Armchair Olympics final post

Kevin Martin's Canadian side were always looking like the team to win the Olympic final, and they did. Martin himself was impressive, his freeze in the seventh end, played and judged, was curling perfection. Canada was undefeated in eleven games at the Vancouver Olympic Centre. Congratulations to them, and well done too to Norway for putting up a great fight.

Happiness is winning Olympic bronze medals, to judge by the Swiss reaction yesterday! I hope their governing body is pleased - you will perhaps remember that the Eggler team's participation at Vancouver depended on them doing well at the Europeans at Aberdeen. There they lost in the final to the Swedes. Swiss revenge came in the form of winning yesterday's game in Vancouver.

I've never watched so much television before. I have thoroughly enjoyed BBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics - not only the curling - this past fortnight. Still, my main reason for being glued to the box at ridiculous times of the day and night was our sport. At times watching the GB teams was difficult, but the semifinals and medal matches were great. I just feel somewhat jetlagged today!

Anyway, what did I like, and what did I not? However much I would have wished to be in Vancouver, I cannot say I missed out on the Olympic experience. I had my own 'virtual Olympics'. I've mentioned the television. The official vancouver2010.com website was first class with all the linescores and standings. Mike Haggerty did a good job with his reports for the RCCC website, and the WCF updates were both timely and accurate.

I watched all the Daily Host Videos. And I enjoyed looking at the best of sports photography on the official website and elsewhere.

I cannot say that I saw every curling shot on the red button coverage by the BBC, but I gave it my best effort. I thought the beeb did a good job, although not everyone agrees that they should even have been there, see here! I warmed to the Steve Cram and Rhona Martin double act on the commentary. They commented through twenty-five games, something of a record I would think. I wonder if Rhona enjoyed the experience!

It would have been better to have some knowledgeable experts contributing at times and helping out - I hardly think that Carl Lewis and Paula Radcliffe added much. All credit to Eve Muirhead coming on during the women's final. I wish I had been able to tape all she said in answer to Steve's questioning. I certainly got the impression that if future GB teams are to be selected she would like to see players picked for their positions, and that in itself said volumes. She also said that she was looking forward to getting a new team together for another tilt at the Scottish Junior Championship. Altogether she sounded very positive looking ahead to next weekend's Columba Cream Scottish Championship, and that has to be a good thing.

I have to say something about the performance of the GB teams. I was disappointed in what I saw. The television was full on. Players were miked up. There was no hiding and we saw, and heard, everything that happened in excruciating detail! Prior to Vancouver, the word was that these two teams were the best prepared... ever. No expense had been spared. Strength and conditioning, diet, physiotherapy, video analysis, psychology, everything had been considered. For the past year, the teams have been accompanied to each event by a retinue of followers, in addition to the coaching staff. Was it all worthwhile?

We did NOT see the best prepared, best coached, best team efforts, on the ice in Vancouver.

Take the shotplay statistics (here) as an example. Over nine games these indicate just how well players have executed the shots they have been asked for. In the men's event, the average for Team GB was 81%, fifth in the ranking, and that was of course the position in which the team finished. Better was expected of the World Champions.

Individually David Murdoch's average was 80%, equal with Niklas Edin in third place of the skips' ranking. Ewan MacDonald was 80%, ranked in fourth place of all the thirds. Pete Smith finished with an average of 76%, bottom equal of all the second players. Euan Byers was on 86%, top equal of all the leads!

In the women's event, the stats show (here) that Team GB finished with an average over nine games of 75%, equal sixth in the rankings. Individually Eve can take much credit in that she was ranked fourth of the skips, on 76%. Jackie Lockhart was fifth equal of the thirds on 74%. Kelly Wood was ranked seventh of the second players on 74%. Lorna Vevers was sixth equal of the leads on 75%.

As we all know though, stats only tell part of the story. China's team average was 74%, equal eighth, yet the team are of course the Bronze Medallists!

Back to the television coverage, at times I was shouting at the screen to see such poor releases and sometimes poor deliveries, not to mention the fact that one of our sweepers was not even sweeping in front of the stone on occasion. Where was the great team chemistry that the Murdoch team had shown in the past? It was obviously missing in some games. And some of the tactical decisions at key points left me puzzled.

But, hey, what do I know.

