2008 Brier - 8th End; Alberta 4, Ontario 2 - blanked end

In response to Alan's (sarcastic?) plea for more stats: My guess is that if there were Tradesports.com contracts available for the Brier final (Maybe there are, but if so I couldn't find them), a contract for Martin to win would be selling at a pretty high price right now -- in the range of $80 or so to win $100. Martin is up two and Howard has not yet managed to score two in any end.

Remember how last year in Hamilton I suggested that the dust in the air ducts might have been causing the picks? Well, son-of-a-gun if the announcers aren't suggesting something similar for this final.

Once again, Martin throws rocks into the rings, while Howard plays on the sides to begin. Kennedy gets a nose hit (unusual for him) and Laing claims a double on the reds in the rings. Later, Hart leaves a wide double for Morris, who gets a nose hit instead. Nice discussion about Hart's 2nd shot, but it doesn't quite get the Alberta rock off the ice.

Whoa, look at that scratch! Ice problems shouldn't be determining the outcome.

Ontario calls time to discuss Howard's shot. One question is whose rock is lying shot after Martin's first rock. Ontario guesses they're shot, but takes out the Martin rock anyway, just to be sure.

Beautiful loonnnnggggg double by Martin, leaves Howard with no choice but to try to blank.

2008 Brier - 6th End; Alberta 4 , Ontario 2

As Alan says, Thank heaven the CBC has Mike Harris. His insight is a valuable addition to the telecast.

What's with the broken broom on the side? Did I miss something? Do you think Cathy Gautier of TSN would have told us?

More sparring in the 6th end, but not involving guards (due, according to Joan McCusker, to some missed shots by Savill, the Ontario lead), which makes the play both different and uneasy.

A recent commenter objected to my anti-CBC bias, but to have the CBC interupt so much with their promos and interviews is a real pain.

I'm not super knowledgeable about strategy, but I wondered why Howard didn't try the freeze with his first rock.... but even with a reasonably close freeze, Martin was able to knock the stones of the ice, setting up a blank possibility. But an uncharacteristic semi-miss by Martin as his hammer didn't roll out, leaving Alberta scoring one.

2008 Brier - 5th End; Alberta 3, Ontario 2

Announcer: "How important is it for Howard to get two back here?" and Harris's answer was very good, saying basically, that Ontario doesn't and shouldn't panic, but of course they need to get a deuce eventually.

A big miss by Laing with his second shot turned the tide of this end. Ontario is having troubles recovering from that miss until Hart doubles off two Alberta stones, clearing the rings and setting up a blank. But once again Howard doesn't quite make his shot, and ends up taking one.

2008 Brier - 4th End; Alberta 3, Ontario 1

I can't believe Howard missed his final shot (a draw) in the third and ended up taking only one.

I also can't believe Scott Russell kept us away from the game with more in-the-stands interviews, though I'm sure Alan was delighted to see Jennifer Jones on screen again.

Wonderful run-back double by Laing to spill two Alberta rocks from the rings. And then impressive sweeping by Alberta's front end to keep Morris's first rock around the guard to remove the Ontario rock.

Do I detect some tension between the curlers on the Alberta team? Or is that just normal questioning among these players? And does it really matter?

Great run-back by Howard to remove Morris's rock, leaving Ontario lying two. Martin's draw is just a tad light. But Howard's attempt at a peel is again just a bit inside and rubs off the guard, leaving Martin with a draw for two.

What do you think Howard's curling percentage is after 4 ends? 69%. Martin's isn't much better, at 72%.

2008 Brier Final - 3rd End; Alberta 1, Ontario 1

More reasons to dislike CBC: My former student, Scott Russell, interviewing junior curlers and keeping us from the game. Why, oh Why!

Morris (Alberta 3rd) threw his secondshot too heavily, allowing Hart (Ontario 3rd) to come around a guard, and the Alberta stone will serve as backing. Then Martin`s first shot was a tad wide and heavy, missing the Hart stone and not getting a rub they wanted. So Howard drew down but left Martin with a run-back double. Martin was inside the broom and took out only one Ontario stone, leaving Howard with a draw for two, but he was tight to the guard and took only one.

The Brier Final - First End Blanked

We're all set for some fine curling tonight, and the first end didn't disappoint us! After some typical feeling and sparring (so to speak), Howard threw a perfect come-around and then Martin threw a perfect soft take-out for the blank. What fun to watch this!

Tough Luck for Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan, skipped by Pat Simmons, played really well throughout the round robin of the 2008 Brier. They certainly deserved their second-place overall standing after the round robin.

In their 1-2 playoff with Alberta (Kevin Martin), Saskatchewan out-curled Alberta by many people's estimation, but had an unlucky sudden curl on Simmons' last rock to lose that game.

In their next round, against Ontario (Glenn Howard), things were a bit different. After blanking the first end, there was a pattern: Saskatchewan would be forced to take one, Howard would take two, etc. until Ontario was up 6-3. Then Simmons made a superb shot after some close misses by Ontario to tie the score at 6. The teams were then forced to trade singles, leaving Ontario with the hammer going into the extra end, which Howard managed to keep clean enough that he could draw successfully for one and the win.

So the final, Sunday at 6:30 on CBC, will be between the two teams that most people were expecting to be there: Ontario and Alberta. This should be a great match.

Overall, the curling has been spectacularly good. Any one of the top four teams could do an excellent job representing Canada at the worlds.