1999 Brier
SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Curling
1999 BRIER
ON THE ROCKS
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Know your lingo
Beer: Refreshment manufactured by the title sponsor of this big party. Copious amounts consumed during the week help fans loosen up. More than a few laughs shared under the affluence of inkahol.
Broom: Like the people, comes in various shapes and sizes. The old classic corn broom still has life in the minds of some, but the push broom is today's weapon of choice. Hog-hair, Hammer, convertible or synthetic.
Button: The middle circle in the ring. Object of the game is to have as many rocks clustered around the button when the end is finished. Winner gets to crow. Loser buttons his lip.
Crash: Bad thing on both the road and in the rink.
Curl: No Bill Clinton joke here. Just the way the rocks behave. As opposed to bowling, the rocks bend depending on how hard they're thrown.
Draw: You'll see plenty of these in the Last Shootout of the Century. Skips usually need to have draw weight to the four-foot with last rock if they hope to score points. They'll lose it, they'll get it back, but it's a basic skill.
Flop: Unlike real life, a flop is a good thing, especially if the hit-and-roll buries behind a guard.
Free-guard zone: Recent innovation designed to make the game more interesting to the fans, more frustrating for the players. The first three rocks that come to rest between the hog line and house cannot be immediately removed, unlike the unruly patrons in the Patch.
Fudge: A recently-coined terminology describing ice in which pebble has worn down. Hit the fudge and your rock stops sliding. Especially nasty on a last-rock draw.
Guard: Guys in furry hats that patrol the front of Buckingham Palace. And, objects of great frustration if you can't get your rock past them on a sheet of curling ice.
Hacksmasher: An unaccomplished curler. The only time you'll find him at the Brier will be lining up for drinks at the Brier Patch bar.
Hair: It's better if it stays on your head or on your brush. Otherwise, it may cause a brush with disaster.
Hog-line: A lineup of exceptionally ugly people bellying up to the bar. Also, the arbitrary line at which a rock must be released.
House: A house is not a home, but there's more sweeping going on in a curling house than you'll see grown men do at home.
Hurry hard: Desperate cry of the skip trying to make sure the rock takes a straighter path. Russ Howard's version sounds like a moose in heat.
Ice: The roarin' game would not be possible without a heapin' helpin' of the slick stuff.
In-turn: No Bill Clinton jokes here. One of the two ways to release a rock in order to determine the direction of the curl.
Lead: The guy who throws the first two rocks of an end, carries the team's equipment bags and takes the blame when the skip misses his last shot.
Line: Plenty of these at a Brier, including the opening ones used to expand circle of friendship. On the ice, it's the path in which the rock travels.
Patch: Definitely not a bandage-type thingy you slap on your arm when you're trying to quit smoking. This is party central at the Brier. Great entertainment, great atmosphere. And the best part is, you don't have to know a thing about curling to have a good time in here.
Pebble: Handy for bam-bam or draw games. Drops of frozen water sprinkled on the ice surface which creates raised surface rocks run on.
Peel: What you've got to do with a banana to get potassium to help that some edge off the nerves. Also, a hard throw designed to remove pesky rocks from play.
Pick: A tragic occurrence when a rock grabs a hair, veers off its target and sends the entire team into fits.
Rock: Nickname for Newfoundland. And the object grown men hurl down the ice.
Rings: There's three of them - 12, eight and four-foot. You've got to be able to hit them from 180 feet away to score.
Skip: The guy who gets all the glory and all the blame and usually the guy who throws last rock.
Sweep: Funny thing grown men do with brooms. The idea is to remove frost from between the pebble so the rocks can slide straighter or quicker.
Takeout: No fast food here. Only rocks travelling at his speeds trying to wipe out other innocent rocks that are just sitting around.
Territories: Strange northern place that would like another representative at national competitions. Give it a rest, and make sure to get some rest during the summers of the midnight sun.
Weight: The force which with rocks are thrown. Draw weight is a slower-thrown rock. Takeout weight means a harder-thrown rock.