Canada sweeps to gold in Olympic men's curling

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Who is Canada's greatest Olympian? How about Kevin Martin?

I'm serious. He should carry the flag at the closing ceremonies tomorrow.

Martin's men's curling team, from Edmonton, just beat Norway, the team with the strange pants, 6-3 to finish off an undefeated run in Vancouver, sweeping through the round-robin matches and dominating the playoffs.

(Update: It's just after midnight. One of our three Olympic broadcast networks is reshowing the match. Yes, I'm rewatching it. Yes, it's still exciting. And enjoyable, without all the stress. I'm looking forward to Martin's final shot and seeing the reactions again.)

He captured silver eight years ago, losing to Norway. Today, he and his rink of John Morris, Marc Kennedy, and Ben Hebert put Canada on top of the curling world again, just as Brad Gushue did four years ago.

It was an incredible run in Vancouver -- and it's been an incredible run for Martin the past few years, since he overhauled his team for the '06-'07 season, winning the Briar, Canada's incredibly competitive men's championship, in '08 and '09, as well as the World Championship in '08 (narrowly losing to Scotland in '09), and then, with two great victories over rival Glenn Howard, Canada's 2009 Olympic Curling Trials.

He's my favourite curler and has been for years. While he has done incredibly well here in Canada, success at the international level has often eluded him. That silver in '02 hurt. But there he is atop the podium, with a huge smile. The man's awesome curler, and a great Olympian.

And there they are, as I write, the best curling team in the world, Team Martin, receiving their gold medals, of which they are so deserving, smiling and singing O Canada. What a moment.

Along with our hockey win over Russia the other day, this is the highlight of the Olympics so far for me. And it means a 25th medal for Canada, putting us third.

But it also means a 13th gold medal, putting us on top by a wide margin, Germany second with 10, the U.S. third with nine. With that, we tie Norway (2002) and the Soviet Union (1976) for the most golds ever at the Winter Olympics (and the most by a host country).

We play for a 14th gold in men's hockey tomorrow against the U.S., the capstone to the Vancouver Games. For that, the anticipation across this country is immense. As for me, my nerves can't take much more.

But even if we lose tomorrow, this has been an incredibly successful Games for us. Forget the medals. Forget the early concerns about weather (and lack of snow). Forget the few overhyped glitches. It seems to me, as I watch from afar, that the Games themselves have been a wonderful event: great competition, great drama, and a beautiful host city putting on a great show for the world.

The medals are a bonus. There has been much ridicule in this country, as well as abroad, over our "Own the Podium" program. And perhaps deservedly so, to some extent. Why should we "own" the podium. Is that all that it's about? I get that more and better funding is needed, but the optics of that push for medals have been, in a way, embarrassing.

During the first week of these Games, there was a good deal of woeful, self-pitying hand-wringing as we appeared to be falling well short of expectations. We weren't going to finish with the most medals, which never should have been the goal (as it was completely unrealistic), and we weren't even going to match the haul in Turin in '06.

And then a funny thing happened: we started winning. Last Sunday, culminating in our spirit-draining loss to the U.S. in men's hockey, was a disaster, but, since then, it's been day after day of amazing performances. In fact, looking back, it's hard not to see how the Vancouver Olympics, at least in terms of winning and losing, have been a towering achievement for us.

Sure, there have been some tough, bitter disappointments, with expected medalists coming close but not reaching the podium, but there have been disappointments for every other major country as well. It's the Olympics. It happens. Even some of  the best athletes in the world fall agonizingly short on the largest stage in the world.

We won 24 medals in Turin. We have 25 in Vancouver -- and we'll have 26 after tomorrow hockey final. Could there have been more? Of course. But to do so well, on home soil, winning the most golds, what an awesome showing for this great country.

And, tonight, as we celebrate that, and as we deal with immense hockey-related anxiety, it seems only fitting that Kevin Martin swept to victory on home ice, the greatest curler in the world finally winning gold after all these years.

Super Bowl XLIV, women's curling, hockey -- my crappy day in sports

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Alright. It's already been a miserable day in sports for me.

My beloved Habs stunk out the Bell Centre -- effort? anyone? -- and lost to the hated Bruins 3-0, who broke a ten-game losing streak.

