Game 8 Recap

I was worried about this game because I've practiced sliding with the opposing skip and vice before and I know that they're very consistent.  (They're also an A level team.)  Fortunately, their vice could not make it to the game so that was good.  I got to have my whole team together.

In the end, I had nothing to worry about as this was definitely one of our best games of the season.  We had a solid 9-4 win, which included an end where my team scored 5. 

I'm going to diagram my miracle shot.  The opposing team had a couple shots in this end where their plan B somehow ended up with rocks in the house behind the mess of guards. 

With all of the guards and the curl on the ice, I thought going off the corner was my best shot.  Surprisingly, I made the shot, though the roll was a little bit too far.  I was also surprised that the opposing skip missed the takeout twice.

In the fifth end, the opposing team put together a nice end to score two, which made the score 9-2.  For the 6th end, I realize that the strategy is to take everything out and keep the ice clean.  But I feel weird about doing that.  Instead, I just play rocks in the house.  If they want to freeze or take them out, that's fine.  By my first shot, I had an open takeout on their shot rock.  If I made the shot, my team would sit five (really, it just wasn't their night.)  I don't try to run up the score out of a sense of meanness; it's just not in my nature to not try to score.  Anyway, Vice made me throw a guard on their rock instead of the takeout.  They scored two for the end and Vice gets credit for being much more sportsmanlike than me.

This brings our record to 6-2 and the competitive record to 2-2. 

Game 7 Recap

This game came on the Sunday following the Fireball Bonspiel.  I remember telling my brother about the possibility that I might hoist the trophy (or whatever the prize is) for the bonspiel at 3PM and then curl just a few hours later for my league game.  As it turned out, I didn't play on Sunday at all.  As the father of a young baby, not playing on Sunday was nice as I really hadn't spent very much time with my wife and baby during a hectic thanksgiving weekend.  But competitor me is getting a little tired of not even getting to Sunday in my last three bonspiels.

Anyway, back to the game.  When I walked into the club, I looked up at the board and saw that I was up against another A team for this game.  (I've since checked the "competitive" list and they're on there.)  Vice couldn't make the game as he was still on the road coming back from his sister's wedding that weekend.  I couldn't find a sub so we were playing with three.  I was somewhat comforted by the fact that my opponents were also playing with just three.

It just wasn't our night though.  We couldn't make anything the whole night.  In the third end, my opponents were sitting two and I had an open draw to score 1.  I ended up being 10 feet short of the house. 

This brings us to the fourth end and my second shot.  My team is down 3-1 and I already knew that we were struggling with both weight and line.  My team is red and the circled (in green) rock was my first shot (again short of the house). 

I have one obvious shot: raise my previous stone into the house.  Of course, I feel weird about that shot based on my previous shot and the previous end.  So instead, I think, "Well, let's save 1 point and keep hammer and hopefully set up for a better end the next time around."  I go for the takeout on the left side.  I put a lot of weight on the rock, but it still curled back enough to hit the guard so the other team still scored two for the end.  Both a bad call and a bad shot.  Things didn't really improve from there.

This brings the record to 5-2 and the competitive record to 1-2.  For our next game, our opponents are on the competitive list, but I'll have my whole team back, which hasn't hapenned in a few weeks.

Holiday/Christmas Gifts for Curlers

So you know a curler and you want to get them a gift, or you're a curler and want some items for your wishlist.  Here are some ideas:

1. Books.  My personal favorite gameplay books are Curl to Win by Russ Howard and Curling Secrets by Colleen Jones.  Fit to Curl by John Morris is great for the fitness types.   Curling, Etcetera by Bob Weeks is great for the trivia buffs. 

2. Clothing.   Loudmouth pants (the pants worn by the Norwegian men's curling team) are still popular here in St. Paul, so that trend might continue another year.  There are many t-shirts out there, but this one is the cutest.  (Future post idea: Top 5 curling shirts)  I'm sure you were wondering about this, but they do make curling themed underwear as well.

3. Equipment.  I could suggest lots of equipment, but I think it's better if a curler just adds exactly what they want to their wishlist.  If you really want to spend the money, I'm guessing you'd make a curler feel really special if you got them a carbon fiber broom (here's one option).   Broom bags are reasonably priced gifts, but I would suggest it only for someone that goes to bonspiels.  I normally wouldn't suggest a broom head has a gift, but this one is good for a skip (credit to nohocurling for posting that).

4. Games.  There's a new card game called Hurry Hard.  (No idea if it's fun.)  On the Button Gifts has some nice curling themed games as well.

5. Other.  There's curling jewelry and glasses and paperweights and all sorts of other stuff.  Here's a good collection of mostly glassware and here's probably the most random selection of curling themed items. 

Any other ideas for curling themed gifts?  Let me know.

Game 6 Recap

First, happy Thanksgiving!  On to the post...

It's official.  I'm skipping an A level team.  My opponents this time got three points, making them a D level team.  This is quite a fall for them as last season, they shook off a slow start to be in the hunt for second half champion.  (FYI, we have champions for first half, second half, and the full season, which gets you into the top bracket for the playdowns.)

The final score was 10-4 after five ends, though I would add that the game was closer than that.  This was a case where their rocks were just a little long or just a few inches off line and my team was able to take advantage. 

After having my team together the last few weeks, both Lead and Second were out.  (Second's in Florida having a small destination wedding.  Congrats!)  And I was able to get some of my regular subs to play for them so that was good.

I'm going to outline the last shot here.  The first few stones were spent playing freezes and a couple takeouts, which account for the rocks in the house.  After a few missed shots from the opposing team, I was able to set up all of the guards (my team is red).  For his last shot, Vice and I suggested to the opposing third that they try to raise their high guard to try to score one.  (I do realize that shot could have easily raised a red rock, but they really didn't have much choice.)  As it turns out, he missed the raise, but still hit the corner guard.  Off the bounce, it was headed towards the button and Vice even helped the opposing third try to sweep it in, but it wasn't meant to be.  I think that pretty much shows how their game went.

This game brings our record to 5-1 and our competitive record remains at 1-1. 

Game 5 Recap

This past game was against a C level team and they got one point.  I was surprised at this because I know that this team (at the very least their skip) has played in some international type competitions.  They were playing with only 3 while I had my regular team together.

I think this game might have been determined by the front end play.  This just wasn't a good night for the opposing first as only a handful of his rocks would stay in play during the game.  In the second end, this helped lead to my team having all 6 rocks in play before I even threw my first rock and no opposing stones; we stole three in that end. 

Now, the final score was (I believe) 7-4 after 6 ends, but I have to say that the opposing skip had some really lucky shots.  One of them was pretty similar to my own luckiest shot (he missed his original shot, but made an unbelievable double raise to score two).  The other lucky shot came in the fourth end.  I don't remember exactly what all was happening on the left side, but no one was going to draw on that side.  The opposing skip draws to the right side.  The rock looks like it's going through the house and Vice gets ready to sweep it, when all of a sudden, it picks on something in the house and makes a sharp right turn to land on the button.  They score one. 

