Not Just a Curler

This past Saturday I went to Canada for the memorial service of my curling friend Brian Woodcock. He was literally one day older than me, but promised to never pull rank.

We tend to put people into compartments, little spots in our own minds which categorize them. Brian curled, so in my mind he was a curler.

I met his wife and mother and a few extended family members. So, he had a family. He had friends too beyond curling with whom I spoke. Then I find out he was active in his Church through the St. Vincent DePaul Society. And he worked as an outreach volunteer for the Windsor, Ontario homeless. And he played euchre at a senior center most Saturdays as a type of fellowship with the aging. Pretty soon he was no longer locked in that compartment where I had put him. He was a man who led a full life, who was much more than just a curler. He was a unique and good human being.

Be at peace, Brian, my friend. Be at peace.

Curlers Were First, Marathoners

A tradition I discovered yesterday during the Detroit Free Press Marathon was that spectators often cheered the runners by ringing cow bells. That's all right, but as we all know, curlers used the cow bell cheer first.

The Swiss have for years inspired their national curling teams with cow bell ringing. As a curler, I have a sweater which attests to it.

So go ahead and wave your cow bells at the 2023 Detroit Marathon. Wave them vigorously. But just to set the record straight: you're copiers, not innovators. We did it first.

The unknown curler

Well, now, I been goin' through a minor health issue of late, and me doctors and medical perfessionals, they been doin' me real fine. They been steadfast; they been lookin' real close at me charts and me tests and the like, and they figure I'm okay on the whole. But they still been lookin' for what 'xactly's ailing me. But one o'them, I think he found a link 'tween my ailness and me.

He says t'me today, I been giv'n a'nother patient, and he says that fella plays curlin'. What's more, he (that there patient) says he knows ya.

Well, I ain't surprised none. We curlin' folk, we're a what, a fraternitee. We're close; real close, al'mos family. So as you musta been seein' a curlin' fool, he must know me. And I musta' know him. Her. Whater' preposition you like.

He could'na remember the persons' name. But he recalled that the person curled, they threw them stones, and ferther, that that person knowed me. And I say t'him, then he threw them stones w'me, nor' he never'd not knew me.

Me physician, he did not recall that person precisely. But you, who you are you know.

Kindly tell me who you might be.