She wants R-E-S-P-E-C-T

SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. -- Jennifer Jones is a lawyer by trade, and after winning bronze at the Ford World Women's Curling Championship, she was in tears -- a rare sight for the emotionally controlled Team Canada skip -- defending her team's playoff performance.

More accurately, Jones was venting about what she called a lack of respect shown her by the media in Swift Current and the line of questions following her team's playoff losses to Germany's Andrea Schopp and Scotland's Eve Muirhead.

"Third in the world is not so bad," Jones insisted after her club dispatched Sweden's Cecilia Ostlund 9-6 in the bronze-medal game. "It just wasn't meant to be. Sometimes, that's just the way it is.

"No offence to you guys," she continued. "I'm sure you're brilliant writers, but I don't read it. To be a four-time Canadian champion, to be in the world championship four times, to win Player's Championships, we've done more than I've ever dreamed possible. Ever.

"And we've gotten to play two worlds at home. And it's been an amazing ride."

Jones began to tear up at that point, and there was a bit of Phil Esposito in 1972 going on. Although Jones wasn't specific, clearly she was upset about the focus on her St. Vital team's lack of playoff success at the last two world championships.

To recap, Jones and her crew, including third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askins, went 9-2 during the round-robin in Gangneung, Korea, before two consecutive losses bounced them from the tournament. In Swift Current, Jones finished atop the round-robin standings before losing to Germany and Scotland, then rebounded to win bronze against Sweden.

"For everybody to expect you to win gold is ridiculous," Jones said. "We came out here and we won bronze and we're really happy with that. I don't think (the fans) expect gold.

"I think the media does, and that's unfair. When I was at the Olympics, Canadians were proud of any colour (of medal). It's the media that scrutinizes, and I don't think that's right. Canadians are proud of our athletes, and I think that should be portrayed in the media as well.

"Yeah, you do think you let Canada down if you're not on the podium," she added. "I felt like we controlled the round-robin here, but didn't win. But we came out and we did ourselves and did Canada proud today, and I hope everybody sees it that way. If they don't, I can't control that."

Asked where the emotion was coming from, Jones paused to keep her composure.

"I guess I've just been a little disappointed in some of the questions in the media scrum," she replied. "I was on the other side of the bench (as a member of the media at the Vancouver Games) and I don't think it was very respectful sometimes, to be honest with you.

"We're all trying our best, and I thought we did a really good job. And I just didn't think we got the respect we deserved."

Maybe it was just the moment. After all, it's not like Jones was getting relentlessly harassed in her scrums.

Although it's true the line of questioning -- as it does when Team Canada losses at hockey or curling -- followed the subject line, "What went wrong?"

What rankled Jones, clearly, was the notion that her team has wilted in the last two worlds after a combined 19-3 record. Her point was essentially, "Dude, we've won four Canadian titles against a lot tougher fields. Three straight, in fact. And you're questioning our ability to 'peak'?"

Officer, who curled 100 per cent against Sweden -- the second time she's been perfect at the worlds -- backed up her skip.

"Obviously, we had a tough playoffs, which is abnormal for us." she said. "We've proven time and time again at the Scotties that we've been able to peak in playoffs. (At the worlds) it just hasn't worked for us for whatever reason. It's not that we can't, because we've proven time and time again that we can peak. Usually we turn it up a notch in the playoffs. It just didn't happen this time for us."

Hey, it's nice to be a world champion. But in your humble agent's opinion, the curling worlds are a lot like the NFL's Pro Bowl. Winning the Canadian title, now that's the accomplishment. The rest is just optics. Maybe a European holiday if you're lucky.

You know how many teams Andrea Schopp had to beat back in Germany to get here? Three. Congratulations, Andrea.

But there's absolutely no lack of respect. If anything, Canadian curlers like Jones are respected so much that if they don't win, the general sentiment it that something must have gone wrong.

And something did go wrong in Swift Current. Team Canada lost a couple games to teams that curled better. It's not rocket science. And they rebounded Sunday to win a bronze.

Yes, third in the world isn't so bad.

What would be worse? If nobody cared at all.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 29, 2010 C1