On Change, Curling Journalism, and Getting Older

The mailbag is back!

We made it. I’m so sorry I haven’t done a regular newsletter post since September 30th. I knew this fall was going to be busy for me, but I think I underestimated just how busy it was going to get. 3 Slams, a weekend of live podcasts that I put on in Vancouver, some corporate stand-up comedy stuff, and a few secret projects on the go (more on this soon I hope!) have made updating this harder than I’d like. I’ll try and get some more newsletters done in the new year, but I figured we should wrap up 2024 with a classic mailbag, as lots has happened since September 30th and now and we should try to get to as much of it as we can! Let’s go!

Why not start with one of the most surprising news items we’ve seen in the last 3 months, the Gushue switch. It was perhaps not that surprising if you were watching the games, as there definitely seemed to be a disconnect between EJ and Brad at times. While curling is much more of a business now than it used to be, there is still an element of levity and(or) friendship that a lot of the top teams carry into their games, and that seemed to not be there anymore, and probably why the change was made.

As far as the team being tired, I don’t think that’s it, although that week in St. John’s would probably tire anyone in Team Gushue’s shoes (Gu Shoes?) out. I’ve never seen anything like it. They were getting pulled in so many directions and Brad does get hounded there like a Hollywood celebrity. It was wild to witness.

I think it’s two factors: one, it’s a big change. We know that Brad is very particular, and has been open over the years about needing his teams to do things just so, from delivery to sweeping to communication. Moving on from one of the best seconds in the world from both a sweeping and shooting perspective is a big shift no matter who replaces them. For Brendan to be playing a foreign position and not controlling the reins of the team for the first time in almost 20 years is a big adjustment for him, too. Two, the sweeping gap is big. I don’t think Brendan is as bad at sweeping as some keyboard warriors online might suggest, but any top curlers will tell you EJ is on the very short list of top sweepers in the game, and has been for years. Brendan is, uhh…not. It’s a big adjustment in where to put the broom and how to throw the stone when the sweeping just isn’t as powerful as you’re used to. It’s 4 smart guys and I expect they’ll figure it out, but I think the adjustment is larger than people think.

Speaking of sweeping…not that I’ve heard of. I know there is research being done behind the scenes and I think the new foam BalancePlus has come out with may speed along some of this research. I don’t think we’re at Broomgate 2.0 but I’ll be curious to see where that heads in the next few months. I know Eugene is an avid reader of this newsletter so maybe he’ll give me an update I can pass along next time.

Ah yes, this old bugaboo. The short answer is yes, sort of, (how’s that for committal) and I’d actually argue we are at least part of the way there already. I think most people in curling media have gotten at least a few angry texts or DMs at this point, myself included.

I think what people need to understand about sports media in general is that often what we think of as “leaks” are actually controlled, and insiders in other sports also hold lots of information back out of respect to players/executives/team employees or whoever their sources are. Often the leaks are to serve a greater narrative: maybe an owner wants to see how the public might react to a trade rumour. Maybe an agent is trying to get their client more money. Maybe there’s a key narrative an invested person wants out there to beat the other person to their version of that same narrative.

The reality for curling is that there isn’t enough money or stakeholders for this sort of insider information trading to be viable, or to make sense. Often the only sources are the curlers themselves. If there were owners of teams, or GMs of teams, or other stakeholders around that might be able to leak info, then you might see more info leak. But for a curler on a team, it doesn’t actually add anything for them to the overall experience to say, let it leak that they’re cutting a player to a member of the media before they just release the news themselves.

As far as getting something beyond rehashing team press releases for team cuts or other sensitive information, I do think that yes, curling does have some growing up to do in that regard, but again, a lot of times that information is coming from higher up in other sports. Let’s say for example in the NHL that Team A trades Player A, and the fans of Team A loved Player A, so they’re unhappy with the move. Team A might then leak what actually happened behind the scenes, and it might be information about how Player A was actually a bad actor so as to buffer their own image. It allows reporters to print a better story, and it gives the teams some currency in return.

Right now, there is no currency a media member can offer a curling team because it’s just the team that can act as sources. The only time you might get something like that is if a curler is cut from a curling team and wants to go scorched earth, maybe something akin to the Moulding/Bottcher situation. The reality for most curlers, however, is that the top players are recycled between teams all the time, and scorching the earth may limit your opportunities in the future, so they don’t.

Love stepping away from the pros for a second. The answer isn’t straightforward, unfortunately. It’s a little bit complicated with the 5-rock rule because your second will still be expected to draw, but generally newer players pick up hitting faster, and are better at it, so it makes a little more sense to have them at 2 because generally, they will be hitting more. I will say though, you need a strong third to execute on this because you will have ends where you are in trouble and need the bailout with the weaker player in the 2-hole. Lead is often the default option because while you may not get the ends set up exactly right (or ever), you have more time to still build a successful end if they screw up. If your second misses both of their shots consistently and your third isn’t dynamite, you may have an issue. I think if you knew they would consistently make one of their two shots but consistently outright miss one of the two, you’d put them at lead. One good guard or come-around per end at the club level is often enough. Knowing you’re missing a shot at second every end, however, is tough. But if their ability is such that some ends you can count on them to make both and maybe you’ll have the odd end where they throw two zeroes, then you may be able to hide them better at second.

