Nearly sixteen years ago, my late friend Alan Adamson and I started a blog together about curling. We both liked the game because it is such an interesting combination of skill, strategy, and physical fitness. But neither one of us had ever set foot on a sheet of ice for curling.
After a few years of writing quite regularly on the blog, we convinced a local radio station that we should cover some major tournaments for them as journalist, including The Scott Tournament of Hearts (Canadian Women's Curling Championship), The Brier (Canadian Men's Curling Championship), and The Men's World Curling Championship when it was held in Regina. We even did radio play-by-play of a morning game during the Scott Tournament of Hearts because it wasn't being televised for some reason. We had a blast!
About then, Ms. Eclectic and I decided maybe we should actually try to play the game, and so we joined the local curling club, and I curled there once or twice a week for about three years before we moved back to London, Ontario. I wasn't good, but I enjoyed the game and I enjoyed trying to learn more about the game; I also enjoyed the friendship and camaraderie among the curlers. We never "got down in the hack" to slide the rocks down the ice; instead we used push sticks to propel them.
Here are some photos from those days. I knew I wasn't a good curler, so I went for "best-dressed curler" at some of the bon spiels.
Also about then, the Canadian Mint put out some quarters honoring curlers at the 2010 Olympics:
And I couldn't resist these curling cufflinks:
Here I am with a curling scarf that some generous and kind fans in Regina gave me while we were covering and reporting from the Men's World Curling championship:
Well....I've missed it. So on Monday I'm going to try it again. My friends from the Vanastra Curling Club send their sympathies to the folks at the London Curling Club.