The buzz in the media generally about the Olympic curling was great. Jennifer Jones, one of Canada's greatest players - she is that country's skip at the Worlds in Swift Current next month - was writing and video blogging for Yahoo! Sports. She definitely has a big future as the most knowledgeable hack on the media bench! And she was even answering questions in a Live Chat during both gold medal games.

I learned such a lot this past couple of weeks. How about this article about the passion that some Wall Street traders have for curling! Or this one from someone whose sport is skeleton. But the Americans have an uphill struggle to educate a largely ignorant percentage of their population about curling, but this Christian Science Monitor article makes a good attempt. Jay Leno trying to be funny is here, and this post with seven pieces of photographic evidence of why curling is not a sport made me smile.

There should really be a special medal for the Norwegian team uniform. A Facebook page in tribute (The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team's Pants) has more than half a million fans!

Executives of Loudmouth Golf head for the arena! The California sportswear company sells 'golf pants only for the bravest'. The Norwegians were certainly brave to sport their colourful trousers. Well done to them.

I would retire happy if I thought that colour would return to Scottish ice. I doubt it will happen, and for now I'd just like to see four curlers all dressed the same, preferably not in black or navy, in major championships such as the Scottish Championships.

Anyway, thanks to all who visited skipcottagecurling this past fortnight.

These pics are from the Pants Facebook albums. More here.

Armchair Olympics 16

I was thrilled to see Sweden win the Olympic Gold. It was a great game to watch, full of drama right to the last stone of an extra end! I've met skip Anette Norberg, third Eva Lund, second Cathrine Lindahl and lead Anna Le Moine a number of times in the past seven years and I've always been impressed by them. Greatest women's curling team ever - I'm right behind The Curling News with that assessment, see here.

Mind you, other great women's curling teams have come out of Sweden. I will always remain a big fan of Elisabeth Hogstrom and her team - I was just beginning to write about curling when Bettan was winning Europeans and Worlds in the early 80s. Then of course there was Elisabet Gustafson in the 90s. Another great Swedish skip/team.

But with two sets of Olympic gold medals, the Norberg team are the greatest, no question. Congratulations to them. To beat the home team, in Canada, in front of such a partisan crowd, many ignorant of the behaviour expected at say, a world championship, was a huge achievement, and sweet to watch.

I haven't been as emotional at 2.00 in the morning for many years!

The report of the game is here.

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images © VANOC

Armchair Olympics 15

Niklas Edin's Swedes beat David Murdoch's Team GB in the tiebreaker last night. I'm sure the boys are gutted, as all at home are. We were hoping for, and if I'm honest, we were expecting better. It was good to see the team back to their fighting best though, and playing as a team, compared with what was on show for all to see against Norway on Tuesday. Again, thanks to David, Ewan, Pete, Euan and Graeme - you are great ambassadors for our sport.

Mike Haggerty's report on the game is here. But unless I was dreaming, Niklas played a hit and not a draw with his last stone.

Watching the GB-Sweden game last night, it was ironic to think that if the radicals within the WCF have their way, tiebreakers like this will soon be a thing of the past. Even though two teams finish on the same win-loss record, no tiebreaker will be played and progression forward will be based on who won the game when they met in the round robin. If this regulation had been in place for this competition, then Sweden would have progressed to the semifinals on the basis that they beat GB in the first game of the round robin. Just something to ponder!

Onwards and upwards. With no Team GB to support in the playoffs, this Armchair Olympic curling fan can settle back to watching some great curling as the semifinals and finals are played out in Vancouver. Then I look forward to restoring some normal sleeping patterns!

Photo of the Swedish players acknowledging the fans is courtesy Michael Burns Photography/WCF. More here.

Armchair Olympics 14

I've watched so much televised curling these past days that I almost feel I've actually been at the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre, above!

Eve Muirhead's Team GB went down fighting to an extra end of their last game against Canada (report here). It has been a hard week for them, but they have represented GB creditably. I'd like to say thank you to Eve, Jackie, Kelly and Lorna for putting me through a rollercoaster of emotions for a week!

It will be Canada v Switzerland, and Sweden v China in the women's semifinals.

There will be much debate I suspect in the weeks and months ahead about the selection process, the selection itself, and the coaching and preparation. Could we have done better? Can we do better for Sochi in four years time? What future for British Curling, and those behind the scenes? But this is not the time for me to comment.

