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·Played hooky one day this week and made the trip to see the Canadian Men's Curling Championships, also known as The Brier. Well, at least one session of it anyway...
Canada has been a powerhouse when it comes to curling, although the world is certainly catching up. So to see the best teams in Canada compete, is really watching many of the best teams in the world compete. For us, anything short of a gold medal at any Olympics or World Champs is basically considered a failure.
4 games are being played at the same time, so you have to pick your focus at any given moment. Only one of these was a real blowout, and the other three were quite competitive.
Two games went down to the last rock thrown to win the game. Both required a great shot to win, and both teams did just that. The televised game was on the far side of the rink from us, between Quebec and Team Canada (last year's Brier winners). This tournament will determine who goes on to represent Canada at the upcoming world championships.
Team Canada is Brad Gushue's rink from Newfoundland (he has won both Olympic gold and the world championship), and there are some very obvious fans in the crowd:
Only had my cell phone, so the above photo is a group of ladies in pink shirts, that when together spell out Gushue.
Here's a video of a bit of the action, and it may explain a few things in the thread title...
You can hear the "cowbells" in the first clip (some are actual bells, but others are plastic noise makers that have bell like sounds). In the second and third clip, I'm focused on the teams that were closest to us, and one of those teams is Nothern Ontario. They are in the green shirts, and they have a moose on the back of their shirts, and when they made a good shot, the moose calls from the crowd would happen.
The last clip is the last rock of the last match. In this team Canada needed to just skim the side of a Quebec rock to move that rock just enough so that one of their rocks was closest to the middle. If they did it they win, and if they missed it they lose. Brad threw a terrific shot, moving the Quebec rock just enough to win by one point. Since it was the televised match, they had a great overhead view of the house (where the rocks are) so that you could see it was executed perfectly.
Curling is often described as chess on ice, and there is certainly a lot of strategy involved. Teams can have very different styles, some very aggressive, some very conservative. It's really what works best for the group of 4 guys on your team. If you haven't seen any and get a chance to watch, you should check it out.
Cheers, Al
Canada has been a powerhouse when it comes to curling, although the world is certainly catching up. So to see the best teams in Canada compete, is really watching many of the best teams in the world compete. For us, anything short of a gold medal at any Olympics or World Champs is basically considered a failure.
4 games are being played at the same time, so you have to pick your focus at any given moment. Only one of these was a real blowout, and the other three were quite competitive.
Two games went down to the last rock thrown to win the game. Both required a great shot to win, and both teams did just that. The televised game was on the far side of the rink from us, between Quebec and Team Canada (last year's Brier winners). This tournament will determine who goes on to represent Canada at the upcoming world championships.
Team Canada is Brad Gushue's rink from Newfoundland (he has won both Olympic gold and the world championship), and there are some very obvious fans in the crowd:
Only had my cell phone, so the above photo is a group of ladies in pink shirts, that when together spell out Gushue.
Here's a video of a bit of the action, and it may explain a few things in the thread title...
You can hear the "cowbells" in the first clip (some are actual bells, but others are plastic noise makers that have bell like sounds). In the second and third clip, I'm focused on the teams that were closest to us, and one of those teams is Nothern Ontario. They are in the green shirts, and they have a moose on the back of their shirts, and when they made a good shot, the moose calls from the crowd would happen.
The last clip is the last rock of the last match. In this team Canada needed to just skim the side of a Quebec rock to move that rock just enough so that one of their rocks was closest to the middle. If they did it they win, and if they missed it they lose. Brad threw a terrific shot, moving the Quebec rock just enough to win by one point. Since it was the televised match, they had a great overhead view of the house (where the rocks are) so that you could see it was executed perfectly.
Curling is often described as chess on ice, and there is certainly a lot of strategy involved. Teams can have very different styles, some very aggressive, some very conservative. It's really what works best for the group of 4 guys on your team. If you haven't seen any and get a chance to watch, you should check it out.
Cheers, Al
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