Calling Team Homan the prohibitive favourite is probably underselling it, especially if Shannon Birchard’s injury situation continues to complicate and Briane Harris’ appeal is unsuccessful. They’ve managed to have success this year but new spares every weekend isn’t a recipe for overall success and if Shannon ends up missing more time (she played in Swift Current this weekend but missed the team’s last game against Kaitlyn Lawes so we’ll wait to hear more), it could be a problem getting up to speed for the Trials which are all of a sudden less than a year away. And the gap between Einarson and that next group of teams is vast, something serious would have to happen for a real challenger to Homan to emerge from there.

For the men, it’s tough to argue that Gushue isn’t still the prohibitive favourite. He’s won all the Briers in this quad, he’s still the leading Canadian team in the world rankings, he’s the incumbent Trials champion, and he’s Brad Gushue. However, that word prohibitive is doing a lot more work now than it might have been a few months ago, as we’ve already discussed some of the challenges with EJ leaving. Brad Jacobs is now only 5 points behind Gushue in the world rankings and climbing, I think the EJ add freshens up Team Dunstone, and Mike McEwen continues to truck along, qualifying in every event they’ve played since September except one, and winning 3 times in the process.

Speaking of Team Jacobs…I hadn’t actually noticed Marc changed his release, so I asked the man himself if he had changed it. Here’s what Marc said:

“I did! Great question, guy is sharp! I actually changed my in-turn grip and release. I had too many overcurls, and I needed to make a big change. It’s been a great move for me so far.”

So there you have it. Good eye.

Oh, it’s a problem. It might be the biggest problem facing Canada right now, in fact. At least on the men’s side. We’ve relied far too much on this current generation of players now aged 35-49. I don’t blame Curling Canada for this, because this has been one of the best generations of curlers in a long time, and left to their own devices and to make their own teams, were pretty successful. The one downside to this is they really haven’t brought along any young players. Kevin Martin brought along Morris/Kennedy/Hebert. Glenn Howard brought along Laing/Savill, and then Scott/Mathers/March after that. Jeff Stoughton brought along Fowler/Carruthers. The list goes on. This generation has been largely allergic to that, and it’s hurt the country big-time. Young players have been left to stay with their own teams and get their asses kicked before eventually quitting, with very few exceptions, and almost all of those exceptions were exemplary young skips (Bottcher/Dunstone/Tardi).

The reason the Euro teams are able to do this is because they’re identifying players at a young age and giving them resources. Scotland should be scaring the shit out of Canada right now. Bruce Mouat is the best team in the world with a bullet and he’s 30. Ross Whyte is 7th in the world, beat Bruce at last year’s Scottish championship, has made a Slam final, and is 26. James Craik won the World Juniors, the World Universities, and is now 20th in the world and he’s 23. They’re keeping junior teammates together, and giving them top level training from a young age (and funding), so the waves keep coming. Hell, Kyle Waddell and Cameron Bryce aren’t even heavily funded (if at all) and they’re 19th and 30th, respectively. Canada has not been doing this. We’ve been focused on the top end of the game and just assuming the juniors will follow behind because of our depth, and because that always worked before. It’s about to stop working, and very quickly.

There’s no doubt in my mind Dave Murdoch has noticed this (and also helped build this current Scottish model), so I expect to see a lot more investment in the younger curlers in the game coming up. But we might have a fallow period of 5 years or so while we wait for those curlers to catch up and the Koes and Gushues and McEwens of the world retire. All it takes is one good team to be competitive on the world stage (look at Sweden), but we may see a time very soon where a country’s third-best team is better than our third-best team, and that has probably never been the case in the sport’s competitive history.

Last question! If you’re a fan of American curling, particularly the 5U division, check out Ben’s newsletter Stones and Stripes. It’s been awesome to see the growth of curling in the USA in the last half-decade, and Ben does a great job covering it (as well as other USA Curling stuff).

Jordon McDonald hasn’t come out of nowhere, per se. He gave Brad Jacobs (then playing with Reid Carruthers) all he could handle a couple of times in last year’s Manitoba Provincials, beat the field at the U25 NextGen Classic despite being one of the youngest teams in the tournament, and then had that miracle PointsBet run. They’ve also qualified in every event they’ve played in this season, their first playing the men’s circuit full-time. So they’re not super foreign to us in Canada, but maybe abroad they might be.

They remind me a lot of Mike McEwen’s early team, actually, with the Neufelds and Matt Wozniak. Jordon has a very similar slide to Mike, and also calls the game with a similar confidence, not afraid to have rocks in play because he trusts his ability to make the final shot. They’re also clearly friends, have a good bond with each other, and I think Mike’s team was a little surprising at first as they worked their way into the upper echelon of the game, but team chemistry was a big piece for them too.

Harkening back to the last question, Jordon McDonald is the exact type of team Curling Canada should be funding, and will be, based on their NextGen Classic result. They’re a team you’d like to see grow together, and I’m very excited to see how they do at their first Slam in a few weeks.

Thanks everyone for reading! Felt great to be back in the saddle pumping out content for you, and hopefully we’ll do some more in the new year. In the meantime, listen to Broom Brothers. I think the shows have been really funny, fun, and fascinating (the 3 F’s!) and I’m really proud of the work we’ve been doing. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it too! Until next time.