// TUCKED IN THE BACK PAGE This year is going to rock By Ben Tucker,
tuck@usacurl.org
good icemen have stopped pebbling their drive- ways and have started pebbling sheets of ice. Yes, good icemen pebble their driveways in the sum- mer. It is very hard to see your pebble pattern on clean white ice, but it shows up great on bare ce- ment. So, good icemen practice in the summer and change their motion. Some try the “Figure 8” of the late Shorty Jenkins … some use a short choppy stroke … some use a long swing with a stiff arm … then they measure the width to see if they are covering the entire sheet. If you’ve seen your iceman pebbling his driveway in the sum- mertime, he has not gone insane. (Well, he has gone insane because he agreed to make ice; but pebbling dry cement is actually one of the saner things he does.) As I write this, the leaves on my trees are turn-
F
ing lovely shades of yellow and gold. By the time you read it, those leaves will have fallen. Like summer, they will have surrendered to the turn of the calendar and will be laying on my lawn awaiting the day I rake them up. I could waste a day raking them up … or I could go curling. I think I’ll go curl. Te dang leaves can wait until spring. What a year this is going to be! I’m old, so I am
not yet used to getting extra excited according to the Olympic quadrennial cycle. It all begins at Te Olympic Trials set for Fargo in Novem- ber. Tat is where one team of each gender will achieve Te Dream. Te winners will be Olympi- ans and known as Olympians until the day they
inally! Te curling season is finally here! As I write this in mid-September and you read it in mid-October, all of the
die. Well, the gals will be certain Olympians. Te winning men’s team will have to go to Germany in December and win one of two spots in the Olympic Qualifier. Aſter December will come January with its
playdowns, National Challenge Rounds and Ju- nior National Championships. February will bring the Olympics in Sochi. Pushed back a couple of weeks this year (so the Olympic teams can compete should they choose) will be the Na- tional Men’s and Women’s Championships in Philadelphia. Squeezed in there sometime will be the Continental Cup, which is kind of like golf ’s Ryder Cup. It pits Team North America vs. Team World and is a great training ground for our top teams. Tis year the Continental Cup will be held in America for the first time. Las Vegas, baby! So curling fans in the Midwest can drive to
Fargo for the Trials. Curling fans in the East can get to Philly for Nationals. Fans in the West (or fans with an overdeveloped sense of fun) can get to Vegas. Curling junkies, like me, can dream and scheme to see all three plus catch some of the Juniors and the Sochi Olympics as best we can. I have plans to be in Fargo and plans to be in Philly. I hope to make it to Las Vegas, but I’ll need to see how things are going. Wouldn’t it be great to fly to Germany and watch our men’s Olympic team nominee win a spot in Sochi? I have to quit dreaming. Tat might be one too many. Actually, the season really began some time
ago. Te cashspiels have been going for a while now. I like to pay attention to these and even go and watch some if time allows. Tis year the cashspiels have taken on added importance. Te teams that get to represent us at Worlds might not be our national champions. It will be the
team that accrues the most points. Tere will be lots of points available in Philly for the champi- ons to claim, but some other team might clinch the coveted trip to Worlds before the gold-medal game. Tis is a new development that I abhor, so I will be really interested to see how it all plays out. I’ve always paid attention to the 'spiels, but I’ll be paying extra attention this year. It’s looking like quite the year ahead of us.
Best of all will not be watching, but doing some curling. My knee is shot, so I won’t get to do too much. I will, however, do some. How can I not? A few practice rocks, fiſth man on a league team or, perhaps, a bonspiel with my kids … the pain will eventually subside but the love of the game will be rekindled. Like a methhead from "Breaking Bad," I’ll need to get my fix. Hopefully, it will lead to meeting new people and sharing some stories. It will certainly lead to seeing old friends. Don’t get too wrapped up in watching some great curl- ing. Make plans to play. Playing is way better than watching. Playing one weekend far from home is WAY better than watching. For the good of the game:
If your club needs members, this is your year.
Once every four years we are blessed with a huge surge in interest in curling and coverage of curl- ing. For those who plan ahead, it can be a wind- fall for your club. Te key, of course, is to plan ahead. Brainstorm on how best to capitalize on this windfall so that your club gets healthy. Don’t squander this surge in interest. Shoot me an email if you get a chance. Say “hi”
if our paths cross. I do love talking about curling and meeting curlers. – Ben Tucker … but most curlers call me Tuck.
USA Curling (( 31
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