What Is My Ranking?

#BetweenTheSheets: What Is My Ranking?

Does anyone understand these "new" ranking procedures?

The road to the top can often be one filled with left turns, traffic circles, U-turns and yields.

How does a team navigate the road to find themselves moving up the rankings and reaching their destination of becoming the top ranked team in the world?

We *thought* the Road to #1 was a bit more clear heading into this season with a revamped rankings system in place.

A few months in and we are still left shrugging our shoulders and having no real idea how these rankings work.

What is happening?

Now I bet those in the "know" already understand everything. The athletes competing on tour may read this blog post and think, "This guy knows nothing. It isn't that difficult to figure out."

And they may be right. Of course this is also assuming competing athletes are reading this blog space, which may be just a little white lie I tell myself to boost my own ego.

Ego aside, this blog is for the fans by the fans. And fans want a clear-cut ranking system to make it easy to know how our favourite teams stack up against their opposition.

Who is the #1 ranked team in the world? Who is #5? #10? #25? 

Those fans tracking their favourite teams and/or family members who compete on tour want to know. And I am sure the teams themselves are curious.

We entered the season with two different ranking systems in place. The World Curling Tour and the World Curling Federation each developed their own ranking system.

Now we are left with two different ranking systems in place with the left hand not talking to the right.

Again we ask, "What is happening?"

WHY do we need two systems? Why are the WCT and WCF battling one another for "ranking supremacy"? 

Could we really not come together and develop ONE system for the sport to make this less confusing?

Lets take a look at the rankings right now. For reference sake, we are using the Top 5 men's rankings as our example.

World Curling Federation                               World Curling Tour

1. Team Jacobs                                            1. Team Schwaller
2. Team Epping                                            2. Team De Cruz
3. Team Mouat                                             3. Team Jungen
4. Team McEwen                                         4. Team Edin
5. Team Bottcher                                          5. Team Retornaz

What is this? Who is really #1? Team Jacobs? Team Schwaller? Someone else? WTF?

The WCT rankings take into account points earned at events registered through WCT. These appear to be more of an annual ranking rather than a rolling comprehensive ranking.

Ok, fair enough if this is indeed going to be the case. The WCT can capture which teams are doing the best for the current, live curling season. Or does it?

What about all those events NOT registered through WCT? What about the events in Canada? Most of them were not registered as official WCT events and, as such, those teams competing do not earn points towards WCT rankings. So what is the point of having a WCT ranking system?

But what about the WCF rankings? I *assume* these to be the most up to date rankings. Honestly, I cannot be too sure. Why? Check out the WCF ranking website.

When you click on World Curling Team Rankings: Men, you go to a page showing the rankings as of May 31 for the 2020/2021 season. Huh?

Pretty sure we have had over a month's worth of events running, most eligible for WCF ranking points, yet the ranking list on the official WCF page has not been updated to start the season?

The ranking I pulled above for WCF was taken from the CurlingZone website, again no idea if these are up to date as of this past weekend's results or not. It does say "Oct. 4" so one would think this is up to date but I have fallen under this trap in past seasons looking at this page for updated rankings only to find errors.

The point being, why is this SO HARD for curling to figure out?

Before we had a ridiculously confusing complex math equation system. Now we have two systems, neither accurately reflecting what is actually happening on the ice thus translating into a "ranking" we, as fans, have little to no faith in.

I know I have gone down this comparison path before but it is worth repeating. If tennis can figure it out with one system, why can't curling?

If you watched the US Open grand slam event wrap up at the beginning of September, one thing you would have noticed was the comments about a players ranking AFTER the slam.

The commentators already knew where each player competing in the final would be ranked should they win the championship or come up short. It was as clear as a cool glass of water.

Player A wins championship, earns 2000 points, moves up the rankings to #X.

Player A loses championship, earns 1200 points (1300 for the women), moves up the rankings to #Y.

All of this was known before the first serve.

We cannot properly figure out a ranking after final rocks have spun on competitive ice at events around the world.

Why are these rankings not updated? Why do we need two systems? Who is the REAL #1 men's and women's teams in the world?

Right now, the ranking systems are failing us and we are back to human nature comparative subjectivity in discussing who each of us thinks should be #1.

Based on tour results, where would Team Schwaller fall right now?

WCT has them ranked #1. Fair enough given how the start of their season has gone, minus the Swiss Olympic Curling Trials result.

WCF has them ranked #9. They are behind #6 ranked Team Gushue, who has not stepped on the ice to compete this season.

And I get it. WCF ranking takes into consideration the Best 2 results of the season plus 50% of 2019/20 season, at least that is the statement at the top of the CurlingZone rankings page.

That statement alone though seems problematic. Are we REALLY getting the TRUE #1 ranked team in the world under those parameters? 

I get there are many people out there who were never supportive of the #TwineTime Ranking System.

Fair enough. Everyone has an opinion. 

However, at least with the #TwineTime system, it is up to date, comprehensive in taking into consideration this season's results while being a 52-week roll over AND we always knew who was sitting atop the #PowerRankings mountain.

Can we say the same with these "new" ranking systems in place now?

We wanted to solve the confusion when, in reality, it appears all we did was create new questions and additional head scratching.

