With the change of the calendar comes another instalment of the Weeksy Awards, handed down for wild, weird and wonderful events in curling in 2006.
Best end: Kelly Scott left 2005 on a downer by losing the final of the Olympic Trials to Shannon Kleibrink, a match many think Scott should have won. But the Kelowna, B.C., resident rebounded to capture the 2006 Scott Tournament of Hearts.
That, however, was not her most amazing feat. At the Players Championship in April, Scott and her rink of Jeanna Schraeder, Sasha Carter and Renee Simons scored an eight-ender. That accomplishment in itself is rare, but to do it at an elite event such as the Players Championship is even more remarkable.
Best about-face: In June, the Canadian Curling Association announced it had signed an agreement with TSN to move its Season of Champions events, in their entirety, to TSN. That means all round-robin and playoff games of the Brier, Tournament of Hearts and world championships will been seen on TSN starting in 2008 and running through the 2013-2014 season. A release from the association said it was a "landmark deal" and that it was "ground-breaking." This was, of course, in principle the same offer the CCA turned down two years ago, saying it couldn't agree to have its championship games on a cable broadcaster. That led to the disastrous arrangement with the CBC that turned into a public-relations and financial mess that has cost the CCA dearly.
Best save: When the CCA left the CBC, the Mother Corp. jumped to sign a deal with the World Curling Tour to broadcast its four Grand Slam events. To say that gave the Tour a shot of credibility and some financial stability might be an understatement. Only a year earlier, the Tour was on the verge of collapse. "At the start of last year, we had $20,000 in the bank and a budget of $1.2-million staring us in the face," said Paul Boutilier, the WCT's executive director. "It wasn't pretty."
Worst planning: When Brad Gushue and his team got to Pinerolo, Italy, the village where the 2006 Turin Olympics curling competition was to be held, they were met by a driver who was to chauffeur them during their stay. Unfortunately, this driver spoke no English and the team spoke no Italian. They communicated by drawing pictures on a pad of paper to tell the driver where they needed to go.
Best subcompetition: During the Olympics, the Gushue team members were housed on the top floor of a 15-storey apartment building, by far the tallest in Pinerolo. During breaks in the curling, the players spent hours sailing paper airplanes from their unit, trying to get one to reach a small square a few blocks away.
Worst use of earplugs: Christine Keshen, lead on Kleibrink's Canadian Olympic rink, went for a pregame nap and because some cleaners were making noise in the next apartment, put in earplugs. She slept so soundly, she didn't hear the coaches pounding on her door to wake her for the next game, forcing the team to use alternate Sandra Jenkins.
Best nickname: Markku Uusipaavalniemi, the Finnish skip who won the silver medal at Turin, was given the handle U-15 after his prodigious last name. His performance at the Olympics caused a stir in his homeland, where he became a minor celebrity, fielding 300 e-mails and phone calls a day, as well as appearing on countless television programs in the weeks after the Games.
Best question: When Prime Minister Stephen Harper called to congratulate Gushue's Newfoundland and Labrador rink on winning gold, lead Jamie Korab started his part of the conversation with a question: "How's your new job going, boy?"
Best unreported performance: Jean-Michel Ménard's Quebec rink defeated Glenn Howard to win the Tim Hortons Brier, becoming the first all-francophone team to capture the Canadian national championship. It was also only the second Brier win for Quebec, however, not a single Quebec media outlet sent a representative to cover the event.
Best rivalry: A coming book on the Randy Ferbey team by Edmonton Sun columnist Terry Jones includes a chapter on the rink's rivalry with fellow Alberta curler Kevin Martin. It begins with the words: "Who detests Kevin Martin most? And who despised him first?" Martin, who operates a retail sports store in Edmonton, has vowed the book, which goes on sale at the end of January, won't be available at his shop.