Afterward, we looked under the rock and we found a hair.  We believe that it's one of Vice's beard hairs.  If this happens again, I'm going to make him shave or wear a surgical mask or something. 

Our record is now 4-1 and our competitive record remains at 1-1.  I'm wondering if we'll be bumped up to A level soon.  I feel weird about that; I can't imagine anyone thinking that my team is one of the best in the league.  It's not like we have matching outfits or play multiple times a week or go to lots of bonspiels or have really expensive equipment (only Vice and I have curling shoes). 

Also on this subject, I've always felt that our handicaps are based on small sample size (in my case, two of my wins came against D level teams and one against a C level).  It'd be cool if someone could come up with a BCS type algorithm, maybe take the final scores into account to come up with a ranking that's a little less subjective.  Just a thought. 

Game 4 Recap

This time we're playing a team on the competitive list and our first A level team of the season.  My team got a handicap of 1 point.  Their team had only two losses last year, so I think the 1 point is justified.

For the first two ends, my play was really terrible.  I hogged my first three rocks and my fourth rock was way off line.  Fortunately, the opposing skip also was having an off night and after two ends, my team was up 4-0. 

Then, they took control for the next two ends.  Here's a diagram for one of the shots they made. 

The skip would tell me later this was  luck, but at the time, I was thinking, "That's why they're A level".  I would happen to make a nice (lucky) shot to turn what could have been a score of 4 for them to a score of 2 so that was a relief.

So after the fourth end, my team is up 4-3.  In the fifth end, their team completely broke down.  By the opposing skip's second shot, my team is sitting 4 and they have just one rock in play up front.  And surprisingly, the opposing skip hogged his shot.  Wow.  Like everyone else, Vice and I will point out where we would like the rock to end up before setting the broom.  This time however, Vice pointed to the entire house and said anywhere.  I had just enough on the shot and we scored 5. 

In the next end, Lead made a couple really nice biters.  The opposing skip went for the takeout both times, except that left their rocks in front of the house.  Was that the right strategy?  I'm not sure.   Would it have been better just to try to draw behind them?  The takeout was the much more reliable shot, but I think you want as many rocks in play in an effort to score at least 3.

Anyway, everyone made their takeouts and they only scored one for that end.  That was the game after 6 ends.  This brings the record to 3-1 with a 1-1 record vs. "competitive" teams.

Game 3 Recap

Got the team back together for the first time this season so that was fun.  Our opponents get a two point handicap and we would also learn that this was their first year in the league.  This was only their second game as they were a replacement team after a team no showed their first week.  They were definitely new to curling as I had to give a couple explanations on rules during the game. 

My team played very well during the game.  The final score was 11-5 and my team's score might have been better if the third end had gone better. 

So we're in the third end and the score is 7-2.  My team is yellow and after Lead's rocks, things are looking good for this end with a rock buried.  I called a draw (1) for Second and then he was short with his first shot.  I compounded this call with my next call for him to draw even further to the side (2) and he was short again.  In Second's defense, I should have called for a lot more weight on these shots as that ice really hadn't been used that much by this point in the game.

As it turns out, by the time my shots came around they were sitting two.  My second shot was completely messed up and I raised one of their rocks in and they ended up scoring three. Fortunately, that end was a wakeup call for my team and we got ourselves back on track after that end. 

I'm not sure calling rocks in the house on that side was the correct call.  My feeling at the time was that my team didn't have hammer for that end and I could force them to try to take out our rocks.  I wasn't going to call any shots on the other side as a miss may have raised the opponents' stone.  Maybe another center guard would have been helpful.  In that case, a raise takeout for the opponents would be difficult and drawing to either side would be useless unless they find a way to take out the rock on the button.

Anyway, after the game, the opposing skip said, "Thanks for the education".  So I guess he learned a couple things during the game. 

FYI, this game brings our record to 2-1, but our record against "competitive" teams remains at 0-1.

One more thing.  My team is interested in finding one more person to play with them for the novice bonspiel (since I aged out).  Let me know if you'd like to play with my very fun teammates.

Bonspiel Update

So I have found a bonspiel to go to.  I will be at the Fireball Bonspiel with my brother, a Bond Girl, and her husband.  All are flying from California just for this.  Well, my brother is also going to spend Thanksgiving up here. 

Since a Bond Girl is involved, we are likely to stream our games online.  Our video stream would be much better if there's commentary, and as I've written previously, doing curling commentary is a lot of fun, especially if you're with a friend.  We would love it if you did commentary for our games.  I'll have to talk to the Bond Girls about this, but maybe we can give you a Bond Girls sticker or some other swag as a token of our appreciation.

Also, my brother leaves late on Saturday night of the bonspiel so if we're playing on Sunday (which would be a first for me in several years), we'd need a sub.  (In his defense, the plane tickets for leaving the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend were a lot cheaper compared to Sunday.)  Anyway, let me know if you could be an alternate for my team. 

Looking forward to it and maybe I'll meet some of you there. 

Game 2 Recap

Our game 2 opponent was a fairly new team to the club as this season is only their second season.  We got a 2 point handicap as a result.  Lead was back for the game, but I learned that Vice was sick roughly an hour before the game.  E-mails to my normal subs and asking people on Twitter did not come up with anything so we played with three people.  Lead and Second had good draw weight for most of the game, which made things so much easier for me.  We stole several ends and we won the game 7-3.  This brings our record to 1-1.  For the "competitive" teams, our record remains at 0-1.  (I've decided to separately keep track of our record against "competitive" teams to give myself an idea as to what would have happened if the league realignment had actually occurred."  The opposing skip has definitely improved from last year.  There were several ends where we stole one point, but if it weren't for his shots, we probably could have scored more than one.

In this end, the opposing team has hammer, my team is yellow, and I believe we were up by two.  It's the opposing skip's first shot.  I was thinking the easiest shot would be to take out the rock in the top of the house and try to get a double.  With the curl on the right side, it may have been possible to draw on that side; shot rock was probably unlikely, but saving two was possible.  The opposing skip went for the hit and roll with the rock on the left side.  He almost got the roll, but was still able to get second shot rock. 

I don't remember what I did on my shot.  But the opposing skip has a few options.  One option is raise on the left side, but you need some curl on the shot to get around the guard.  Another possibility is to go down the middle.  While that shot would have been interesting (who doesn't want to see lots of rocks crashing into each other?), it's possible that their own rock would have been taken out and that would be much worse; at best they would only be scoring one.  I guess it might have been possible to go for a double raise or something like that off the guard, but that's still just as dangerous.  He went for the draw and missed.  To me though, getting the hit and roll on his first shot was still a very good outcome.

