Saturday, April 04, 2009

Ford World Curling: crazy from the heat























We’re back!

And our special guest blogger is here with us, at the 50th anniversary Ford Worlds. You know, that impossibly big event which will determine the final 10 Olympic men’s teams for Vancouver 2010.

Say hello to Katja Kiiskinen, a proud Finnish curler recently confused by magnificent periods of time spent in the Caribbean and – yes, it’s true – Toronto, Canada.

Sharp-eyed readers of The Curling News may notice that her words previously appeared in the recent January 2009 issue, describing her visit to the Masters of Curling Grand Slam in Waterloo.


Ford World Curling: crazy from the heat
by Katja Kiiskinen

MONCTON – After about 24 hours of flying standby and looking at airports full of tanned travellers, I must confess Moncton was not the destination I had in mind.

However, after finally making it here this afternoon, and after putting on three pairs of leggings and a couple of sweaters I was armed and ready to hit the cold, cold media bench. Turns out, however, I had gotten it completely wrong. What I should have brought with me was a beach towel, bikini and a bottle of piña colada.

Yes, it’s that hot. Looks like I didn’t have to take that Barbados flight after all.

Because of the beautiful weather outside, the air temperature at the rink is around 20C, and the poor ice technicians are going bananas, and definitely not with boredom. Apparently the ice temperature is around -19 to prevent it from melting, but the huge difference in temperatures obviously creates a problem with frost.

The players seem very understanding about the ice situation, but naturally they also worry what will happen during the evening round – just underway – as Canada’s opening game with Japan has drawn an expected large crowd.

The Danish team was having problems with frost throughout the opening game, whereas the Finnish team felt that the ice was pretty good on the side of the sheet that they happened to overuse. However, they did find that their brooms were actually sticking into the ice when sweeping, so it will be interesting to see what happens during the next round.

One player didn’t seem to mind the heat, or else he just couldn’t bring himself to part with his beloved toque. That’s 2006 Olympic silver medallist Teemu Salo, by the way (TCN photo by Tomi Rantamäki).

The start of tonight’s round two match was delayed by 30 minutes so that the ice guys could work their magic. So far, so good.

Tomorrow we’ll be starting a vote that, in my opinion, has been a long time coming. We will elect the “Hottest Player of Worlds 2009.” So ladies, or anyone else who appreciates male beauty, it will soon be time to cast your ballot.

Any votes, comments and even suggestions on how the winners should be decided are welcome. I personally think the top 12 should pose in a curling calendar. Because of the vote, we would even have proof that there is a general interest in seeing “more” of them - if you know what I mean.

In case there's lack of funding, I would even volunteer to take the photos. No charge.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Why are there no pictures of Katja?