I posted the following on the Business Blog section over in the Ryze Networking pages .. Please contact me if this peaks any interest at all ..

I’ve always believed that “it never hurts to ask” .. so here I am doing just that.

I’ve got a Curling Blog .. and March 2007 has quite a few events. But offline, March will be my busiest month ever and I won’t be able to propery update it.

Here’s the schedule for March 2007:

* 2007 Tim Hortons Brier - March 3-11, 2007
* 2007 World Juniors – March 3-11, 2007
* 2007 Strauss Canada Cup of Curling - March 13-18, 2007
* 2007 World Women’s Curling Championship – March 17-25, 2007
* 2007 Canadian Seniors – March 18-25, 2007
* 2007 World Seniors – March 25-31, 2007
* 2007 Ford World Men’s Curling Championship - March 31-April 8, 2007

I’m looking for an individual or several individuals to blog for the Curling Blog throughout March 2007 and part April 2007. Bloggers would provide commentaries during, before and after these events. Maybe local stories reviews from your papers, watching the games on TV or the internet, and maybe even live blogging during the games (and playoffs) for those unable to be near a TV. You know .. basically reporting the outcomes of the games played each day and keep everybody informed. Cheering for your favorite teams. Commenting on the mistakes, ice conditions, brooms, teams, background on teams, and anything related to curling is game. Proper blogging and sports etiquette is implied with respect to facts, linking, sources, etc .. and this might be good for those bloggers who’s been itching to blog about curling in your own blogs, but do not want to go too off-topic from your own niche topics.

This is a non-paying gig and short-term for the duration of these tournaments in March and April 2007. It could lead into other opportunities but that would depend. At minimum .. I’m willing to give you (text) link-love in my Sponsor sections around my network of blogs in the HART-Empire Network during the duration while you are blogging .. plus an extra month. There’s over 30 unique domains in my own lot of blogs.

If interested or have questions .. please private message me in here. For Q & A that could benefit others, feel free to ask me publicly in this forum and I will try to answer any questions or concerns.

Thanks // HART

Just to let you know .. Darren at Problogger has a great post on how to be a about good guest blogger … nudge,nudge, say no more … but I’m just looking for someone who loves curling and wants to help inform curling fans on the upcoming tournaments. And, I’m willing to offer text-link-ad space in all my sidebars for their troubles (see my advertising page work-in-progress for a list of sites)

Last week there was news in the CBC ..

Last Updated: Friday, October 27, 2006 | 10:59 AM ET CBC News

Activities that boost children’s “cardio-respiratory fitness” should be the focus of a federal tax credit, an expert panel urged Thursday as it outlined the types of activities and costs that should qualify.

The panel was appointed to advise Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservatives on their proposed tax credit for parents with children in organized sports, proposed in May 2006 to fight obesity and encourage fitness among young Canadians.

….

At a news conference, the panel recommended that:

* The tax credit not be issued unless the activity includes at least one session per week for a minimum of eight weeks.
* For children under 10, eligible activities should include at least 30 minutes of sustained and vigorous activity.
* For those over 10, the time rises to 60 minutes.
* The federal government let parents claim up to $500 per child, but give them an annual maximum refund of $78.50 per child.
…
MORE: “Give tax credit for activities that ‘make kids sweat’: panel”

Columnist Paul Wiecek from the Winnipeg Free Press wrote an interesting article today in Saturday’s paper.

Sweat equity – Curling in tough spot with federal tax credit criteria

Sat Nov 4 2006 // by PAUL WIECEK

WHEN is a sport tax deductible?
When it makes your kids sweat.

That was the verdict last week of a federal government panel charged with the task of figuring out how to implement an election promise by the Conservatives to give a tax credit to parents with kids in organized sport.

But if sweat is the baseline for getting a credit of up to $500 and a refund of up to $78.50 a year from the feds, then whither curling and the tens of thousands of parents in this province with kids tossing organized rocks at houses?

It’s a been a hot topic all week on curling chat rooms on the Internet.

“I’m thinking if your kid is on the front end — you get a tax credit,” wrote one contributor to a forum at curlingzone.com. “Back end — no tax credit.”

…..

Curling taxes ‘sweat’ equity test

A federal government panel last week recommended a proposed new tax credit for parents who put their kids in organized sports go only to families with children in activities “that make them sweat.” So, does that include parents who put their kids in curling — a sport the Manitoba Curling Association estimates is played by one in 10 Manitobans every winter? Here’s the case for and against curling:

PRO

* Look, curling is an Olympic sport. That makes the case all by itself.
* It’s cold out on the ice, so that keeps curlers from sweating, but that doesn’t mean they’re not working hard.
* You ever take a good look at the body on David Nedohin? You telling me he’s not an athlete?
* Sure, skips do more standing around than anything, but what kind of workout does a backup goaltender — or a starting outfielder — get?