Game 1 Recap

First, an update on the A More Competitive League post.  I guess not enough teams opted in on the competitive league (or maybe it was logistically difficult to do that grouping).  Looking at the schedule, I count 7 teams from the competitive team list.  There are 10 teams in the other league, including the very accomplished curler.  So fairly even.

Lead couldn't make the game.  (Curling season came up on us a little early.)  Here's a tip.  Don't schedule a sub who's running the Twin Cities Marathon that morning.  Needless to say, we ended up playing with just three people. 

On a side note, my team has a game scheduled on 11/27, which is the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Let me know if you want to sub with my team that night.

Back to the game.  Our first game was against a team on the competitive team list and there was no handicap.  (I assume that the teams all get the same handicap from the end of last year, so I'm guessing we're both B level.)  Vice and I got out on the ice about 15 minutes before the game and we could both tell that we were a little rusty.  Perhaps not surprisingly, to sum up, my team really had trouble with weight the whole game.  Mainly we were throwing light, which was kinda tough on Second who had to sweep a rock all the way most of the night.  The opposing team stole a point the first three ends (my team had trouble with takeouts those first three ends).  We were able to score two in the fourth end (I somehow got a double takeout.)

So now in the fourth end, they have hammer and my team just had nothing on this end.  I'm looking at something like this for my second shot.  (My team is yellow.)

As I saw it, I could try to draw on the left side to try to save two points or go for the raise on the right and possibly get a steal.  My feeling was that I could miss the draw completely and crash into the guard, not to mention I hadn't figured out my draw weight yet.  So I went for the raise but missed the angle on that.  The other team was able to draw on the left side and scored 4. 

We played two more ends after that and my team did score one point for both ends, but it wasn't enough and I called it after the seventh.  In retrospect, we were playing a good team and since my team struggled with our shots, the game could've been a lot worse.  But next week, we'll get Lead back and we'll have the whole gang back together.

Looking for a Bonspiel

As I've said earlier, I aged out of the Novice 5 and Under Bonspiel this past season so I'm on the lookout for a new bonspiel that I can convince my teammates to do.  Let's look at a couple that I found.

Sin Sity Spiel - This one is about 6 weeks from now and if you can't guess from the name, it takes place in Las Vegas.  This one might be a good fit for my team as both Vice and Second are engaged (not to each other, not that there's anything wrong with that.)  What could be better for a bachelor weekend?  Curling, gambling, even Olympian Chris Plys will be there.  It's kind of expensive though at $400 per team.  The schedule is kind of insane too since the curling will be nonstop for all 48 hours of the bonspiel.  (There may also be some fun conversations wtih significant others when we say, "Honey, why don't you take care of the baby all weekend?  I'll be hanging out in Vegas.  Have fun!")

Beers of the World Bonspiel - This bonspiel features beer tasting along with all of the normal bonspiel type stuff.  When I told my wife about this, she said, "Don't you already get enough beer at a regular bonspiel?"  That's true, but regardless, it sounds kind of fun though.  On a related note, Lead thinks there should be something like a "Vice-Spiel" where basically all kinds of vices are celebrated.  So during this hypothetical bonspiel, there'd be cigar smoking, gambling, all sorts of drinking, etc.  Obviously, some (all?) of this stuff happens anyway, but more as a side to the bonspiel.  Anyway, the Beers of the World Bonspiel will be taking place in Columbus, OH on December 2.  Kind of a drive for us. 

Triathlon - I haven't seen anything on this yet for this year, but I've been told that it's really fun.  The triathlon in this case is composed of curling, bowling, and darts.  This takes place in Fargo, ND and the obvious joke is, "What else is there to do there?"  It'd be nice if the three sports are within walking distance of each other (I have no idea if they are).  I'm guessing it'd be dangerous otherwise or they'd need shuttles or something.

Anyone else know of any interesting bonspiels?

A More Competitive League

I recently got an e-mail proposing that my curling league may cherry pick teams from the Sunday night leagues to form a more competitive league.  Surprisingly, my team was on the list of teams that would make up this new league.  (I guess it's not completely implausible; we ended last year as a B level team with a pretty good 10-7 record.)  However, I look at the list of other teams and see several teams that dealt us our 7 losses.  Also, not naming names here, but one of the other skips on the list is a VERY accomplished curler.  We have a choice on the matter so, as Lead put it: "So our choices are to play against teams that will mostly destroy us, or to be grouped with teams that our past record would indicate we are slightly to much better than... On the one hand we will finish early and get free beer, on the other hand we will finish early to on time and have to buy beer."

I'm leaning towards voting for the "realignment" though I'm a little worried that if we truly are outmatched, it may not be as fun to play.  I used to play foosball with a friend of mine nearly every day for a few months (there was a table at work), but he had also played damn near every day during college and after a while, the losing got to me.  Maybe I could've practiced to get better or something, but it's just foosball, and it wasn't getting to not be fun.  (I've played foosball just a handful of times since.)  I'd hate for this to happen with curling. 

But right now, I kinda want to see if my team can hang with these other teams.  Several of my team's losses came down to the last end and maybe things might break differently.  What do you think?  Would you choose to be in the more competitive league?

Curling Book Review - Curl to Win

I'm at home today to stay with the little guy, who's running a fever.  But he's asleep right now, so maybe I can write a quick post during his nap.

I don't feel like writing about a curling patent right now, but I thought I'd write about my favorite curling book: Russ Howard's Curl to Win.  There are seven chapters which can be summed up as: General, Delivery, Sweeping, Game Plan, Strategy, Team Building, and Mental Toughness, but the reason that I like this book so much is the chapter on strategy. 

On a side note, I happen to play a little bit of poker (not very well) and my favorite poker books are the Harrington on Hold 'em series by Dan Harrington.  Basically, the books are comprised of a number of poker scenarios and the author walks you through the thought process and goes through the advantages and disadvantages that a player could make in all of these scenarios. 

Back to curling, Curl to Win has twenty scenarios covered in the strategy chapter.  Howard doesn't go over all of the possible choices (as I have in several of my strategy posts), but he gives a good comparison on how most curlers may play the shot and what is likely to be the better strategy.  I have yet to see a better set of strategy discussion in any other curling book, though Colleen Jones' Curling Secrets has a pretty good strategy discussion as well.

I also think the section on delivery would help curlers of all levels.  It's always good to go over fundamentals and there's a good summary of differents practice drills to help on your accuracy.  Maybe Vice and I will go through some of the drills when curling starts up again. 

Anyway, since most of us have no curling for summer, I'd suggest giving this book a read in preparation for the winter. 

(Just finished writing this post and he's still asleep.)

