Curling, Etcetera_ A Whole Bunch of Stuff About the Roaring Game - Bob Weeks [30]
Perhaps the society’s main contribution to the game was the establishment of curling’s first set of rules. The document, which still exists, is dated January 6, 1804. Many of the rules in that code still exist in some part today, such as No. 10: “A doubtful shot is to be measured by some neutral person whose determination shall be final.”
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Ever wonder how the hog line got its name? According to Scottish curling history, it’s a farming term. A hog, in livestock circles, was a name given to a weak member of a litter, a runt, so to speak, specifically with sheep. This hog was more than likely to die before the end of its first year, either at the jaws of a predator or from the farmer who would cull his flock. Similarly, a hogged rock is one that falls short of the line, not making it into play.
CHARACTER GUY
Up until the mid-1950s, curling had been a staid and reserved sport, even at the Canadian championship level. It wasn’t considered proper for players to show a lot of emotion or to showboat in any way. But that changed with the arrival of Edmonton’s Matt Baldwin. Not only was he a breath of fresh air for fans, he was also a remarkably talented player. Some facts about the three-time Brier winner:
• The first indication that Baldwin was going to buck tradition came in the fi fth round of the 1954 Brier in Edmonton. After making his last shot to beat Northern Ontario 6-5 in a close match, Baldwin’s third, Glenn Gray, jumped into the air and let out a scream. Baldwin raised a clenched fist and shook it as he came down the ice to celebrate with his team. That night at a banquet, one of the Brier trustees (the organizers of the event) told Baldwin his actions that day weren’t acceptable and asked the Alberta skip to keep his emotions in check for the rest of the event.
• Baldwin was one of the first curlers able to slide the entire length of the ice. In the ’54 Brier, every time he stepped into the hack, the crowd would yell, “Slide, slide.”
• At a major event at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Baldwin delighted the fans by sliding the length of the ice with the rock in front of him. Halfway down the sheet, he removed his hand from the stone, nonchalantly rubbed his nose and then replaced his hand on the rock, which was sliding along in front of him, still in position. He stopped the rock perfectly on the button.
Matt Baldwin and Garnet Campbell
• Baldwin became known as a man who never missed a party. After winning the ’54 Brier, he went to a party at the host hotel and stayed late. “I just got plastered,” he stated of the evening.
• Gunning for his third Brier win in 1957 in Victoria, Baldwin told the media about the host hotel, the Empress, “All those ladies having tea are making so much noise we can’t get our rest.”
• On the final day of the ’57 Brier, Baldwin was suffering so badly from the flu, he brought a chair out onto the backboards and sat in it when his team wasn’t shooting
• At the 1971 Brier in Quebec City, a massive blizzard caused a power failure at the arena in the middle of a draw, sending the event into 15 minutes of darkness. When the power came back on the Baldwin team was nowhere to be seen, but on their sheet, all eight rocks were sitting in the four-foot. Baldwin and his team emerged from the bar to where they’d retreated to gales of laughter from the fans.The incident became known as the Baldwin Blackout.
• Baldwin was known as one of the single best shooters in the game. For a number of years, an Edmonton television station conducted a singles competition between some of the top players in the game, Ernie Richardson and Garnett Campbell among them. Baldwin won it six consecutive years, and the station finally had to remove him from the event.
PRESERVED IN GRANITE
The final game of the 1956 Brier is