Especially as David Murdoch and his team are keeping all our hopes alive. What a game against the Norwegians! With Royal approval for their colourful trousers (see here), Thomas Ulsrud and his team were on top form and forced the mistakes from Team GB. See Mike Haggerty's report with quotes here.

Dave, Ewan, Pete and Euan now play a tiebreaker against Sweden to earn a place in the semifinal against Canada. Norway plays Switzerland in the other semifinal.

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images © VANOC

Armchair Olympics 13

Eve Muirhead and her team lost to Denmark yesterday. After such a promising start in the competition, it has been disappointing to watch the losses in recent games. However disappointing it must be for me, it must be doubly so for the girls themselves and the coaching staff. Just Canada to play now.

David Murdoch's team are back on target with a place in the semis now firmly in their sights. Norway is Team GB's next opposition.

Mike Haggerty's reports are here.

The photo above is one of the winning shots from the IOC photo competition, from a Facebook album (see here) ©IOC/Lochrie.

Armchair Olympics 11

The photo above shows the medals which are being awarded at the Games. They are circular in shape and based on a large master artwork of an orca whale by Corrine Hunt, a Canadian designer/artist of Komoyue and Tlingit heritage. Each of the medals has a unique hand-cropped section of the abstract art, making every one different.

You can read all about the medals here.

With a lot of curling still to go before the curling medals are decided next Friday and Saturday, here are the links I've found to be useful and interesting. I'll put these in the sidebar on the right later.

General
1. Curling page on the Vancouver2010 official site for results - here
2. Mike Haggerty's reports for the RCCC website - here
3. World Curling Federation daily summaries - here
4. CTV news - here

Photographs
5. On the official VANOC site - here
6. Galleries on WCF website - here
7. On the Associated Press microsite - here
8. On the CTV website - here

Comment and blogs
9. Jennifer Jones for Yahoo! Sport - here
10. Bob Weeks blog - here
11. Al Cameron, via CurlingZone - here
12. Kay Gibb, RCCC Ladies' Branch President - here
13. Nelski's blog - here

Videos
14. Daily Host Videos are here
15. News and videos from Eurovisionsports here

Let me know if there are other links that armchair fans should be looking at every day.

I discovered this video on the official Vancouver2010 website about curling in Scotland. It features David B Smith (above) and a loofie, amongst other Scots you may recognise. Enjoy!

And what about yesterday's results? It's fabulous to be able to watch such interesting games with great shotmaking, but it's hard to be a fan! Edge of the seat stuff in the days ahead now.

Armchair Olympics 10

It was great to see Eve, Jackie, Kelly and Lorna really looking as if they were enjoying their Olympic experience as they won their match against Andrea Schoepp's German team yesterday. I watched the highlights of the Japanese game on replay this morning. Not the best of performances compared with what had gone before. But I was still celebrating Amy Williams' success. Was that not something else! Mike Haggerty's curling reports are here.

I had a heads up that the Associated Press has an Olympic microsite here, with multimedia coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. There is indeed a curling section (here) with all the results and a great photogallery, as one would expect from AP photographers. The photo above of Eve is an example. This AP photo is by Robert F Bukaty.

I note that Ladies' Branch President Kay Gibb, the first to bring a blog to the Royal Club site, is now in Vancouver and illustrating her experiences here. (On other things, did you note that Kay is one of three members who have been nominated for the Royal Club Board. The other names are Bill Marshall and Trevor Dodds, see here. There are two places for elected directors, so there will be an election at the RCCC AGM, June 19, at the Erskine Bridge Hotel.)

I'm warming to the Cram - Martin combination as the commentators on the BBC. Long hours for them. Although someone has to tell Rhona that her magic pen telestrator is either not working or is using invisible ink. Absolutely!

I heard today that Eurosport has decided to reschedule and show more curling, and they needed a commentator. Logan Gray, seen below working with Live Channel at the Le Gruyere European Championships, has answered the call and is on his way to Paris. I can't wait to hear how the Richard Vaughn - Logan Gray pairing works out!

It is to be expected perhaps that the Olympic curling brings out a spate of ignorant and ill informed comment in the media and in the blogosphere. Some of it is really rather pathetic, like this article that predicts a future shortage of curling stones. Then there is the sexist rubbish (here) which I'm sure makes someone laugh - except of course if you've heard it all before.