Brier Ball and a Related Curling Patent

Recently, I found this patent, which describes a game combining golf and curling and I think it looks really fun.  Pretty simple concept.  Instead of curling rocks, you use golf balls and you putt them into the house.  This patent details a particular shape which includes other inclines (possibly to differentiate from prior art already being sold). 

Surprisingly, the only golf/curling game I can find online is Brier Ball.  I like the Brier Ball setup better than the one described in the above patent because it has a house on both ends, just like in regular curling, which I think would be more convenient.  However, this thing costs $995.  How many people have actually bought one of these things at that price?

How come no one has anything like this, but a lot cheaper?  I think a game like this would be really cool to have at a summertime bonspiel where you'd set it up outside the curling club and have golf/curling games go on while other teams are playing.  Or maybe I could just set one up on my lawn during a party.

I doubt you could patent the cheap version (due to the existing prior art, unless you got really specific in the patent.)  However, no cheap golf/curling game exists currently (or isn't marketed at all) and I feel like someone could make a decent side business out of this.

Update/Non Curling Post

Sorry for not updating recently (almost a month), but you know, the little curler does take up some time.  In case you're wondering, everything with the little guy is going well and he's, of course, very cute.

My other excuse for not posting this past month is that I started a new job.  (Woohoo!  More money!  More interesting work!)  Let's just say that my old job occasionally had some down time (and a decent amount of privacy) where writing my posts was a lot easier.  Don't worry though.  The little guy's going to sleep more and by the time curling season starts again, I think we can expect regular posts again. 

Until then, I have a list of interesting curling patents I intend to tackle over the coming months. 

2011 Golden Gate Bonspiel

I was not at the Golden Gate Bonspiel this past weekend, but my brother was, and I'll post some random thoughts on it.

• My brother did not get to play in the bonspiel, but has learned the lesson that it's a good idea to sign up for a bonspiel on the first day.  Incidentally, one of my brother's teammates got to play one game as a spare, but of course it was for the Saturday 7AM game.
• The bonspiel was held at the Sharks Ice at Fremont which is the official practice ice for the San Jose Sharks.  My brother hadn't been there before and noted that it was nice that they have a bar and restaurant there.  Apparently, the Oakland Ice Center is a public facility and therefore can't have the extras like that. 
• I was rooting for The Bond Girls: Bonus Edition, but it wasn't meant to be I guess.  It was good to see the Bourbon Cowboys make it to the B finals.  I wonder if I'll ever make it to the finals of any bonspiel.
• Probably due to the recent Norway/Loudmouth visit, my brother reported seeing lots of crazy pants.  Also, goldengatespiel posted this picture.  I don't know about you, but I can't imagine spending $325 for one of those jackets.

• My brother told me that he could say to people that he's the brother of StPaulCurler and there was instant recognition.  I thought that was kind of cool.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised as roughly a third of the hits to this blog have come from California, the most of any state/country.  I'll have to play at a bonspiel in California some day.  I would love to meet all of you in person.

Curling Patent - Tabletop Curling on Ice

This just seems kind of silly.  You can't really tell from the picture, but what's being patented is tabletop hockey, but on a table containing a refrigeration unit that can create actual ice for your game.

In the patent, they discuss the possibility of changing the design "to mimic the sport of curling."  They go on to say, "In such a case, miniature brooms and a miniature curling stone could be used on the sheet of ice". 

How would this even work?  I'm trying to imagine something like table shuffleboard, but on ice.  And while I think it might be funny to sweep a miniature stone with a miniature broom, I just don't think that would ever be practical.  Also, because you can't really replicate the physics of curling (heavy rock on bumpy ice) at the tabletop level, I feel like I would just go with something like the Cool Curling table.  This way, you don't have to deal with the added headache of trying to regulate the ice on your little tabletop.

So in general, I think this is kind of a ridiculous invention (for curling or hockey or anything else), but if you actually have one of these things, I would love to see it. 

Curling Patent Application - Instruments for Tracking Stones

Here's another interesting patent application I found.  (This is something I do at work when things get slow.)  Curling is only mentioned once in this patent, which is obviously targeted at golf, but let's talk about it anyway.  Here's a picture for the golf scenario.

This is a fairly long patent (27 pages with 14 pages of text), but I believe the gist of the idea is on a golf course, you set up lots of radio transmitters.  As a golf ball is in the air, radio signals will bounce off the golf ball.  This happens many times a second and by analyzing how all these radio signals from all of the radio transmitters are affected by the golf ball, one can discern the true path of the golf ball and its rotation while it was in the air.  Additionally, you can add other sensors for measuring wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, and any other environmental factors that may also contribute to the golf ball path.

This seems really complicated and expensive.  I can imagine that there are easily thousands of dollars of hardware needed to set this up for just one hole in golf.  I can also see that an elite golfer could really learn something if all of this data were available for analysis. 

Back to curling.  As I said earlier, curling is mentioned once (page 16) in a list of of sports where this technology could be used.  This list also included a number of popular sports (including, inexplicably, boxing) so adding curling to this was a clear attempt to make the patent as broad as possible.  I'm not a patent attorney, but my guess is that if someone designed something like this specific to curling and patented it, I doubt there would really be an infringement.

But would this be valuable in curling?  I think you would need an empty curling club to make this work.  Otherwise, you'd have lots of people and dozens of rocks that would cause interference to radio signals.  But if it were possible, how valuable is it to know the speed and rotation of a rock as it goes down the ice?  I can see some value in that, but maybe not with a system like this.

The Norway Curling Team Visits the Bay Area

The Norway Curling Team was in the Bay Area last week.  My brother was there and recorded some videos.
First, here's a video of Christoffer Svae, the mastermind behind the pants.


There's no video of this, but my brother told me that later, there was another interview where Svae was asked what he thought about San Francisco and part of the response was "San Francisco women love the pants."

Here's a video of Markus Hoiberg, who is now the team's alternate:


Apparently, due to the popularity of the pants, Loudmouth sponsors the entire contingent of Norway curlers so juniors and all of the other teams wear something from Loudmouth.  And it seems that lots of people bought pants that weekend.  I'd be curious to see pictures from the upcoming Golden Gate Bonspiel to see if it's a huge collection of the loudest curling attire possible.

So there was a game where the Norwegian team played a house team that's local and it wasn't even close.  We don't have a final score because they stopped scoring pretty early on so it must've been really bad.  Also, one of the Norwegians said that there were more people watching this demo game than had watched the Norwegian nationals.

Anyway, it looks like it was a good time.   

Curling Patent - Electrically Heated Hand Grip

Similar to the first patent I discussed, this curling related patent also has to do with a battery powered heating element.  This time however, the heating element goes on the broom shaft.

Basically, what we have here is a heating element that can attach to a handle or shaft in a few ways (it could wrap around it, fit over the top, etc.)  There's a switch for controlling the heat and possibly changing the temperature.  There could be a little light for indicating if the device is on.  Pretty simple, but he got 18 pages out of it for the patent.  (Is that a sign of a good lawyer?)

