GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- There hasn't been a whole lot of drama at the World Men's Curling Championship this week as Canada's Kevin Martin continues to make short work of the supposed elite of men's curling.
Martin beat Switzerland 8-6 Thursday morning and then United States 10-4 last night to finish the round robin with a sparkling 10-1 record. The only blemish came a couple days ago on a rare last-rock brain cramp by Martin that cost him his only loss, to China.
Canada's Kevin Martin barks instructions to sweepers Ben Hebert (left) and Marc Kennedy during Canada's 8-6 victory over Switzerland Thursday morning at the world men's curling championship in Grand Forks, N.D.
And so put it all together and Canada's Martin is exactly where just about everyone figured he would be today -- holding the hammer in the Page playoff 1 vs. 2 game with a chance to advance straight to Sunday's final with a victory over Scotland's David Murdoch today.
Not exactly the stuff of high drama, but then curling powerhouses like Martin seldom are dramatic. Just ruthless and efficient.
But if it was drama and conflict and confrontation that you sought this week, it was there in spades for anyone who cared to pull back the curtain to look behind the scenes.
Because once again, the CBC and its crew down here has found itself Public Enemy No. 1 among curling fans north of the border.
The CBC website has been bombarded with complaints -- not to mention newsrooms all over Canada, including the Free Press -- from curling fans upset that CBC is not providing full round-robin coverage of all of Team Canada's games, just like TSN provided for the women's worlds in Vernon, B.C., last month.
Things got so heated that Scott Moore, executive director of CBC Sports, posted an open letter on the CBC website yesterday asking curling fans to please stop calling CBC affiliates and swearing at CBC secretaries and audience relations staff.
"If you want to tell someone they're an idiot," wrote Moore, "tell me."
The fact is that if you want to blame someone for the lack of round-robin coverage, you can blame TSN as much as CBC, who were only ever contracted to broadcast this weekend's semifinal and final.
The cold, hard fact is that TSN -- who, remember, are in the round-robin business -- takes a pass whenever the worlds are held outside Canada, with the lone exception being a money-losing affair from Bismarck in 2002.
It's more expensive to broadcast these events from outside Canada -- even if its only 100 kilometres outside -- and it's less lucrative at the same time because none of the foreign events have the Ford sponsorship that events in Canada do.
So the worlds in Scotland in 2000? No round-robin coverage. Lausanne in 2001? No round-robin coverage. Sweden in 2004? Ditto. Paisley in 2005, Aomori, Japan in 2007? Ditto and ditto.
And you know what? When TSN takes over exclusive rights to broadcasting curling starting next winter -- something the CBC-haters have been demanding for years -- they're almost certainly not going to be covering the round robin from outside Canada.
Which means if you were planning to sit down next March and watch, possibly, Jennifer Jones attempt to defend her world title at the 2009 women's worlds in South Korea, you're likely to be disappointed until TSN coverage kicks in for the last two playoff games, just as it does on the CBC now.
To be fair about it, CBC should be commended for all the extra hoops they've gone through this week to try and get at least some round robin and playoff coverage to Canadians.
For starters, they simulcasted curltv's coverage of all of Canada's round-robin games -- live and for free -- on their website, cbc.ca.
And then they've also shown a couple round-robin games and were scheduled to show today's playoff game between Canada and Scotland on their digital affiliate, Bold.
Yeah, you need a digital converter to see the station. And yeah, it will cost you a couple bucks to subscribe for the month.
But in a week when CBC is up to its ears in playoff hockey -- which pays the bills in a way curling will never do -- it was a way of at least affording people the opportunity to watch.
CBC tried one last time to make Canadian curling fans happy. And for one final time, they appear to have failed.
I don't think CBC is going to miss dealing with the incessant whining of Canadian curling fans. But now that we won't have Joan McCusker to kick around anymore, who will be curling's new punching bag when next winter's curling coverage also doesn't measure up to the high standards of curling fans -- who want everything covered all the time, but not if it costs them a dime?
I hope Ray Turnbull's got thick skin. He's going to need it.
paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca
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