CON

* Luge is an Olympic sport, too. Does that mean I’m going to have to give my tax dollars to every parent who buys their kid a toboggan, too?
* It’s cold out on the ice in hockey, too, and yet those guys manage to work up a sweat. What’s that tell you?
* You ever take a good look at the body on Randy Ferbey? You telling me he’s an athlete?
* Do they still have ashtrays on the ice?

Sound preposterous?

The panel ruled the sport must provide children a cardio-respiratory workout, which the chairman, Dr. Kellie Leitch, characterized as something that “makes them sweat.”

While no specific sports were identified, parents of kids involved in everything from hockey to basketball, speed skating to gymnastics would seem to meet the criteria.

But what about curling, where participants are seldom observed to actually break a sweat and where at least one player on every team — the skip — almost never even takes off their jacket?

Russ Hinds, who co-ordinates the Charleswood Curling Club junior program, says the sweeping involved in curling is definitely an aerobic activity. “The sweeping involves short bursts of energy. It’s like high-impact, interval training.”

But what about skips?

“You can’t separate the players into different groups,” says Jennifer Jones second Jill Officer. “Curling is curling. A team’s a team. And Jennifer does all the same workouts as the rest of us when we’re not on the ice. “She does sweep every now and then, but her workout is more of a mental one.”

The Manitoba Curling Association doesn’t have exact numbers on how many kids curl every winter in Manitoba, but they do know that 2,400 kids signed up for Learn to Curl programs last winter alone. There are 220 kids curling just at Charleswood this winter.

It costs somewhere from $40 to $75 to sign a child up for a curling league for the winter and Asham Curling Supplies has a special junior curling package that allows parents to outfit their children with shoes, a broom and gloves for $99.95. Toss in another $30 or so per child to curl in one bonspiel and a parent can expect to pay close to $200 per kid curling for a winter.

While curling still has a way to go before it will entirely shed the image of beer-guzzling curlers smoking on the ice, MCA executive director Ian Staniloff said curling’s status as an Olympic sport will make it difficult for authorities to say it doesn’t meet tax credit criteria.

“I know curling was involved in some of the presentations in Ottawa,” said Staniloff, “and I’m told that while we didn’t get a yes or no answer, all indications are curling was regarded positively.”

Elite curlers are all involved in serious off-ice training programs and Officer has a personal trainer. She was in good enough shape last summer on holidays to trezk to the base camp of Mount Everest.

“We’ve played in bonspiels the last two weekends in a row,” she said yesterday, hours before her team played the first game of still another bonspiel this weekend, the Asham Women’s Open at the Asham Arena.

“And I can tell you I feel it in my body. It’s a workout, there’s no question.”

The last word is left to Hinds, who noted the not- unusual sight of an ambulances outside a curling club in the winter offers some compelling anecdotal evidence of the physical demands of the sport.

“If it wasn’t a workout,” ventured Hinds, “then how come people seem to have heart attacks on the ice so often?”

SOURCE: Winnipeg Free Press
© 2006 Winnipeg Free Press. All Rights Reserved.

It will be interesting to see the implementation of this, because personally – I think the best way is to make this tax credit available to anybody who has a receipt in hand. Put the onus on the institution or organized team or association to be responsible and authorized as an official and recognized sports organization in the eyes of Canada Revenue Agency. This way, misuse and problems or clarifications would fall on the organizations for issuing them – not the taxpayers claiming them.

They can be like donation receipts .. these sporting event receipts. Should be numbered with a Registered Charity or Sports organization number on them, and consecutively numbered – and subject for audit by Canada Revenue Agency.

This way – even taxpayers like me – who has no children – can support Canadian Sports at the basic local level (i.e. maybe get my nieces into a curling league this winter as a team !) .. and have the receipt issued in my name. Then I would able to claim the deduction.

You can read more about this tax credit on the Canada Revenue Agency Site:
Minister of Finance Appoints Expert Panel to Advise on Children’s Fitness Tax Credit

The Curling Show is a favorite of mine for the interviews .. If that interests you, and you aren’t listening to their show – I would recommend adding their RSS Feed to your Bloglines or feed reader of choice!

Interviews So Far In October 2006 ….

Brad Gushue – October 22, 2006

Jeff Stoughton – October 12, 2006

David Nedohin – October 5, 2006

(plus a few others … go check out their blog!)

