The CHRW Sports Broadcast Team

One of the reasons Alan and I are attending all the draws of the 2011 Men's World Curling Championship in Regina, Saskatchewan, is that we are filing reports with CHRW-FM Radio in London (94.9 FM, also available on the internet). When we file our reports, we make reference to the CHRW Sports Crew, implying there is a truckload of support here. And in a way there is. The media bench(es) are filled with people who are helpful. Here are two whom we have declared to be members of the crew:

Jorg Leuenberger, Swiss Curling Federation

Jill Officer, Global Regina

Why Is TSN Telecasting only ONE GAME per Day from the Women's Worlds?

In a previous posting, I showed the TSN broadcast schedule for the 2011 Women's World Curling Championships in Denmark. It looks as if TSN will be telecasting only one game per day. They won't even be showing all the games Canada will be playing. Why is that? Were they unwilling to pay enough to secure the rights to the other games? Surely time cannot be a problem for the announcers since they do two games per day during the Scott and the Brier. Do they really think they will have bigger audiences from other shows?

If that broadcast schedule holds up, we will miss the following games involving Canada (times are EDT):

• Sunday, 9am, Russia
• Monday, 9am, Norway
• Tuesday, 4am, Czech Republic
• Wednesday, 2pm, Sweden
• Thursday, 4am, Korea

The posted schedule for TSN's telecasts is very disappointing! Let's hope they change their minds.

For the full schedule of play, see this site.

Quiet Note to TSN

In the past, I've probably whined and complained more than most about the television coverage of the Scott and the Brier and Worlds. So far at the 2011 Scott Tournament of Hearts, I have only a minor request of TSN:

Is there a chance you could move your second line of information (rocks remaining and time remaining) down below the main line of information and keep it on the screen permanently (or at least show it whenever you show the score, rock colours, etc. in your primarily line of information)? There's no good reason to have that information available only rarely, and having it available all the time would greatly enhance my viewing pleasure.

Scotland Quit after Just Six Ends in Loss to Canada?? Why?

According to the TSN website, Scotland lost to Canada at the 2010 Men's World Curling championship 6-2 and resigned after only six ends. I didn't see the game, did anyone else? What on earth happened?? Why would any team quit in that situation? Down four with four ends to go, even without the hammer, just doesn't seem like something one would expect in a world championship round-robin game.

Unfortunately, the TSN website has a story that contains a bunch of words but no news other than the score. blech.

And, of course, TSN didn't even webcast this game (at least not according to their schedule), a game between the only two undefeated teams at the tournament. What a frickn media disaster this has been.

Update: The Montreal Gazette has a longer "story" written by someone who wasn't there but who strung together a bunch of words based on the stats of the game.

Colour me "curmudgeon".

Update: Some Coverage of the 2010 Men's Worlds

It turns out that TSN.ca will be carrying a few of the games from the 2010 Men's World Curling Championship from Italy on their website via livestreaming. The quality and resolution will likely be poor but at least some will be available. Schedule here.

Distressed over the expected lack of coverage of the men's world curling championship

I was upset enough that TSN showed only games involving Canada in their telecasts of the 2010 Women's World Championship. But according to their listed schedule, they will be showing only semi-final and the final of the Men's World Curling championship. I realize it is more costly to televise from Italy than from Swift Current, but I wonder, too, whether the tv market for women's curling is bigger than the tv market for men's curling, despite the clear superiority of men's curling.

Anyway: What a bummer!

I checked the somewhat questionable myp2peu and channelsurfing sites to see if any curling might be available on them, but couldn't find it.

Can anyone help? Where might one find telecasts of the 2010 Men's World Curling Championship??

thanks, WCF and TSN

For those in doubt, the title of this posting is sarcasm. TSN is covering the 2010 Women's World Championship, but it is carrying only games involving Canada. During the round robin, TSN is not carrying the draws not involving Canada.

I know the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament is on right now, and I know there's some pretty exciting stock-car racing and football/soccer going on, too. But those sports are all pretty well-covered on all the various networks.

I realize, too, that if TSN carries three draws in a day, they have to pay lots extra for broadcasters and crew.

But curling is a pretty popular sport in Canada. I'd be surprised if it didn't pay more for TSN to carry the non-Canadian draws with a minimum crew on their second channel than for them to use that channel for anything else. I expect (though I don't know this for sure) that the World Curling Federation has exclusive contracts with others prohibiting TSN from covering the non-Canadian games. Does anyone know for sure?

Meanwhile, I have friends who know a great deal about different possible internet sites that might provide access to sport events televised anywhere in the world. They tell me that there might be a few places in Europe that might have some abbreviated coverage of non-Canadian games. But they haven't pointed me to anything that looks like full coverage. 8-(

slow, jerky, pixelated but better than nothing

My day job has me trapped in the office today, so I'm watching Canada vs. Switzerland in the women's curling semi-finals of the 2010 Olympics via this link:

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/curling/results-and-schedules/match=CUW400202/index.html

It is far from great, but it sure beats the alternative (nothing). One interesting observation: the section with the stats seems to be about 30 seconds or more ahead of the video! [update: actually more like a 2-5 minute lag between the two --- that is really bizarre!]