Having said all that, lets run a quick #GunnerRunback to celebrate the successes on the ice this past weekend (whether those results move those teams up rankings or not might be an unknown 😏)

#GunnerRunback

• Hello #TeamUpset! At the Womens Masters Basel event, Denmark's Team Dupont rode a hot streak in the playoffs to take home the title, defeating Team Hasselborg in the final. Dupont finished the RR with a 2-2 record and, thanks to a LSD TB advantage, was the #8 seed entering the playoff bracket. They knocked off Team Keiser and Team Wrana before taking down Hasselborg to claim the championship.
• Staying in Switzerland, Norway's on and off the ice mixed doubles hot couple Kristin Skaslien/Magnus Nedregotten took home the Mixed Doubles Bern title, defeating past world champions Jenny Perret/Martin Rios of Switzerland in the final. The Norwegian duo did not drop a game over the weekend, qualifying A-side and finishing with a perfect 6-0 record. Sweden's Therese Vestman/Robin Ahlberg picked up bronze after defeating Swiss pair Daniela Rupp/Kevin Wunderlin in the third place game.
• Speaking mixed doubles, at the Qualico Mixed Doubles Classic in Canmore/Banff, Rachel Homan/John Morris wrapped up a perfect 8-0 weekend to claim the title over Jocelyn Peterman/Brett Gallant. Homan/Morris gave up back to back steals to open the final, finding themselves quickly down 0-3 after 2, before storming back to seize control of the game with single steals of their own in 6 and 7. As we say in MD folks, #NoLeadIsSafe!
• Lets stay in Alberta to congratulate Team Krysta Hilker and Team SooHyuk Kim on claiming championship wins at the Alberta Curling Series: Avonair events in Edmonton. Both teams went undefeated over the weekend with Hilker finishing 5-0 and Kim 6-0. Hilker defeated Team Sturmay in the final while Kim knocked off Team Tao.
• One province over, teams hit the ice for Saskatchewan Curling Tour action for the men's SCT: Sutherland event and the women's SCT: Martensville. In Saskatoon, Team Kody Hartung went a perfect 5-0 en route to claiming the title, knocking off Team Daymond Bernath in the final. Of note, this is the second straight tour event final for Bernath. An up and coming #TeamUpset emerging in Saskatchewan? In Martensville, Team Sherry Anderson knocked off familiar rival Team Michelle Englot to claim the title. Anderson also went 5-0 over the weekend, including an additional W over Englot in the A-SF.
• Lets keep the travel train moving and head to neighbour Manitoba where the Atkins Curling Supplies Classic took place in Winnipeg. USA's Team Jamie Sinclair went 6-0 to claim the women's title, defeating Team Kristy Watling in the final. For the men, Team Braden Calvert finished 7-0 in winning the championship, knocking off USA's Team Rich Ruohonen in the final to prevent the USA sweep.
• In fine #TwineTime tradition, we also applaud those teams who reached the playoff brackets at their respectful events over the weekend. Reaching the SF round included: Team Wrana, Team Muirhead (Basel), Team Sherrer, Team Gim, Team van Amsterdam (Edmonton), Team Jacobson, Team Dies (Saskatoon), Team Barber, Team Howard (Martensville), Team Peterson, Team K. Jones, Team McDonald, Team Simmons (Winnipeg). Reaching the QF round included: Team Schori, Team Keiser, Team Tirinzoni, Team Aitkin (Basel), Team P. Appelman, Team Pierce, Team T. Appelman (Edmonton), Team Howard, Team Carss, Team Pomedli, Team Wills (Saskatoon), Team Wisniewski, Team Mitchell (Martensville), Team Wasylik, Team Smith, Team Sigurdson, Team McCannell (Winnipeg).
• The playoff contenders for the mixed doubles events included SF finishes for Anderson/Dropkin and Jones/Laing (Canmore) and QF finishes for Heldin/Magnusson, Constantini/Mosaner, Paulova/Paul, Kim/Lee (Bern) and Just/Dies, Sweeting/Kennedy, Sturmay/Sturmay, Weagle/Epping (Canmore). The event in Canmore/Banff also included Play-off appearances for Sahaidak/Lott, Martin/Griffith, Birchard/Schneider and Njegovan/Carruthers.
• The MD event in Canmore/Banff also impacted the upcoming Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Curling Trials, scheduled for end of 2021/early 2022 in Portage. The winner of the event was to earn a ticket to those trials. Homan/Morris already own a ticket so it falls to the runner-up. Oops, Peterman/Gallant also already will be there. The trickle effect now goes to the SF teams. Oh no, Jones/Laing already have a spot and, obviously, Anderson/Dropkin are not eligible. What does that mean for the ticket? It goes back in the folder and will now be included in the CMDR/Canadian Team Rankings System used to fill out the field later in the year. For those teams who missed their chance in Canmore/Banff, at least the ticket was left unclaimed to open up an additional ranking qualification spot.

#StayTuned

The blog will return later this week to preview the Pre-Olympic Qualification Event in Turkey, which includes men's, women's and mixed doubles action. Check out the teams competing, and stay up to date with live scores, HERE.

Enjoy the upcoming week rock heads as we head into the Thanksgiving long weekend in Canada!