Book Review: Curl To Win

Recently I picked up "Curl To Win" by Russ Howard. For those unaware, Russ Howard is an Olympic Gold Medalist in curling, teaming with Brad Gushue at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Howard has enjoyed a long and successful curling career.

I find it a little hard to categorize Curl To Win. In many ways it is a resource to improve your own curling game, but it isn't as technical as a coaching manual would be. There are also many stories of Howard's own experiences, which adds that personal element you wouldn't get in most "how to" or improvement books.

In the end, I like the blend of the two styles. The book is very reader-friendly, as you get to hear stories of past Brier's and and the Olympics instead of simply being told to "do this" or "do that". The book is also extremely friendly to new curlers; the first chapter or two is all about introducing and explaining the game to beginners. Experienced curlers could easily skip this part of the book, and when I reread the book I'm sure I will be skipping that part too, but I'm glad it's there as it sets a good framework for the rest of the book.

I tend to disagree with a couple of things Howard says in the book, but that doesn't mean he's wrong; I'm by no means arrogant enough to think I know more about curling than Russ Howard. He's been curling for a long time, but for example, he recommends the lift delivery when throwing a curling stone (where you lift the stone off of the ice in a backswing motion before throwing it). I am in the camp that likes the no-lift delivery better; hefting a 42 pound rock when I don't have to seems harder on the back and there is also a smaller margin of error when delivering the rock. To be fair, even though Howard recommends you progress to the lift delivery, the book still shows you how to do the no-lift delivery as well, leaving the choice up to you.

The book also contains pictures of Howard (or other curlers) to demonstrate all of the techniques in the book, which is a great visual aid. He also demonstrates some classic mistakes as well, which is nice for comparison. The pictures are especially helpful in the section dealing with various curling drills; as a curling coach I'm always looking for new drills, and the book was very helpful on that front.

I really liked the section dealing with the importance of each position on the team. Rather than write these sections himself, Howard went out and got other curlers who are at the top of the field in their chosen position to write about it. Howard has been a skip for a great many years, so it was nice to hear about the skills needed and importance of the lead from someone who plays and loves the position. I definitely want to have my curling team read that section of the book.

I think Curl To Win is a great resource for anyone that wants to learn to curl or refine their game. I would have liked to maybe see a little more technical stuff later on in the book for the more advanced curler, but the book still has a lot of value.

I give it 4 curling stones out of 5.

Arizona Weather

I think this'll be my last post about Arizona, but I had to share about the weather in Arizona.

It is winter in Arizona, so it is cooler right now than in the summer. I'd say the warmest the mercury climbed to was about 22 degrees Celsius (for all intents and purposes the rest of this post will be in Celsius unless I say otherwise), and it would cool down in the evenings to about 8 degrees or so.

To me, coming from Manitoba, this is warm. Not hot, but warm. I wore shorts and sandals pretty much every day, and even Sarah (who gets cold infinitely sooner than I do) wore a skirt for a day or two. I definitely stood out as a tourist, because to natives of Arizona, it was cold.

For example, while golfing (in shorts and a t-shirt, though admittedly I probably could have worn a long-sleeve shirt or a windbreaker) I saw the beverage cart girl drive up to us. She was wearing a hooded sweatshirt (with the hood up), mitts, and a scarf over her face.

While at the Coyotes game, two guys behind me were talking about the possibility of Phoenix playing some games in Saskatchewan, and about how cold it is there. One of the guys commented that it was cold enough in Phoenix that day that he pulled out his parka. I couldn't help but turn around and talk the weather with them.

Some businesses actually have outdoor heaters set up. The Hilton had four heaters outside their entrance so you'd be warmed up on your way in the door. When we were last in Arizona for Joel and Ashley's wedding, the venue set up heaters at our outdoor dinner table (which I thought were mosquito zappers until someone told me they don't have mosquitoes in Arizona).

Our server at the restaurant in the Hilton had a great point though; while residents of Arizona probably couldn't handle the cold in Manitoba, we Manitobans wouldn't be able to handle their heat in the summer (the average summer high is about 40 degrees Celsius, which means it gets hotter than that!). I think it was a good point, and I for one hope to not visit Arizona in the summertime!

