Enough about Jennifer and Colleen
Enough about Jennifer and Colleen. Let’s talk about Terry.
One of Canada’s greatest sportswriters was let go this week and, to be frank, it leaves a sour taste. The news caused quite a stir on social media, both among Jones’ fellow media mavens and the sport-loving public.
Over his lengthy career Jones has reported from 16 Olympic Games, 47 Grey Cups, over 500 Stanley Cup playoff hockey games, five soccer World Cups, over 20 Super Bowl Games and, most importantly, a ton of curling championship events, including 27 Briers.
The man who grew up literally across the street from a six-sheeter in Lacombe, Alta. is a member of at least five sport halls of fame, including curling. His two curling books—The Ferbey Four and World Capital of Curling—are fabulous.
Sports fans of any age should check out Terry’s December 2020 appearance on the Curling Legends podcast.
We’ve been proud to have Jonesy appear in our pages, too, as a Senior Columnist. Often, his writing proved to resonate years later.
Just two years after Canadian double gold at Sochi 2014, Sweden’s Niklas Edin—now one of the GOATs—became the first non-Canadian men’s team skip to win a Grand Slam tournament (he then won another, less than two weeks later). Jonesy grilled him about the historic wins and discovered what is now believed to be one cause of Canada’s current troubles at men’s and women’s four-player Olympic and world championship podiums.
“The reason non-Canadian teams play better at international events, I believe, has a lot to do with our dependency on the support from every different curling association,” Edin said at the time.
“For our teams we have to win medals every year not to lose our support.
“It doesn’t matter if we win Slams or rank No. 1 in the world. Medals at world championships and Olympics are all that matter for us, to be able to play full time and come to Canada for the biggest tour events.
“So preparations, form, training and everything all builds up towards those international events for us—instead of the Slam series.
“It would be interesting to see what the Slam records would look like if only one Slam per year would be played in Canada and one in six other countries in the world.”
Jonesy also wasn’t afraid to poke Canadian curling fans with a reality stick.
In our February 2017 issue, a year away from the PyeongChang Olympics, he wondered “should our nation have confidence of even a single gold again, much less a double-double?
“As for a triple, forget about it.”
He was right. After the Kaitlyn Lawes/John Morris duo captured the first mixed doubles title, Rachel Homan’s foursome missed the playoffs and Kevin Koe’s team lost the semifinal and bronze medal matches.
Will we see Jonesy again in these digital pages of The Curling News? Who knows … but we should be so lucky.
Let’s leave this chapter with one of my favourite Jonesy curling columns. It appeared in our December 2015 issue; Warren Hansen had retired and Greg Stremlaw had been fired.
“So where do I submit my application?” Jonesy asked.
If I were to be made boss of curling in Canada this is what I’d do:
GET A SET OF STONES
Tell Nunavut we’re having none of it.
After wiping the egg off your face from the relegation mess and now deciding to ditch relegation in 2018 (why the wait?) Curling Canada must go back to a Brier and Scotties with one (1) territories team.
Nunavut didn’t show up to the Brier play-in in Calgary last year and the Yukon didn’t show up to the Territorial playdowns before that. The whole mess was created by political correctness.
Help fund travel for teams from the territories to determine a representative. Work out a way to make their event part of a provincial final in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, etc. so they could play it on arena ice if they wish. Edmonton (Gateway to the North) would make an event out of it. But if you were going to spend the money to fly them to the Brier, spend the money to send them somewhere to have a decent Territories Tankard.
No problem with Nunavut being in juniors. Develop teams to be able to compete. Fine.
But curling people keep making the mistake of forgetting that there’s the Brier and then there’s curling. The Brier is Canadiana. Curling is a sport.
GIVE EVENTS BACK TO HOST CITIES
Put ticket sales for all major events back in the hands of the local organizing committees and give them a fair slice of the profits.
Encourage them to put the organizing committee together with a significant percentage of people outside the curling community so you have tentacles that go through the entire business community. As in “Ralph, you’re my supplier, you’re buying 12 all-event packages and make sure there are people sitting in those seats.”
Calling a press conference and expecting people to line-up and buy tickets like trained pigs doesn’t work. Shoe leather works. The current concept of it all being run by Curling Canada takes away the inspiration and perspiration. Organizing committees with a stake and community pride at stake develop creative competitiveness to out-do previous hostings.
Eliminate the cookie-cutter logos and repeat brandings. Encourage every event to create its own identity.
BAN THE BAGPIPES
Except for the opening and final game of the Brier, ban bagpipes. For all other events have fun parading the curlers to the ice with all variety of flair and fanfare.
Try a saxophone, fiddle, trumpet, hell even an accordion. Las Vegas showed the sport how to do it at the first Continental Cup with the showgirls, Elvises, etc. carrying flags and name cards. Chris Dornan illustrated how to incorporate local flavour into proceedings at the Calgary Brier last year. Or just give the job to the Sociables and tell them to have fun. They get it. They show up for the start and final in kilts. The rest of the event the crowd can’t wait for them to make their appearance to see what they have going this draw.
ABOUT THE BROOMHAHA
The curling world started the season going bonkers over sweeping fabrics being used on some brooms. More than three-dozen elite teams signed statements that they would not use “directional fabrics.” The fabric on brooms is alleged to make the rocks do things gym rat muscle beach sweepers can’t do. And two sweepers apparently is overkill.
I know one thing. Curling, at the recreation level, is a lot more fun if you don’t have to sweep.
And I’m thinking Lower Slobovia and Upper Volga will be a lot more competitive with the new brooms so a vote by World Curling Federation and Curling Canada might not go the same.
Ask yourself this: What would golf do?
If the brooms are going to have a serious negative effect on the sport, I’m sure the manufactures will do very well making Banned Brooms for the curlers in the Wednesday Night Men’s League.
Me? I’d ban ’em all and go back to the corn brooms. The sport “sounded” better then and grown men with push brooms still doesn’t look right to me.
And no brooms has a certain appeal. Throw two rocks and up to the bar for more aiming fluid.
APPRECIATE THE AGED
Recognize that your live curling audience is older. It always was older. It always will be older. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Curling is never going to make it into the X-Games. It takes patience to watch and enjoy the sport. Appreciate the people who buy the tickets and support the sport. And give them some ’50s-’60s music in the Brier Patch once in a while.
RESIDENCY RULE
So now you can have one free agent “foreigner” on each team and be eligible for provincial competitions to advance to national competitions. But there’s already the suggestion there is going to be cheating involving other members of the team.
One thing.
If a team believes they have a shot at the Olympics, they don’t give a damn.
Besides I’m all for Randy Ferbey skipping Nunavut.