I usually just ignore most of it, but at the bottom of the pit is the likes of the David Letterman Late Show's supposedly funny piece, see here. This programme has one of the biggest TV audiences in the USA. They do say that any publicity for the sport is good publicity. I'm not so sure in this case. Allow me to say something directly to Letterman and his writers. You are a bunch of ignorant *******! There, I feel better getting that off my chest.

Photo of Logan is by Bob.

Armchair Olympics 9

I'm not sure I can stand the strain. Watching Team Murdoch lose to Switzerland yesterday evening, by the narrowest of margins, at the last stone of the game, was heartbreaking! The 'red button' is great, but it might be easier just to watch the linescores (here), or read Mike Haggerty's reports (see here).

Or even just look at the photos on BBC Sport's website here.

Still, watching Eve Muirhead is always encouraging, even though, with Kelly Wood taken ill, it was a strange team she had in front of her - Jackie at third, Lorna at second and Annie Laird at lead. They certainly had the measure of the Russians in last night's game, and how Lucy's Fan Club must have suffered! The Russian skip had a game she will want to forget. It was not pretty.

I don't know if it would be better, or worse, to be in Vancouver in person. The fans put such a lot into supporting our teams. Skipcottagecurling does have its correspondents on site. I asked them, "What's the talking point? The venue, the games, the fans, the ice, the stones?" None of these, apparently.

Talk of the steamie is still the Norwegian trousers, above. I love them, and so do 76,064 (at 11.30pm last night) others who are fans of 'The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team's Pants' on Facebook.

Norway's trews really make the slacks we wore in the early 1980s look rather conservative. But perhaps that's a matter of opinion!

In case any younger readers of this blog don't think this is relevant, have a look at what this young team was wearing not too many years ago. (Names have been withheld to protect the innocent). These were called 'Irn Bru' trousers, if I recall correctly.

Loudmouth Golf, the suppliers of the Norwegian trousers, have quite a selection, see here and above. Maybe curling will once again become the colourful game it once was!

Top pics are courtesy of Hugh Stewart. Thomas Ulsrud is wearing the trousers. And Euan Byers and Pete Smith are sweeping Ewan MacDonald's stone. Other pics are from my archive.

Armchair Olympics 8

That's us into the swing of the Olympics now, with three curling draws a day. Let's say that you DON'T stay up all night to watch all the games on television or computer, where do you turn to first thing in the morning to find out what happened in Vancouver when you were asleep?

Here's what I do. My first call is to the Royal Club website to read Mike Haggerty's reports on the GB games. I'll then probably have a look at main Vanoc curling website, here, to look at the linescores of all the games, and the standings. The WCF website has regular summaries, and also now has a gallery of photos. That's where the photo above of the fans is from, but the site does not credit a specific photographer.

There is a thread on the Scottish Curling Forum here. There's usually a mix of things in this discussion board, and I'm always curious to read what's being argued about! It would be great to see new contributors, perhaps with questions about what they've seen on the box. Not a place to frequent though if you have a thin skin!

Then I'll take a look at who's been writing what about Vancouver. I like the pics and report on the CTVolympics site here.

I always look to see if Bob Weeks has a new post on his blog here. One easy way to see if Bob, or Al Cameron, or other writers, have updated their blogs, is to check CurlingZone, and look to see the ranking in the panels on the left.

I'm enjoying Jennifer Jones' contributions blogging for Yahoo Sport, see here. And she even got to teach Michael Buble to curl, here.

One of the volunteer timers at the curling venue has her blog here, and that gives a further insight into what life in Vancouver is like this week.

Then, depending on the time I have to spare, I'll have a look at the newest Daily Host Video. I like these.

Yesterday, I compared the USA Olympic team's website (here) with that of the BOA, here. Quite different approaches!

Roger Mosey, the BBC's director of London 2012, will be overseeing all the beeb's preparations including the sport and also the Cultural Olympiad, the Olympic news and information services which will bring the story of the London Games to audiences at home and abroad. His interesting article from Vancouver is here, with the theme of the difference in perceptions of the Vancouver Games in Canada and the media reporting in the UK.

Then, of course, there's Facebook and Twitter..............

Well done to Eve, Jackie, Kelly and Lorna on their last stone, extra end win against China, the World Champions.

The top pic of the fans is a WCF photo. The photo of Kelly, Eve and Lorna is by Alex Livesey/Getty ImagesC, © VANOC/COVAN. There are more photos on the official website here.

