, and how she still hasn’t watched the videotape of that game …

• Longtime curling bureaucrat – and high-performance competitor – Amber Holland now has the top curling job in Saskatchewan …

• Jay Peachey, Bryan Miki and Sean Geall are through to the BC men’s shootout… and we’ve got some rather Peachey memories, incidentally, in the February issue of The Curling News …

• We’ve got more on the story of Million Dollar Button competitor Ron Trottier, courtesy of CBC Sports host Scott Russell, who has a new blog entry online …

• And finally… Glow Curling isn’t really that new – we promoted its first appearance in Alberta a couple of years ago – but the photo recently taken by Troy Fleece of the Regina Leader-Post, shown here, deserves a highlight. We wanna play!

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2009 Women of Curling calendar girl Daniela Jentsch of Germany has approved the full image release of her nude calendar pic, and the result is a feeding frenzy of Deutsch media.

Which will hopefully result in more sales of the fundraising calendar, too.

“I never thought this would cause so much attention,” says Dani, who played for Germany at the 2000 Ford Worlds and also skipped her country twice at the European Championships.

“Newspapers and TV stations keep calling me since the story was published.”

The situation is unusual, in that the calendar athlete/models usually avoid allowing the release of their image without cropping (see this example here). The idea is that by withholding selected, ah, portions of the image, the potential purchaser is more likely to actually purchase the fundraising product.

Jentsch made an exception for Germany’s Welt and just like that, here comes another calendar media pile-on. All within Germany, mind you.

And after consulting with Dani, she has decided that The Curling News Blog can also publish her full calendar image… meaning that you, dear reader, can see one of the 16 athlete/models above, as fully photographed by Ana Arce.

“We can’t let our non-German curling friends miss out, right?” Jentsch laughs.

“But seriously, if this will help sell more calendars to help all the girls and their teams, absolutely.”

Other media pickup we have seen includes RP Online, Westdeutsche Zeitung, Eurosport (only competition photos, please!), Berliner Morgenpost and even this Austrian paper, which also links back to The Curling News.

There’s also this “Sexy Wintersport” feature from Bild, which includes Dani plus fellow German calendar curling girl Anna Hartelt along with athletes from other sports.

Hier gehen wir wieder!

As for Dani’s on-ice career, it has recently jumped from slow to very busy.

“My federation is checking to see if I’m eligible to compete with Andrea Schoepp and if permitted, I’ll play nationals with them,” reports Jentsch.

“If not, they’ll will play without me and if they win, I’ll go to the worlds in Korea with them.

“No matter what, my Olympic goal is more realistic now, since I was not curling much until last week. We went to Berne and came second, so even with a three-month break I got the results… and a few sore muscles.”

So there you have it. Another plug for the 2009 Women of Curling.

PS: on the left side of the page beside the Welt story there is a poll asking “Which winter sport interests you most?” Curling is currently ranked fourth with first-place Biathalon holding a whopping near-forty per cent lead over second place Skiing. Blogreaders know what to do when there’s another online poll with Curling not in the lead… right, gang?

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The Fed – the World Curling Federation – has just announced that Sandra Schmirler is the posthumous winner of the 2009 World Curling Freytag Award.

The award is given in two categories – Curler and Curler/Builder – and Schmirler, the three-time world champion and 1998 Olympic champion who died in 2000 at age 36 – is the first Canadian competitor to be inducted since Ernie Richardson, who received his award just days after Schmirler’s death that year, at the Brier in Saskatoon.

What is very cool, apart from the continued recognition of the Schmirler legacy (which of course includes the Foundation named after her) is that immediate surviving family members Shannon England – her husband – and daughters Sara and Jenna will receive Schmirler’s award at the 2009 Ford Worlds in Moncton.

Moncton just happens to be the 50th anniversary bash celebrating the world men’s championships, and a whack of famous names are being jetted in for the opening weekend, which will climax with a rather remarkable opening ceremony.

It says here that this event is not one to miss.

Have you ever thought about a present day with Sandra Schmirler still with us? What would the curling world look like if, in fact, she hadn’t passed away so tragically at such a young age?

Would she still be the best women’s curler of all time?

Would Colleen Jones have won fewer Scotties and World titles?

