1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
The bland play on ...
Declared favourites at the beginning of this Brier, Jeff Stoughton's Buffalo Boys were intentionally ignored most of the week due to a decided lack of sizzle. In this Brier there were dozens of better stories than this dull, colourless, bland, businesslike bunch of curlers from Manitoba.
The other team, the team in teal, has been a flashy, flamboyant, fun-loving, collection of colourful characters from La Belle Province led by the Guy who has the personality to take this sport into places it has never been before.
When it comes to the teams in this tournament, Manitoba and Quebec are the Odd Couple.
At least Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon made you laugh.
Put these two together and they managed to make 12,870 fans nod off. Together, last night, they set some sort of post-Woodstock record for people sleeping together.
It was awful. These were the top two teams at arguably the best Brier ever. And they were woeful.
The way Manitoba and Quebec played last night made you miss Orest Peech. At least watching Orest was fun.
"The only thing good about that game was that the score was close,'' said Guy Hemmings of his 6-4 loss that sent him to today's 2 p.m. semifinal.
A WIN IS A WIN
Stoughton, on the other hand, declared the game to be exciting. He would.
A win is a win is a win and that's the way it works with Manitoba.
And the much-less-sexy squad from the much-less-sexy locale has finally forced itself into the storyline.
Stoughton is now one win away from joining the greats of the game such as Hec Gervais, Don Duguid, Al Hackner, Ed Lukowich, Pat Ryan, Ed Werenich, Russ Howard, Rick Folk, Kerry Burtnyk and Kevin Martin as two-time Brier winners.
He advances to tomorrow's noon final, holding the hammer, for his shot at history against the winner of today's Quebec-Saskatchewan semifinal.
"It would be a great thrill to win a second Brier,'' said Stoughton. "If we play as good as we played today, we've got a chance at it.''
What game was this guy watching?
He shot 74 per cent. His team shot 80.
"But if we lost the final, we'd still be proud of our accomplishment.''
If it's Guy Hemmings again tomorrow, Stoughton would have to win it the same way he won it in 1996 - by beating the same team three times.
It was Edmonton's Kevin Martin he beat three times before. He's now 2-0 against Hemmings in this Brier.
"If we have to beat Guy three times, so be it.''
He has the hammer.
"We're in the big game Sunday and we can't ask for anything more than that,'' he said. "And last rock is great.''
Hemmings, the king of curling's charisma, at least was in the final last year. And he came to this Brier to prove last year was no fluke.
LIKE A MACHINE
But this Manitoba team works like a machine and has all year long. They may be bland, but they are one of the most well-prepared teams in the land.
The Manitobans have been going on these past few days about how they might have an unfair advantage over the rest of the teams here because they went down the cashspiel road so hard this year.
"I think that probably provided us with an edge,'' said Manitoba third Jonathan Mead.
"We're honed competitively. We know how to handle a lot of things other teams were trying to figure out this week.''
They may be the bland band in basic brown, but when they write the names of Brier champions down, there's no asterisk to indicate that you clowned around.
And when they write your name down twice, you get to be a great of the game and forever they'll remember your name even if you never were the life of a party.
Jeff Stoughton isn't here to win an Oscar. He's here to win a Brier.