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.
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.
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.
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.
I was able to meet the Bond Girls for a quick bite and a tour of the St. Paul Curling Club. I tried to get ice time for them, but the juniors were curling at SPCC and the Biff isn't open that early on Saturdays. (I have a feeling that if the Biff was open on Saturday mornings a bunch of teams would love to use that time for practice and would probably even pay for it.) Anyway, here are a few thoughts.
First, the Bond Girls are all very cool and you should hang out with them if you get a chance. Two of them work in film/tv and I think that if they win the upcoming Curling Club Nationals, that'd be a cool movie. Ragtag group of girls from California (with a cameo from Katy Perry) beat the big bad teams from the midwest. Like a female version of Men With Brooms, but you know, well written. (It's worth it to watch that movie just for how preposterous all the curling stuff is.)
They really liked the curling club. (Who wouldn't?) And they took a picture of the upstairs men's bathroom, which if you don't know actually has a window above the sink that looks out onto the ice.
I had never been to SPCC when the juniors are there and the youngest junior curlers are very cute. The first thing they do is slide on the ice head first, which looked really fun. They also practiced sweeping and for many of them, the broom was much taller than the kid. Lead and Second recently had babies and I'll be a father soon too and hopefully someday, we'll all be there with our kids.
, but you know, well written. (It's worth it to watch that movie just for how preposterous all the curling stuff is.)