While the idea seems to have been conceived in relation to golf, the inventor, Vaughn Marquis, also included a list of other possible sporting goods this device could be used with, including curling brooms.  It seems that Vaughn Marquis is also a patent attorney and the patent is written as broadly as possible.  For all you aspriring inventors, having as broad a patent as possible should help you derive some value out of it.  One embodiment he missed though would be heating up the handle for a curling stick.  (Go ahead and take the idea, aspiring inventor.)

I don't play golf, but I can see how this might be kind of nice to have on a cold day.  I can't really imagine though that the market for people who play golf on cold days is really all that big.  I like the embodiment of having a heated hand grip on a cane or on a walking stick.  However, there's at least one other patent related to having heated handles on canes.  I guess someone's figured out that's likely a much bigger market.

On the subject of having a heated hand grip on a curling broom, I can't imagine anyone I know using one.  If your hands are cold, you wear gloves or mittens and you might take them off later or when it's your turn to throw a rock.  And then there's the problem of dropping your broom on the ice and heating element melting that part of the ice.  I'm guessing your local ice technician would be unhappy if this happened.  What do you think?

World Senior/Mixed Doubles Curling Championships

With my mother in law in town, I was able to spend a few hours at the St. Paul Curling Club to watch some of the World Curling Championships.  Vice and I were worried about paying to get in because on the website, it says that tickets are $35 for each day.  We were thinking that if there was an even higher price at the door that we may not even want to pay to get in.  Fortunately, for St. Paul Curling Club members, the price is only $10.  (I asked if they needed some form of proof that we're members, but they said they didn't.)  The woman at the ticket counter was in Mankato for the Curling Club Nationals and actually recognized me and Vice from that (Kind of surprising, at least to me) . 

Vice and I stopped by the table for Shot Rock Curling.  In the center of the table, there was a pair of baby sized curling shoes.  Vice thought that my little curler should have a pair, but at $35, that's pretty steep (and ultimately useless.)  We learned that having the baby sized curling shoes in the center of the table has worked really well for Shot Rock Curling because somehow it just draws people in and they have to look at them, even if people aren't really in the market for baby sized curling shoes. 

On the first floor of the curling club, they've set up some bleachers in front of sheets D, E, and F, but they were somewhat empty when we were there because the US team was playing on sheet G.  Upstairs, they had chairs all along the glass and then long taller tables with high top chairs behind.  Normally, the club isn't set up for a large audience and I was curious to see what would happen with a big event like this.

Vice and I sat upstairs so that we could get some food and drinks.  We sat in front of sheets A, B, and C.  Korea was playing Finland in Mixed Doubles on sheet A, Estonia was playing New Zealand in Mixed Doubles on sheet B, and Russia was playing Australia on sheet C.  I think it's interesting to see all these random countries there.  I mean, who knew that there was curling in New Zealand? 

We were sitting by another St. Paul Curling Club manager.  I asked him whether or not I would win at least one game if I were competing in mixed doubles, and, unlike Dex, believed that I would win at least one so I thought that was a good (semi) vote of confidence. 

Vice and I were kind of surprised that the Championships didn't do all of the official type stuff we saw in Mankato.  The rocks were the regular curling club rocks and were not the kind with the hog line violation LEDs.  Also, the games aren't timed, apparently because they couldn't get enough timers so they just told all the players to go fast.  And lastly, the club's regular scoreboards are covered up with new World Championship type scoreboards, but with the scoring done in the baseball style.  I remember the club scoreboard first being explained to me five years ago and now I find baseball style scoring really foreign.

To sum up, we had a great time hanging out at the curling club for a few hours and talking curling with anyone sitting by us.  And we saw some close games especially with Estonia barely getting past New Zealand.  With a huge sigh of relief, the Estonia male player just held his arms up with his hands making peace signs after they clinched the win on the last shot.  Were I to ever play in a tournament of this caliber and actually win one game, I'd probably have a similar gesture afterward.

Curling Patent Application - Energized Curling Broom

As I talked about earlier, during the summer, I'll occasionally discuss patents related to curling.  What makes me qualified for this?  In my real life, I'm an engineer and I have one patent and one patent pending.  Also, I don't really see anyone else writing about this at the moment. 

For my first post on this, I've picked the "Energized Curling Broom" from Johannes Hoesli, US patent application 12/380884.  From what I can tell, this is also pending in Canada.  Let's look at the main picture:

Kind of a simple idea, right?  You have a "Device for Energy Transmission" which in the patent is described as capable of delivering, for example, "heat, vibration, or irradiation" that would then melt the ice a little.  It's wise to make the energy transmission device as general as possible just in case some new technology comes up.

However, I can't really imagine that with current technology that a battery that fits inside a curling brush would be able to power anything for an entire game.  Also, most updates to brooms have the aim of making a broom lighter (carbon fiber brooms, for instance.)  Adding a battery and the energy transmission device would add a significant amount of weight to a curling broom, which wouldn't be fun.  It would have to far surpass what you can get from an Equalizer brush head since you would have to work that much harder as you sweep.

I'm not 100% on the rules of curling, but wouldn't a device like this be illegal, at least for official type games?  Maybe no one's tried before.

For the several thousand it must have cost to file this patent in both the US and Canada, I guess I'm unsure the inventor would make money.  It looks like this patent was filed without a patent attorney, so at least there was some money saved there.  Also, FYI, this is actually the shortest patent I've ever looked at with only 3 pages, with only one page of actual text. 

What do you think?  Would you buy one?  I (and Johannes Hoesli) would like to know.

Updates from San Francisco

My brother has now played two games in his current five week league.  His team all has team t-shirts, which are very fun.  (Next year, you can see me play in the extra shirt he bought for me.)  They also all have Tournament Performance brooms.  Not sure if they all have shoes now, but two of them recently purchased the Olson Ole/Fly shoes, and I know they got some colors, but not sure which.  They're a very coordinated and prepared team. 

My brother skipped both of his past two games.  He won his first game, and even made a (lucky) double raise takeout that also required his rock to go through a pretty small port; they scored two for the end.  His team lost the second game pretty badly.  Apparently, the ice was also tough to deal with, but that's what happens with arena ice I guess.  A funny thing he said to me: "You're used to ice that you can see through."  I guess I am and I didn't even realize that one might play without that kind of ice.  Maybe at some point he'll remember a strategy decision or two and we'll discuss that here.

Dad's Little Curler

In case you care, my son was born recently.  If you know me, you've seen pictures of him already.  But for the rest of you, here's a picture of a onesie an old teammate made for me.  He's just a few months older than Second's son, who's a few months older than Lead's daughter.  Maybe in a few years, we'll be hanging out with the other parents on Saturday mornings at the St. Paul Curling Club.