Now that the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics are almost over .. I have only one question left to ask …

Did you pick up the LINGO and now speak Italian?

Well … here’s some Italian words related to the Olympic CURLING events ….. to help you!

Pretty good, huh? Bet you didn’t think I knew Italian, eh? Well, actually – I don’t! That was a copy of all the words in a development language program marketed by Transparent.com … called BYKI.

The company has created a little free download tool (BYKI-LITE Version) that has the above Curling translations and other favorite italilan words you might have heard this year at the Torino 2006 Olympic game.

You can get this FREE DOWNLOAD called BYKI Italian Winter Olympic Edition here

This program hopes to teach language in a fun and innovative way. I’ve downloaded and tried this little program and it is kind of neat – if you are trying to learn Italian (I’m not). It has flash card games where you can guess if you can remember the translations of words and rate yourself while you learn!

What I liked best is that you can hilite any word, and have this little program PRONOUNCE it so you know how it should sound in Italian. I was a little disappointed that it didn’t have ALL our favorite curling terms .. like HARRRRD, HAAAAARDER, hurry, hurry faster, sweep, wait, draw, bump, takeout, draw weight, and stuff like that – but don’t forget – this is just the LITE version.

Plus, naturally, if you like their software .. there is a feature where you can naturally purchase the ‘Full’ working version, plus the option to get other languages too, besides Italian.

I am not an affiliate of this program, and will not be signing up to make commissions on future purchases, or any downloads that this blog entry might result. If you are curious, then I would suggest to download the free tool … if you don’t like – uninstall it.

Take care.
HART

There’s a new Olympic Blog out there …

http://LightTheTorch.net … a b5media blog

The goal of this is pretty simple: provide gobs of Olympic coverage, and donate all of the ad income to athletic organizations.

This is a group blog, by people all around the world who will be posting tons and tons and oodles of Olympic coverage, opinion, stories and well .. you will just have to go find out what else will be posted by looking yourself! It’s a good cause to support Olympic and Amateur athletes plus there should be lots of great postings in there! The Olympics – besides CBC and NBC!

Click here to go to and support the –> LIGHT THE TORCH blog..

I have been invited to participate and you can read my first post HERE. I hope to provide some curling coverage, which I probably will end up duplicate posting in one of these three blogs (Curling Blog, Team Gushue and/or Team Kleibrink) .. but will also will be posting on other Olympic events from a Canadian “blogger” point of view.

The Curling News: Curling uproar over 1924 Games

From the “Curling News” Blog

….. The IOC is now investigating: will the Scottish story prove to be premature… or not?

The curling world is in an uproar over The Herald’s claim to have exposed this 82-year-old Olympic sporting secret. As explained in the previous post, The Herald reports the International Olympic Committee has confirmed that gold medals won by Great Britain in curling at the first Olympic Winter Games (photo), held in Chamonix in 1924, are now genuine, and should no longer be considered demonstration medals.

However, an IOC official, who declined formal comment, told The Curling News that Olympic archivists have now been assigned to verify the facts, and will confirm the information tomorrow: We’re digging out the official 1924 program, the official said. It’s been 80 years, and we’re going to take another day to look at it.

The news, confirmed or not, has shocked the curling world. If the claim is verified, the gold won at the 1998 Games in Nagano by Canada’s Sandra Schmirler and Switzerland’s Patrick Huerlimann would no longer be the first official curling medals ever handed out in Olympic competition.

Click on the link at the beginning of the story for the full story and the rest of this article.

Now THAT’s Amateur: How To Vote

Interesting reading at “Now Thats Amateur” Blog about each of the Canadian Federal Political Parties stance about the future plans for Amateur Sport in Canada…

At the top of our header is a link to our LINKS page …

Besides gathering some news and other RSS information through my Bloglines .. I am constantly checking sites on our LINKS page for stories and other interesting curling topics.

For Instance:

I really do like reading this site … Curling – Two analysts discuss all aspects of curling
from technique to strategy to organization to media to finances

.. and their latest blog entry .. Why Is the CCA Still the Official Voice of Curling in Canada?

Alan Adamson from Curling blog responds to Amateur from Now That’s Amateur blog …

Britain’s Olympic curlers are using state-of-the art brooms to give themselves an edge as they prepare to defend their Winter Games gold. Loaded with sensors and a memory card, the ‘sweep ergometer’ allows curlers to measure how well they are performing one of the game’s crucial tasks

John Palmer from the blog called ‘Curling’ discusses the above article about new brushing technology