I have been posting each month a “THANK-YOU” post, like this one, to all the advertisers from the previous month listed as at month end. That’s a permanent link in this blog, under the category heading which I call .. “Sponsor Appreciation”. I know it’s hard out there trying to figure out where to spend your advertising dollars .. and well .. THANKS for considering the Curling Blog.

I have compiled a new advertising page for the HART-Empire Network of sites for your perusal.

Please Support Our Sponsors From July 2007

Sports Tickets

Interviewing Interesting Bloggers

T D Hedengren’s Blog

All things MMORPG

Everything Xbox Live Arcade

Raise Capital in 90 Days Online – Now!

Thank-You Sponsors!

have been posting around the week of the 10th of each month a “THANK-YOU” post, like this one, to all the advertisers from the previous month listed as at month end. That’s a permanent link in this blog, under the category heading which I call .. “Sponsor Appreciation”. I know it’s hard out there trying to figure out where to spend your advertising dollars .. and well .. THANKS for considering the Curling Blog.

I have compiled a new advertising page for the HART-Empire Network of sites for your perusal.

Please Support Our Sponsors From June 2007

Sports Tickets

Interviewing Interesting Bloggers

T D Hedengren’s Blog

All things MMORPG

Everything Xbox Live Arcade

Raise Capital in 90 Days Online – Now!

Thank-You Sponsors!

NOTICE:

Effective June 4-8th week there will be no new postings around the HART-Empire Network. You might have already seen a slowdown around my network of blogs in May 2007 – it is all related. I am in the process of moving all my accounts to a new host provider this week (MidPhase) and there may be times during this switchover that this site may not be accessible. I assure you that this will be temporary, and I will take all the efforts to make this transition go as smooth as possible. I’m giving myself the entire week for this move and the switchover basically, because I’ve got a lot of blogs to be moved! I apologize for any inconveniences in advance, and hope you please bear with me during this time.

In the meantime, I have decided to just combine my monthly “Sponsorship Appreciation” posts with this message to keep you informed.

If you would like to know more about this move, please go to the HART-Empire Network blog for details and ongoing updates.

I have been posting around the week of the 10th of each month a “THANK-YOU” post, like this one, to all the advertisers from the previous month listed as at month end. That’s a permanent link in this blog, under the category heading which I call .. “Sponsor Appreciation”. I know it’s hard out there trying to figure out where to spend your advertising dollars .. and well .. THANKS for considering the Curling Blog.

I have compiled a new advertising page for the HART-Empire Network of sites for your perusal.

Please Support Our Sponsors From May 2007

Sports Tickets

Interviewing Interesting Bloggers

T D Hedengren’s Blog

All things MMORPG

Everything Xbox Live Arcade

Raise Capital in 90 Days Online – Now!

Thank-You Sponsors!

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)

I have been posting around the week of the 10th of each month a “THANK-YOU” post, like this one, to all the advertisers from the previous month listed as at month end. That’s a permanent link in this blog, under the category heading which I call .. “Sponsor Appreciation”. I know it’s hard out there trying to figure out where to spend your advertising dollars .. and well .. THANKS for considering Curling Blog.

You may advertise on this site in the form of Text Link Ads. I should note that the link in the previous sentence is an affiliate link, and if you do sign up for the first time through this link, I may earn a small commission. I should also note that if you are a new client, you can receive $100.00 worth of FREE Text Link Ads by entering “starting kit” into the promotion code at their checkout. That means you can basically spend maybe $125 worth of advertising your first month – and only pay $25! (You don’t have to spend it here – don’t worry!)

But if you do want to spend it here .. I am currently offering ten (10) spots for TEXT LINK ads per month, and they will appear on every page in our sidebar, under the SPONSORS section. At this moment, all ten (10) spots are available.

I am also offering three (3) FEEDVERTISING spots per month, which is TEXT LINK ads directly on our RSS Feed. 6 spots (3 internal ads and 3 public ads) are rotated on every RSS post view directly in the feed readers, as this feed is currently set to Full Feed and I recognize that some readers may not be visiting the blog directly. As with the regular text link sponsors, advertisers as at month-end date will be included in a similar post like this one and earn a permanent link in this blog.

Our site is currently available at Text-Link-Ads and Feedvertising Ads at this URL

Please Support Our Sponsors From October 2006

~~None as at Last Month-End (We just started last month) ~~

Thank-You Future Sponsors!

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!)

Stoughton’s long-time third taking at least a year off

By JIM BENDER – Winnipeg Sun

In just the past two weeks, one of Manitoba’s all-time greats has lost half his team.

Jeff Stoughton’s long-time third, Jon Mead, has decided to take at least next year off to spend more time with his wife, Eileen and three-year-old daughter, Sophia, and commit more time to his job.

“There is a time for everything,” Mead, 38, said yesterday. “This team was all about the Olympic trials and we invested more time in the last couple of years so, we could go even further (Olympics). My family and my job had given me the time to focus on that pursuit without complaint. I want a different emphasis in my life now and not have my schedule determined by curling.”

Stoughton lost the Olympic trials final to Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue, who won the Olympic gold medal.

Mead was starting to miss too many of Sophia’s activities while competing, practising and spending time with team sponsors.

ONE OF THE BEST

Mead, who is arguably one of the best three thirds in Canada, also admitted that competing in the Brier and the Grand Slam events “don’t jack me up the way they did (before pursuing the Olympic dream).

“But this has nothing to do with the curling or my teammates,” he assured. “But look at the guys who have lost families or jobs because they were chasing their curling dreams.”

