Winning is winning

I had the pleasure of playing in the 121st Annual Detroit Men's International Bonspiel this past weekend. I think I've played in about 30 of them. We did all right, missing out on advancing by about a half of an inch: that's how close our last rock was to scoring the winning point in our last game. So it goes; we had fun.

Curling bonspiels are different than a lot of tournaments. They aren't double elimination or anything like that but, rather, come with game guarantees. You are guaranteed to play a certain number of games, typically 3 or 4 depending on the length of the spiel. With the Detroit Men's, it's a four game guarantee. Everybody begins in the championship or 'A' event. Lose and you drop to the B, lose again the C, lose again to the D, lose then and you're out. You've played your guaranteed four games.

But I remember one time, I assume because of a scheduling quirk or an odd number of teams or some other unusual circumstance, that in order to make sure everyone got to play a fourth game, the Detroiters were forced to add events. Events E through Q were invented basically as dumping grounds to give everyone their fair share of play. Events E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, and Q were one-offs. And that was the year Team Cosgriff won the prestigious J Event.

We've done better. We've won the B, C, and D Events in the past. But we honestly, and proudly, can claim to be the sole ever J Event winners in the history of the Detroit Men's International Bonspiel.

We're still waiting for our trophy though.