Olympic Sports

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Women's Worlds Recap & Men's Worlds Preview

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It's a busy time of year in the curling world and we're excited to be talking about it all. We start by recapping what was a fun week at the Women's World Curling Championship. We talk about Rachel Homan's win, the game/shot of the year, and how the rest of the field broke down over the course of the week. We then move on to preview the field for the Men's World Curling Championship. We go through the field and talk about all 13 teams before offering up our picks for the week.

For more, visit us at GameofStonespod.com

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Biggest Brier Preview

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The Season of Champions is in full swing withe the first ever Montana's Brier set to kick off on Friday. We talk about the format, the storylines, and all 18 teams heading to Regina before making our picks for who will stand tall at the end of the week.

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

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Scotties Recap: Passing the Torch

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We join you nearly live from the Ottawa Curling Club, home of Team Homan, to talk about an action packed week at the Scotties. From Rachel Homan capturing her fourth title to Kerri Einarson's remarkable streak coming to an end to the retirement of Jennifer Jones, there was a lot going on in Calgary and we try to cover it all.

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

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Super Scotties Preview

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It's our favourite event of the year, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. To get you set for the week, we give our full preview, including the new playoff format, new rules, and the biggest storylines of the week. We also preview all 18 teams in the field, the expectations for each, and give our picks for how things will stack up at the end of the week. But before all that, we give our initial reactions to the news that this year will be Jennifer Jones' last Scotties as she steps away from the 4-person game.

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

Best Active Rivalries

In the midst of the Season of Champions, we take a break from the on-ice results to discuss some of the best matchups that we're looking forward to seeing over the next few months. From cross Canada competition to international matchups, we go across the globe to identify some of the best active rivalries around the curling world.

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

Provincial Playdown Excitement!

It's provincial and territorial playdown season across Canada, so we go coast to coast to coast to discuss some of the biggest storylines we're looking forward to following. From deep fields to up and coming teams to the CTRS points, we talk about what will be a fun few weeks as the Scotties and Brier fields are rounded out.

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

*recorded Wednesday January 17

Bold Predictions for 2024!

In another one of our favourite annual traditions, we offer up some bold predictions for 2024! From who will win to big event changes, we offer up some thoughts on what could transpire in the world of curling over the next 12 months. We then wrap up with a couple great emails we received over the holidays!

Do you like our predictions? What do you foresee for the year? 

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

Kelowna Controversy

We get together to talk about what has been an eventful week at the Pan Continental Curling Championship in Kelowna. We break down TSN's decision to move the games off teevee and exclusively to streaming, Brad Gushue offering some strong criticism for the World Curling Federation, and what this all says about the state of the event, now in its second year. Following that, we talk about the games being played, including both Canadian teams qualifying for the playoffs, the world qualifiers, and the great story being written by Jamaica on the women's B-side.

Check out the Belgium Women's and Men’s Challenger Events early next year!

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

What to Make of the Slams

With the first Grand Slam in the books, Sean and Scott discuss where the series stands in 2023. What is the perception of fans? How does that differ from the players? What do these events tell us about the place of professional curling? Following that, they talk about Team Ferbey's legacy as they are inducted into Canada's Sport Hall of Fame.

Let's Improve the Slams!, June 1, 2022

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

What's Curling's Best Playoff Format?

After some time away from the mic, we're back to kick off our summer season of episodes! This week, we answer an interesting listener question: what is the best playoff format? Scott has gone through the numbers to see whether certain formats offer an unfair advantage and we also chat about the various formats that have been used and how we feel about them from a fan perspective. 

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

Sherry Anderson Does It Again! What does Mixed Doubles gold mean for USA Curling?

We're back to talk about what was an exciting weekend in Korea as the world senior and mixed doubles titles were decided. We talk about Sherry Anderson winning her fourth senior world title and what an impressive stretch she is on the event before discussing the all-Canada sweep of the event. We then chat about the world mixed doubles event by debating what the win means for USA curling and whether this influences our perception of specialists v. non-specialists in the discipline.

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

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Big Brier Preview

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We're back to preview the 2023 Tim Hortons Brier! We talk about all 18 teams in the field in London, ON, including the favourites, the young teams trying to establish themselves, and some of the new and returning faces. We also make our picks for the week and announce the winner of our Ailsa Craig print. If you didn't win, have no fear, we're doing another giveaway for the Brier!

For more, visit us GameofStonesPod.com

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Scotties Trends Heading into Playoffs

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We're back to chat about some of the trends we've seen this week at the Scotties. We discuss the playoff scenarios, the increase in scoring from last year, and time management for teams with more active front ends. We wrap up by talking about the rather interesting measures we've seen, the ice conditions, and the new look TSN booth. 

For more, visit us at gameofstonespod.com

Gambling & Curling

Matthew Hall, former Canadian and World Junior champion, stops by to discuss gambling and curling. Currently an oddsmaker with CoolBet, he talks about his interest in math, creating odds for curling, and how he models events. He also discusses the amount of money brought in by curling, the guard rails in place to prevent foul play, and curling prop bets.

For more, visit us GameofStonesPod.com

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Scotties Field Set, Dumb Pregnancy Rules, & Best Bonspiel Formats

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Recorded before the David Murdoch to Curling Canada news, Sean and Scott talk about a busy weekend in curling as the Scotties Tournament of Hearts field is set. They talk about the provincial championships from the weekend, the Wild Card selections, and a rather stacked pool for the Scotties. They then turn to 2 announcements by Curling Canada, including the very strange pregnancy policy and the new qualification format for next season's PointsBet Invitational. FInally, the guys talk about their bonspiel experience over the weekend and what formats work best when heading to a 'spiel. 

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

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20 Years of the World has Caught Up to Canada!" Plus, it's Sherry Anderson's World & Another Slam in the Books

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At last week's Grand Slam, only 7 of the 16 playoff teams were Canadian, including only 2 on the men's side. This led to a fresh round of declarations that the world has caught up with Canada. This prompted us to look back at 20 years of this declaration and whether it's (finally) time to retire this narrative.

We also talk about Sherry Anderson winning her fifth(!!!!) consecutive Canadian senior championship and the ways the finals played out at the Masters.

To see the articles mentioned in the episode, check out this blog from our website: A Brief History of "The World has Caught up to Canada'

For more, visit us GameofStonesPod.com

More USA Curling Changes, Niklas Edin has Surgery, Pan Continental Takes Shape, & Fitting in with New Teammatesing

In this episode, Scott makes his triumphant return to the pod to chat with Sean about the USA Curling situation, including even more changes to the organization. They also talk about the on-going Pan Continental Curling Championship, including the poor attendance, the impact of China not participating, and the teevee coverage. They wrap up by talking about the best ways to incorporate new players into your team and how communication and expectations are key before Sean vents about an esoteric pet peeve.

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

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Yates Report, Grassroots Reaction, & What's Next for USA Curling

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This week, Sean talks about the current situation with USA Curling and its CEO Jeff Plush. He opens by going through the Yates Report and Plush's actions while he was the Commissioner of the NWSL and reports of abuse and misconduct were brought to his attention. He then talks with Monica Walker and Courtney Shaw about the grassroots response in the United States and the open letter written by the DEI Task Force.

For more information, please check out the following sources:

Yates Report

DEI Task Force Letter

USA Curling Statement

USA Curling 'reviewing' report detailing current CEO's Involvement in systemic abuse in NWSL

Former NWSL commissioner didn't respond to Sally Yates after saying he 'welcomed' investigation

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com

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Curious Strategies at the National

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In this episode, Sean and Scott talk about what was a fun weekend at the first Grand Slam of the season in North Bay. They discuss some of their big takeaways from the week (2:40) before getting into a couple rather curious strategies decisions from the playoffs. They debate Niklas Edin's decision in the semi-final against Matt Dunstone (7:10) and the pros and cons of being down 2 with hammer compared to tied without coming home. They also go back and forth about Kerri Einarson's decision in the fourth end of the final against Silvana Tirinzoni and the benefits of sitting 4 heading into skip's rocks (16:50). They finish by again asking for improvements to the Grand Slam website (25:00) before commenting on the on going situation with USA Curling (30:35).

You can check out Rocks Across the Pond's episode on USA curling here.

For more, visit us at GameofStonesPod.com