Would some of her teammates moved on, and tried their hand without her? According to the eulogy delivered by Brian McCusker, the husband of second rocker Joan McCusker, the asnwer is no way… the team would still be competing together “50 years from now.”

But who can say? Perhaps Schmirler would now be leading a team of young guns, as so many veteran skips seem to do these days.

Would she be the female TV commentator at CBC or TSN, as opposed to teammate McCusker? Remember, Schmirler had already appeared on CBC a few times prior to her death and was generally acknowledged to be, well, pretty good with a microphone.

There would have been books, no doubt (here and here) but would there be a park named after her in Biggar, Saskatchewan? Would there exist any of the not one but two TV documentaries? Would the official plaudits and awards be just starting to trickle in now, as she approached age 45?

One thing is certain. Schmirler’s nomination and confirmation for this award comes at a good time. And it will be simply tremendous to see her family – with the daughters now aged 11 and 9 – accept the award at the 50th anniversary Worlds.

“Back in Regina there are tons of good teams and I don’t know why we’ve been chosen to do this… And to play with your best friends is probably the best feeling in the world.”
– Sandra Schmirler, Maclean’s, February 23 1998

Elsewhere:

• Here’s another look at Joan McCusker’s 10-year anniversary blogpost on Nagano and the Schmirler curling memories, published almost a year ago …

• As for ex-teammates Jan Betker and Marcia Gudereit, they made a surprising early exit from playdowns last weekend …

• Another big women’s name to fall out of Scotties contention is 2007 world champion Kelly Scott of Kelowna, who has been eliminated prior to the B.C. provincial …

• Women of Curling calendar girl Christine Keshen – with her very nice hat – is starting a junior program at her home club in Invermere. Now that’s giving back to the sport! Congrats to Kesh on her recent engagement, too …

• Speaking of the calendar, it got a write-up and cover-paste on Rod Pedersen’s popular sports blog …

• Curling got grazed by a couple of goombahs over the holidays. First came this Simple One who claims to be now “scarred for life” by curling, and then came Sportbilly24 and his declaration that curling “has gained a strong ding as one of the weirdest sports using a household appliance”. How original …

• Here’s a look at the up-and-down season of Sherry Middaugh …

• And finally, CBC curling host Scott Russell ranks Brad Gushue at no. 3 on his list of young Canadian athletes to watch in 2009 …

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We were right smack in the middle of December’s Continental Cup coverage, and there it was. Another feature on the 2009 Women of Curling calendar, this time from the Edmonton Sun.

The story – and cover pic – dominated an entire page on curling of the Sun, above… and oh, how we wish other media markets were as curling-committed as those in Alberta.

You can click on the image and squint to read the story (at bottom), or you can just click here.

Some U.S. journos were reading, too. TCN publisher George Karrys has a zowie quote in there – about athlete/model Christine Keshen and her, er, hat – and the quip was picked up in the Seattle Times, and then by the Connecticut Post, and then in California’s Modesto Bee before finally making it to the big time: USA Today.

Looks like the calendar media melee may never end.

You can, of course, purchase the calendar and support the Women of Curling in their fundraising efforts by clicking here, and visiting the pages which follow.

You can also dial 1-800-605-CURL, or for anyone outside of North America, call +1 905 887 1261.

Anything else before we leave 2008?

• Check out our next blogpost for a preview of the January 2009 issue of The Curling News, now in the mail and available via subscription …

• DID YOU KNOW: that Glenn Howard lost first game of the Ontario zone playdowns – no pre-qualification systems exist in that province, folks – and had to scramble through the B-side to make it to round two? Well, now you know.

And by the way, two of Ontario’s four regional playdowns (Jan. 3-4) will see the following first round games: Howard versus Peter Corner (in Elmira) and Wayne Middaugh versus Mike Harris, at St. George’s in Toronto …

• Bob Weeks liked our Eye on the Ice hockey story and he’s suggesting that somebody should host one for curling, too. Weeksy has also volunteered his top 10 curling stories for 2007-08: agree?

