Just call it ‘As the World Inturns’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/02/2011 (5523 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CHARLOTTETOWN — Cathy Overton-Clapham was holding court with the media here Friday morning — she’ll be doing lots of that over the coming eight days — when one of the event people spotted her as he walked by the assembled scrum.

“Welcome back,” the man whispered in Overton-Clapham’s ear. “I love your story.”

And, really, what’s not to love. Overton-Clapham’s story here at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts this week is equal parts betrayal, intrigue, revenge and redemption, all of it layered on top of a feel-good underdog yarn the likes of which Canadians love.

It is on one level a revenge opera, on another a catfight. And it just might be one of the most sensational storylines ever to play out in the normally sedate world of women’s curling.

“Am I interested?,” was the reply from an incredulous Alberta skip Shannon Kleibrink. “Of course I am. Everybody is. Aren’t you?”

Well, yeah, actually. Although less than others, I’d submit.

My good friend Allen Cameron, the hard-working curling scribe for the Calgary Herald, has already proclaimed next week’s round-robin matchup between Jennifer Jones’s Team Canada foursome and Overton-Clapham’s Manitoba team as the most “compelling women’s curling game” ever played.

And he’s got lots of people who think the same way. Heck, Manitoba Moose GM Craig Heisinger even called me up Friday morning with only one question on his mind: “When is that game?”

For the record, “that game” will be played next Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. CT. And yes, TSN is broadcasting it. Live. Coast-to-coast.

What I wondered is what it’s like to be one of the central players in a drama so feverishly anticipated that it has transcended the sport and now has even non-curling fans fixated.

“It’s been overwhelming, for sure, in the past couple weeks,” said Overton-Clapham “and exciting at the same time.

“I’ve been asked a lot about it. I’ve had a lot of fans say ‘we’re pulling for you’… Everyone’s excited, that’s for sure. And they’re pulling for us, I guess. That’s the best part.”

Jones, who has been cast as the villain in this drama — fairly or unfairly, depending on your perspective — continued Friday to do her futile best to downplay the whole subplot, maintaining she’s happy for her former teammate’s success.

“I’ve talked to her a few times. I congratulated them when they won the provincials. There are really no hard feelings. I was really excited for (Overton-Clapham third) Karen (Fallis), too. She deserves it. We’re genuinely happy for them.

“For us, it’s just another game in the round-robin, and it’s really nothing more than that. You know, people used to talk about the rivalry with Kelly Scott and me that didn’t exist, but brought a lot of exposure to curling. If this game can do that, then that’s great.

“We knew what to expect, we knew there were going to be questions, but there are questions every year. It’s no different. We’ll just see how the week unfolds.”

And that’s the thing I think some people are overlooking in all the feverish anticipation for what will be the first on-ice matchup between Overton-Clapham and Jones since the latter fired Overton-Clapham as her third last April, barely a month after the two women won their third straight Canadian womens curling championship together.

Because let’s face it, if Jones is 8-0 heading into Wednesday night and Overton-Clapham is 3-5 — or vice versa — then Wednesday night’s game is going to be a mild curiosity, at best.

And that’s because in some ways, the most compelling part of this tale has already played out, suggested Overton-Clapham.

“I just really wanted to be here in Charlottetown. I know I played here in the ’99 Scotties and it was a really great event. And after winning the Canadians (last winter) and knowing that I was coming, it was just taken away. I just tried to do everything I could to be here.

“Winning the provincials was a pretty exciting win. Of the provincials that I’ve won, that was probably the most exciting one.”

Which raises the question: Where would a win here next Sunday rank among the accomplishments in a hall of fame curling career?

“I haven’t looked that far ahead, I haven’t thought about it,” said Overton-Clapham. “But if it were to happen, it would be a pretty amazing feeling for sure.”

And the kind of story everyone could love.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca