Have I Just Wakened in Heaven?

The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is underway and TSN (the generic TSN encompassing TSN2) is apparently broadcasting three draws each day!
Faithful readers will know Doc and I have whined and moaned about the lack of coverage of morning draws in the past.
This morning I watched a wonderful battle between the Manitoba rink of Cathy Overton and the BC rink of Kelly Scott. Overton seemed in command of the match but then lost control of the ninth end and gave up a steal of three, which pretty much ended a very tightly fought match.
Now we are treated to Saskatchewan's Amber Holland rink against the seemingly perpetual Team Canada rink of Jennifer Jones.
Saskatchewan steal one in the first end. I'll be back with occasional updates.

END #2: There seems to be some difficulty with the reading of the ice. Both thirds make awful shots. Saskatchewan leaves Jones facing four for her final shot and force her to draw, as accurately as one would expect, for one.

I am sure this is inappropriate but Kim Schneider and Amber Holland have me thinking about glasses. Holland's three-quarter rimless look pretty good. And I normally cannot stand the sight of what I consider those Euro-weenie narrow glasses, but Kim Schneider seems to me the ultimate model for them.
Curling is such a slow game that the broadcasters end up wandering frequently into inanity; the Saskatchewan team's commitment to a prescribed nutritional program really sent them off; Linda Moore even assured us you should not eat protein within three hours before a match. I am pretty sure nobody really KNOWS that.

END #3: This was one insane roller-coaster. Early Saskatchewan looked in really bad trouble, with the house filling with Canada rocks behind cover. A couple of shots later the cover is all gone (some removed by Canada!) and Saskatchewan is looking pretty good for two. We are now on skip stones. Holland wrecks on one of her own rocks, going after a Jones rock that came up pretty short. Jones misses on her last shot, leaving a nice doubling angle on her two counting rocks; Holland takes advantage and gets her two.

Meanwhile BC is up 2-1 over Alberta after three; it seems Scott is in yet another mortal embrace like this morning's.

END #4: That Holland rink is fun to watch; they are so aggressive, and it marries beautifully to Jones' aggression. It makes for a wildly up and down match, especially with two skips having trouble getting the ice right. Jones' first rock wrecks on a guard, and then slides to the button under some cover - I might regard this as a miracle if I had not just seen Suzanne Gaudet have the same experience drawing against five against Quebec a few minutes ago. Holland removes the Jones rock (so not THAT much cover). Jones needs now to draw for one. And is WAY light - two more for Saskatchewan! now ahead 5-1.

I might now become less assiduous in updating. (And in the deadly embrace, Alberta - Kleibrink - take two and go ahead now by one - Maybe TSN could switch over to that match.)

END #5: Talk about roller-coaster - at one point I thought Jones was in line to score three, in an end featuring mostly badly missed shots, which would almost make a battle out of it. In the end she was forced to draw to the house against what might have been two Saskatchewan biters. She hit the button (no mean feat so far in this draw).

END #6: In yet another insane roller-coaster, Holland takes one to lead 6-2. The great thing about the Jones rink historically is that they can wriggle out of disasters in ways I have rarely seen with any other rink. So one cannot let up.

END #7: Jones is once again forced to take one. There were some improbably bad shots again, and an improbably good one by Kim Schneider, which provoked an entertaining discussion from Russ Howard on how fearless her shot was, and how hard it is to be that fearless as you age and become more aware of all the ways things can go wrong. It was actually quite brilliant.

END #8: Some pretty good shotmaking by the skips in the end, but Saskatchewan score three, and Jones throws in the towel, or the handshakes. I would not be surprised to be watching these two teams next Sunday again.