Rather than incite violence in the community with my thoughts on the Credit Union CUPlex council meeting this week, I thought I would talk about curling.
I am motivated to talk about curling - and the various attendant things about it - because the SaskTel Tankard took place last week at the Civic Centre in North Battleford. Interest in the Tankard was huge. You wouldn't believe how many people came up to me the week before the event, asking "is the News-Optimist going to be having any coverage of the Tankard in the paper?"
Really, was there any doubt? Of course! Trent needed to fill his sports section, after all.
It's always fun when a big sporting event comes to your community. I heard from well-placed sources the hotels here were absolutely jammed because of the number of visitors coming here to see the curling. That's caused people to once again grouse about how we don't have enough hotels in the Battlefords to accommodate the need, and we really do need to do something to attract hotel construction to the Battlefords if we want to attract big events.
As a big sports fan myself, I got caught up in the excitement of the Tankard. The News-Optimist was a sponsor, so there were free tickets I could take advantage of and I went down to the Civic Centre a couple of times last week to take in the action.
The place was really well done up by the organizers, with SaskTel Tankard signs everywhere and the arena ice turned into four sheets of curling ice. It was impressive.
The media was there, too. I noticed CTV Saskatoon's Kevin Waugh was in the house, covering the action. Obviously this Tankard was a major story outside the community as well as in it - the kind of thing civic leaders love to see.
So I took my seat and, well, I found it less than thrilling.
You have to keep in mind I'm used to watching curling on TV. The commentators make it sound so exciting. They have their hidden microphones picking up all the important team discussions on the ice about what the strategy would be and where the rocks should go.
All that information escaped me in the stands, as all I could hear were the skips yelling "hurry hard!" at the top of their lungs. That got old in a "hurry." I guess I wasn't into it.
Maybe it is generational. I come from a younger generation that is more into "action" sports.
I know the curling people can point to statistics about how youth registration is up around here and so on, but I think that's a Battlefords and rural-Saskatchewan thing. I worked with a fairly young crowd during my time as an intern at The Score channel in Toronto, and they were just not into curling. Instead they were into hockey and the NFL, not to mention basketball.
These days the hip thing for the young people to be interested in is mixed martial arts and the UFC. Now, I can imagine old-timers reading this and saying "my God, the UFC! That barbarism? What is our younger generation coming to?"
Maybe they should have given everyone Vuvulezas left over from the World Cup. Maybe the curlers should have gotten into fights on the ice, just like hockey players do.
The bottom line is nothing worked for me. After trying to muster enthusiasm for the games Wednesday night, I gave up and went home.
Undaunted, I tried again the following afternoon, using up another free News-Optimist pass to the Civic Centre. After a couple of hours I realized I could not care less about what was happening on the ice, so I threw in the towel.
I was totally defeated in my attempt to become a die-hard curling fan. I guess that makes me a bad Saskatchewanian.
The sport has a huge history in the province because of the many success stories over the years. Names such as the Richardsons, Rick Folk, Sandra Schmirler, and others come to mind.
Curling is among that "holy trinity" of sports that define the province of Saskatchewan, alongside hockey and football with three downs.
A good example of the interest in curling amongst Saskatchewan people could be found on a return flight from Las Vegas earlier this month.
My WestJet flight to Saskatoon was loaded with Saskatchewan people returning home to their normal lives. The cabin was equipped with satellite TV so passengers could flip channels to watch whatever they wanted.
Guess which program most TVs on that WestJet flight were tuned to? That's right: the Grand Slam of Curling on CBC! That tells you all you need to know about Saskatchewan people and life in this province.
My TV, though, was tuned to the Italian "Serie A" soccer game on the other channel. That tells you all you need to know about me.
Sorry, Tankard fans. It's great we had the event here, but no matter how hard I try I just cannot get interested in curling.