[btw, best regards to all who found their way to this site over the past few days...]

"How Proud Are You?"

Geez I really hate personal interest stories during the Olympics. I especially detest interviews with family members of the athletes. One I just heard was really typical of the dumber questions asked:

"How proud are you of _____'s performance?"

Once, just once, I wish someone would say, "Not much."

To the media: please show us the shots.

Lots of Credit Due to CTV/TSN

Well, after my whiney, whingey posting this morning (since deleted!) in which I complained about the lack of coverage of curling during the 2010 Olympics (a mistake due solely to my misreading the time zones), I now see that CTV is featuring the Canada-Norway game and TSN is featuring the Britain-Sweden game!

This is terrific coverage of curling at the Olympics!

Tele- webcasting the 2008 Women's World Championship

Wouldn't it have been nice if Canadians had been able to watch the 11-end matchup in Draw 6 between China and Denmark (won by China with a single point after Denmark scored two to tie the match in the 10th end)? China is undefeated (4-0) and Denmark is looking mighty good despite their two losses.

The 2008 Ford World Women's Championship - - Some Preliminary Thoughts

1. I don't really know the other teams all that well, but my recollection is that Mirjam Ott and Debbie McCormick are both pretty darned good and could give team Canada a run for the their money. I'll still pick Jennifer Jones and Team Canada to win the 2008 world championship. Jones and her team looked awesome during their last eight or so games at the 2008 Scott Tournament of Hearts.
   
2. I'm glad Dordi Nordby won't be there if for no other reason than that it became off-putting to listen to Vic drool over her so much on TSN.* Maybe he wasn't drooling over her, per se, but just liked saying her name, but it got tiring nevertheless. For a different view of her retirement, see this.
   
3. Sometimes I wish I were spending the next week in the US: The only curling being shown in Canada are the round-robin games involving Canada. If Team Canada isn't playing, we do not get to watch any games between two other teams. For some odd reason, CurlTV is not allowed to show their webcasts in Canada even when nobody else in Canada is showing curling! Given the CCA's ineptness in the past, it should come as no surprise that I suspect they are once again involved in this affront to Canadian curling fans.
   

*When the Scotties were held in London, one of the curlers told us that Nordby enjoyed mental and word games (aka "trash-talking") with or at the other players. One time when Sandra Schmirler was taking a long time to prepare for a shot, Nordby opined,

We could order a pizza while we're waiting...

To which Schmirler straight-faced (and without looking at Nordby) said,

I'll have just cheese on mine, please.

and then continued with her preparations and made her shot.

Televised Curling -- a question of orientation

I was watching the Brier on a wide screen HDTV. As I watched, I wondered if I might enjoy it more if the telecast showed the ice from side-to-side instead of from top-to-bottom as is the current practice. Of course if they did, they'd have to change the orientation of the ads on the ice, but I think I might like being able to see more of the ice from the overhead cameras as the shots come into the rings. Doesn't matter, though. It won't happen for at least 5 years.

How Much Does Mankato Care about Curling?

I just checked the Mankato Free Press on-line. Their team's unexpected success is only the third story in the sports section!

The lead story in the sports section is about a high school girl's golf team.

The second story is about the Mankato Area Gymnastics School.

Curling. Still the Rodney Dangerfield of sports?

Update #1: Phil Miller tells me this story was front and center of the print version.
Update #2: Todd Birr had another poor showing today, curling only 73%, and the US lost to Germany 7-5. I expect that Alan's wish has come true, and Canada will face the better of the two teams in the final tomorrow.

Things We Don't Really Need to Overhear

The miking of the players during the 2007 Men's World Curling Championships has led to our hearing some things most viewers don't ordinarily hear during curling matches, in addition to the usual utterances of expletives now and then:

"Do you have any Kleenex back there?" -- a reference to the fact that curlers' noses usually run a bit while they are curling, and most clubs keep boxes of Kleenex on the walls at each end of the ice. I've never seen the boxes of Kleenex at the championships, but I assume they are there, somewhere.

"It's really hard to go to the bathroom here." -- Usually curlers take care of bathroom needs before the game or in a mad rush during the 5th end break. If it's a long, awkward journey, making a pitstop during the 5th end break can eat into your team's allotted time.

"Wow, did you see that woman!" -- I didn't really hear anyone say that.

Women's Worlds Update

Team Canada skipped by Kelly Scott jumped off to a 2-0 record after the first day of competition, defeating Switzerland 7- 4 and Germany 9-1.

It is disappointing that no one is telecasting these games to Canada. I'm especially puzzled that TSN didn't send a crew there to do at least one game per day. Fortunately for us addicts, CBC will televise the semi-finals on Saturday morning (March 24th) at 7am and the finals on Sunday morning at 1am. If you know of any site from Japan, Europe, or China that might be telecasting the round robin via broadband please let us know!

Also at 2W and no losses are the USA, Sweden, and Japan. The USA and Sweden are very strong teams, and as I recall, Japan did better than expected at the Olympics and might be in the hunt at the worlds this year.

Meanwhile for some information about how each of the teams is doing, click here. And for lines scores from each round, click here.