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.
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.
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