one-tenth

Ever really sit down and look to see how small 1/10th of an inch is? Because that was the difference today between winning and losing. Two rocks on the edge of the eight foot in the eighth end of a back and forth final. And at the end, it's the two Thirds and a measuring stick trying to determine which team is going to the Dominion national championships this fall, and which team gets to realize they were 1/10th of an inch away from it.

Today, we were on the wrong side of the 1/10th.

It sucks, make no mistake about it. I've been trying very, very hard not to replay certain ends and shots. I very badly wanted to go back to this championship, not just because we had a great time at the last one, but because I would have liked my father to have been there for this one since it was in PEI.

However, we were just out-played. My hat's off to Team Kingdon. They played really well all weekend. They beat us yesterday afternoon, we beat them in the 1-2 game last night, they beat us this afternoon in the final. If that's not two evenly matched teams duking it out, I don't know what is. They're going to have a blast in PEI, I know they will.

And in the long run, it's good for the club. If one team is dominating all the time, then I'm not sure that encourages other curlers to step up and try and compete at these kinds of events. That's what we want people at the club to do.

So curling season is over, right? They've already turned off the plant and over the next couple of days they'll be scraping out the ice. If nothing else, for those of you bored with curling talk here can get a reprieve. I confess, after this afternoon's game I was just wiped. There was an offer to go out and have some food and drinks with my teammates and I just didn't have it in me. I just wanted to go home and be with Cathy. And, God love her, she was at the door waiting for me with a big hug. I mentioned I might get a bath, which I rarely do, and she went and poured one for me and threw in some Epsom salts because it's supposed to be good for sore muscles. And while I was soaking in the bath and listening to Patton Oswalt on the iPod (my cure for being down? A Patton Oswalt comedy album) she brought in freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

In case you haven't figured it out, Cathy is awesome.

Anyway, curling is over, but there's still work to be done. The exec need to do a post-mortem on the past year and see what we did right, what we did wrong and what we can do next year. I want to design a communications plan for getting word out about curling to the maximum number of people in town to grow the sport. Plus, we desperately need a website. And a bunch of other little things.

Also, I think I need to re-evaluate a bit what I want from curling. I didn't have as much fun as I would have thought this weekend. And it's not just because we lost. We were very tense on the ice and that's no fun. So if I'm not having the kind of fun I want, then what do I have to do to make that happen? And that's not on anyone else but me. I get too competitive sometimes, I know that. I've worked very hard to focus on the fun and less on the "I must win!" but sometimes it is a struggle.

Something to think about over the summer.

Last Five
1. Keep it dark - Genesis*
2. The crane's wife - The Decemberists
3. Cry together - Joel Plaskett Emergency
4. I feel fine - The Beatles
5. Handshake the gangster - Hey Rosetta!