Saturday, January 30, 2010

Villages

Okay, I have stopped crying, caught my breath, and remembered the road we took to get here. It takes a village to raise a curling team. It's been people like Ken Trask who took a couple little brat kids onto the ice for the first time; Doug and Julie Pittman who invited them to little rocks; Doug Williams who harrassed them on a daily basis to keep them humble; the Meltons and the Kozais who fed them at bon spiels; aunts and uncles and cousins who supported them when they had this funny pipe dream. There have been far to many people to thank who have offered support, love and a nice pat on the back. The boys are successful because they have such a wonderful support system around them... and we, their parents, are grateful to and for you.

Take it For Granite,
Scott

Name Change

Formerly known as Team Beighton, they changed their name to Team Washington. Same team now needs new letter head to read "TEAM U.S.A!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

About 5 years ago when we were at Nationals in Duluth, we met a group of Minnesota girls who were just cute as a gd bug's ear. We dubbed them "Minnesota Cute." The kids became good friends, the parents became good friends. It's Minnesota Cute that won the Jr. Women's side of this. So we will be going to Switzeralnd with good friends.

That is about all I can write, for some reason my eyes are really blurry and wet.

Took It For Granite,
Scott

Friday, January 29, 2010

Express Train

Okay, here's the scoop... the lads beat Minnesota 1 again today. That puts them in the finals tomorrow against Aaron Wald's Minnesota 2 team. Not much more that I can say. We are excited and calm and nervous and focused and above all else, fired up! I think I wrote a couple days ago that this was going to be a wild ride... anyone need their money back?

Take It For Granite,

Scott
I have just a couple of minutes before the lads get home with sandwich makings. They don't want top have anything too heavy before tonight's game. BTW if you haven't seen, the lads beat Mass. to be in the medals. Guaranteed bronze, but they want the other yellow colored medal.

The game was not a high scoring game. Sean and the lads were patient and waited for the right moment to pounce. The chance came in the 6th end when Mass. had to hit and roll to the button. Washington had one on each side of the four foot and one in front of the four foot. Mass hit the one on the skip's left and rolled out making it a steal of 2 and putting us up 2 points. Washington took 2 in the 7th to be up 4 points and they never looked back.

Send them a congradulatory note and the games should be on the internet tonight and tomorrow. We are facing a hostile crowd here in Minnesota.... both Minnesota teams are who we have to go through.

Take It For Granite,

Scott

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Wow, what a game this morning. Minnesota 2 won in extra ends, but it was a hard fought game the whole way. Their coach was extremely complimentary about our boys and said that he expected to meet them in the final game.

So we have a longer road than we had hoped for this win. We play Massechussettes on Friday at 2 local time. WHEN we win that one, we play another game at 7 local time. And then we have the finals at 1:30 on Saturday. It will be busy, but do-able and the lads feel up to the challenge.

Because we only had one game today Coach Murray, GayLynn and the adult McLean's went to the down town 2 blocks. We had the obligatory picture with Paul Bunyan and Babe The Blue Ox. We just had some down time to release fome of the intensity of the week. Tonight we head out for dinner with our host family the legendary curler Scott Baird and his wife Lynn.

We did hit one snafu today during the game. in the 5th end, right as our second's rocks were being played, Lisa turned to me and asked if I brought the go-gurt. I panicked! I ran back to the hotel in sub-zero temperatures {have I mentioned it's cold here?}, froze part of a lung during the jaunt; grabbed the go-gurt and made it back to the club in time to watch the skip's rocks in the same end. My thninsulate snow boots, parka, wool sweater, long johns, etc were not made for swift movement... it had better have been the best go-gurt those kids have ever tried!

Spirits are up, the boys are playing rousing games of hearts and hitting the pool/hot tub. Hang on, I still think we are in for a fun ride.

Take It For Granite,


Scott

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Sacred Loving Bovine

Holy Freakin' Cow!!!!!! Washington just beat Minnesota 1! The State Champions of Minnesota! Do you realize how big of a deal that is??!!? They have definitely come out of their funk and are rising to their surroundings, no, not to, but above their surroundings. There is now a 3-way tie for first between Minnesota 1, Minnesota 2 and WASHINGTON!!!!

The boys play Minnesota 2 tomorrow. The Mn. 2 team is the heir apparent to the Plys dynasty. They are good, but they are beatable as they have already lost 2, just like Washington. The game starts at 8 central, 6pacific.... that's AM, not PM. Sorry, most of you will have to go to work.

The lads had a great time at the school. They enjoyed the questions and they commented on how smart this class of 5th graders was. Hmmm, I'm thinking about a TV show....

I hada headache most of the day. I was up very late last night enjoying the exports of Scotland with the parents of "Minnesota Cute" the junior women's champions last year. We had a wonderful time catching up and sampling each others' Scottish imports.

Lisa and I headed down town today. Saw the woolen mills store. Great sales going on there too. But it was cold. Have I said it's cold here? It was about 6 degrees down there. It's cold to start with, then the wind picks up off the lake, off the mud puddle, off that piece of snow that's 10 feet away and it just rips to your core... the wind chill takes it down to about 30 degrees BELOW 0. Rather than walking 2 blocks we ended up driving just to get out of the wind and cold.

Keep those cards and letters, okay emails coming. We remain,

Take It For Granite,
Scott

High Praise

Good Freezing Morning, Before I tell you about today's first game, a huge shout-out to Daniel Journeaux, the second on Team Illinois. This "kid" was hit by a car a month ago and has rehabed himself to be able to make it here and to curl with his team. By today, his knee was really hurting and he had to sit out after the second end. He fought through a lot of pain and misery to help his team. If there is some award for bravery and guts and determination, he should win it hands down!

Unfortunately for Team Illinois it was not a close game. The score was 14-1 after 7 ends in Washington's favor. It was helped by a 5-ender and a 6-ender. Rough for anyone to take.

It was a good win for Washington and I think it washed out their heebee-geebees. They made some great shots and started to feel the mojo again. Feeling confident again is important, the two hardest games are next. They face both Minnesota teams. Both teams are beatable, it's just which team shows up for the game... like always. I think Brady Clark is even beatable {if we hog-tie him and put him in a blindfold}

Have I mentioned that it's cold here? Today's high is a wopping 2 degrees above 0. That's in farenheit! The low... does it really matter?

The lads are off to visit a school this afternoon. They have a classroom that has "adopted" them. They visit and show their equipment and talk about curling and where they come from... the boys really enjoy this part. And the school kids treat them like rock stars, they ask for autographs and for the team to play with them at recess. It's a great diversion from the intensity of the competition.

The game starts at 4 central, 2 pacific. Keep those thoughts, prayers, sacrifices to whatever god you choose, incense, bells... whatever coming. Words of encouragement are especially prized. The lads often check their email account to see who has written and what the say.

Take It For Granite,
Scott