Youth movement rolls into regional playdowns

By JOE PAVIA, Ottawa Sun

Last Updated: January 4, 2011 9:29pm

On Boxing Day I played in a fun ‘spiel.

I found out that there’s no worse curling experience than playing against a team of mimes. Turns out Boxing Day is their national holiday.

First of all you think you can win easily because the mimes can’t think outside of the box.

Their uniforms are also off-putting. Like who wants to play against a team that sports a large black and white photo of Marcel Marceau on their chests. I don’t know what’s worse -his pancake make-up or the mime rink’s pancake make-up. We won’t even mention the black and white horizontal stripes or the black berets...with the red flower sticking out of the top.  I know uniform numbers are the latest trend for curling teams but the mime guys used Roman numerals instead.

You should have seen their front end indicate weight. If the rock was too light they would walk against the wind; if it was too heavy they would be blown by the wind. They didn’t do much sweeping what with all their gestures.

Then there was the simulated rope puling. Whoever was in the house calling line would use the rope pulling gesture to get the front-end to sweep when they weren’t doing something with the wind.

The thing my team couldn’t understand was when we were shooting, the other guys leaned on their brooms except their brooms weren’t there. Go figure. We asked them where the brooms were but they wouldn’t say. They just shrugged their shoulders.

At one point in the third end, one of them fell. No one heard him. If he had fallen that hard on a road he would be a land mime.

We also thought they might be suffering from hangovers because there were bad smells emanating from their side – you know the silent but deadly ones.

As the game progressed we saw their strength. They were masters of quiet weight. We countered with the hit game. Our strategy was mime boggling.

They did take a long time to call shots though. Their skip and third would stand in front of the house, examine the rocks then place their hands under their chins and look up at the ceiling. At one point we thought we saw little cartoon bubbles pop out of their heads but nothing was written in the bubbles.

During the fifth end Team Mime couldn’t agree on strategy or at least we think that is what was happening. We knew the front end wanted to bury their rock when the lead lay on the ice, took the red flower from his hat put it in his hands then folded his arms across his chest. At this point they called in their coach. He was a real clown.

Our skip called a foul on them that end when he said they burned a rock. However there was no arguing with them. They gave our skip the silent treatment. He wanted to kill them but we said a mime is a terrible thing to waste.

Anyway we won the game on the last rock in the last end. Our rink could hear the sound of Velcro ripping off our gloves. They took off their white gloves and we shook hands. It cost us in drinks. To a man our opponents each wanted a Mime Tai.

OTTAWA - It will be the most important delivery of Craig Savill's life, but it's not happening on ice.

The former world champion and his wife Karen Cumberland are expecting a baby boy the first week of January. Just as Savill's curling team is known for being unorthodox (pink brooms, loud shirts, numbered jerseys), so too is the birth of his first child straying from the beaten (slide) path.

Savill and Cumberland's pediatrician friends suggested they use a midwife to assist with the birth. Savill's front-end mate Brent Laing and his former wife Leah had also used a midwife.

"It was a big influence on us, for sure," says Cumberland.

"Using a midwife would be a good approach, considering the fact that Craig is a curler and how much he was going to be away. With a midwife, you typically get some more focused care. Rather than a 10-minute appointment, you have a 45-minute appointment and there's all kinds of aftercare."

Cumberland has been seeing her midwife, Jan Teevan, since May at the clinic where Teevan works.

"It's a very nice, cozy setup there. They do the same testing and heart monitoring and everything you would do in a doctor's office. They liaise for any medical stuff for you."

Teevan visited Savill and Cumberland's house on Monday in preparation for aftercare.

Cumberland says reaction to news she is using a midwife isn't always positive.

"You have to deal with a bit of stigma," she explains. "You know, people thinking that you are dealing with some sort of witchy woman."

Savill's mother Dale, however, has no such concerns.

"Craig's mom came (to the clinic) and was extremely impressed," Cumberland says. "She said that it was way more professional and intense than she expected."

Midwife services are covered by OHIP. In fact, the Ontario health ministry says the service cuts the costs of delivering a baby considerably.

Two midwife staff -- and Savill -- will be present in a Montfort Hospital delivery room for the natural birth.

"If anything looks like it's going to be complicated, then the physician comes in and they work together as a partnership," the mom-to-be explains.

John Morris' mom Maureen will also be there.

"Maureen and I are quite close, and she's a nurse," says Cumberland.

"It would be good to have her as a support to me and Craig. Should I have one of those 48-hour labours, they can sort of tag team a little bit."

Cumberland says her husband was concerned about whether she had everything she needed before he left for last week's Swiss Chalet National Grand Slam event in Vernon, B.C. But she says she's not fazed by his demanding travel schedule.

"I had to know when I married him what I was getting into, and having had the experience of getting to know the other curling wives like Maureen and Margaret Hart (Richard's wife) and Judy Howard (Glenn's spouse), you sort of see that it's not easy and I knew that. I'm not expecting him to change anything, but I think I know if I asked him to he would, so I don't need him to prove that."

Of course, once the new addition to the family arrives, their work is just beginning.

"We have to be prepared to be parents, too," Cumberland says. "You can get too focused on the delivery and sort of forget that we have to take this baby home."

How is all this affecting Christmas?

"It's sort of bringing things back to basics for us," Cumberland says. "Just the visiting and sharing in this wonderful joy with other people certainly has made this Christmas very special."

Cumberland can't say enough about the goodwill of her friends in curling.

"I feel so much support. That's the curling community. The mother of our archrival is coming in to help deliver this baby. It's a testament to what makes the curling community so special. It is genuinely a group of people so passionate about a sport, but care about each other."

Happy holidays await McEwen, Askin

By JOE PAVIA, Ottawa Sun

Last Updated: December 15, 2010 9:08am

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