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.