Novice Bonspiel Recap

I had to get my post on the greatest shot of my life out before I forgot, but now I'm ready to write a general recap of my experience at the Novice Bonspiel at the St. Paul Curling Club.
First off, congratulations to the Rohde rink for winning the third event.  I finally got to meet him in person on Saturday and hopefully, my team will get to play his at some other bonspiel in the future.

Since Friday was April Fool's Day, we thought it'd be funny to show up in hockey jerseys and Vice and Lead wore hockey helmets.  I also wore a hockey glove when I wasn't throwing.  Also, before the game, we kinda messed around hitting a puck on the ice with our brooms.  And my signal for takeouts was changed to the cross checking motion.

Anyway, we won our first game 12-6.  I feel like the main difference my opponents and my team was that their lead continually threw rocks through the house and Lead kept his in play.  Also, Vice had a double takeout, which is always nice for making up for some other misses earlier in that end.  Our opposing skip brought root beer schnapps and we all did a root beer barrel after the game.  Cool team to hang out with after the game.

Because our first game was at 5PM on Friday, we also get to play at 8:30AM the following Saturday.  (We stayed for a while after our first game, but didn't close the place down or anything afterward.)  Our opposing skip is a guy that's subbed for my team before so that was cool to play his team.  I don't remember the final score, but I believe it would have been something like 9-8.  In the last end, they were down four, but only had the ability to score three.  I didn't really call a particularly great game, but I think we all played well and both Vice and Second had double takeouts.  And even though it was still morning after our game, we stayed a while with the other team hanging out.  (Then, nap time, at least for me.)

So now, we're in the first event.  I've done this bonspiel three times before (my team couldn't make it my first year).  My first two times, my team was in the fourth event, but played (and lost) the first game on Sunday.  Last year, we were in the third event, but didn't make it to Sunday.  Kind of a nice jump up I think.  And I think we're playing pretty well, and I felt like we had a good shot at things.

First, an old teammate was unexpectedly in town and it was awesome to hang out with him.  And Second brought his fiancee and baby (dressed in the same curling onesie shown here.)  And my wife and Vice's girlfriend were able to watch our game.  (Lead's wife had other obligations.) 

Our opponents for our first event game are one of many matching outfit teams.  (They have matching outfits throughout the season, not just for the bonspiel.)  They also have the game to match.  (Surprisingly, none of them had curling shoes; they still used sliders.)  I tried to play takeouts with them for a couple ends and my team was the one that missed them.  We scored four in the second end, but that was really kind of a fluke in retrospect where they missed a couple shots.  And the seventh end ended with my greatest curling shot to tie the game. 

It's now my first shot of the eighth end and I'm faced with this.

I think I have three choices.  We have the double raise (in red), which has the advantage of built in protection if I hit the shot.  There might be difficulty getting the right angle and weight on the shot, so we looked at the two draw options.  The draw to the left is probably the correct shot as a runback would be difficult, but I liked the draw to the right just based on what I feel more comfortable with and we saw other shots really curl in that direction so I thought it would be more likely to get behind the guards.  Of course I was wrong and my rock was open for a takeout, which they made.  Now, I have this:

I thought I really only had the option of the hit and roll.  I thought I hit the shot right where I wanted (doesn't always happen), but the rock just kept going until it was finally in the open.  My opponents don't miss takeouts and won the game 10-8.  Should I have done the raise with my first shot?  I guess I'll never know.

Still, it was a good run and my team played really well.  We had a good time afterward as did everyone else I think.  My wife and I each got a wingspan and we left with a pair of dish towels with curling stones sewn on (kind of cool).  Second won something else, but equally underwhelming.  We did not win the iPad or the wall of wine or the wall of beer. 

We had discussed a funny scenario (if we write a good curling movie) where I'm hoisting the trophy after winning the first event and then

It was my last novice bonspiel and I've definitely come a long way in the last five years.  I should have something more profound to say, but oh well.  My son will be born any day now (I'll thank him someday for letting me play this past weekend [already thanked my wife]) so I might not be blogging for a little while.  But I'll try to get in a post or two following my brother's games and I think I'm going to blog about curling patents through the years so keep an eye out for that.  In the meantime, feel free to send me a note and I could talk about someone else's curlng experience on here.



My Greatest Curling Shot

Below is a picture of what has to be my greatest/luckiest curling shot ever. 

My team is red and after getting the guard, our opponents drew to the back of the house behind the guard.  But then everybody just constantly made freezes.  By the way, my team is down four and we're in the seventh end.  We're feeling a little low because at one point we were up 4-1, so things hadn't been going our way for quite some time. 

Anyway, the opposing skip throws a perfect rock, basically right on the button and nearly frozen to everything else.  It's now my last rock (we have hammer).  There was some debate over going on the right side or the left side, but I felt more comfortable with the way it was curling on the right side and chose the shot shown by the blue arrow.  I threw that shot with way more weight than I ever throw.  Of course, that made me less accurate, but miracle of miracles, I hit the guard up front, which then went to the spot between our rock and theirs.  As if magically, their rock went to the side and my team scored four to tie the game.  Lead believes that the drag effect came into play here and I would agree because I don't really see how else this could've happened. 

We did lose the game in the next end (Why else would I be blogging right now instead of getting ready for my Sunday 8:30 game?) but this might be the greatest and luckiest shot I'll ever make.

A Conversation with Dex

For those that don't know, Dex is the general manager for the St. Paul Curling Club and he's also a coach.  My guess is that every top curler that comes out of the Twin Cities (and probably Minnesota) has spent some time with Dex.  However, if he's not too busy, he'll sit with you too.  Some highlights from what ended up being roughly a half hour conversation. 
-I might have an opportunity to curl in international tournaments due to my parents being from a country where there's no curling (and I'm the most experienced curler found so far).  I asked Dex if I had a chance of winning a game in such a tournament.  He said no.  At least he's honest.

-Vice and I volunteered to do commentary for a game for the upcoming World Seniors and Mixed Doubles Curling Championships in April since they might stream it online.  Dex said no (awww), but mentioned that it's better that it's on internet streaming because you can curse.  Apparently, you sometimes have to be able to say, "That was a [stupid] move."  (Note: I didn't really ask permission to discuss this conversation with Dex in a public forum, but I don't think this was a particularly bad comment to reveal.)

-The opposing skip asked Dex about the drag effect which I had never heard of.  Dex gave us a good demonstration (using beer glasses), but if you've never heard of it, this youtube video should give you some idea on it.  Completely unintuitive.

-My team is comprised of scientists/engineers and we recently devised some technology that we think would be cool to have in curling.  (I'll talk about it on the blog after writing a provisional patent application.)  We pitched the idea to Dex and he thought it sounded like a good idea and thought it could be used throughout the curling community.  He encouraged us to make a prototype, so let's see where that goes.

