Curling Day in Canada - Disappointing

I have a deep passion for all things curling.  It has almost been a deal-breaker with my partner.  He is so embarrassed by how I worship most curlers.  Some how, he has managed to make his peace with this.  Regardless, I am a proud fanatic. 

So, I was really looking forward to the hour program on TSN "Curling Day in Canada".  The hashtag was trending, they told me, so this had to be good.  It wasn't.  It was very disappointing. 

My parents met in a small curling rink in rural Saskatchewan.  I feel like I grew up in a small curling rink in rural Manitoba.  Small curling rinks in rural Canada were the pulse of small towns all over Canada.  Many of them are now struggling.  Curling fees are becoming more expensive and out of reach for beginning curlers.  The whole hope of other sports having their Day in Canada is to give a burst of energy, and funds to small towns in support of their sport. 

In this hour, there were two segments that made fun of curling in terms of our terminology.  It was not funny to me and a waste of air time.  Then, they did another funny segment on human curling.  Not funny or safe or even done. 

Then, one curling club was awarded the Tankard Trophy for a day as well as a curling celebrity.  The curling club was Niagra Falls.  A thriving club that doesn't need the boost.  To make it worse, it was announced that since the club is on the border of the US, about 20% of its members are Americans.  Not really relevant to "Curling Day in Canada". 

Then, there was an emphasis on inclusion in the curling community.  Quite frankly, inclusion is one thing that is sorely lacking in the curling community.  There was an "emotional" interview with John Epping, who came out as gay 8 years ago.  It was interesting that he has inspired several gay leagues.  But, really, this is 2020 and not 1985. Why is this even still being talked about?  He is the only openly gay elite curler.  We still have a long way to go to wave the inclusion flag.  Why have not any women come out?  Why do we not have a transgender curler? 

And, then, they dug deep to find a curler of colour who is also a national champion of stick curling.  She tried curling in retirement after living in Canada for about 25 years.  Again, how many elite curlers of colour can you name?  I can think of one who played second for Kevin Martin about 30 years ago.  Inclusiveness is something that the curling community still needs to work on rather than prematurely celebrate. 

The rest of the program was essentially a commercial for TSN.  Don't get me wrong.  TSN has done much to advance our sport.  But, there were so many other things that could have been mentioned on this program.  In Winnipeg, we have Iron Man curling which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of the Heart and Stroke Foundation.  This year is the 150th anniversary of Manitoba and the event was held outside in front of our Legislature.  It managed to attract the attention of every Winnipegger, including the dozen or so that had never heard of curling.  Now, that is truly something to celebrate and represents Curling Day in Canada. 

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