• The “friendliest” curling event in the area (of Sept-Iles, Quebec) wraps up today …

• And speaking of Quebec, who says that province’s regional curling coverage is dead? Le Quotidien has always covered the local scene, as shown here …

• Four-time Brier competitor Pat Simmons is a co-winner of Moose Jaw’s Male Athlete of the Year award …

• Do you read Romanian? Here’s a curling feature for you …

• Lots of U.S. curling stuff to pass along. First there’s this curling feature from the Phoenix Business Journal, which is available in full only to subscribers (sob)… Vermont Public radio has a neat story here… the Canucks in Bawston had a merry time… and this humourist (“satirical witmeister”) from the American Reporter claims to have moved from typical curling ignoramus (“typical curling ignoramus”) to obsessive fanboy without yet throwing a stone.

Well, the next chance for him – and other Indianians – to do so takes place in Indianapolis on Jan. 6 and 8 …

• And finally, we almost forgot about those Rutabaga Curling guys… so here you go again …

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CLICK HERE to buy it and support the athlete/models!

And now, allow us a moment to explain.

This is a post aimed at updating the internet search attempts of the many people who are clicking on this archived posting from 2005.

You see, many, many folks from outside our curling world are apparently searching for ways to get their hands on a fundraising calendar featuring gorgeous female athletes. And curling athletes should be included, say we.

So, for TCN Blog fans who’ve read about this before and we apologize for posting it again. But you would not believe the amount of people out there who are clicking on that ancient link, reading about a calendar that is well out of print and which has since been replaced by two more editions.

It was a shocker back then, and it may not be so shocking these days, but we’ll see if the this post can climb higher in the Google rankings than the old one.

And we thank you for clicking, too!

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A cool little newspaper called The Curling News has an exclusive on the cover of its new December issue.

A new study by the City of Toronto has numbered the amount of “lost” curlers through club closures over the years. That shocking number is over 8,000.

However, the city is making a new kind of commitment to the sport, through the Toronto Curling Association.

National Curling Development guy Danny Lamoureux weighs in, among others.

You don’t have to be a resident of Canada’s largest city to see how important these developments are – both the acknowledgment of a disaster-in-the-making, and the promise of some real solutions. Toronto stands alone with rather unique curling problems as compared to other urban markets, which are all allegedly “booming” in terms of development. As such, this story is a big one for each and every curling fan.

This story is only available in the print edition of the December issue. You can try to grab a copy at your local club, but as most of you are aware, we don’t send many club “complimentary” copies out. The key is to subscribe.

When you subscribe to The Curling News, you get your copy first – ahead of any other comp copies – and you get it via first-class mail, and in a protective polybag. That’s premium service.

Subscribe today and you will get this December issue, which also includes:

• Brazil? Shmazil… Spain is just one European round-robin away from the Ford Worlds

• The TCN Book Sale: just in time for Christmas, we are offering five classic titles at awesome prices

• Report: The Masters of Curling

• The Dominion Club Corner: Windsor rebuilds in the east; Monsanto offers cash for clubs in the west

• Al Cameron ponders eight separate subjects, including a Kleibrink/Bernard combination

• The Curling News TV Guide for December/January

• Can you hit the Million Dollar Button? You might be able to, by registering online …

• Larry Wood mulls December’s “final” Continental Cup in Camrose

• Capital One Grand Slam Star of the Future: Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers

• Québec City is ready for The National

• Rodd Odds and Sods from Teri Lake of Halifax

• Young Canadian artist uses curling in Acadian imagery

• Katja Kiiskinen picks up at the Masters

• 2010 championships: Juniors to Québec; Scotties to the Soo; Brier to Halifax

• Manitoba wins Arctic Mixed

• TCN Photo Contest update – with samples!

• 30 Years Ago: an exclusive report on Paul Gowsell’s infamous on-ice pizza delivery

AND MORE!

In addition, be sure to check out our website for a link to order the 2009 Women of Curling Calendar (club edition), as well as the latest TCN Top 15 rankings.

It’s pretty clear who is number one among the men, but the Top four women is an honest-to-goodness crapshoot …

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Urgghhaargh. Rrraagh.

Urarrgh.

We love zombies. Who doesn’t?

And we love curling. That much, we trust you understand.

We like movies, too. Put ’em all together and you have Deadspiel, the new eight-minute short film debuting Sunday night in Toronto, at 6:30pm before the main feature (Kevin Tenney’s Brain Dead) during the Toronto After Dark Festival. Location: Bloor Cinema.

Awright. We recall hearing about this a few months back. And the latest issue of SWEEP! has a nice feature on it. So what the heck is this all about?

