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Sunday, March 7, 1999
Watching the Brier in comfort of home
By GEORGE KARRYS -- Toronto Sun
No, I will not be attending the Labatt Brier.
It may be Canada's grand national sporting event, to quote Edmonton Sun columnist Terry Jones. And yes, indeed, it is one heckuva pure Canadiana party. For me, it is time for a break.
I have missed only three Briers this decade, but I've flown all over the world in the past year and the team I'm on (Mike Harris') stunk this season. I'm tired and I just want to sit in a chair and watch it on television, just like millions of other Canadians.
MISS FAMILIAR FACES
I know I will be missing the sporting world's biggest bar scene, the Brier Patch. I'll miss the familiar faces that gather every year from all corners of the country -- the Bluenosers, the Screechers, the Moosecallers or the Bleacher Creature from B.C.
However, I won't have to recreate Lake Ontario by filling my hotel room bathtub, sink, dresser drawers and waste buckets with water to combat that infernal dry western air.
And thanks to television's saturation coverage of the event, I can do what writers from other papers have been doing for years -- pontificate from afar.
So with Day 1 already out of the way, here are some handy viewing tips on what to expect from this 1999 Brier boob tube-fest.
Ontario's Rich Moffatt and crew are not what you would call colourful. They keep their voices low, their expressions tightly held and Moffatt himself tends to think a lot -- so much so, he often analyses his games right up to the dying seconds of the time clock allowance. But his was the best team in Brantford and a very good team, indeed, with a chance to finally shine on the national stage.
Edmonton's own Ken Hunka is most definitely colourful. This throwback to the days of corn brooms has a raspy voice, blunt nature and a young team. This essentially is the Brent MacDonald team from the 1997 Olympic Trials: Hunka joined this year at third but MacDonald fired himself and elevated the veteran to skip in January when things looked rocky. Smart move. The crowds and cameras will love this guy, possibly more than Quebec hero Guy Hemmings.
Northern Ontario's Scott Patterson also had a different team prior to the playdowns. His front end, and his intentions, were based in Toronto. But a last-minute decision to avoid a residency rule conflict reunited his 1994 team from North Bay and, presto, it's back in the Brier. For a few days, anyway.
The eastern teams, skipped by former Ontarian Russ Howard of New Brunswick, Paul Flemming (Nova Scotia), Robert Campbell (P.E.I.) and Glenn Goss (Newfoundland) are as good as they get. If there was ever a time to expect more from this gang, this is it.
Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton should win it. It will be fun to see if he can.
Finally, there will be no athletes whining about money. This year, the players get a 4% chunk of gross gate receipts, which could reach $12,000 per team. The winner gets numerous tourney invitations and a shot at federal sport funding, which would run for 24 months. And on Thursday, a news conference will announce a new megaspiel, the Komatsu, which will run in Edmonton in December with a $500,000 purse, including $250,000 to the champions.
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