Rocky Top Bonspiel - Knoxville TN

FINALLY !

Finally made it to the Rocky Top Bonspiel after hearing how much fun it was for the last 3-4 years. And I must say flying into Knoxville TN is one of the most beautiful countrysides I have ever seen ! Green rolling hillsides with a many a huge house at one end of the property, and pastures and green green green untouched land, simply beautiful.

My cheap-o GPS got us to the ice with no problem...except for one strange intersection just off the highway. Right, left, straight (sort of) or do we do one of the curvy options ? Our skip and broom bag hauler got a little lost.


NOPE that's not the ice house.....


At this point he called the Ice Rink and they gave him directions....his GPS needs a little updating I guess.

The crew from Ice King came down from Ontario and for the cost of the entry fee and all the beer they could consume (even into Monday I hear) took arena ice and worked their magic on it, they made it flat, no falls, no ridges, no negative ice, no negative turns, predictable curl, what a great job. If you play on arena ice you know what I'm talking about and can really appreciate the hard work.
I don't have a picture of the Ice King Crew...sorry, but this was our team. Handsome Dudes ! (Picture by Shana)

One of the great things about summer spiels is not having to wear long pants. Of course if you are shy or have really knobby knees and skinny legs...well Todd and I don't or we don't care, we just wanted to be comfy. My knee brace just adds to the ??? effect don't you think ?I guess David and Don must have some of the aforementioned leg issues ???

I really need to be comfortable, and we must have been very comfortable as we seemed to really click on the 2nd game. I know I didn't miss a shot the first 4 ends, which freaked me out into missing both shots in the 5th. (Pictures courtesy of the Curling Club via their Face Book Page)

Our 2nd game didn't get going till about 1015pm, so by the time we had a few beers and chatted and got back to the hotel it was 2am. Good thing we won cause we didn't have to play till 2pm on Saturday.

It's always the goal to be playing on Sunday Morning, that's the goal next to getting some hardware, too bad we didn't have time to discuss that goal cause if you are going to lose a game it needs to be game 1 or game 2 NOT game 3. We lost game 3 to some nice folks from Milton Ontario, so we were OUT ! Time to head to the chow down at the Yacht Club on the river. Lots of beer, silent auction, lots of stuff, GREAT RIBS ! and did I mention lots of beer...just making sure.

Well since we didn't play well enough to play on Sunday and our flight didn't leave till 6pm, we said goodbye to Don and his wife Paula as they headed for North Carolina. Todd and Shana were heading to Nashville, so David and I took a drive to see a little of the Smokies and some really touristy spots that I would not want to see again.

The drive in the mountains was beautiful, the scenery was just as awesome, we made it all the way to North Carolina.

Can you believe these pictures were taken with my cell phone ? There is alot of history in these mountains, including the CCC (Citizen Conservation Corps) from the Great Depression days.



The Rocky Top is a good bonspiel, well worth your time and money, and they have unlimited beer ! Did I mention that ?

Click the link at the top of the page or click HERE to jump to the Great Smokey Mountains Curling Club.

P.I.C. 1st Shot

Another comment from the PIC 2009.......

I had said I was hugely honored to be included in the "1st Shot" at the PIC, Yadranka sent me a couple of pictures of that moment.


Photo by Yadranka Thompson


Those aren't exactly small shot glasses as you can see in my hand, Leigh Armstrong is thinking "Oh my this is going to burn" as she takes a glass.....


Photo by Yadranka Thompson

It was actually quite smoooooth going down, it was cold on the ice, but I felt this nice warm glow on the inside. I had this stupid grin on my face that just got bigger and bigger.

What a great time we had !

Back from the Pacific International Cup

WE are BACK from the Pacific International Cup, hosted by the Richmond Curling Club in beautiful British Columbia.

We won 3 and lost 4, losing all 4 to Canadian Teams and one of our wins was against our friends the Aussies !

So there you go, great time as always, great competition as always, and that's about it - right ?

OH HELL NO !!

CURLING is more than just the actual game, that's why those that curl get so hooked, it's also about the social aspect of the game. Curler's love the social side, and nobody throws a bonspiel or an event like the PIC (Pacific International Cup) quite as well as Canada. The PIC is special, just ask any of the BC teams that had never been before, but now vow to return next year. The PIC is a gigantic celebration of the best of club curling.

We Texans delight in the fact we are allowed to compete and try our skills in the PIC. This year was special for us as we missed getting here last year - AND - for me personally, I was given a huge honor.