Meanwhile, at the Canadian Women's Curling Championship in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Team Prince Edward Island lost to Team Canada (the two-time defending champions, from Manitoba), 8-7 in an extra end. I may live in Ontario, and I may consider myself a Torontonian, but I'm an Islander at heart. I like the Team Canada rink, too, and I usually root for them (when P.E.I. isn't involved), but I really got into this P.E.I. rink this week, with two outstanding 21-year olds really shining, and they played extremely well until a few missed shots gave Canada the lead. P.E.I. was up 6-3 after six ends, but Canada scored four over the next three ends, including a devastating steal of two in the ninth. P.E.I. tied it up in the tenth, with a chance to win, but Canada pulled out the victory in the eleventh by a matter of inches. P.E.I. had never made it this far at the women's championships, the Scotties, and it's a shame they won't be able to defend their title at next year's tourament in Charlottetown (P.E.I.'s capital). Does this mean anything to most of you? No, probably not. I realize curling isn't exactly the most popular sport south of the border (or anywhere else). But it's huge here in Canada, and it meant a lot to me.

Okay, now... the Super Bowl. It's already almost the end of the first quarter and the Colts are up 3-0 and pressing for more in the Red Zone. I thought the Colts would win, but I talked myself into the Saints, whom I'm rooting for, the past two weeks, and my pre-game prediction was Saints 31, Colts 27.

But now... well, the Colts just scored, a Manning-to-Garcon TD, and now it's 10-0. Alas.

What a crappy day.

**********

Update: Alright, so it wasn't so crappy after all. The Saints pulled it out, 31-17. I was going to say "stunning," but it wasn't really all that stunning, was it?

Both teams have fantastic offences, but only one team -- one QB -- made a serious mistake, and that was Manning on the INT for a TD, and it wasn't even really a mistake, just a great play by an opportunistic CB, very much the story of the year for the Saints' D. (And there was also Garcon's missed catch in the second, when the Colts were driving and could have gone up for good.)

And I almost got the score right. Well, I got the Saints right at 31. But we all thought the Colts would put up more than 17, right?

And Brees for MVP? Well, sure, why not? Although I must say, I found much of the game uninteresting, and dull, and rather flat, and hardly memorable, and the guy who kept the Saints in it was not so much Brees as Hartley, the kicker. Where would the Saints have been without his two 40+-yarders in the second quarter?

And so a decade dominated by three AFC teams -- the Pats, Colts, and Steelers -- ends with a victory by one of the league's perennial losers from a city that was almost destroyed. There's only one team that really matters for me, Pittsburgh, but it's hard not to like the Saints, and I was pulling for them all year, and, in the end, they deserved it. Manning may have had one of the greatest seasons in history, and he's solidified his spot as one of the best QBs ever, but even he was no match for New Orleans, not on this day.

(How many more weeks are there until the 2010 season starts?)

(Photo: SI.com. Yes, that's Porter returning an INT for a TD in the fourth. And that's Manning on his ass.)

Today in curling news: Kevin Martin wins Canadian Olympic trials

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Sunday marked the conclusion of the Roar of the Rings, the men's and women's Canadian Olympic curling trials held in Edmonton. (Curling is huge in Canada, by the way.) With the top-eight men's and women's teams from across the country, each having qualified for the tournament, the talent level was even higher than at the national championships held each spring.

The men's final on Sunday featured the two best teams of the past few years by far, one from Alberta skipped by Kevin Martin, the reigning Canadian champion (and my favourite curler), and one from Ontario skipped by Glenn Howard. They are both fantastic curlers, two of the best I've ever seen, and their incredibly tight battles at the championships (called "The Briar") earlier this year were simply awesome. (Yes, I just used the word awesome to describe curling. I used it and I meant it.)

Martin won again yesterday, and by a significant margin this time, 7-3. He and his team will represent Canada in Vancouver.

Alberta's Cheryl Bernard won the women's final on Saturday.

Does this interest any of you? Well, a few of you, perhaps, but not many -- mostly Canadians, of course. But I had to blog about it. And if you've never given curling a chance, whether playing it or just watching it (as I do), you really ought to. Here's one of Martin's finest shots from this year's Briar. If you think it looks easy... think again.