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

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.

Curling fever sweeps nation : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A curling boom has swept through the nation thanks to the surprising performance of the Japanese women’s team at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin. The Games squad, Team Aomori, won the national championship Sunday.

Curlplex Fuji, a curling training facility in Yamanashi Prefecture, has been inundated with applications from people who want to join the beginners course. The facility is run by Hiroshi Kobayashi, 58, who joined the NHK announcer on television during Olympic curling coverage.

Kobayashi established Curlplex Fuji in December in the mountains near Lake Yamanaka at his own expense. In the first four months, the number of inquiries at the facility was about four or five a week, but has soared since the Olympics to about 80 a day.

The introductory course is open to nonmembers for 1,000 yen an hour, although primary school students need pay only half this. The course is so popular that as many as 60 players a day want to try their hand at curling.

Regular membership requires a 15,000 yen entry fee and 30,000 yen in annual dues.

Membership at Curlplex Fuji doubled following the Olympics from 40 to 80. On Feb. 25 -26, the last weekend of the Olympics, the rink was visited by about 180 people, with and without reservations.

Kobayashi began searching for a site to build a curling rink more than 20 years ago. He settled on the current site, nestled on a mountainside, because of its proximity to Tokyo.

“This is the only place in Japan where people can curl throughout the year,” he said. “The cool temperature creates Olympic-quality ice.”

Every weekend, many people travel regularly to Curlplex Fuji not only from the Tokyo metropolitan area but also from Gifu and Aichi prefectures.

Some members belong to teams hoping to play in national tournaments or even in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

To accommodate as many applicants as possible, the rink uses one of the two lanes for regular members ans the other for visitors.

Curlplex Fuji is open from noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays. Expanded hours are being considered.

“You can curl no matter how old you are. I hope baby boomers retiring shortly will visit us and experience at the sport,” Kobayashi said.

Fumio Oikawa, a 25-year-old company employee from Shirai, Chiba Prefecture, who became a member said: “You have to use the brain as you pinpoint the location of where the stones should stop and plot the path of the opponent’s stone being pushed out. It’s fun.”

(Mar. 13, 2006)

© The Yomiuri Shimbun.

globeandmail.com : Scott claims Tournament of Hearts crown

CURLING: BRITISH COLUMBIA 8, CANADA 6
BOB WEEKS
Special to The Globe and Mail
E-mail Bob Weeks | Read Bio | Latest Columns

A bad break on her final rock derailed Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones yesterday and gave British Columbia’s Kelly Scott the 2006 Scott Tournament of Hearts title.

Scott and her rink of Jeanna Schraeder, Sasha Carter and Renee Simons won the women’s national curling crown with an 8-6 victory in a bizarre game that appeared to be slipping from her grasp in the final end. But the skip from Kelowna made a last-shot takeout — her second attempt at it — to claim the title in London, Ont.

The victory for Scott comes after a heartbreaking loss in the Canadian Olympic curling trials in December, when the 28-year-old accounting assistant coughed up a two-point lead in the final end to eventual Turin bronze medalist Shannon Kleibrink.

“I guess that old saying ‘you have to lose before you learn how to win,’ I think you’re witnessing it right here,” Scott told the CBC moments after accepting the championship trophy.

For a while, it appeared Scott hadn’t learned that lesson well enough as she roared out to an early lead, but almost gave it up in the final frame.

With the B.C. rink holding a 7-6 lead and last-rock advantage in the 10th end, Scott appeared on her way to the title. But Team Canada, the defending champions, would not go quietly and, with skip’s rocks left to play, had a rock partially guarded on the four foot ring.

On her first stone, Scott chose a questionable strategy of trying to pick out the counter in the house, instead of clearing the guard. Instead, she missed everything.

That gave the advantage to Jones and her Winnipeg foursome, who looked to bury another rock, possibly steal two and get the win.

A year earlier, Jones’s final rock of the Scott tournament was a dramatic takeout to score three and win the title. She was looking for more last-rock dramatics, but this time, the curling gods weren’t so nice.

Moments after the rock left her hand, Jones watched in horror as it picked up some debris and started to slow down, only managing to make it a few feet over the hog line.

Scott, whose emotional state seemed to change from focused to devastated to relieved in about three minutes, had a reprieve and made no mistake the second time, removing the Team Canada stone to score one and seal the victory.

“I thought, ‘Oh, my God, it’s over, the game is done,’ ” she told The Canadian Press. “It was good. It’s a little bit surreal right now to tell you the truth, but it’s pretty wild.”

It was a finish to the contest few expected early on.

Scott got off to a quick start, taking a 5-1 lead after four ends and looking strong.

Jones, 31, closed to two shots behind by scoring two in the fifth end, thanks to a great hit and roll with her first rock and seemed to find her legs as the teams returned from the half-time break, forcing the B.C. team to a single in the sixth.