My First Coyotes Game

While in Arizona, I really wanted to go see a Phoenix Coyotes game. The nearest NHL city to me is Minneapolis, at 10 hours away, so a 45 minute drive down the interstate was much more appealing. A few people I talked to beforehand in Arizona thought driving 45 minutes was too far for a hockey game...I drive almost 2 hours just to go to a Moose game, let alone an NHL game, so the drive time didn't really phase me.

The Coyotes have been pretty shaky financially since, well, probably since the team moved to Phoenix. The organization offers a lot of perks to get people to games. For example, I did not have to pay for parking, and there was a pile of staff out directing traffic so parking was an absolute breeze.

When I approached the ticket booth for tickets (Sarah was worried they'd be sold out; I told her not to worry, it's a Coyotes game), I was promptly informed that there were no more $15 seats left. I said that was fine, I didn't want $15 seats. I think they just expect that people want the cheapest seats possible.

One promotion the team offers runs from Monday-Thursday, where a $30 ticket gets you an upper deck seat and all the pop, hot dogs, and popcorn you can consume. While tempting, I didn't want to sit in the nosebleeds, I wanted a good seat. So, I chose the $60 seats, which got us a seat on the corner near the top of the lower bowl. Honestly, the seats were amazing. We could see everything on the ice; if you're too close to the glass, or in the middle of the arena, you can't see into the close corners. From our seats, that wasn't a problem.

The arena is a very nice facility (it reminded me of the MTS Centre, actually). I really liked seeing the numbers of the only retired numbers in the franchises history, because they were all Winnipeg Jets, not Coyotes. The names and numbers were displayed in Jets colours too, which was a nice touch.

Speaking of Jets colours, I took my Jets jersey with me to wear to the game. I had a few people ask if I was from Winnipeg (to which I said yes, it's easier than explaining where Riverton is when you're out of the country) only to find out they were from Winnipeg too.

There was a pretty good size crowd at the game, which surprised me. However, when the national anthems began I was struck by how many people were singing O Canada. Turns out the game was packed with Canadians on vacation like us who chose to go to the game against the Vancouver Canucks. There were a LOT of Canucks jerseys in the crowd.

The Coyotes scored the first goal, and half of the crowd got up and cheered. A minute later the Canucks scored, and the OTHER half of the crowd got up and cheered! The game was very enjoyable because both teams had a strong presence in the crowd; "Go Coyotes Go" was often met with "Go Canucks Go". Sarah was cheering for the Canucks, but I couldn't bring myself to cheer against the Coyotes while wearing my Jets jersey.

I was talking with some guys in the crowd during the game, and they told me that this was the second largest crowd the Coyotes had had all season. The biggest crowd was the home opener, when all the seats were free. From what I understood, the best crowds throughout the year are the ones when western Canadian teams (and the Leafs) are playing the Coyotes, as those are the ones the snowbirds go to I guess.

The game was a tight one that went all the way to a shoot-out (which I was hoping for). I have to admit, the Coyotes have really turned things around this year. Come play-off time, they'll be the Western Conference team I'll be rooting for all the way, until/unless they meet the Penguins, then I have to go with my boys.

I have some pictures from the game, but they're not on this computer, so I'll include some later if I post some pictures on the blog (those of you who have me on Facebook can see the pictures I have up so far there).

Christmas in Arizona - Travel

I think I'm going to break up our trip into a couple of small posts based on theme, rather than try to recount the entire trip. So, to start things off, let's talk about travel!

Getting down to Arizona was pretty easy; the only hiccup along the way was Sarah feeling a little faint in the Denver airport, but after we got some food in her she was fine. The fun began upon landing in Phoenix.

While waiting at the baggage carousel, a voice came over the PA system to announce that our bags would not be unloaded from the plane because it was raining. Nobody was very impressed with this; it's just rain! There was some brief lightning strikes for a few minutes, but I don't know that that warranted waiting over an hour for our luggage.

Once we finally got our luggage, we discovered my golf clubs hadn't made the trip. We eventually discovered they were coming in on another flight, and I was given the option to have them delivered free of charge. Rather than hang around the airport for a few more hours I chose the delivery option. I was told they would be delivered between 5:30 and 9:00 that evening.

