Registered: Sep 2002
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Tour action for teams E. Brown and T. George starts today with Grand Slam Masters of Curling. 4 games for each team against potential Oly opponents.

Team C. George and a couple others are at the OVCA fall classic.

Men's teams seem to be taking a break.

JH

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quote:

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Originally posted by tuck
I agree that the Czechs are coming on strong...especially the Junior Girls team...and that they had a good run last year.

Still, I can't find where they have done anything good this year. I'll pick them to finish behind the US team at the Qualifier. My early prediction of finish (subject to change before Dec. 1st) will be 1. USA 2. Japan 3. Czechs.

Sorry, buy you can't sit in Prague all September, October and November and then expect to win a spot in Sochi. They have few tour events completed this year so far and bad results in those few.

I could be wrong, but I really hope that I am right. Zinging Gerry and Misty in one fell swoop would be like BAZZINGA.

Ben Tucker
PS Also have Breeders Cup horse picks if you are foolish enough to throw your money away

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Last edited by misty1 on 10-30-13 at 01:58PM

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Really unfortunate loss for the george rink to ulsrud this morning. Had they won it could have set them up well to get out of the group, now its going to be hard.

I mentioned it in the main thread that i didnt like that, after getting the 4 and then forcing ulsrud to a single they seemed to be content to just try and run things out and it ended up biting them in the end.

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Ulsrud shot only 62%, but just enough to win.
Can someone explain the scoring used for this event? How many points can be credited on a shot? How, in layman's terms, are Diff/5 and Sweep/10 determined? And how are these all used to determine the final percentage?

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Diff/5 is difficulty. Through a port, around a guard, double, etc. Sweeping is how much sweeping each shot entails. Both kind of suggestive and add to the 0 to 5 rating of the shot. A perfect through the port double raise and roll could rate over 6. Sweeping does not add to the score ( I think) but shows if a player needs every shot swept 80%.

Percentages and scoring are lacking in showing when important/key shots are made. A draw against 3,4,5 is that worth more than 100%? A takeout and roll buried to cut them to 1 (instead of 3+) how much is that worth? There are a lot of subjective shots that could be scored 200%+. A draw against 5 that needs to bite the button through a port and around a rock top 8 and is made how much is that worth? 100% seems too low, is 500% too much?

JH

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Spatola and Stolt are playing in the Royal LePage. Courtney George is also there.

Leichter will try again to get on track up in Ontario.

Tough day for the USA in Abbotsford.

Misty, I'm taking Japan to qualify for two reasons: They've put in the work with four quality events (and never went winless) AND they cashed in the Horizontal Drilling cashspiel with a very impressive run. None of the other national teams seem to be doing the work nor getting any results.

Ben Tucker

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quote:

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Originally posted by tuck
Spatola and Stolt are playing in the Royal LePage. Courtney George is also there.

Leichter will try again to get on track up in Ontario.

Tough day for the USA in Abbotsford.

Misty, I'm taking Japan to qualify for two reasons: They've put in the work with four quality events (and never went winless) AND they cashed in the Horizontal Drilling cashspiel with a very impressive run. None of the other national teams seem to be doing the work nor getting any results.

Ben Tucker

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Has Misty gone insane? Probably not. Dufour has six wins against seven loses in reasonable competition. Quality wins against Edin, Hoiberg and de Cruz balanced with some loses to unranked teams.

But maybe Misty has gone insane. The Qualifier should be a test for team preparation. Will those teams that played a fair amount in Canada get the Sochi Spots or will it be teams that stayed closer to home? I suspect that the weekends in Canada will pay huge dividends at The Qualifier. Curling, being a fickle sport, will most likely have one team get a spot that played in Canada and another team that stayed close to home and nothing will be proved. What a stupid game!

Gerry, on the other hand, has gone quite insane. I think it's because of the Canadian Senate Travel Expenses Scandal. Poor Guertzie wants those kind of reimbursements for his frequent flying.

Ben Tucker
teasing Canucks

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Horrible day for the USA. Both teams lose in the Slam. All three teams in the Royal LePage drop their opening games and drop to the C.

Another day like this and Willy will do his usual 4am rant about making professionals out of three skips and a third that can't sweep. Dear Lord, I wish that geezer could sleep through the night.

Ben Tucker
teasing Bill Morehouse (who, for the record, is three weeks older than me)

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quote:

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Originally posted by tuck
Has Misty gone insane? Probably not. Dufour has six wins against seven loses in reasonable competition. Quality wins against Edin, Hoiberg and de Cruz balanced with some loses to unranked teams.

