What is it with this Year?

It is now almost February and I have hardly seen any curling on TV; I cannot believe I have missed a lot that was actually available. But each time there is one match I find there is another!

So today I have to choose between the BDO Canadian Classic Grand Slam on CBC, and the Ontario Scotties Tournament Final (qualifier to the Scott Tournament of Hearts later in the year). The first match is Kevin Martin (and his new rink) versus Randy Ferbey (and it has featured some great shooting so far), and the other is Sherry Middaugh versus Krista Scharf, whose rink featured extensively in the coverage Doc and I did for CHRW Radio at the Scott Tournament in London last year (Krista features in this post, for example).

OK I do not have to choose; I do have a remote and I am male. But it may cut into blogging.

the Importance of the Lead

Regular readers will know that I began curling on a couple of years ago and I'm not very good, to put it gently. This information leads to two related points:

1. If you had a really crappy player on your team, where would you play him. Almost surely you would not want him as skip or vice, because those positions can cost the team a whole lot of points if they miss their shots.
   
   Second is a good place for such a person, especially if they can through up-weight with any accuracy. But first, or lead, might be better if they have little idea how to throw the desired weight and miss the broom a lot (which describes me).


2. Man, are lead rocks important. I have learned the hard way that when I sort of make my shots, our team is likely to score and score a lot; but when I miss my shots, we tend to give up a lot of points.

I'm not the sole determinant of how the team does; I know that. These are probablistic statements. But they sure seem to have a lot of merit.

Mr. Eclectic Goes Curling

Yes, I wear this hat every time I go curling.

Yup, we were "throwing" yellow stones.

Curling Hits the Big-Time!

I'd swear the couple was curling in the current Cialis ad before they decided they would rather do something else and feigned a heart problem.

Well..... at least you see something that looks like a curling brush.....

Eight Sticks on One Sheet

Every Wednesday morning, I take time off from work and Ms. Eclectic and I curl with a group of retirees at the local curling club. The last few times out, I have noticed that every one of us on one sheet uses a push stick. Not one of us curls by getting down in the hack and pushing off.

I can remember several years ago when several of the curlers were getting down in the hack, but struggled with their balance and their knees and hips. Allowing curlers to use push sticks has extended the time that many of us who are older can enjoy the game for many years.

Let's hear it for push sticks!

Curling: All the Major games/matches/tournaments

When I learned that beginning in 2008, TSN would have the exclusive rights to broadcast curling in Canada, I felt a sense of despair. If TSN had the exclusive rights, I knew from experience that they would televise only two draws per day at the major tournaments. Televising a third draw would require bringing in a complete second team as announcers and crew, and doing so would alway be for the least popular draw of the day. TSN would be much better off sticking with one broadcast team and not bothering with the third draw.

Last month, though, I visited with some folks from CurlTV, and they told me that in the past they have always been able to negotiate rights to broadcast draws which major television decide not to broadcast, and they expect they will be able to do so in the future as well.

Update: I don't know, though. TSN is now showing World Junior Hockey via live internet video streaming. Will they do the same thing with curling? Or, if they do, will they stick to showing only the games that they are televising on cable as well?