Armchair Olympics 7

Mike Haggerty's report on the first of GB's games last night is on the RCCC website here. The World Curling Federation has reports and a photo from each round here.

But the place to find great curling photos is here, on the official Vanoc site. What a great collection of pics! The photo of David Murdoch above is by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images and just captures the essence of that first match against Sweden.

Just watching the sport on the box doesn't give any impression of what actually being in Vancouver must be like. Each day the host committee publishes a video which takes in more than the sport, providing medal results, arts and entertainment highlights and VANOC updates every day of the Games - check these out here.

Jennifer Jones has her observations of the first day of curling here, and is well worth a read.

Photo © VANOC/COVAN

Armchair Olympics 6

The 'red button' came into its own this evening, and I watched, along with many others no doubt, the first of Team GB's games against Sweden, in the men's Olympic curling competition. Note that all the red button games are also live on the BBC Sport website at this link. I watched it on my laptop for a while, and that was perfectly satisfactory too.

The other link that I found useful this evening was the official site here with the scores and the running percentages for each player.

Armchair Olympics 5

If you do your web searches using Google (as opposed to helping the North Highland Curling Trust fundraising efforts and using their search facility here), you will have noticed that the Number 1 search engine has recognised our sport in its logo today. They did similar four years ago, see here.

The Olympics seems to bring out all sorts of odd things related to our sport, and I'm not just referring to the Norwegian trousers. In searching for the unusual this morning, I came across the photo above. I must admit there is something a bit disturbing about it, but it was an entry in an advanced Photoshop contest whose directions were to add an unusual twist to any Olympic sport at Torino 2006. All the entries in that competition can still be found here. Enjoy.

Yes, there is a similar contest for Vancouver. And yes, there is a curling photo amongst the entries (see here). When you look at this, and recognise who the sweepers are, I'm sure you will smile. I'm sure the person who submitted the photo didn't realise the significance.

Would you believe though that someone has come up with a list of ten great songs about curling! The list is here. I was quite taken by the Weakerthans when I first heard 'Tournament of Hearts', and saw the video. I blogged about that here.

I hadn't heard 'The Curling Song' by the Arrogant Worms before. You can share the experience below, or in a larger size here.

Armchair Olympics 4

The Olympics just got a lot brighter for me today, and I am now a huge fan of Thomas Ulsrud and his Norwegian curling team. That's their new curling trousers above. The story is here. Made my day!

And if you are curious to see some pics of the green and blue circles and what the curling venue looks like, check out Nelski's blog here.

Roll on the first game, GB men v Sweden, tomorrow (Tuesday, February 16) at 17.00, our time.

The BBC's Katie Still is now video blogging from the Olympics (see here), and hopefully she'll take in the curling venue at some point. And Canada's Jennifer Jones is blogging for Yahoo Sports, and you can read her first contributions here and here.

Armchair Olympics 3

The armchair Olympic curling blogger is not short of things to read and watch these days. Mike Haggerty is now in Vancouver and he will be reporting on Team GB's games for the Royal Club in the days ahead. His preview is here.

I'm not a betting man, but I found my way to betfair.com to look at the odds. Very interesting, but I wasn't tempted! Mike Haggerty has been writing for that site's blog. You can find his contributions to date here and here.

It is interesting how other pundits think our teams will do. SWEEP magazine online has descriptions of all the competing teams, and suggests that Eve Muirhead and the girls will finish the round robin on six wins and three losses. We'll take that!

The Curling News is in Vancouver too, and George Karrys has already featured Olympic items on his blog here, although even more goes online if you follow the magazine's Twitter feeds!

It is interesting too to find out a little of how other teams and other countries see their role in communicating with fans. There's an interview with Tracy Sachtjen, the USA alternate, here, which gives an insight into life inside the US women's curling team. Natalie Nicholson, the lead, has been contributing to a blog here. It is not surprising that the team has its own fan page on Facebook, here.

Talking about curling in the USA, did you know that one of their association's sponsors is Laphroaig whisky. The detail is here.

The media interest in the two GB curling teams in the past few months has been intense. Some journalists have certainly been doing their homework, and looking behind the PR output. An example is Barney Roney's Guardian article here.

'Curling has come a long way from Housework on Ice' could not be more true.

It seems just yesterday that few south of the border knew even that the sport of curling existed. How exciting then to see the sport being used in a political cartoon in the Telegraph, below!

