Humbug

Some days you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you.

I am sad for our girls that they did not quite reach their long held goal of representing Canada at the Olympics. They worked long and hard for this chance and came up a little bit short, which is not hard to do in our beloved sport.

I am pleased for our girls that they had a pretty good week, curled well for the most part, Top scoring team, Top ranked Skip, and they finished much higher then all of the prognosticators and poll takers had forecast.

There were 6 other very good teams who would have chewed off an arm to be able to be throwing rocks today. There is some consolation in that somewhere but I can't hardly see it right now cause my eyes are a little fuzzy. Maybe next week it will become clear.

Good luck to Stefanie Lawton and her team, safe home for our gals for a well earned rest and then a regrouping for the Regionals in St. Thomas January 6th where hopefully they can get their groove back and put up some big W's.

Team Middaugh are still Champions in my book.

Miracle shot

That was a fantastic shot Sherry made to save the game against Colleen Jones. I don't think anyone but her and her team mates saw it, certainly neither I nor our fave TSN analysts gave her much hope but Sherry made the shot and even though the old #4 eyeball measuring device thought that it was not enough the real measure said it was our gangs rock for shot and my heart started again.

Tie-Breaker against hard to handle Stefanie Lawton at 7:30 AM EST on TSN and then the Semi-Final at 1:00 PM against Shannon Kliebrink.

I may have to Google Map the nearest Church and see if I can pay someone there to put in a good word or two.

I wonder if they sell votive candles at Safeway?

W5

The Run for the Bling is coming down to the wire and 5-3 is hugemungous in this competition but most importantly our heroes looked real good doing it. They started the game a little bit slowly but with Sherry's leadership and steady shotmaking they stayed close and managed to turn it up a couple of notches in the last 5 ends and played with confidence and style.

No matter what happens the rest of this tournament, I am very proud of the way they won this game tonite.

Now we play our old nemisis Colleen Jones in her home town swan song appearance. She could be tough but we need to win to clinch a playoff or at least a tie-breaker spot.

Shannon Kliebrink, our competition for the #3 spot in the playoffs, has, on the surface anyway, a tough game against Stefanie Lawton who, as we witnessed tonite has every kind of shot in her game bag and is going to be spitting mad after tonite's game.

I'm betting the organisers were breathing easier after the possibility of 7 teams being tied for 2nd place disappeared.


Hang on to your toques folks, this could get interesting.

L3

Well, now it gets complicated doesn't it?

While I have confidence that Coach Pat has it figured out it hurts my CPU to consider all of the possibilities so I'm just going to stay a passenger on the good ship Team Middaugh and trust the ladies to put it together and do what has to be done.

We got lemons, it's time to make lemonade.

PS: While Vic said last night that tonight's game would start at 10:30 PM EST the schedules all say it starts at 10:00 PM. Sometimes Vic gets tired and methinks he just mispoke.

W4

Three games to go in the Round She Goes and as it should be the gals have their fate in their own hands. All alone in third place with Kliebrink, Lawton and C. Jones to come over the next two days. Win all three and end up in first place. Sounds easy, rolls right off the tongue, really, really hard to pull off in this tough crowd where everyone seems to be getting better every game.

Kliebrink seems to have awakened her inner tiger and has been curling extremely well, backed up by the irrepressible Amy Nixon she is still a big threat. Stefanie Lawton is an awesome competitor and will be very tough to handle and there is lots of fight left in Colleen Jones who will want to go out swinging in what could be her last game in front of her home town crowd.

Our gals game against Lawton will be the featured matchup on TSN's delayed broadcast Wednesday night starting at 10:00 PM EST. It's pins and needles time for those of us who stand and wait.

There have been a few instances of what I would consider poor sportsmanship in the last few draws and I suppose it is a direct result of the tremendous pressure that must accompany the quest for Olympic glory. The stakes are high, emotions run riot.

On the other hand, it makes me even more proud of the sportsmanly manner our own ladies and so many others play the game and conduct themselves. They look and act like Olympians should and I remain extremely proud of them.

Gogetem

L2

Thank God for Tuesdays because if it's Tuesday it means that Monday is behind you and you can get your groove back. "Rainy days and Mondays always get me down" , now I get it.

L

Our gals slipped a little this morning and were trounced by Jennifer Jones who grabbed a 5 end in 8 to put a spike in what otherwise looked like a very competitive game. This was entirely my fault, (see below) and I apologise.

We will be back after a little self flagellation and ready to cheer on our gals against the Winnipeg expatriate Kelly Scott. This game will be the feature game on TSN 's late draw broadcast (6:30 EST) and will likely decide first place as both teams are 3-1.

