Best team ever?

Image by mutantlog via Flickr

Glenn Howard's team just one their fourth Ontario Championship, basically kicking the crap out of the field again. One can wonder from this two things:

1. Does everyone else in Ontario suck?
2. Is Glenn Howard's team the greatest ever?

This was actually asked on a blog post by Bob Weeks. I answered it there, and elaborate here.

To answer the question of is Team Howard the best team in Ontario, I want to take you back to the lat final versus Martin.

If you recall, in the seventh end Howard was up one with playing Martin. Martin was sitting two, with lots of guards around. Originally Howard was going to just pick out one of Martin's and give up a steal of one.

Then, as he sat in the hack, he saw a whole to shot rock and decided to play for one through a little port. The port consists of a guard and second shot rock, so the miss is to hit second shot (in essence, playing the original call).

As Howard throws the rock, I swear I don’t think there’s a team on the tour that doesn’t sweep it to ensure it hits more of the top one. They are relaxed, not screaming right off, or sweep. It hits just enough of the top rock, and just enough of the back one to just get three by enough.

My point: either they froze, or they are so confident in outcomes that they wait for the outcome.

I remember when I used to deal blackjack. I could tell who was going to beat the table because they were the ones who were not afraid to lose.

To me, that last shot is indication that they are not in the least bit afraid to lose. It hit a comfortable amount of the rock, but again, there aren’t too many teams, if any, that let that curl.

They are 4 relaxed guys who simply aren't afraid to miss. That might be because they have the greatest pure thrower of the rock at skip, but it also might be because they've learned as a team that misses will come, but they will also be overcome.

As a team, I think they are the best curling has ever seen.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Howard's improbable triple gives him Canadian Open title (cbc.ca)
• Howard completes career curling slam (canada.com)

Funny, but because I'm weird

"But it's thought that since the MRSA strain is in pigs in Canada, it is likely in pigs in the United States also, because there's international movement of pigs from Canada to the United States." (emphasis mine)

This is from an article in Salon that basically suggests that the strain of Staph (MRSA) that is going around right now (it's in Autumn's day care) might be a result of the antibiotics that are fed to the pigs we eat. I know, that's a heady subject. One that people with little kids should seriously consider. But come on, 'there's international movement of pigs from Canada to the US'. That's just a funny sentence.

A show about advertising

According to Adfreak, there's gonna be a new show about advertising on TNT. Which I thought was called The Nashville Network, until I realized that's TNN. I have no idea what TNT stands for and can't be bothered to google it. Anyway, here's the presser:

"Eric McCormack has been tapped for one of the leading roles in the TNT drama pilot “Truth in Advertising.”

Tom Cavanagh is in final negotiations for the other lead in the project, from Warner Horizon and Shephard/Robin Co.

“Advertising” is set at the multimillion-dollar advertising agency Rothman, Greene & Moore, where executives must continually prove themselves as their jobs are on the line every day.

McCormack will play Mason McGuire, vp and art director at the Chicago agency. He is described as a nice guy navigating the politics in an increasingly cutthroat corporate world. When he is promoted to creative director, Mason must learn to cultivate his inner shark.

Cavanagh would play the highly emotional and creative Conner, Mason’s partner, friend and copywriter. He gets that advertising is a business but is always looking for ways to mix in plenty of pleasure."

I think it will be kinda neat to see how they develop the relationship between the Art Director and the copywriter. I've had some doozy relationships myself. My first partner was an English bloke, who may or may not have been gay. My next partner was incredibly creative, and completely late on everything. The next one was a true conspiracy theorist who continually thought he was going to get fired, or abducted, or both. (Since getting abducted would mean missing enough work to get fired).

My current partner is extremely talented, and defiantly gay. I don't mean that in a negative way, just that he's gay and proud.

But this little trip down memory lane is really because the thing that first struck me about this new show, set in Chicago, is that both men are Canadian.

That just struck me.

Camping preparation

This could be funny. We're heading up to the great white North, North Bay. Think about that: the name of the town has geography in it. It's a proud town that wants to show off where it is. Mostly, regions get that kind of treatment. States (when there are two) and continents.

Anyway, I digress. The point is, we're going camping. With Autumn.

A couple of days ago, we actually set up the tent, mostly to see if we could. Also to see how big it was in there. Upon setting up, we realized that sleeping in the tent with a sound asleep baby might pose some problems. Thus, I googled "baby camping", to see what the internet said about camping with a baby. The internet is basically mute. It says camping with a baby is fun. And fine. But offers no real head nodding insights into camping with said baby.

We're pretty confident about the daytime part. Autumn loves swimming and playing in the sand. Ergo, since camping is basically that interrupted by eating and drinking, we're pretty sure she'll be fine. It's the sleeping.

But, we have an idea. A plan. Rhona is crafting a barrier type thing to secure Autumn in the tent. Plan A call it. Plan B is using my brother's tent (his apparently has rooms) to place her pack and play in. Plan C is calling Johnny Mac, of North Bay, and begging for space. Plan D, "The Moe Z on Inn". I swear to you, said motel exists. I stayed in it back in my curling days. It's across the road from the Wagon Wheel Restaurant, site of a few late night dinners in various degrees of intoxication.

Point is, we'll vbe fine. We're gonna have some stories. And pictures. And fun.

Happy May Two-Four

Yes, I understand how the calendar works. And I can count. That's why I know it's May 21 today. But in Canada, it's May two-four weekend. Meant to celebrate Queen Victoria's Birthday, which is May 24. Canadians though, more than most people, love the long weekend, so the holiday is always on the last Monday before the 25th. It can occur on the actual 24th, which is often surreal, but not really special. It could actually occur on May 18th, and still be called May two-four weekend. This most likely confuses new residents into thinking Canadians can't count.

But there's a good reason to call it May two-four weekend. In Canada, a case of beer is conveniently called a two-four. That's proof that Canadians can indeed count, even if they are calendar-challenged.

It seems like a beer marketers dream? Queen Victoria is born on the cusp of summer. She has a rather stellar reign worth celebrating. And then, in one of the colony's, a place where they are just dying to get rid of winter and celebrate summer, some Upper Canadians decided to celebrate her by, perhaps, raising a beer from their case. An almost perfect set of circumstances come together to make a weekend that is virtually dedicated to drinking beer. A vodka soda on May two-four? Please. Pass the Blue. Pass an Ex.

And so it was. May two-four weekend, one of the only holidays in the world that is dedicated to drinking beer. So cheers Canada -- your beer drinking image is cemented once again. Have a good two-four.