The paper's comment cartoon archive is here.

Spot the curlers

It was fun trying to pick out the curlers as they paraded in their teams at the opening ceremony at the Vancouver Olympics! You can watch the entrance of Team GB on the BBC Sport Vancouver 2010 website here.

And there's a further bit of curling for you to watch, based at Fenton's Rink, here. I'm sure those at 5 Live are well meaning, and it is good to see people having fun on the ice. But I really wonder if showing this sort of beginners' nonsense really helps promote the sport, or whether it is counter productive. One thing is for sure, that if the ice conditions are good at the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre, we are in for a treat in the days ahead! Real curling.

Armchair Olympics

I imagine that many skipcottagecurling blogallies will be looking forward to watching a lot of winter sport in the weeks ahead, as I plan to do. The Olympic Games begin on Friday with the ski jumping qualification, with the first curling games scheduled for next Tuesday. Local time in Vancouver is eight hours behind us here in the UK. By my calculation then, if it is 4pm at Skip it is only 8am at the Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre. If you want to be sure what the time is in Vancouver, just click here.

The official Vanoc curling site, which gives the draw schedule and is also where results will be posted, can be found here. There's a gallery of curling photos too, and some news items.

Team GB is against Sweden in the opening round of the men's event at 9am on Tuesday, that's 5pm here. The women are not on the ice in the first set of games and face China at 9am local time on Wednesday.

What most will want to know though, is where and when we can see the curling on the box. The place to start is on the BBC's Vancouver 2010 webpage here. What the beeb plans to show can be found here. It looks as if every GB game is going to be on the red button! Can't wait.

It will be interesting to hear how Rhona Martin and Steve Cram get on working together as the commentary team. For those who are interested in the Olympics generally, I'm sure that the coverage on BBC1 and 2 will be up to the usual standard. Certainly, Beijing was great.

If you want a real laugh, have a look at the head and shoulders pics of all the competing curlers here. And I thought my passport photo was bad!

If you want to smile, or even shed a tear, go here to watch Rhona's last stone in 2002, in a clip from the BBC's archives. And here's an interesting article which appeared in the Guardian, asking the question on what happened to the members of that successful team!

More armchair Olympics as I stumble across things which interest me.

Intellectual Muscle: University Dialogues

Hardly a day goes by when I do NOT receive a news release from the organisers of the Vancouver Olympics. When I first visited the vancouver2010.com website, I signed up to receive these email releases, really to give me an impression of what was happening in the wider Olympic scene, rather than being narrowly focussed on the curling. I have been most impressed, as I've learned of the hundreds of ways that VANOC has sought to engage all Canadians in the games. There have been reports on progress on the facilities, sponsorship, ticketing, transport, to the mascots, to the Red Mitten programme, to cultural events and activities for young people. Good communication, indeed.

But I never thought academic lectures would be on the agenda! And they are. See here. Like modern students, you can even download them on a podcast! The press release says, "As Canada prepares to host the world’s best, Vancouver 2010 and The Globe and Mail are partnering on a unique project inviting the public to flex their intellect via podcasts by some of the country’s best minds on topics related to the 2010 Winter Games."

Why mention them here? Just that tomorrow's lecture has a curling connection. What do you mean, you've never heard of Vera Pezer?

Actually, I have never met Vera Pezer, but I am an admirer. As a player she represented Saskatchewan in the Canadian Championship four times in the years 1969-73. She won as Joyce McKee's third player in 1969, then skipped her own team to the Canadian title in 1971, 72 and 73. This was in the days before there was a world women's event (first held in 1979).

I know her for two books which sit proudly in my bookcase. Pezer wrote The Stone Age: A Social History of Curling in the Prairies in 2003 and Smart Curling in 2007. The latter book is subtitled 'How to perfect your game through mental training', and is an excellent reference for those interested in sports psychology, specially as applied to curling.

She is currently chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan.

Tomorrow (Saturday, October 10) Pezer will speak on what inspires us about sport and whether there are better ways to discuss success. The lecture might well be a good thing to download and listen to in the car on one of the long drives home from curling events in the weeks ahead!

Her podcast, and others, can be found on The Globe and Mail website. Upcoming podcasts in the Intellectual Muscle series will be produced by educational institutions across Canada.

Actually, I just like the term 'intellectual muscle'!