Losing sucks. So does losing a loved one.
Losing sucks.
I hate losing.
My favourite line from Moneyball: “I hate losing more than I like winning.”
And my team this season is losing. A lot.
We went goose and three at an event in Stroud last week, after going 2-3 two weeks ago in Port Elgin (and one of our wins was by default).
Lately, it feels like we are allergic to winning.
I can’t even win a club game this year.
Nobody likes losing. Losing at curling feels awful. There are usually very clear moments in a game, where you know you could have done something different to win. Losing at curling means that these moments will haunt you. They pop into your brain, sometimes later that night as you try to sleep, or weeks later.
Why are we losing? Who knows. We are obviously missing some key shots. But strangely they are at least a few games during the streak where we outplayed our opponents, and still found a way to lose.
Maybe our heads are not in the right place. Maybe we need to sacrifice a virgin to the curling gods.
Fortunately, I know that all losing streaks come to an end, and you will usually get a good break for every bad break over the course of a season. I know that eventually curling teams revert to the mean, so at some point we will likely win a few games in a row.
So… Curling Gods, hear my prayer. Bestow upon us your divine benevolence.
Give us some damn wins.
* * * *
I am truly perplexed at the number of team changes that Canada’s top men’s teams are making.
Bottcher out. Harnden out. Gauthier out.
Now, Reid Carruther’s longtime second—for 10 years!—Derek Samagalski is out. Although it sounds like he is stepping back; he’s had enough.
It speaks to the fact that the game has become a business. And as I learned from the Lorax, you always need to be biggering. You need to be getting better, leading to an increasingly mercenary-like approach to top tier curling in Canada.
What amazes me is that teams think they are going to get better with these mid-season changes. The reality of Canadian curling’s top teams are guys from different parts of the country who get together on weekends to curl in Slams and other big tournaments.
At some point we will figure out that the top teams in the world (now mostly from outside of Canada) are spending summers and winters together training.
You can change one mercenary for another, but does it change the fact that you are living in different cities and not practicing together? We spend way too much time worrying about personnel, and not enough time worrying about process.
What say you, David?
It gives the whole thing a soap opera feel. Did E.J. do something to offend Brad? Is there some behind-the-scenes story? I have no idea, but if I had to guess I would say the truth is likely far more boring than that. They were just not winning enough for their liking.
* * * *
You might have noticed that I haven’t written much so far this year. Which is surprising, given the ridiculous number of team changes and other curling news to talk about.
The sad fact is, my heart has not been in it. Back in September, I lost the biggest fan of my columns/blogposts over the years: my mother, Grace Fournier.
I think if you were to ask me who my main audience was, I would say it was her first. She was the first to call me after I wrote something, just to tell me how much she loved it.
She liked when the posts were funny. She loved when I wrote jokes. If I could make her laugh, I knew my stuff would get a lot of reads.
She was also my biggest curling fan.
My Mom, despite being a people person, was also afraid of crowds. She would only come in person to see the occasional game. She was very happy that I reached a point in my curling career where she could on occasion watch me play on TV. If my games were not on, then she would nervously follow the scoreboards online, wearing out the refresh button on her iPad.
The last curling game of mine that she attended live was a big one. My Mom braved the crowds at the Glenmore Curling Club in February 2018 for the Quebec provincial men’s final against Jean-Michel Ménard. That game was a classic, and I remember seeing her jump up at the end when she knew we were going to the Brier.
I’m very glad she got to see that one, and seeing her after the game is still one of the strongest memories I have from that day.
Here’s hoping my Mom enjoys this one, and I hope she can somehow put a good word in for me with the aforementioned Curling Gods.