By the way, if Dean Gemmel reads my blog, I heartily recommend that he try to get Dex on for an episode of The Curling Show.  (According to Google Analytics, someone from his neck of the woods spent some time reading my blog after I posted about his show.)  Maybe I'll put this on twitter and we'll see if he responds.  I think it'd be a good tie in with the upcoming tournament.

Dex recently had some medical issues and we're all trying to help him out as much as he can.  The club is charging for its end of the year party for the first time to serve as a fundraiser.  Also, they're selling raffle tickets (winner gets $500) as another fundraiser.  Just want to encourage people to do whatever they can for Dex.

Game 18 Recap

Last game of the season.  (We missed our playdown game, which was on St. Patrick's Day.)  I guess this time I'll hold off on telling you the results of the game until the end of the post.  This game is a rematch from Game 3, yet another close game that my team lost on the last shot.  Like the last game, this is an A level team so we got a one point handicap, but they were playing with a somewhat inexperienced sub.  I was happy to have everyone together on the team, which I realize now might have only happened half the time this past season.

I didn't really play particularly well and I think basically everyone, maybe more so on my team, had trouble with draw weight.  I had two opportunities early in the game to draw basically anywhere in the house to score and the first time, it went long and the second time it was short.  Geez.

This game also featured a blank end.  This has only happened one other time for me and Vice and this has never happened for Lead and Second.  That was kind of interesting.  My team didn't have hammer and we basically just played the takeout game and we made them all.  So it's my last shot of this end and I don't have hammer and I'm looking at this. 

I think you definitely want to have something in the house to force the opposing team to do something.  I was thinking that ideally, you have a rock that's biting.  This way, a takeout wouldn't be in the house.  Of course, I couldn't throw that weight and I was light.  I would've preferred to just have something in the house (maybe behind a guard), but oh well.  Faced with the decision of going for one or the blank, the opposing skip chose the blank.  However, they only scored one on the next end, so maybe Coach Bill is right about blanking ends. 

Anyway, in the situation below, we're now in the seventh end and we're down two.  We've already been buzzed so I know that this is my last shot.  My team is red and with his last shot, the opposing skip drew to the four foot.  He had wanted a guard or maybe a biter, but in the house isn't really a terrible result either.

So of course, I need a double takeout with this shot and my team would end up scoring at least two.  My wish was for the green arrow.  Unfortunately, the second yellow rock jammed on our own rock.  They scored one and that was the game (final score 9-6).  It was so close though and there was a lot of weight on my rock so if the second rock hadn't jammed squarely, it might've barely moved out of the house.

Oh well.  That brings our final season record to 10-7 (we never did a makeup game for game 9).  Not a bad season. 

My Brother's Game 5 Recap

This was my brother's last game for this league.  Two of his teammates couldn't make it so he played lead while his skip played second (to practice sweeping more).  Two instructors played Skip and Vice.  Maybe a slightly unfair setup, but I guess it's still an instructional league, so it doesn't really matter.  He was impressed with the opposing team's strategy of throwing a lot of guards and really protecting whatever they had in the house.  However, my brother's team did win their game and they finished their 5 game season 3-2.  Not bad.

My brother felt a lot more confident in his new shoes this time aroiund so that's good.  If you haven't bought curling shoes yet, definitely look into that or make your own. 

His team got some shirts made and my brother got one for me too.  His artist friend drew it and it's very cool.  I'll post it when I get permission from the artist.  (It may also violate copyright, so I'm not positive I should post it.)

My brother's already planning on playing in the next five week league and is still trying to secure a spot for the Golden Gate Bonspiel.  In his words: "I'm surprised at how into it I've gotten." 

Game 15 Recap

This was a makeup game from earlier in the season.  (Yet another advantage to the dedicated facility is the ability to do make up games.)  Anyway, another late game and another close game.  Fortunately, this one didn't go into an extra end, though it almost did.  Our opponents are definitely a good team and are consistently among the top teams for our league.  A couple things going for my team was a one point handicap and they had someone new playing lead for them that had only curled a couple times.  And during the game, I think they had a little trouble with weight and a little trouble working with the ice, which curled a lot more in one direction than the other.

In the seventh end, my team is actually up by four against these guys and we're feeling good.  And then they scored 2 in that end and now my team has hammer for the eighth end and we're up two.  A good position, but we'll find a way to make this interesting.

In the scenario below, it's the opposing skips second rock.  We're yellow.  As shown by the arrows, he made an unbelievable raise double takeout to sit two.  Can you believe that? 

So now, I'm left with this, but I was able to make a very slight tap to raise our own stone.  (Kudos to Lead and Second for sweeping that rock all the way.) 

They scored one for the eighth end, but we won the game.  Phew.  That handicap really helped out.  The record's 10-6 now and we have a couple wins against a few good teams.  If momentum mattered (probably doesn't), that'd be good heading into our last game and then the novice bonspiel.

Hanging Out with the California Men's Team

While in Mankato for the Curling Club Nationals, Vice and I met several teams including the men's team from Orange County.  They asked if they could check out the St. Paul Curling Club and we were able to get some ice time before their flight home.  We split up into teams (Vice and I were on different teams too).  They had gone winless at the Club Nationals, but after that game, two of them got to say that won a curling game in Minnesota.  Tooting my own horn here (isn't that the point of writing a blog?), but I was on the winning team and the game wasn't even close. 

Of course, we didn't really follow rules officially.  They were all kind of sore (physically, but maybe emotionally too) from a week's worth of competitive curling.  Because of that, we (both teams) constantly rotated positions so that there wasn't just one player constantly sweeping.

Random things I learned after the game:
-The skip for the Alaska men's team at Club Nationals is 18 and took off a semester in high school for curling.  He's one of the top juniors, but none of us can imagine taking off from school for curling.
-At Club Nationals, all the teams trade pins with each other.  Kind of a fun tradition.  Two of the California guys bought pins from SPCC.  I didn't even know I could buy pins at SPCC.
-One of the guys had the Asham Carbon Fiber broom with the Boomerang Grooved Pad (earlier discussed here).  That might have been my first time holding a Carbon Fiber broom because I was surprised by how light it was.  I guess I have no idea if it made his sweeping better, but the broom certainly looked cool.
-It's difficult to run a curling club (some of them are on the board).  There's ice time and getting players and holding clinics and all that.  So I guess I want to say help out your curling club as much as you can, but get out of the way too so that things get done.

My Brother's Game 4 Recap

First, my brother's search for curling shoes is over.  He didn't like the Goldline Shot, and decided to go with the Ultima Sport, which he bought from Steve's Curling.  Funny how he switched from the $70 Eagle to a shoe that costs $125.  Of course, adjusting to the shoe was kind of difficult for my brother and struggled with throwing light enough weight.  However, he thought the shoes were comfortable.

