A Day At The World Mens Curling Championship

If I was going to get to the World Mens Curling Championship at the Brandt Centre, Monday was the only day to do so as I'll be off to Yorkton for Games 3 and 4 of the SJHL final and La Ronge for Game 5 on Friday with perhaps a return trip to both locales before everything is said and done.

Thus it was off to the Brandt Centre to catch the afternoon and evening draw with Mrs. Scruffy and the mother-in-law.

As I walked into the Brandt Centre, I went wait a minute what am I doing in this building when the WHL playoffs are on (I know--that's a cheap shot, but Cliff Mapes of the Pats took it in good strides when I told that to him and its meant in jest.)

Kudos to Derek Boe and the organizing committee as their efforts mean Regina is once again putting on a first class top-notch performance that should have everyone proud and the Canadian Curling Association and World Curling Federation thinking Regina is one of the best spots to host a curling event in this fine nation of ours.

One thing I wish I had known (although it would have only been in use for the evening draw) was that you could take a radio to the game and listen to the TSN crew calling the Canada-US game. That would have been much better than the endless droning of the Monday morning skip behind me who I think must have played the game when Garnet Campbell was a youngster. There's TSN curling commercials annoying and then there was this guy who thought every shot should be a certain double and he's too wide or he's going to miss it altogether only to see the perfect shot get played. 10 ends of that was almost a little too much.

In the afternoon draw, the Monday morning skips were behind me, but they were much better at analyzing the game and recommending what shot should be played. Their conversation at one point settled over Amber Holland and how great it was that she knocked off Jennifer Jones and that Jones shouldn't have been allowed as a Canadian champ to dump Cathy Overton-Clapham. This conversation seemed to go on for quite a while until Jones' 2nd Jill Officer showed up on the media bench which was right by us. This group did provide me with the quote of the day though.

Woman--"Where's (I didn't catch her name)---she's been here all week?
2nd woman--Oh, nothing interferes with her Monday afternoon card game. She'll be back tonight though."  SIGHHHHH!!!!

Speaking of the media bench, there's Murray McCormick of the Leader-Post hard at work....

Did I say Murray---hard at work. Yeah, right. In all seriousness, Murray along with Ian Hamilton, Greg Harder and Craig Slater are proving again why they are the best sports department in Canada with their coverage this week in the Leader-Post. I guess I can't forget about Vanstone's contributions either even though he was at home last night watching "Dancing with the Stars".

How can you not love the Norwegians and their curling pants....

Why aren't those being sold at the souvenir booth. They would make a mint. Me likey!!!
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Rod Pedersen is doing the Sportscage live from the Worlds all week...I dropped in on him and John Lynch doing their thing. Three women came walking by and Lynchie decided it was time to put the moves on and ladies and gentlemen, he was as smooth as a rural Saskatchewan highway. He just left Rod and I in awe. Yeah, OK I think you know where I'm going with this. Its all in hour 1 of the show which I'm sure is on his blog.
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I wanted a picture with Vic Rauter. DAMN IT!!!!
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The up close and personal feature in the Patch between the afternoon and evening draws was with the Amber Holland rink. At one point, the conversation got down to their panties. They aren't kidding when they say up close and personal. I missed the start of that conversation so I have no idea how it went there.
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Of course, the highlight of the (day) night was seeing Jeff Stoughton take on the Americans.

It was a nailbiter that came right down to the end before Stoughton stole one to take the victory. As we were leaving, I had a few people say they didn't think it was right that everyone was cheering a miss by the Americans. I can't say they were wrong, but Canada won so what the hell.

I forgot about how bad it is to get out of Evraz Place after a major event. The Evraz people really need to have someone out directing traffic to make the flow easier. It shouldn't take you a half hour to exit that parking lot.
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As I said off the top, I'm off to Yorkton for Game 3 of the SJHL final tonight between the Terriers and La Ronge. Look for this mug on Access 7's broadcast of the game---live at 730. Mike Stackhouse and Jay Boyd have done a good job in the last two games so I don't know why they want me to wreck it, but I will be there for intermission features and interviews. I'll try and bring you some shots from the Farrell Agencies Arena later tonite or tomorrow.
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Have a good one!