Apparently, it was originally conceived of as a story of Viking curlers. Watching an Olympic curling match between the Swedish and Finnish teams, Pat Corcoran began toying with the idea of Vikings in full regalia yelling at each other on the rink. Fate brought him to one of the busiest film/TV set construction companies in Toronto, where he met fellow carpenter and horror film aficionado Jay Molloy. Molloy had just finished working on George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead in which he was fortunate enough to play a small zombie role, a lifetime dream that he could not stop talking about. A seed was planted.

The film business, being as transient as it is, separated the two, although they kept in contact through mutual friends. During this time, Corcoran began seriously toying with the idea of a curling zombie film. He spoke about it often, mostly to his Acton curling club teammates (which includes former Brier competitior Joe Frans) and opponents alike. Most nodded and smiled politely, then spoke to each other in hushed tones, the common thread being “he’s quite mad, you know.”

“We shot on the weekend of April 19 in Acton,” Corcoran told The Curling News. “We pampered the ice in the days leading up to the shoots so that it would look good for the camera. We had a few interesting and fun games as actors learned to curl, and zombie curlers developed their characters.

“The final scenes of shooting are an icemakers nightmare with blood and bodies everywhere; when we called it a wrap on the film shoot we also called an end to the curling season.”

“We paid for the film with whatever we had in our pockets,” added Molloy. “We both work in film, so the crew were all pros who worked for beer and food… most of them came from Evil Dead the Musical! or CBC’s Little Mosque on The Prairie, which I work on.

“Everyone was taken by the ridiculousness of the story and all really seemed to enjoy themselves – for the most part, anyway.”

Want more? Okay… Sunday’s screening takes place after the Toronto Zombie Walk which will act as a kind of promo for the film. Now this sounds incredibly cool. Imagine: a zombie march in the middle of T.O., on a Sunday afternoon… with curling brooms!

Eeyyaaraaggghh. Waahagahrragh.

“We’re hoping to have a noticeable presence,” admits Molloy. “We’re working on props and stuff for the march right now.”

The film got a mention here, from one of the assistant directors… and what about you, dear reader? Why not mention this to some friends, and head on down to the city on Sunday?

Grrruuaarrghuurrr.

Elsewhere:

• It’s admittedly early, but this season belongs, so far, to Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink …

• Happy 50th anniversary to the Grand Falls Curling Club… and we’ll even forgive the spelling of “Ed Wernick” …

• DID YOU KNOW: that five of the eight curlers in the final match of the first women’s Slam were on the event organizing committee? And one of the quarterfinalists was also the event webmistress …

• Kinross is in as the new home of Scotland’s National Curling Academy. Curling Today has the story and even the good old Beeb has taken notice …

• Here’s some Chinese reality-TV mayhem, but filmed in Canada and including a curling club …

• Speaking of Chinese, Bingyu Wang’s world silver medallists are in London, Ontario this weekend, while defending champ Russ Howard leads two other Canadian teams into WCT-E action in Bern, Switzerland …

• In fact there’s another six events on this weekend between men’s and women’s play… oh heck, just go here and look at the Gameday Scoreboard …

• Here’s a lengthy and fun feature on curling in Knoxville, Tennessee …

• Remember Tromso, Norway? Sounds like they are now out of the running to host the Winter Olympics in 2018 …

• Er, OK, we agree it’s not a crime… but what’s your point?

• ravenWren is looking for something very special for a curling-crazed U.S. citizen currently living in Canada …

• Canada’s National Post newspaper is 10 years old, and a recent anniversary sport special aimed to select the greatest Canadian athlete from “the Post decade”. Hosted a la a European curling event draw sheet, curling was represented by Randy Ferbey and Colleen Jones, with Jones “winning” to advance to a battle against tennis doubles specialist Daniel Nestor. Nestor advanced before losing to golfer Mike Weir, who is into the Final Four along with hockey goalie Martin Brodeur, basketball’s Steve Nash and speed skating Olympian Catriona Le May Doan …

• revRecluse has a new/old curling board game to play with …

• There’s a pile of partial curling stones for sale, by a roadside north on London, Ontario …

• The call is out in Bowling Green, Ohio …

• Little Prince loves the Women of Curling calendar …

• And finally, they’ll be curling for charity in Kettle Moraine, Wisconsin (with video) …

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