Game 1

It's fun to Google your opponents before a game...

Based on my extensive (30 seconds) research, we face long-time Manitoba curler Robert Baldwinson tonight in our first game of the year at the Labatt's Tour event at the Pembina.

Mr. Baldwinson most recently won the Investors Group trophy at the 2006 MCA Bonspiel (ironic perhaps, considering I am leaving IG at the end of the week). He also made it to the Winnipeg Zone A finals last year, losing to Ryan Fry. He went 4-3 at the 2004 Strathcona Senior Men's playdowns, and he qualified for the Selects in 2003. Clearly, a game veteran.

I've played him many times over the years, in zones, MCA and the Club Champions Championships, believe it or not.

Of course, continuing the streak of the past two years, we start off on an end sheet tonight... although it will be nice to have a built-in crutch to lean on if I struggle.

Here's hoping I regain my mastery of coin tosses tonight utilizing my secret Jedi mind tricks.

See you at the rink!

We're ready to rock!

After a summer of repeated roster changes and a seemingly endless search for players, we have finally set our roster for the coming season, which starts next week.

Our line up consists of Dan Bender, myself, Lorne Ryall, Leigh Solomon and Chris Girling.

I am pumped at the potential of this group, and I'm itching to hit the ice to throw the first practice rocks of the year as we prepare for the Pembina event, and the start of the Asham Superleague.

Once we get rolling, I hope to prod the rest of the boys into posting their thoughts on this blog after games and practices.

It's going to be an interesting season!

Thistle all but a memory

The Winnipeg Sun reported Sunday that it's very unlikely that the Thistle Curling Club will be rebuilt.

Thanks to the high cost, spokesman Harvey Swain says the men's league will shift to the Asham Arena, while the seniors are moving to Victoria.

Thanks to the Sun for keeping on top of this story.

Hard to believe we're a couple of weeks away from registration nights at city clubs... better start working out this week.

Burtnyk on Curling Show

Dean Gemmell's latest podcast features Manitoba curling legend Kerry Burtnyk on the coming season, and his thoughts on the Slam's future... tremendous interview, and it's clear Kerry's pumped about the coming season.

Congrats, Dean, on another strong effort...

http://www.thecurlingshow.com/2006/08/03/kerry-burtnyk-interview/

Cheers!

Summer musings

We're deep in the heart of the off season and there's little news on the curling front.

That won't stop me from updating the site with inanity and crapulosity.

Tour de Farce... The American winner of the Tour de France tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, and pending a B sample test, he could be stripped of his title. That's another thing I like about curling... not many banned substances could help your game because you would lose your touch for draws if you were hopped up on goofballs.

Road to Avonlea closed... a 16-sheeter is being paved over for indoor soccer in Toronto - sad development. There have not been any updates regarding the displaced curlers from the recently torched Thistle club in Winnipeg.

Free agent market thinning... unlike my waistline, the list of available free agents in Manitoba is starting to thin out. This is unfortunate as we are still trying to secure a fourth for the 2006-2007 season. We're confirmed for play in the Asham Super League, and we intend on entering several MCT events throughout the season. Drop us a line if you are competitive and looking for a team. And, if you run into Kyle Werenich or Ken Tresoor on the golf course, mention Team Bender has an opening.

Words of advice... if your sinus surgeon says "you won't believe how big these things are" just before extracting the plastic splints from deep inside of your head with alien-abduction-esque forceps two weeks after surgery, you would be wise to grip the exam table tightly with both hands. I thought I felt my cerebellum moving...

Finally... what do you use to get a jammed chunk of dental floss out from between two molars?

Ding dong the queen is dead

Tremendous news from the Curling Coverage front, as TSN claims major curling rights through 2013!

With TSN HD on the Star Choice package, I will be salivating with all of the coverage to be had starting in two years... the return of the morning draws!!! Huzzah!!

Curling sweeps away CBC Public broadcaster frozen out in new TV deal

By BILL GRAVELAND

CALGARY (CP) - After 40 years of curling coverage CBC is being left out in the cold after a new six-year television deal announced Thursday between the Canadian Curling Association and TSN.

The deal beginning in 2008, when the current contract with CBC expires, will run through 2013-'14 and give TSN exclusive broadcast and multimedia rights to all CCA events, including the Tim Hortons Brier, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the Ford World curling championships. In a revamped deal last season, CBC handed off the round-robin games to TSN but retained the semifinals and finals. That isn't the case now since CBC wasn't even invited into the negotiations.

"We received a perfunctory call this morning which was definitely after the fact-after the agreement had been done," said CBC spokeswoman Ruth-Ellen Soles in an interview with the Canadian Press.
"We've always been in constant contact with the CCA and for the first time ever there was no tender process which means there was no opportunity for us to counter-bid."

The CBC had signed an exclusive four-year deal with the CCA in July, 2004 but carried just one draw a day on the national network and a second draw on its little known Country Canada digital channel. After outrage from curling fans the CCA attempted to walk away from the deal last summer citing problems with the network's coverage.

But a revamped deal last fall allowed CBC to retain the curling television rights, but sub-licensed a portion of those to TSN. That saw the two networks share coverage of Canada's top curling events.

That will not be the case beginning in 2008. TSN will do all the games and on a bright note for curling fans all three draws will be shown on the network.

