#NoTroll

#BetweenTheSheets: Say No To Being A Troll

Plus weekend previews in Norway and Japan

What is "trolling"?

Merriam-Webster defines the act of trolling as "to harass, criticize, or antagonize (someone) especially by provocatively disparaging or mocking public statements, postings, or acts."

In simple language, deliberately antagonizing someone online with offensive comments or disruptive content.

So why are we talking about trolling in a curling blog?

Curling is not immune to trolling. We see it quite often, unfortunately.

And we see it more often against female athletes in the sport.

From Rachel Homan being criticized for "not smiling enough" to other athletes suffering comments on body shaming and/or name calling.

Our Canadian athletes see trolling come out at world championship events. If we do not win gold, the trolls come out from under the bridge and let themselves be known.

And we need to put a stop to it!

The topic of trolling hit mainstream media this week during the opening rounds of the U.S. Open tennis grand slam event, taking place in New York.

France's Caroline Garcia, a former Top 4 ranked player now sitting at #22 (still very highly ranked and respected), suffered a first round exit.

After her singles draw loss, she received a barrage of trolling comments on social media. These comments ranged from telling her to consider suicide to one comment saying "I hope your mom dies soon".

Yes, it was THAT harsh folks.

What do you do when that happens? Garcia took to X (formerly twitter) with a lengthy post about what she was going through. You can check out the entire post HERE. 

Garcia calls for human decency and reminding people athletes are humans first. Where did the respect towards a fellow human being go? And she reminds people that while these are just words, words can cut deep and still hurt.

Ever heard the song "Little Toy Guns" by Carrie Underwood? If not, check it out.

Once she made her post public, an outpouring of support came from not only her peers within the tennis community but also among the general population of people who support her message.

#NoTroll needs to take over and we need to call out the actions and put a stop to them.

But Garcia also raised some eyebrows with her post.

She commented on how online sports gambling may be leading to an increase in trolling. And she has a point.

Sports, tournaments and events are partnering with online betting sites on a consistent basis. They are promoting the act of online betting on sport. And, in turn, may be creating more trolls.

If someone is betting on an athlete and said athlete loses, causing the bettor to lose out on a windfall of money, who is the bettor going to lash out against?

Themselves for making a bet? Hardly!

The athlete who "cost" them a win? 100%!

As Garcia says in her post, "Tournaments and the sport keeps partnering with betting companies, which keep attracting new people to unhealthy betting. The days of cigarette brands sponsoring sports are long gone. Yet, here we are promoting betting companies, which actively destroy the life of some people. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they should be banned as people are free to do whatever they want with their money. But maybe we should not promote them."

Tough to argue against her statement.

And, if we look at her statement and analyze is against the sport of curling, her statement holds enough water to flood a curling rink.

Curling used to have cigarette brand sponsorship. The sport went away from that unhealthy direction over time.

Now the sport is relying on heavy sport betting partnerships. And are we that much better off?

Have we drifted away from one sponsorship because of the physical health concerns only to pick up new sponsorships while ignoring the mental health concerns?

And don't say it doesn't happen in curling? We already know it does and already mentioned it above. When you read the opening to this blog post, I doubt you were disagreeing. We see it every year.

Just ask athletes like Homan or Kerri Einarson or Chelsea Carey or Jennifer Jones or Kevin Koe or Kevin Martin.

You don't think they have suffered from the act of trolling?

So what do we do now, heading into another curling season?

For one, we as fans can remember our curling athletes are human first, athletes second. They win. They lose. They entertain us. And they pursue their goals and ambitions.

Allow the space for them to do so. And create the space where they do it and feel safe and respected.

We do not have to "like" every athlete. And some athletes might not be likable. Athletes do not get a fast pass to act however they want because they are athletes either.

But we do not have to troll them because they lost a game.

As for Garcia's comment on online better sponsorship potentially leading to increase trolling, some food for thought.

We cannot argue against it. But what do we do about it?

There is the $10 million dollar question!

Thoughts?!?! Bueller?!?!

Ok, enough commentary for one week. Lets shift our focus to action on the ice once again.

We have some great events hitting the ice this weekend.

The Nordic Curling Tour kicks off their season in Norway with the Oslo Cup, a men's and women's event.

Japan will once again play host to a women's tour event as the ARGO Graphics Cup takes place in Kitami as part of the Hokkaido Curling Tour. This will be the first women's tournament in two years.

And the annual Icebreaker Challenge warms up the sport in Canada to start the season in Morris, MB. Unfortunately the draw for the event could not be easily found as of publish time so there is no preview/predictions for this event. My apologies.

On a positive, it was great to see the Icebreaker Challenge return to the tour schedule last season for the first time since 2019. Last year the event was a women's only event. This year it returns to offering a men's and women's draw.

Take note, the U25 #NextGen Classic is underway in Edmonton. Since the event started on Tuesday, there will be no preview/predictions. But the blog still wishes all the teams competing good luck and good curling.

