A LOVE LETTER TO CURLING
For a sport played on sheets of ice, it’s a remarkably warm and inviting experience
Rob Vanstone takes on the naysayers
MOOSE JAW A detractor of curling once responded to my mere mention of the sport by plugging his nose. Or was it my cologne?
“How can you watch curling?” I have been asked on other occasions by a harrumphing individual.
Curling isn’t for everyone but, from this perspective, the roaring game is exceptional for several reasons.
SPORTSMANSHIP
Call me old and stuffy, but I appreciate etiquette and respect — which the curlers and fans are demonstrating once again at the
Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
I love the teams’ pre- and postmatch handshakes. The fans, so knowledgeable, know when to be quiet — such as when a skip is in the hack, preparing for a crucial shot — and that cheering for a miss is verboten. Ditto for trashtalking.
(See also: Luther Invitational Tournament.)
THE CURLERS
Since I first covered the Scotties in ’89 — 1989, not 1889 — I have yet to meet one curler who did not conduct herself in impressive fashion.
Win or lose, curlers recognize that reporters have a job to do.
On Thursday night, legendary skip Jennifer Jones even asked a sniffling, sneezing scribe — assuredly a user of Scotties tissues — “how are you feeling?” en route to a scrum.
In a day and age in which athlete-reporter interactions are increasingly distant, a sprinkling of humanity is something to appreciate.
THE MEDIA
I was in a cavernous rut when I arrived at Mosaic Place on Thursday. It was a day off, actually, but I motored to Moose Jaw in the hope that a visit to the Canadian women’s curling championship would lift my spirits.
Mere minutes after planting myself on the media bench, I was yakking with TSN’S Vic Rauter. How many people do anything as well as Vic describes a curling match? Then I crossed paths with CBC’S inexhaustible Devin Heroux, a sensational person and journalist.
CKRM’S Mitchell Blair made me laugh, uncontrollably and therapeutically. (Memo to Mosaic Place security: We should not be allowed to interact at a public facility.)
Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun subsequently sat to my left and initiated a chat about football.
We agreed that Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo is an all-star person — so nice, in fact, that he could be a curler. And doesn’t it appear that Zach Collaros demonstrated greater arm strength as a Winnipeg Blue Bomber than he did as a Roughrider? I also chatted with Winnipeg Free Press wordsmith Melissa Martin who, like me, has recently lost a parent. Melissa, bless her heart, made me feel better. Thank you.
TRANSPARENCY
The best part of curling? There aren’t any secrets.
You don’t need to be a member of the Houston Astros to decipher what the opposition is doing.
Before every stone is cast, the curlers tell you exactly what is planned. They also inform the nation while wearing microphones for TSN.
Elite curlers allow the public to develop a greater understanding of the sport by sharing virtually everything they say with a nationwide audience — one that is also entertained and enlightened by my new friend Vic and his TSN colleagues, Russ Howard and Cheryl Bernard.
Curling is tailor-made for television but, even with that being evident, I will hurry — haaaaaarrrrrd! — back to Moose Jaw.