"Unprecedented coverage and the return of morning draws will be embraced by our fans and viewers across the country and around the world," Dave Parkes, the CEO of the Canadian Curling Association, said in a release. "This agreement and a strengthened relationship with TSN ensures a positive, exciting and long-term future for our sport."

TSN president Phil King said the timing of the new deal is a good one for his network, especially with the next Winter Olympics being held in Canada.

"This deal further establishes curling as a cornerstone of the network's programming leading up to the 2010 Olympic Games and beyond," said King.

The agreement does provide some comfort for sponsors of the major events, who were inundated with angry phone calls, letters and e-mails after curling coverage changed in 2005.

"Scott Paper is excited by the return of morning broadcasts and the stability this new television agreement will provide," said John McClelland, corporate vice-president of Scott Paper Ltd., which sponsors the Canadian women's curling championship.

The announcement caught six-time Canadian champion Colleen Jones by surprise. Jones, who also has two world curling titles, hadn't heard the news in Raleigh, N.C., where she is covering the Stanley Cup final for CBC TV.

"TSN has done a phenomenal job with curling however the reality is you always want your product on a main network. It was just golden the way it had been with TSN and CBC on the weekends," said Jones.

"The Brier draws well over a million people and the question will those people all watch it on TSN?"

The TSN news release says "the opportunity also exists to carry select matches on CTV."

"I do like the longevity of the deal but it was a perfect marriage where CBC and TSN shared coverage. That was about as perfect as you can have," Jones added.

TSN has confirmed that its curling broadcast team of Vic Rauter, Linda Moore and Ray Turnbull will continue to call the action for all of the network's curling coverage.

The new deal includes a comprehensive suite of multimedia rights, including broadband, mobile, video-on-demand, interactive television, podcasts and even rights for radio broadcasts.

The Thistle is history

Sad to hear about all of the history going up in flames at the venerable Thistle Curling Club over the weekend. It sickens me that some troubled person thinks torching a public building will bring them power and glory.

It was a unique place to play, and, although I'd always struggled with the ice conditions there, I enjoyed the vibe that the building had.

I feel sorriest for the neighbourhood kids who have lost a place to grow with the game... and the life members who valued the club as more than a place to throw rocks.

Anytime we lose a club - to fire, indifference or lack of funding - it's a knee to the groin of our game.

My first AGM

After breezing through the 148 page Annual Report before the Manitoba Curling Association Annual General Meeting yesterday morning, I quickly gained a sense of what would be the hot-button topics, at least to me.

1. Comments and suggestions from the MCA Bonspiel, including a plea from the Winnipeg Curling Clubs Association to reinstate the Minor Event Berth into the Selects
2. The elimination of the "Buy a Badge" entry fiasco into a provincial playdown
3. The official announcement of the shift of the Manitoba Curling Tour Championships to Dec. 15 to 17
4. Enhancements to the MCA website

Let's start with item No. 1... suggestions for the MCA Bonspiel. It's clear something needs to be done to bring the magic back to the big event. I'm not sure if the minor event berth is the key to that, but it deserves to be explored. I think we are on the right track with the changes that were incorporated into last year's spiel.

One of the big improvements would be to have real-time, online updates for results on the website... this will be one of the projects I will delve into as a new director on the board.

Item No. 2: The Buy-a-Badge fiasco in certain provincial zone playdowns. While I think this is a great first step, more in-depth retooling needs to be carried out. Of course, that will take some time to hash out and get everyone on board with the final decisions.

Item No. 3: I think most MCT teams will be happy with the decision to move the championships to mid-December.

Item No. 4: Enhancements to the MCA website... I think they have already come a long way in this regard, and I will be working hard behind the scenes to keep those enhancements coming. Watch for updates on the MCA website... on the MCA website.

Cheers for now!

Team Fenson loses lead

According to the Associated Press, "lead John Shuster wants to skip his own team, so he's leaving the squad that Pete Fenson, of Bemidji, Minn., captained to third place in the 2006 Games. Shuster had been with Fenson since the start of the 2003-04 season."

The Duluth-Supererior article (linked through the above headline) states the team is "splitting up" but it doesn't say what the rest of the team members are doing next season.

Not that I'm downplaying the importance of a lead, as I'm fully versed in the total team dynamic, but losing their lead and splitting up are very different.

It will be interesting to see the remaining team shake-ups as the first year of the Olympic four-year plan begins in the quest to "represent" in Vancouver in 2010.

Dauphin to host Select in 2007

Just a quick hit to comment on the Safeway Select making its way up to Dauphin next season...

I'm not sure what other guys think, but I think it's cool that they move it around to different locations around the province.

It would be nice to see it back in Winnipeg occasionally and take advantage of everything the MTS Centre has to offer.

Hope to see you in Dauphin next year!

Guess the Blog needs a new name

Well, Scott is heading east to find fame and fortune on Parliament Hill.

The rest of us wish him the best as he moves up in the political world to where it is all happening at the federal level.

While we didn't play many games together this season, we did do well in most and had a great time in all of them. It's too bad we weren't able to stick it out, but careers always come first.

If all goes well, Scott will collect several sharp-shooting Hullians, err, Hullites, uhm, Hullipudlians, Gatineauzers across the river and take Quebec back to the Brier in 2007.

As for Team ?, we are now looking for a new skip or maybe third, depending on who comes forward. I think we still have a strong nucleus, ready to make a serious run next season.

If interested, send your curling resume in and we'll chat.