But the next end, Scott stole another one to move out to a 7-3 lead.

Normally, that would be enough of a cushion to glide to victory. However, Scott went into a defensive shell and that began to fail her as Jones rallied, scoring two in the eighth.

In the ninth end, sitting one behind cover, Jones faced an in-off takeout off a B.C. biter to sit two. It was remarkably similar to her game-winning shot a year earlier, but this time, Jones was unable to complete it, taking only a single.

That set up the finale — a dramatic, but most certainly unusual, conclusion to the championship.

For Jones, the loss came after the team finally seemed to hit its stride.

The reigning champs were inconsistent, but good enough all week. They finished the round robin in third place and made easy work of Eve Belisle of Quebec in the 3-versus-4 Page playoff game. The moved on to the semi-final against another Jones, six-time Canadian champion Colleen and her Nova Scotia team, who had lost the 1-2 Page game to Scott.

In the all-Jones battle, Jennifer defeated Colleen and sent her back to Halifax, where the great squad will take the summer to ponder retirement. The win put the Winnipeg team of Cathy Overton-Clapham, Jill Officer and Georgina Wheatcroft in the final against Scott.

Jones and Scott have some history, not only in head-to-head matches, where they were an even 3-3 over the past two years, but also together. They played on the same team in junior, losing the Canadian final in 1991. Both went on to win junior crowns, Jones in 1994 and Scott a year after that.

Scott’s victorious team gets a bounty of prizes, including the right to return to the next year’s Tournament of Hearts in Lethbridge, Alta., as Team Canada. It also goes on to the world championships in Grande Prairie, Alta., beginning on March 18, and earns a spot in next year’s Canada Cup. And as long as it finishes in the top three at the world championships, the Continental Cup as well.

The champions

Home rink: Kelowna Curling Club.

Skip: Kelly Scott, 28; accounting assistant; City of Kelowna

Third: Jeanna Schraeder, 29; program analyst, British Columbia Interior Health

Second: Sasha Carter, 31; marketing manager, Equinox Financial Group

Lead: Rene Simons, 33; mom.

© Copyright 2006 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

More honours for Olympic gold medal-winning curlers

St. John’s streets to be named after Brad Gushue & Co. Canadian Press
Published: Monday, March 06, 2006

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Olympic curling champion Brad Gushue and his rink are receiving another honour.

The City of St. John’s has decided to name several streets after the Newfoundland rink.

Deputy Mayor Dennis O’Keefe said Monday a road in St. John’s will be renamed Gold Medal Drive.

Several streets branching from the drive will be named after each of the curlers — Gushue, Mark Nichols, Russ Howard, Jamie Korab and Mike Adam, as well as their coach Toby MacDonald.

The Gushue rink of St. John’s became the first Olympic champions from Newfoundland when they won the men’s curling gold medal last month at the Turin Games.

© Canadian Press 2006

TheStar.com – Kleibrink ponders makeup of 2010 team

Mar. 4, 2006. 01:00 AM

LONDON, Ont.—Olympic curling bronze medallist Shannon Kleibrink has the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver in her sights but she’s not sure her team will remain the same.

“We haven’t had a chance to sit down and talk about that. I know I’m going to be trying but I don’t know if it will be the four of us or what,” Kleibrink told the Star yesterday before meeting fans at the Scott Tournament of Hearts.

Kleibrink and teammates Amy Nixon, Glenys Bakker and Christine Keshen were all in good health after travelling here from their Calgary-area homes. Several were afflicted with bacterial-related illnesses in Italy.

“Amy, Christine, my husband and several spectators all got really sick,” Kleibrink said. “It didn’t affect me, thank goodness. We don’t think it was food poisoning. It was a bacterial infection that lasted the entire time we played.”

Kleibrink blamed the health woes on non-pasteurized dairy products and said she spent the final five days eating salads at McDonald’s.

Reflecting on the Olympic experience, Kleibrink said if the team could do it all over again “the first thing we’d do is pack another suitcase of Canadian food.”

She said she hasn’t thrown a single stone since the bronze medal game and finds it difficult to get any time to herself.

“I come from a small town — 14,000 in Okotoks — and I think 13,999 of them know me now. I went to the grocery store the other day and it took a couple of hours. Down every aisle, they all stop and want an autograph. It’s fun, though.”

Kleibrink said the team was happy to be a part of Canada’s 24-medal performance.

“We were cheering at the TV for sports that we’ve never seen before,” she said, adding, “To have any Olympic medal is a dream so I’m not disappointed.”

Added Nixon: “Canadians have to realize there are some other countries with really, really good teams,” a reference to the gold medal Swedish women’s team.