And, for a side piece of commentary, lets leave THIS tweet from Felix Asselin for you to ponder in regards to the event. 😬 

#TwineTimePreview

WOMEN

Oslo Cup

Oslo, Norway

2023 Champion: Team Hasselborg

Format: 12 team RR with 2 pools of 6. Top 6 qualify. Top 2 overall after RR earn SF bye.

#Fav: Team Hasselborg

When the Oslo Cup hit the restart in 2022 after a 10 year absence on tour, the Swedes came to play in their Nordic neighbours.

Fast forward to 2024 and Team Hasselborg is looking for the #3peat, having won the title in 2022 and 2023.

Not only has this event proven to be a positive start to the season for Hasselborg, it will carry a bit more weight this season.

The Euro Qualifier series is coming up in a few weeks against main rival Team Wrana, who is also competing in Oslo.

A championship run and a successful #DefendTheIce weekend could help give them the momentum and confidence heading into the qualifier, an event they lost last year.

It won't be a slam dunk to the championship though. They draw a competitive pool and should be challenged by home fav Team Rorvik. Key matchups against vet squads like Czechia's Team Kubeskova, Switzerland's Team Huerlimann and fellow Swede Team Dryburgh could post challenges.

And they draw the #TeamUpset in their opener...

#TeamUpset: Team Paulauskaite

Here comes Lithuania!

Last season was a year of #HERstory for Team Paulauskaite. They reached the playoffs at the Euro B-Division, upset top seed Poland in the SF, won B-Division silver (losing the final to Hungary) and secured Lithuania a spot in the 2024 Euro A-Division.

Now comes the pressure of taking on the top teams. And this weekend is a great opener to see how they do, especially drawing defending champ Hasselborg in their opener.

Paulauskaite has been knocking on the A-Division door for a few years now, winning B-Division bronze in 2022 and finishing 5th in 2021.

Lets also remember, she skipped her senior team to a world championship silver medal last year too.

A few years ago we were watching Dilsat Yildiz and Turkey as the emerging European women's team/nation.

Is Lithuania and Virginija Paulauskaite the "new" Turkey?

They will be heavy underdogs in each match, drawing a very competitive pool. But this is also a season opening learning curve event.

If they can challenge the higher ranked teams, maybe even pick up a W or two, this would be considered a strong start to the season and give them some confidence leading into the Euro's in November.

#W2W4

With Hasselborg and Wrana headlining opposite pools, all eyes will be comparing how they do in the RR and if/when they run into one another in the playoff round.

But don't think this is a two-team race.

The hosts, Team Rorvik, we know are always a threat. They won world silver a few years ago and Euro bronze last year.

How about Denmark's Team Dupont? The blog identified them as a #TeamUpset to watch in the Season Preview post. Madeleine Dupont is always a silent assassin on the ice.

And keep your eyes on Switzerland's Team Schwaller. They are pushing Team Tirinzoni for top spot in Switzerland and made a move up the rankings last season. Can they continue this season where they left off last season?

Turkey's Team Yildiz is also in Oslo and continues to showcase why they are one of the top teams in the world. They continue to rise in the rankings and have a history of knocking off higher ranked teams throughout the season. A playoff spot this weekend, perhaps even a deep playoff run, is not out of the question.

Pool B is going to be tough. Wrana. Dupont. Yildiz. Schwaller.

Yikes!

Czechia's Team Kubeskova will be interesting to watch. Earlier this week, skipper Anna Kubeskova announced on social media she will be taking a step back from the game for at least the beginning part of the season as her work commitments are making it too hard to compete with the team full time. She is a full-time journalist with Czech TV remember.

She will miss the Euro championships but is hopeful to return to the ice later in the season. She will still be their #1 cheerleader though.

ARGO Graphics Cup

Kitami, Japan

2023 Champion: Not Held

Format: 10 team RR with 2 pools of 5. Top 4 qualify.

#Fav: Team Yoshimura

After winning the ADVICS Cup last weekend, Team Yoshimura looks to go 2-for-2 to start the season.

Not only did they win the event last weekend, they did so with an undefeated record and wins over top contending Japanese rivals.

Now we will see if they can continue their winning ways and cement themselves as the early Favs for the Japanese championship later in the season.

They have an interesting draw, namely having to face Team Kitazawa once again. The same Kitazawa they just defeated for the tour title last weekend.

Team Tabata should also be a tough challenger, having reached the playoffs last weekend.

Yoshimura made their Top 10 debut on the season opening #PowerRankings earlier this week. They may need to make the playoffs this weekend to keep their footing on the mountain.

#TeamUpset: Team Ozeki

Interesting to watch Yui Ozeki.

Last weekend Ozeki played with Team Miura.

This weekend she is skipping her own team. The same team who played last weekend with Reika Tateda as skip.

Miura went 1-2. Tateda went 0-3. Both missed the playoffs.

What will happen this weekend when they join forces to play?

They are in a very tough Pool A, drawing Japanese powerhouse Team Fujisawa, defending Japanese champion Team Ueno and 2022 Korean champ Team Ha.

If they can surprise at least one of those teams though, they could make a surprise playoff appearance.