During the official opening ceremonies teams march down both sides of the 8 sheet ice, following 2 Piper's and 2 RCMP's, cross and form two lines and then are lead forward by the Piper's and RCMP's to a designated point.

Some speeches given by the founders of the PIC, the Mayor of Richmond, Leigh Armstrong (Canadian Champion), singing of the National Anthem, and so forth. That's when the ceremonial scotch is brought on ice, then Jim Mann steps back to the mike and says he would like one curler to step forward to represent all the International Teams, so would Dan Johnson of Texas please step forward.

Holy Moly...I froze, surprised, and had Andy pushing me saying that's you go on go on...at least that's what I remember.

So I joined them on the platform and joined in with the drinking of the scotch, everyone was shaking my hand, I was HUGELY honored to be included in such a ceremony and my team mates were very excited for me.

It is a major highlight of my very short curling life, if you thought I was possessed with curling before....it's worse now.

Of course once we got off the ice all the guys said HEY....you started drinking without us...you got a head start....and every other silly thing you can think of.

The scotch, BTW, went down smoothly, and made me feel warm and fuzzy afterwards. LOL

Can you believe it ? I wonder what brand of scotch that was ?

The PIC has 20 Men's Teams and 16 Women's Teams, I am possibly exaggerating, but I think the 8 BC Men's and Women's Teams have more play down games to get to the PIC than we have in our entire season.

Right across the street from the Richmond Curling Club is the Vancouver Olympic Oval ! Walking distance, so the PIC was organizing tours of the Oval, giving us all a first hand look, up close and personal, very cool of course and don't plan on parking within even a mile of this Oval during the Winter Olympics. You will be catching a mass transit train instead.

Draws started Wednesday afternoon, Thursday was curling, Opening Ceremonies, curling and that evening was the fan-tab-ulous banquet. Friday was curling, nothing but curling, from 7am to really late PM. We had 5 on our team, me being the eldest. which I took advantage of by announcing I would GLADLY give up my spot on the 7am game. HEY it's seniority - can you blame me ?!





We went looking for breakfast after that 7am game Friday and found this place....

What can I say ? I'm shameless, and seemingly everywhere....hahaha


Saturday was curling followed by CASINO NIGHT ! Or perhaps I should say the CASINO NIGHT PARTY - heavy on the PARTY !! We won 2-3 million $, combined our winnings with another team and were bidding on loot. It was great all the teams were together all in one place everyone having a great time, talking about how organized the PIC was, how they were ABSOLUTELY finding a way to get back here next year.

Speaking of bidding on loot....these two somehow bid and won the lovely frock's they are wearing....altho I am not sure at the time if they even remembered taking this picture - and they sent it to me ?? HAThat's Matt on the left from Australia and an all around good guy and good curler. Nick on the left, my skip, a very good curler and having a great time - OBVIOUSLY !!

There was one other special thing that happened, after the games were stopped and before the bidding on loot began they announced the Sportsmanship Awards. These awards were voted on by the teams, Men for Men and Women for Women. We were selected as the Men's Sportsmanship winner ! Team TEXAS ! I cannot remember the name of the Women's team that won but here we are all together and having a grand time I might add.

Where's John ? Hmmmmmmmm



Ok Here's John, having fun over at the OVAL, all around great guy and excellent curler. I don't know why he is not in the previous picture, but if YADRANKA ever sends me the pictures she took - I know he is in her camera....isn't that right Chester ?

The Pacific International Cup is all about club curlers, it is unique, it is highly organized and the Winners (both from Okanagan) are now headed to the Dominion Club Championship in Toronto in September !

The PIC is special and we love it and plan to return next year.

Cheers and Good Curling !

Two Bonspiels

Actually we are back from the Pacific International Cup in Vancouver BC....

While I wait on some pictures and get my thoughts together...

Here are a couple of spiels I picked up while in Vancouver...

We had a great time...





We actually played a group of guys from Kerry Park Curling Club, but we got the bonspiel info from some ladies from Kerry Park. It's a long ways to go if you live in Texas, but combine it with some vacation time and see Victoria, maybe some Orca's, maybe some golf....I'd love to go, perhaps next year.






We ran into some friends up from Chicago, I do believe we have been to this spiel before, great competition, free beer and free food all weekend....and as I recall they DID NOT run out of beer....this is in October, check it out....a really great time.

DFW Club Champions

Yeah that's right we WON the whole EN-CHI-LADA !
And we played terrible for the first half of the season. What a struggle !



We frequently only had one sweeper, altho there were times when we could let John hold the broom and have 2 sweeps, he had to be careful with the wheelchair and not knock any rocks around getting out of the way.

