The Granite

We won last night's curling game at the Windsor Granite Club 6-4 when I made the very last shot, a relatively easy pick where I simply hit the opponent's scoring stone out of the rings, leaving us with two points and the win. The boys played well in front of me, we caught a couple breaks, and I felt I owed them that last shot after having cost the team two points earlier in the game with poor throws. We've now won three of our last four after a long stretch of mediocre to poor play; can we start the season over, please?

I've played in the Windsor Granite Club for most of the last thirty years. To my knowledge, it's the oldest continuous curling league in the Windsor-Detroit area. Yes, the Detroit Curling Club has been around longer yet had no facility for several years in the mid to late 1990s. The Granite has been in play unbroken since 1960. Somewhat ironically and interestingly, the Granite began at the old Detroit club at Forest and Sixth, just five blocks from when I've lived all my life, before transferring to Windsor when the city opened a rink in I think 1979.

But I fear for the league's future. We have seven teams, the least I've seen by far, and I worry that is unsustainable. We need more bodies, more folks to curl with us. There's history there, tradition, even if that only means something to a few of us. 

All good things and all that, and honestly requires I say that it would be no real tragedy if it ended. The world has and will suffer worse injury. Still, for guys like me, it's the Granite. It's my curling home. I don't really want to move.

The LCA in Detroit.

I saw the new Little Caesar's Arena for the first time last night. A buddy of mine had tickets to the Wings/Flyers game so I did him the favor of taking one off his hands.

I wish I could say I saw a hockey game but I don't feel like I actually did. Philly won 3-0 and the Wings just looked off tempo the whole night. I know they're pretty bad this year. But they're staring at Detroit Tigers bad, a phrase it pains me to utter because I love my Tigers best of all. I don't think the Wings had a single decent shot on goal. The Flyers carried the play the whole 60 minutes as near as I could tell.

The Arena itself is nice, although the bowl sure seemed dark to me. Compared to the Joe Louis Arena where they played before the LCA was built, the lighting just didn't seem to me all that good. The upper level stands sure were steep too. We were in the last row of the upper bowl on a nice flat surface, but it didn't feel that far away from the action. I've sat darn near at the top of the Joe too. It was noticeably farther from the ice.

The amenities were nice and not all that unreasonable. I paid $5.50 each for a hot dog and a 20 ounce Sprite, which is at least comparable to major sports venue prices. Jerry's beer was $13 bucks though. Ouch.

Would I go there again? Sure. It is a nice arena, all said.

This is Charles Martin Cosgriff reporting on the state of the LCA.