My brother's team lost again.  Their opponents though had three instructors so it was kind of an uphill battle.  (My brother's team is the only one without instructors.)  After the third end though, the score was tied, but then the opposing team scored four in the fourth end.  (The Bond Girls call this the "Fourth End Curse".)  Also, my brother switched places with his lead so that they can get a little more experience at another position. 

A couple other notes:
-The guy that hit his head (described here) is OK, but is sitting out the rest of the league.  Let's hope he comes back.
-Out of the 30+ people who attended the original Learn to Curl clinic, about 20 are now in this league, so that's pretty good for the growth of curling over there.  All they need now is some rich benefactor to help build a club.
-My brother's looking for a spot on someone's team for the Golden Gate Bonspiel.  E-mail me if you know of any openings on any of the teams.
-The Norwegian curling team will be visiting the Bay Area and will be raffling off a pair of pants.  That's a fun giveaway.

Game 17 Recap

That was a late game.  We were on the late start and the other skip was on the slow side (I can't imagine what he'd do in a timed regulation game.)  And then, of course, we went into an extra end.  However, for the first time this season, my team won the extra end.  It helps to have hammer.  The final score was 8-7 but the game took 2 and a half hours.  Geez.  Vice was out again so I had to have a sub.  None of my regular set of subs was able to make it, but I found someone through the e-mail list.  When I met him, he told me that this game would be his fourth for the day since he has his other regular league earlier and then he played two makeup games.  Wow. 

I've never met the opposing team before and the skip is an older guy.  He had a toothpick in his mouth the entire first end and Second and I were imagining bad scenarios that might happen if he fell.  Anyway, in the third or fourth end, there was a takeout.  After the shot, the skip asked me if I had released the rock before passing the hog line (called a hog line violation).  It kind of felt like an accusation.  Now, I tend to slide behind the rock a little bit after releasing, so I can kind of see how it might look like I was still holding on to it.  I don't know.  I'd like to think that I can trust my opponents to not do that and in return, they can trust me.  (Would it have been really mean to respond with, "Why don't you stand at the hog line the next time I throw?")

Also, there was a situation about halfway through an end where there was one rock from each team biting the four foot and my opponent's Vice Skip tried to measure the distance with his broom.  I was really surprised to see this and just asked kind of incredulously, "Are you measuring?"  Neither the skip nor the vice knew that that wasn't allowed.  Both Vice and I were told not to do it very early on and I was surprised that these long time curlers never knew.  I wasn't trying to be prick about it, but I was just really startled when I saw him start to measure.  (I guess I doubt I'll ever win a sportsmanship award.)

Rant over.  Back to the game.  In the first end, my team basically didn't make any shots and their team made everything and got four points.  (By the way, no handicap for either team.)  In the second end, it was kind of the same thing, except my team had hammer, so I felt fortunate to come out of that end with one point.  I was worried that I might be conceding after like five ends if this continued.  But they started missing shots.  We ended up stealing two in the third end and then three in the fourth end (some of their raises promoted our stones).

I believe the situation below was in the seventh end.  The score's tied, it's my first rock, and we're red.  On the right side, we can see that there's a draw to the four foot available (red arrow).  On the left side, there's a raise (black arrow).  Lead and Second were thinking draw, but I just felt like the raise would be the easier shot for me.  That's definitely the better turn for me and I don't know; it's just what I wanted to do.  I do realize this may not have been the optimal decision.

As it turns out, I didn't hit the broom exactly for that shot, but I ended up with a double raise, with our rock in the four foot.  That was lucky.  On my next shot, I missed the draw to try to score two, but we were up one.  We had already played for two hours at this point and I was kind of fishing around when I said to the other skip, "It's getting late..."  Nothing doing.  They scored one in the eighth end on a nice draw through a port.  In the extra end, I had to make a takeout down the center, probably my most reliable shot.  Phew.  We escaped with the win.  The record is now 9-6.

Analyzing a Bond Girls End

There was no curling this past week, so let's take a closer look at the final end of a Bond Girls match vs. New Jersey.  As of this posting, New Jersey has the best record in the Curling Club Nationals and will be vying for the championship later today.  Here's the video in case you want to watch. 



I'm going to talk about the tenth end, which starts at roughly the 2:24 mark.  After scoring 6 points in the first 3 ends, the Bond Girls would give up 7 points over the next 6 ends.  Fortunately, the Bond Girls are only down one coming home and they have hammer.  That didn't work out for them in their earlier game against Wisconsin, but let's see what happens here.  (In case you didn't watch the movie, the Bond Girls are yellow.)  Also, I have no idea what the time situation was at that moment, but no one really seemed too rushed. 

New Jersey's first rock was in the house.  A good call to see if they can force a takeout game for the end. 

But Marissa called a freeze for Donna, which I consider the right call.  At least see what happens before doing a takeout.  Donna's throw was a little bit too heavy, but a good stone. 

After New Jersey missed their takeout completely to take out their own rock, Donna drew to the other side to split the house.  Good call and good throw.

New Jersey then missed freeze, which left a wide open takeout.  Jen made the shot. However, New Jersey, made a nice bump/freeze shot.  (There should be a better name for this.)

Marissa goes for the takeout, even if it takes out their own instead.  New Jersey's rock does jam against a yellow, but is open.  Still, a nice rock from Jen.  I would have called the same thing for Second and ask that he put lots of weight on it (and hope he hits the broom).

I'm not sure if New Jersey had shot rock after that.  However, they went for a draw, which ended up being more open than they would have liked.  I think if this were my game, I might have thrown a guard if I was shot rock, but the draw keeps the pressure on to make some takeouts.

Cindy missed the open takeout.  New Jersey then threw a guard (the right call in my opinion).  In the next shot, Marissa called for a runback on the left side to raise their rock inside the four foot.  However, Cindy's shot perfectly made it past the guard and the yellow rock to bump New Jersey's rock and take shot rock.  Wow.

New Jersey missed a takeout with their next rock and Marissa threw a well placed guard on the left side.

New Jersey has two choices here I think.  You have the draw on the right side.  Really, you have to be perfect on weight and line because you're either drawing to the button or hoping to bump the yellow stone.  Another, more interesting, option is the runback.  If the red rock is hit on the nose, it would go straight down the center.  Maybe it stays, but hopefully, it at least leaves you sitting one.  Of course, this is a dangerous shot and a number of things could go wrong.  New Jersey went for the draw.  (I probably would have too.)

They missed just a little long on weight.  This was good for the Bond Girls as it gave them an additional backstop if necessary.  Of course, Marissa didn't need it at all and drew perfectly to the button.

Whew.  That was a long post.  I guess that's what happens when you have video to remind you of every little thing.  But a very exciting finish and an awesome win for the Bond Girls.