Nor does this have anything to do with the knee injury that almost kept him from curling in the Brier. In fact, Mead still plans to play for Stoughton at a new World Curling Tour event in Victoria this weekend and the Players’ Championships in Calgary later this month.

Although Brandon’s Rob Fowler will reportedly play second, Stoughton said that has yet to be confirmed. Ryan Fry, who had earlier replaced retiring second Garry Van Den Berghe, would apparently move up to replace Mead at third.

Stoughton is in danger of losing his defending champion’s berth into the 2007 Safeway Select because not enough of his team is intact.

Stoughton politely declined further comment until today.

SOURCE

Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.

Bronze medallist grilled by Riley reporters

By Bruce Campbell
Times Editor
Wednesday March 29, 2006

While Bruce Campbell wrote the following article, the responses from Olympic bronze medallist Shannon Kleibrink were the result of hard-hitting questions from Karen Andrews’ Grade 6 class at Senator Riley middle school. Andrews has curled with Kleibrink at the Nanton Meatspiel and the Highwood Mixed Bonspiel.

Shannon Kleibrink had a hot news tips for Senator Riley school journalists — sure winning a bronze medal in curling at the XXth Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy is great, but gee, sometimes you have no idea who your neighbours are.

“There was this hockey player staying in the apartment right next to us,” Kleibrink told the 25 students. “It was this real nice, big tall bald guy. We went out to eat with him at the Olympic Village and we got to know him. At the end of the week, my husband joined me and I said to the hockey player: ‘Oh, hi, how are you?’ — I still didn’t know his name. And my husband says: ‘That’s Matt Sundin.’”

“He (Sundin) and Peter Forsberg were in the apartment right next to us.”

Kleibrink was under the scrutiny of Karen Andrews’ Grade 6 students on March 22 about what life at the Olympics was like. The young scribes went beyond the stereotypical question like what it feels like to win the bronze medal?– tougher questions like “How much is a medal worth?”

“They must be worth a little bit,” said Kleibrink who was the skip of Canada’s women’s team consisting of Kleibrink, Amy Nixon, Glenys Bakker, Christine Keshen, and Sandra Jenkins. “Because as soon as you won a medal you were assigned a bodyguard. Well, we had four extra days after we won our bronze medal at the Olympics. They didn’t tell us we would have bodyguard — and because we are Canadians we didn’t even think of it. We went shopping and this guy was following us all the way to Torino (Turin) — we thought we had this stalker. So we phoned security at the Olympic Village and told them we have this guy following us everywhere we go. They said: ‘Of course, you do, that’s your police guard.’”

While Kleibrink was acutely aware of how her curling team did, she was too busy to know how the Canadians — like the highly publicized men’s hockey team, were doing.

“We had just won our curling game — it was sort of a nothing game — and there was this big media scrum,” Kleibrink said. “I was asked specifically to attend the scrum. All the lights were on me, they put a mike in front of my face and asked me: “How do you feel about the men’s failure?’

“I said : ‘What men?’ (Canada had just lost 2-0 to Russia).

“That was one of the most difficult things was trying to keep track of how the Canadians were doing.”
She said she is now watching video highlights of the Games — because she couldn’t watch much of the action while she was actually in Torino.

These Riley reporters were on the ball. They knew sometimes stereotypical questions are good– how did it feel to receive an Olympic bronze medal after beating Norway 11-5 on Feb. 23?

“The most fun experience was receiving our medals,” Kleibrink said. “We were taken by police escort and when we walked out on the stage, we couldn’t believe it — all you could see were people – which is amazing because there were no Italians receiving medals at that ceremony… It was like being a rock star for the night.”

Receiving the bronze on behalf of her country — especially after her team battled sickness — was a major highlight for Kleibrink, but so was receiving something else in Turino.

“One of the very best things about Italy is the gelato,” Kleibrink said. “Every night we would try a different gelato. For some reason, everybody in Italy likes Canadians. We would go into the store and they would give us gelato and have their pictures taken with us.”

© 2006 High River Times

Source

Heads Up Via

Curling’s Olympic exposure paying huge dividends

By CON GRIWKOWSKY, EDMONTON SUN

GRANDE PRAIRIE — Curling’s Olympic exposure is starting to pay huge dividends.

The World Curling Federation expects a $12-million share of marketing and television ratings from Turin, much of which will be invested into world-wide television production.

That share is up from $4 million in Nagano and $8.3 million in Salt Lake City.

And, the fact that curling ratings peaked at an incredible 12 million in Japan has drawn the attention of the NHK network.

That’s all good news for the WCF, which awarded next year’s world women’s championship to Aomore, Japan.

“Television is a prime mover and shaker for getting curling accepted around the world,” said Moncton’s Les Harrison, who’s taking over the WCF presidency on April 5.

“After they’ve seen the Olympics, we can’t let them go into a four-year hiatus and not see it on television.”

The WCF continues to try and break into major network coverage, and there are signs it’s about to happen.

ESPN is here, taping Debbie McCormick’s progress for a show to be aired later this week.

“In Nagano, CBS had the contract and they wouldn’t do anything,” Harrison said.

“At Salt Lake, NBC agreed to take some and put it on their smaller networks, and that worked very well.

”Now, they’re going into some coverage on ESPN.

”Six years ago, when we called NBC, they didn’t even want to talk to us about anything outside of the Olympic Games.

“Now, they’re coming to us. It’s a beginning and it’s developing similar to Canadian coverage.”

Other than David Letterman’s mother, who was assigned curling as a joke, more people are watching in the lucrative American market.

“It was reported to us George W. Bush watched two ends of curling while flying across the U.S. in Air Force One,” said Harrison.

“It shows the interest.

”There’s tremendous growth potential in the U.S.”

SOURCE

Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.