But maybe Misty has gone insane. The Qualifier should be a test for team preparation. Will those teams that played a fair amount in Canada get the Sochi Spots or will it be teams that stayed closer to home? I suspect that the weekends in Canada will pay huge dividends at The Qualifier. Curling, being a fickle sport, will most likely have one team get a spot that played in Canada and another team that stayed close to home and nothing will be proved. What a stupid game!

Gerry, on the other hand, has gone quite insane. I think it's because of the Canadian Senate Travel Expenses Scandal. Poor Guertzie wants those kind of reimbursements for his frequent flying.

Ben Tucker
teasing Canucks

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I stand corrected: Guertzie (with his Czechs) and Misty (with her French) have obviously gone insane. Try to ignore their posts and listen only to me...Tuck.

It is possible that I'm just kidding here. Then again, it is possible that all of Eastern Canada has gone nuts. I mean, it was just a matter of time until the crazy Maritime and Newfie wackiness spread. I just hope we can contain the insanity. Might be time to close the border. We have to rescue Heater McCormick first...then blow up the bridges.

Ben Tucker
I could be wrong

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A truly horrid weekend for the USA. Our two Slam teams go a combined 0-8. The three rinks in the Royal LePage all fall quickly to C event where Courtney and Maureen quickly take their third loss...Spatola moves to 2-2, but needs to qualify in this event that has seen the Swedish B squad already qualify out of the A side.

While this was happening, the European horses kicked our tails in the opening Breeders Cup races. I had one of them in the Marathon, so that made me some money. Good thing...the next races almost wiped me out. Fortunately, a little filly with a giant heart took second in the Distaff to heal me up with my Win'Place'Show large bet. Thank you, Close Hatches. If only Nina Spatola and her team can do that as well.

Such a brutal weekend will have American curlers from coast to coast bemoaning our current state. Don't jump off the bandwagon. These teams (Courtney George in particular) already have their minds in Fargo. When more focused on the tasks at hand, they will be fine.

This is how you get better: Weekend after weekend of tough competition where you get hammered every time you don't bring your A game. It is a dark weekend, but brighter days are coming and coming soon.

Thanks to a little filly with a lot of heart, I (too) have a chance for a comeback. Bets have been placed for tomorrow's Breeder Cup races. I probably won't hit the Pick Six...but I might cash enough tickets to buy some drinks in Fargo at The Trials. That is The Trials where 9 very good teams will compete to live The Dream...the dream to be Olympic medalists.

Sincerely,
Ben Tucker

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quote:

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Originally posted by tuck
A truly horrid weekend for the USA....but I might cash enough tickets to buy some drinks in Fargo at The Trials. That is The Trials where 9 very good teams will compete to live The Dream...the dream to be Olympic medalists.

Sincerely,
Ben Tucker

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Horrible weekend on the ice for the USA and an even worse weekend for me with the horses. If you see me in Fargo, buy me a sandwich. Bloodbath. Thanksgiving will be thankless and Christmas has been cancelled.

I'm swearing off American curling and American racehorses. I am now cheering for the French and Czechs and Swedes. I will be checking in for the odds at Ascot.

Ben Tucker
Dark Days...but my kids are healthy and the wife still loves me

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Team Spatola qualifies at Royal LePage. So, one good result from the weekend.

Team Leichter won a couple of games and lost out in the C qualifier.

Being smarter than Tuck, I saved money by not betting on the Breeders Cup.

JH

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We took a break from tour action for the trials. All the teams there earned OOM points. Team Shuster and Team Pottinger take over the lead. Something I missed, Team Spatola moved into fourth on the OOM list ahead of Team Potter. They could be forced to play the challenge round, if there is one.

No tour action that I see this week. Then some US cashspiels as the OOM season winds down. Duluth, Seattle, Madison and Curl Mesabi for the men. Duluth, Madison and Curl Mesabi for the women. Three consecutive weeks to improve those point totals.

Going to be almost impossible to get an OOM spot at Nationals away from the teams that were in the trials.

I guess the two HP teams to the Nationals will be named after the Curl Mesabi event? That is the last event to earn points to the Nationals. If they were already named, have not seen it.