Harrrdrrr

Dear Granite Gods

OK, I am very, very, very, sorry I mentioned the "Force" thing. I won't do it again. A 4 end yesterday, a 5 end today and not one "Force" against JJ is, I fervently pray, enough punishment for a tiny bit of hubris. Please restore the previous version of reality.

Humbly submitted

Webguy

W3

Wow, wasn't that impressive? I suppose if you shut your eyes during the 8th end it was an almost perfect game. Top of the Leader Board is a great place to be in a competition like this, especially with only a 3 team playoff format.

Staying on top will be tough however and first up tomorrow morning will be J. Jones of Winnipeg who is 2-1 and then in the evening draw the Scott team, also at 2-1 who have been picking the pockets of everyone they play. However our gals have a very high force percentage (forcing opponents to one) and after the game this afternoon qualify as equal to the task of stealing points from good teams so I hope they televise this one.

It's getting exciting, hold on to your seat cushions.

CurlTV

For those of you who may be curious I thought I would report on how CurlTV is living up to it's potential. I have been playing with it for a few weeks now and up until Saturday I would have told you it was a big mistake. I was willing to put up with the fairly Lo bandwidth delivery which makes for either a pretty good 3" picture or a very blurry full screen reproduction of the action as a tradeoff for being able to view the morning draws that the dinks at the CCA, TSN, CBC or whoever is responsible took away from us.

Last week however I noticed a little bit of fine print which said that CurlTV did not have permission to broadcast any games from the Big Three, Trials, STOH, Briar, but would broadcast interviews. Humbug!

However, they seem to have overcome this problem and yesterday I watched Colleen thump Marie France and it was pretty good, as I keyboard interface, I am watching John Morris give a lesson in building an end to Randy Ferbey, I am really pleased to be able to watch these and even more pleased to find a company that Under Promised and Over Delivered.

I still have issues with their use of DRM (Digital Management Rights), which every geek worth his salt hates, to protect their data stream and I think it is kind of cheeky to get all proprietary over the ownership of content which I don't think they are paying the main players (actors) for nor, to my knowledge, have they asked for permission to make money off of the backs and reputations of any of these curlers.

However, for about $70 I am getting something that those other turkeys (see acronyms above) deemed too much trouble to deliver and I would pay more to stick it in their eye and I am really looking forward to morning draws from the STOH and Briar.

All in all, a good purchase and there is much more potential if they get their act together and figure out the full capabilities of the technology and straighten up their current technical problems. Right now it seems they are in a little bit over their heads.

Gotta run, Morris is just about to pick up a 3 end and I want to watch. Hooray!

Huge Honour for our coach.

The best coach in the land and a great friend to have, our very own Pat "B" Reid was presented with the Presidents Award at the Trials Banquet last night, (Friday) for her many years of exemplar service to the CCA, OCA, the Canadian Olympic Committe and Curling everywhere.

This is a huge and very much deserved honour for Pat who gives and gives to her team, her sport and her country. Pat's razor sharp analysis and her willingness to roll up her sleeves and dig in has long been something that has amazed those who are priviledged to know her or fall into her orbit.

It just couldn't happen to a nicer or more richly deserving person. Pat's husband Bob, a real gentleman, should get an award of his own for the support he gives Pat and for helping her keep her many and varied committments.

Congratulations Pat

W2

Another W for our gals, this time over former Gold Medalist Jan Betker and the rest of the "Dream Team". Our squad looked calm, cool, collected and in control, really nice to see. They built some big ends and appear to be playing aggressively which is a good thing.

Next up, Sherry Anderson and her tough team from the Wheat Sheaf province. Too bad about that Vanier Cup, looked like a barn burner of a game, maybe next year Carrie.

Tomorrow, Sunday, High Noon in the Maritimes, see you there. Boy I love TSN, great to have LindaRayVic back.

W

Stealing two coming home 2 up without to chalk up a 9-5 opening round win over JoAnne Rizzo is pretty cool.

Our gals have sounded very determined and ready for this competiton for a few weeks now and getting this first win under their belts I am sure will go a long way to cement their resolve to let it all hang out at this edition of the Trials.

From the scoreboard it looks like a very close game and you have to give credit to JoAnne's lead Sarah Jane Gatchell who, up until the 10 end was turning in a 100% performance, finishing up at 98% is a great accomplishment. Our gals stats look impressive and most important, even across the board. You can win a lot of games if everyone is curling in the high 80's.

Tonight at 8:00 PM the Team takes on Jan Betker who got her ass kicked by Stephanie Lawton this morning but should be well rested and feeling mean by tonight.

Can't wait.