#W2W4

Similar to last weekend, we have a strong contingent of Japanese teams headlining the field.

And while Korea's Team Gim is not here this weekend, Team Ha replaces them as a Korean team in the field and looking to steal the home ice advantage.

We saw Yoshimura, Kitazawa, Fujisawa, Ueno and Tabata reach the playoffs last weekend.

And replace Gim from last weekend in the playoff bracket with Ha this weekend?

Or will a surprise emerge to further showcase how deep the talent pool is in Japan?

Take note however, only the Top 4 make the playoffs this weekend compared to Top 6 last weekend.

With 6 top ranked teams headlining the field, at least 2 will be going home early.

Think of this event almost like the FedEx Cup in golf, wrapping up this weekend.

The field was trimmed to the Top 30 after last weekend's results.

In Japanese curling terms, we had our Top 6 last weekend. We are trimming to find out the Top 4 this weekend.

Who makes the cut?

MEN

Oslo Cup

Oslo, Norway

2023 Champion: Team Hoesli

Format: 19 team RR with 3 pools of 5 and 1 pool of 4. Top 8 qualify.

#Fav: Team Edin

Tough to find a guy who likes curling in Oslo more than Sweden's King Niklas.

And for obvious reasons. He is a 4-time champion at this event (2010, 2011, 2012, 2022).

Now there may be a gap in those championship years but that is not because Edin did not win. The tournament was not held.

When it restarted in 2022, Edin picked up right where he left it...in the winner's circle once again.

For the Swedish Vikings, they opened their season a few weeks ago in Baden with a SF result.

They will look to pad those stats to start the season with another deep playoff run in Oslo.

They were also handed the weird draw, being placed in the pool with only 4 teams. This means they have a "bye" RR game, thus only playing 3 RR games compared to teams in other pools playing 4 RR games.

Will the extra game help the opposition or give King Niklas extra time to rest?

And the competition level is no joke for Edin, as they draw Switzerland's Team Stocker, Germany's Team Totzek and Canada's Team Chandler. 

All of them competed in Baden as well. Interestingly enough, Totzek and Chandler were in Edin's pool there too. Edin went 2-0 against them then, can he do the same this weekend?

#TeamUpset: Team Nyman

Remember those #TeamUpset mentions in the Season Preview, as mentioned above with Team Dupont?

Here we have another team on that list, Sweden's Team Nyman.

The defending Swedish champions (Team Edin did not compete at the Swedish championship last season remember) have had great success on the Nordic Curling Tour.

Last season they reached the playoffs in every Nordic Curling Tour event played. And those results helped them move up the world rankings.

Last year they reached the QF here, losing to eventual champion Team Hoesli. Can they go even further this year?

They have a tricky draw, facing off with Germany's Team Muskatewitz, the Baden Masters #TeamUpset. They also draw US champions Team Shuster and always threatening Team Iseli from Switzerland.

We saw what happens when you have a 2-2 RR record at the Baden Masters. You are more likely to be going home early than playing over the weekend.

If Nyman wants to continue their Nordic Curling Tour playoff run, they are going to need to knock off the Germans and/or Americans to get there.

#W2W4

This is another stacked Euro-dominated tour event, with Shuster and Chandler bringing some North American pride.

Sure, we do not see the top Scots of Team Mouat or Team Whyte nor the former #1 team in the world from Italy, Team Retornaz.

But we still get top Euro teams like Edin, Switzerland's Team Brunner, Norway's Team Ramsfjell and Scotland's Team Bryce.

Muskatewitz has already been turning heads with their results in Baden.

Hoesli is back to #DefendTheIce.

Shuster is ALWAYS dangerous.

The world junior champs, Team Hostmaelingen, are here on home ice as well to represent the #NextGen.

Nyman has proven to be a Nordic Curling Tour playoff threat.

Czechia's Team Klima should never be underestimated either.

What does it all add up to?

Another top quality Euro event early in the season where many teams will likely finish the RR with 2-2 records and a majority of them will go home early without a playoff spot and playoff points/money in their pockets.

This could get VERY interesting.

#TwineTimePredictions

Oslo Cup

Qualifiers (W): Team Hasselborg, Team Wrana, Team Rorvik, Team Schwaller, Team Dryburgh, Team Dupont

Qualifiers (M): Team Edin, Team Muskatewitz, Team Brunner, Team Bryce, Team Shuster, Team Hoesli, Team Nyman, Team Ramsfjell

CHAMPIONSHIP (W): Team Hasselborg def. Team Wrana

CHAMPIONSHIP (M): Team Edin def. Team Brunner

ARGO Graphics Cup

Qualifiers: Team Fujisawa, Team Yoshimura, Team Ha, Team Kitazawa

CHAMPIONSHIP: Team Yoshimura def. Team Fujisawa

#StayTuned

The #PowerRankings mountain will see an update next week, taking into account the results from this upcoming weekend.

To those competing this weekend, good luck and good curling.

The blog is always watching 👀👀

And for those who have an upcoming long weekend, enjoy! 

Goodbye August, Hello September.