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#BetweenTheSheets: The Dis-Continental Cup?

Time to Reevaluate, Rethink, Rebrand and Rename

This week the 2020 Continental Cup selections were announced, causing quite a few rock smashes along the way. To put it bluntly, people are pissed off. Ok maybe not all people but a vast majority of curling fans are not happy.

The 2020 Ryder Cup-on-ice style event will feature 6 teams from Canada taking on 6 teams from Europe. Well actually 2 teams from Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland.

Did you all just learn a new geography lesson? Everything we were taught in school or on a globe (remember globes?!) has been a complete lie. Canada is its own continent. Europe is actually comprised of only 3 nations.

Settle down public school, you have wronged us all. Curling knows the true definition of "continent" apparently. 😒

#PowerRankings W9

#BetweenTheSheets: The *ICE* Bubble Watch Returns

The Canada Cup field is almost complete. Who claims the FINAL spot?

The #IceBubbleWatch is baaaacckkk!!

Here you thought when The Masters announcement was made the ice bubble watch would take some time off and not roll back onto the sheet of ice until we start discussions on the next #gsoc. Wrong!

Last week the Canada Cup of Curling field was announced. Wowzers was there a lot of announcements made in the curling world last week, right?! The showcase Canadian event, the next tier below the Brier/Scotties, will take place November 27 - December 1 in Leduc, Alberta.

7 of the top men's and women's teams in Canada will compete for the prestigious title. The announcement last week finalized 6 men's and women's teams. The question now remains, who will be Lucky #7?

#Curling S1920 W9

#BetweenTheSheets: Men, Women, Mixed Doubles.....Oh My!!

The rocks will be BUSY from the Prairies to The Rock to The Baltic Sea

Clear your calendars for the weekend rock heads. No need to go do yard work. Skip the gym. Turn on your bread maker. Toss some popcorn in the microwave. And then sit back and enjoy a weekend full of hits, draws, guards and runbacks. Week 9 is PACKED with curling action.

Now a few people may look at this week as being a quiet one on tour. Many of the Top 10 squads are taking the weekend off to practice and enjoy what, if any, is left of summer weather before fall takes over. But this blog sees it slightly different.

Top 10 resting up? Sure! Quality curling and top notch teams still hitting the ice competing for prize money, trophies and ranking points? 100% baby!!

#PowerRankings W8

#BetweenTheSheets: Who Survived The #IceBubbleWatch?

Did any team play themselves into, or out of, a GSOC invite?

The time has arrived. The red envelope has been ripped open, the announcement is ready to be made. For curling teams this is one of the announcements they look forward to the most throughout the season.

The Men of Curling calendar announcement!!

Ok just kidding, that is not what we are talking about here. But the announcement was made. Check out who will melt your rocks next year HERE and compare the final lineup to the #TwineTime proposed lineup HERE.

The announcement we are actually talking about this week is which teams played their way in (or out) of the first "major" of the season: The Masters.

And the winners are....

#Curling S1920 W8

#BetweenTheSheets: A No-Decision Decision In Mexico?

Summarizing outcomes from the WCF Congress AND #WCT Previews

All eyes were on Cancun, Mexico last week when the World Curling Federation held their annual congress meeting.

Wait....let that sink in for a second. Curling. Cancun. Mexico. This is a real thing rock heads. The host location alone is a slide down the right path for #growthesport, no? Those lucky attendees I am sure were not complaining either. Mexico at the beginning of September sure sounds nice. But we digress....

There were many hot topic issues on the agenda this year. The biggest being the proposal to shorten curling games to 8 ends from 10 ends. This sure has stirred the debate soup in the curling world throughout the summer. But it isn't really a new issue either. This has been talked about for quite some time. It only has been elevated now as the topic goes before the WCF Member Associations for discussion.

But there were also other agenda topics for discussion and up for vote. Here is your quick recap on what happened in Cancun.

#PowerRankings W7

#BetweenTheSheets: The #GSOC *Ice* Bubble Watch

All points matter as teams try to punch a ticket to North Bay

The curling season is barely a few weeks old and already we are ready to peer into the crystal ball looking into the future. Ok well maybe it is not a crystal ball but rather an ice bubble.

Teams are starting to look at the upcoming Grand Slam of Curling season and, if you can read a calendar properly, they are well aware the cut-off for The Masters is fast approaching. In fact it is next week! Yes The Masters will not be contested on the ice until the final weekend of October but for teams looking to punch a ticket to North Bay, they have one more week to do so.

Which teams are on the (ice) bubble? Which are comfortably sliding into the field? And which have some work to do? Lets enter curling's version of the #BubbleWatch...also known as the #IceBubbleWatch.

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#BetweenTheSheets: Scheduling, Scheduling, Scheduling

Can scheduling make or break a team's season? Help or hinder the tour?

A curling fan does not need a calendar to know when September arrives. All one has to do is hop on social media, check out your favourite teams social media accounts and know the curling season is underway. This is the time when teams are "engaging" on social media with the announcement of their schedule for the upcoming season.

For some teams this is the start of a season-long engagement strategy with fans and through social media. Some of these teams announce their schedule and then continue interacting with fans all season. Some teams make their announcement and then we rarely see or hear from them again. Begging the question as to why bother with the announcement at all? If you are not going to be engaging all season, do fans really care where you will be and when?

But alas this is not a post discussing the sport, social media and fan engagement. We will save this topic for a later post, perhaps mid-season to see if teams actually are stepping up their social media game and becoming more engaged with fans (similar to what many NHL teams did last season).

This week lets talk about the actual focal point for all these posts at the beginning of September: Scheduling. Are teams scheduling themselves into or out of top rankings and #gsoc events? Can scheduling lead to diminished returns for some #wct events? And should there be a more strict requirement on teams for the amount of events they should play each season?

Settle into the hack rock heads, lets start a discussion.

#PowerRankings W6

#BetweenTheSheets: Swiss Score, Canada Cursed

Switzerland scores big while Canada struggles *again* in Oakville

Another season of the Oakville Fall Classic, another year of disappointing results for the home nation teams. The Canada Curse continues folks. And it wasn't even close this year!

The blog discussed the curse in the preview post last week, discussing how Canadian teams seem to really struggle at this event. Maybe because it is early in the season and most Canadian teams play this event as their first event? Who knows? But hey many of the international teams competing are in the same boat, slipping those sliders on for the first time competitively. Perhaps there really is no figuring out why too

Whatever the reason (or lack thereof), the 2019 Oakville Fall Classic was a slide backwards towards ending the curse.