After 9:00 I called to ask where my clubs where; I was told they'd be delivered now between 7:30 and 11:30. I also found out at this point they had the wrong phone number listed for the condo, so I corrected it with them. Martin and I waited until 1:00 AM before giving up and going to bed. Long story shorter the clubs were finally delivered the next day around 5:00 PM.

Coming home was more of an adventure. Firstly, our luggage was overweight (we had 2 large suitcases and my golf clubs). If we were underweight, it would cost $70 to check our bags. With the 2 suitcases over, it was going to cost over $300! The lady at the counter suggested we go around the corner, buy another bag, and then it would just be an extra $30 to check the fourth bag (bringing our total to $100 instead of over $300). Sarah went and grabbed a bag small enough that we could use it as carry on and we didn't check it at all, so the extra cost was just the new bag. However, the lady at the counter forgot to actually take our payment for the bags (and we forgot until we were going through security), so in the end we paid $30 for a carry on bag and nothing to check the rest!

After getting held up in security for a bit because Sarah's heat bag was showing up as something suspicious in the carry on bag, we were on our way. We were concerned about making our next connection though; we had 40 minutes to change terminals in Chicago's O'Hare airport. If you've never been to O'Hare, the place is huge!

While waiting to board the flight from Phoenix to Chicago an announcement was made asking people with larger carry-on bags to check them, free of charge, to make room in the overhead compartments of the plane. I gladly did so, since I was dreading having to run through O'Hare with a 30 pound bag strapped to my back. They checked it all the way through to Winnipeg, so we didn't have to worry about picking it up in Chicago.

On the flight to Chicago, our pilot announced that he was going to have us on the ground about 10 minutes early, so we were happy about that. In the end, for whatever reason, we ended up landing almost 20 minutes late. We now had 20 minutes to run to the shuttle that would take us to the next terminal and board our plane.

I managed to get us off the plane quickly (by walking briskly down the aisle of the airplane saying "We have 20 minutes to make our connection, excuse me!"). Everyone let us go through, even the people in First Class. We then ran through O'Hare to the shuttle, got on it, and then quickly made our way to the gate we needed. The plane was just starting to board as we got there!

When I got to the gate, I asked (to nobody in particular) "Is this the line for the Winnipeg flight?". This bald guy turns around to let me know it was the right line. I then realized the bald guy was Mike Kelly, the ex-coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. I was a little surprised he was allowed to leave the country (he was arrested not long ago on assault charges), to be honest, but he may have had special permission since he was probably going back to clean out his desk and home (and, I'd later learn, to smooch with that blonde in the Winnipeg airport).

I was then amused to discover that sitting one row behind us was Lyle Bauer, the ex-CEO of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (he resigned his position, he wasn't fired like Kelly). I wondered if the two had been visiting together, but Bauer and Kelly had nothing to do with each other in the airport at all, so I doubt they were traveling together.

This time all our luggage made it (we actually saw our bright pink and blue suitcases being loaded onto the connecting flight while we were boarding), which made me very happy. There was some stress on the trip home, but the important thing is we made it!

Back in the Red, White, and Snow

We're back from our trip. After an interesting flight home (that involved a baggage error in our favour, a sprint through O'Hare airport, and sharing a plane with two ex-Blue Bombers) we made it safe and sound. I'll probably do a few posts on our trip over the next week, since it's too much to cram into one post. We're in Winnipeg at the moment, but I think the plan is to be truly home later today.

Merry Christmas from Arizona!

Closed for Christmas?

Tomorrow morning I board a place for Mesa, Arizona, so I'm not sure how often I'll be updating the blog while I'm away. And if anyone wants to try any funny business at my house you'll have rabid Guard Bear to deal with.

We've actually exchanged all of our Christmas presents already since we didn't want to haul our stuff to Arizona and back, so I'm listening to my "Across the Universe" soundtrack that Sarah got me as I type this (how I wish I could get it on my iPod for the plane ride, but I'd have to drive back to my iMac in Riverton to do it). If you haven't seen the movie it's pretty good, and the highlight for me is that almost the entire movie is done in Beatles songs, redone and sung by the cast; I'm a big Beatles fan, and some of the updated versions of their songs are awesome. I recommend checking it out!

Have a Merry Christmas!