JH
as always, just one idiots opinions, just ask Tuck

Last edited by jhcurl on 11-20-13 at 03:14PM

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Jeez, Jeff...you make me sound like an ass. Not everybody is in on the joke. For the record, JH is NOT an idiot and I have never seriously called him an idiot.

Jeff's question will loom much larger after midnight. Today is the final day to enter Mens and Womens Nationals. As of yet, no Heath McCormick and no Tyler George.

In fact, not many teams at all. With 11 for the Ladies...and Erika is not yet on the list...we could see a Challenge Round that shrinks the field from 12 down to 10. Not much better for the Men as it currently sits at 16 waiting to see what Heater and Ty decide.

Ben Tucker
I'm the idiot around here...took me an end and half before I realized I was talking to the great Ian Tetley...dang, that was dumb

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The field for Curl Mesabi looks fascinating. The Swiss, Scots and Slovakia will be there on the Men's side. Add Scott Manners and you can put Saskatchewan from another part of the world that starts with S.

Way cool and congrats to the organizers for drawing in some interesting teams.

Ben Tucker

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So...last year 30 teams attempted to win spots at nationals via the challenge round.

This year the count stands at 6.

Great job growing the sport, USCA! Well done!

Amazing how no one wants to take a chance at competing for the right to be supplanted by a handpicked and spoonfed team...

brilliant, just brilliant.

Can we admit this idea was a failure, revise the HPP so that it actually helps the sport rather than what it's doing, and get back to growing the game?

Thanks

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Pete Fenson also not shown as registered at this point.

Alan, there are 16 men and 11 women teams registered that I see. Of course for the women, 4 will make it directly to the Nats so there will most likely not be a challenge round for them.

With no Fenson, George or McCormick signed up then only 2 or 3 from the men's list will go to Nats. So, a challenge round will occur to determine the teams for the final 6 spots at Nats.

The deadline was extended until Friday at midnight. So more teams might yet sign up or complete the registration process.

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Go Phils, got my WS bet on you

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Sure...

A challenge round with less than half of the number of teams from last year (12 vs 30).

The difference? Last year, win our National Championships, be acknowledged as the best our nation has and get to go up against the best the World has to offer. This year, win our National Final Bonspiel and be acknowledged as... not good enough to go to Worlds, and watch as a team that was chosen by USCA last year and given money to curl this season puts on the stars and stripes and takes on the World.

UNless of course you were already in that select pool, in which case, you've been annointed as papable, therefore qualified to try. Of course, most of those teams appear to be skipping Nationals this year...

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quote:

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Originally posted by AlanMacNeill
Sure...

A challenge round with less than half of the number of teams from last year (12 vs 30).

The difference? Last year, win our National Championships, be acknowledged as the best our nation has and get to go up against the best the World has to offer. This year, win our National Final Bonspiel and be acknowledged as... not good enough to go to Worlds, and watch as a team that was chosen by USCA last year and given money to curl this season puts on the stars and stripes and takes on the World.

UNless of course you were already in that select pool, in which case, you've been annointed as papable, therefore qualified to try. Of course, most of those teams appear to be skipping Nationals this year...

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THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THE ENTRY DEADLINES. IF THE STATED REQUIREMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN RECEIVED BY THE USCA OFFICE BY THE DEADLINE DATE AND TIME, THE TEAM WILL NOT BE ENTERED. TO AVOID PROBLEMS, TEAMS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REGISTER AND PROVIDE THE INFORMATION TO THE USCA TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE ENTRY DEADLINE DATE.

That statement is from page 16 of the current USCA rule book. Seems pretty clear to me. Apparently what it really means is that the USCA can still do whatever they want if they feel the deadline should be changed. The stated reason is that they were unable to send reminders to partially registered teams due to computer problems. So they were able to update the list of registered teams on Monday but their e-mail was completely down and had no way to remind people to finish the registration? Was the phone system down too? Did the Trials teams just not know they actually needed to register?

What is the process for the USCA making sudden changes to the rules in the middle of the season anyway? I guess we won't really know for sure which teams will be playing at the challenge round or nationals or world's until the events are over. Until then anything is possible.

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The "winner" of the playdowns to be held in Philly may not be the team to represent the US at the worlds. Stooopid, IMO.

If you know anything about Philadelphia fans (remember, they boo'ed and threw snowballs at Santa Clause) this will NOT play well.

You were warned USCA!

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Just to be clear to the lurkers out there, neither of the previous posts was me. ;-)

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Go Phils, got my WS bet on you

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