Curling

This past weekend was the Canadian woman's curling championships, AKA the Scotties. In the semi final on Saturday, the lead of the Ontario made two tick shots. If you know nothing about curling, know one thing: the tick shot is a hard shot.

Or, it was. You see, they were playing the final on the new international-sized sheet. This got me thinking about two things:

1. The Game is officially different at national and international events. The US women were playing their final at around the same time. Only, their final was played on the normal every day sized sheet that we all normally play on. Meaning, the Canadian women, and men, will have a leg up.
2. The tick shot is easier. Again, if you know nothing about curling, know this: the tick shot is easier now.

I think the first thing has some serious ramifications on our game. The great part of this game is that it used to be the same. Now, the very best teams in the world will be playing on ice surfaces that we normal players can't pay on. We can't go around corner guards from the outside in. We can't play the tick shot a little more aggressively. The better teams can. Does this mean the better teams are going to widen their gap? I think it does. I think I'll research this a little more.