Curling wrap-up

So not dead, merely busy with curling. It was our first major bonspiel of the year and it proved to be a bit bigger than anticipated. Normally we pull in around 12 teams. However, for the first time in years we managed 16 teams for this bonspiel, which is the maximum amount we can handle. Plus there was the usual last minute weirdness that always goes on with these sorts of things.

But by all accounts it was one of the best bonspiels we've pulled off in years. You can read Jordan's account of it over here. While you can, of course. I understand it's blogger's policy to remove the blogs of the recently deceased and Jordan is a dead man walking for putting up those pics of me. Then again, Jordan is working for Canada Post these days, so between the Christmas rush and the usual calm and rational citizenry of Iqaluit during that time of the year, I suspect I'll just have to sit back and let matters run their natural course.

Anyway, a fun time was had by all. And not just by the teams that won (of which my team was one of them), but also by teams who won a game they never expected or even teams that lost all their games, but still had moments of glory. A shot made that they never expected, a couple of ends where they had a good team on the ropes and things were close.

Plus, a bar helped as well. And there were lots of prizes. Alas, I didn't win any of the big ones - the First Air plane tickets or the cargo gift certificates. Actually, most of those prizes went to newer members of the club, which was nice. One of the guys who won 75 kg of cargo was trying to figure out what to do with it when one of his buddies helpfully suggested "You can bring up beer." And suddenly all was right in the world.

So I'm glad it went well and people had a good time.

As for my weekend, a 4-1 record and winner of the C pool (everyone starts off in A, then depending on when you lose, you drop down to B, C or D). We won fairly easily on Friday night, lost on the last rock Saturday morning (should have won the game, but I missed my last two shots), had a scary game against a team of newbies until I figured out their weakness (they couldn't hit), had a another game get scary for a few ends against a skip who was making everything, but then thankfully cooled off and then won the C final against a good team who had a very bad game (also likely helping was that the skip was apparently quite drunk).

For my troubles, a $50 gift card from NorthMart. The rest of the team got gift cards as well. I also later won a door prize of a pair of curling socks. I've yet to determine how they are different than regular black socks, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

I'm quite proud of the team, really. This is my regular Thursday night league team, but because of a few hiccups, both of our games at the start of the season have been cancelled. So this weekend was our first time curling together. We've clicked pretty quick and I have high hopes for the rest of the season.

So there you go, a curling post. Hope you didn't suffer too much. I'm sure I'll find something about Newfoundland politics to complain about soon enough.