Brian McAndrew

Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved

VOCM – Big Welcome for Team Gushue

February 28, 2006

The public will be given an opportunity to meet and greet Brad Gushue’s gold winning Olympic Curling Team on Saturday. Bob Osborne of the St. John’s Curling Club says the open house will take place from 1 – 4 p.m. at the St. John’s Convention Centre. Osborne says there’s no charge but people have been asked to bring along a non-perishable food item. He told Bill Rowe on VOCM’s Backtalk Russ Howard will join the team for the event, but he encourages everyone to arrive early. The Gushue Rink will be recognized at the Fog Devils game on Saturday. Brad Gushue, Mark Nichols, Jamie Korab, Mike Adam, Russ Howard, and coach Toby MacDonald will be on hand to drop the ceremonial puck. The team will also sign autographs on the concourse from 6 to 6:45 pm.

Meantime, it was a raucus welcome home for the Gushue curling rink early this morning at St. John’s International Airport. A huge crowd turned out to show Brad, Mark, Jamie, Mike and Toby just how proud they are of the team’s accomplishment. There was pride galore, with Canadian flags by the dozens waving to celebrate the homecoming. Brad Gushue was overwhelmed by the turnout. The coach of the Olympic champions, Toby McDonald, says the support has been fantastic.

Labrador City Mayor Graham Letto says the make-up of the team, from the island and Labrador, is special. Cabinet Minister Paul Shelley, says Brad Gushue and his team have united young and old. Avalon MP Fabian Manning says people from this province would still be proud of Team Gushue even without the gold medal. Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster, Bob Cole, was on hand having just arrived back from the Olympics himself. He attended the weekend medal ceremony.

© 2006 VOCM Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

London Free Press – Other Sports – London makes case for future big events

Wed, March 1, 2006
By MORRIS DALLA COSTA,
FREE PRESS SPORTS COLUMNIST

Only the final numbers are still to come.

But organizers of the Scott Tournament of Hearts have done all they can to show the Canadian Curling Association London is capable of holding major curling events.

And they intend to begin their quest for those events even before this week is over.

With five days left in this tournament, impressive attendance figures will go a long way in convincing the powers that bestow such events that London can hold both the Brier, the men’s national championship, and the Olympic trials.

But even if the attendance stays where it is, London has passed the test. The chameleon — the John Labatt Centre — has come through again. It morphs between hockey arena, theatre, concert hall and monster truck venue. But this is the first time it’s turned into a curling venue and the transfiguration has been highly successful.

Four pads allow for good sight lines. The ice-making system allows for excellent ice, producing good curling.

Not that there was much question about the building being suited for this type of event. That was the only real no-brainer in all this.

The big question was the salability of this event. Of the three major championships, the Scott is the toughest sell. When Peter Inch sold the CCA on bringing it to London, he knew he faced a challenge.

“I went to curling clubs all over Ontario and told them about this event,” Inch said. “I told them you may not want to come, but you’ll know where it is.”

The results of the big sell have been more than $1 million in ticket revenue and a projected attendance of about 120,000. Inch says walkup sales have been brisk and the semifinals and final are almost sold out.

London got this event at a good time. Women’s curling is becoming a better attraction with the big names along with a crop of promising young, marketable and capable talent.

Financially, the event has done what it was supposed to do. But there’s more to this than simply dollars and cents. It’s about proving that logistically a major curling event can be held here.

So far, the building has proved itself and the ticket sales have been good enough. More than 4,000 tickets were sold for yesterday morning’s draw. The afternoon draw sold 3,883 tickets with most of the ticketholders in attendance.

A difference between seats sold and bums in seats is not unusual in early draws of curling events. Inch said last year’s event in St. John’s, Nfld., had a quarter of the people sitting in the seats.

“I see empty seats, but I know they’ve been sold.”

The curling has been excellent and the event has been a pleasure to attend. Whatever complaining is being done, if any, is being done quietly.

There have been no major glitches that anyone has heard about.

Inch, chairperson of the London Tournament of Hearts committee, hopes to meet tomorrow with Warren Hansen, CCA manager of event operations, and let him know he wants to bring major curling event No. 2 to London.

“That would be the Brier or the Olympic curling trials,” Inch said. “I’ve always said you’ve got to prove yourself. We held the seniors event and then bid for the Hearts. We’ve proved ourselves with the Hearts and now we can bid for one of the other events.”

While things have gone remarkably smoothly this week, there are some problems that will need correcting before the Brier comes here and it isn’t the size of the JLC. This year’s Brier is in Regina at a venue that’s smaller than the JLC.

Organizers hoping to bring the Brier here will have to find a solution to the Brier Patch, the huge moneymaking party room usually held in the same building as the event. Organizers of the HeartStop Lounge had to put it blocks away at the convention centre and attendance has been spotty.

Fix that obstacle and London’s ready to do this again.

Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.