That's Nick on the left, Judy, John in the wheelchair, me (should have combed my hair) and Judy's son Ethan.

When Ethan could play we had him helping out with sweeping chores, he's getting pretty good, and sweeping a full length sheet not a half sheet like in little rocks.

Very nice win for us, we found our groove about halfway thru the season and in the playoff's....color us HAPPY !!

We get a trophy we call the Cardy Cup, get our names engraved on it and then get to each keep it about a month before handing it back in October or November. Sort of like the Stanley Cup.....we had one guy take it to his pool, photograph it with his dog, at a picnic etc etc...pretty funny stuff.



These are the guys and gal we played in the Final, Janet on the left, David, Cec and John.




We added a new trophy called the Presidents Cup, for the Team with the Best Overall Record. This group was very hard to beat, always on broom on weight a really good team.

Stephen on the left, Todd, Don and Leni.

The date on all these pictures is off by 1 month...should be 3/22/09

DALLAS - We Have Tuesday Curling !

So what's the big deal ? Well if you play on real ice, in a dedicated curling club, it's not a big deal.

But if you are an arena club (ie: hockey ice, public skate ice) just getting a second draw is a major ordeal. Just getting a second draw on the same day is huge, let alone getting a second draw during the weekday.


As alot of people know we have an active group that likes to get out and bonspiel. We have been all over the place, San Francisce, SLC, Knoxville, Madison, St. Paul, Rochester NY, Potomac, Brantford Ont, Vancouver BC, Houston, Chicago, Green Bay, Cape Cod, just to name a few of the places.

Pretty hard thing to do if all your curling is on a Sunday. You leave your teammates short handed. Tuesday curling could help that next season.

Our Tuesday Curling is about teaching beginners, and we have a bunch, nearly 1/2 the group are new to the sport or just could not make curling on Sundays. We also have a bunch of new skips-to-be (including me) getting their feet wet.

We are keeping it cheap !! $200 for 8 weeks, no club dues - no joining the club - no USCA dues, nothing but paying for the ice.

Wish us luck, the goal is for this 8 weeks to translate into 16 weeks next fall. Some like me will play in both weekday and weekend.

Good Times and Good Curling !

2009 Texas Open Bonspiel

The Texas Open Bonspiel is back !!

Originally planned to be hosted by the Austin Club, a situation arose that was out of their control and Houston Offered to Host.

The TOB (as we call it) was hosted by Dallas last spring and by Houston the year before that...we are trying to rotate it around to each club if at all possible.

This spiel is becoming very popular in that Texas usually has great weather and all the golf course are open. Nasa is very close to the Houston club's ice.

Click the Title Bar and jump to the Curling Club of Houston Web site.

WANTED: Curling Ice Plant Chiller Thing

The Dallas/Ft. Worth Curling club is looking for an Ice Plant ! Used or New, 4-5 sheets would be ideal but a 2-3 sheeter would also work.

HUH ? They curl in Texas ? Really ?

YES REALLY !!

And we want to make our own ice, in our own place, and we are willing to work hard to make it happen.

So we need an Ice Plant and a Chiller to get things started. Do you have any idea how hard it is to curl on this stuff ?

Ok well it's not as hard as curling on this wing....but you get the idea.

If your club is upgrading to a bigger plant - LET US KNOW !
If you know of a club that is upgrading - LET US KNOW !
If you know of an abandoned skating rink that is willing to give the plant to anyone willing to take it out for FREE - LET US KNOW !

If you think you got a deal to good to ignore LET US KNOW !
If you think you could sell us something and finance it - HEY LET US KNOW !

We want to talk ICE PLANTS !!

Send an email to either or both of these address's:
vicepresident@dfwcurling.com
membership@dfwcurling.com

(I didn't hyperlink them on purpose)

We might even get this fabulous Level III Female Ice Tech from the Brantford Curling Club to come down and show us how to put in the ice. But don't tell her I said that because I haven't even asked. I'm just saying we want really good real ice.


Look at these poor people, they traveled all the way to Chicago to find real ice.
Help them get on their own real ice, help them find an Ice Plant, lets help them not look so pathetic and bring a smile knowing they can curl in DALLAS TEXAS !

Here is Something you Don't see in Canada

GRASS !! You know it's true, it's about 100 degree's below ZERO up there - more or less - the GRASS has gone into hibernation or is moving to Texas or Arizona ! Oh did you notice the Curling Stone and the Palm Trees ??? Desert Ice Bonspiel in Arizona !

Santa Curling - Kent England

A little Charity Curling Fun in Kent England.







Some cool video of the event can be found HERE