(by Al Cameron)
And then there’s this: the inaugural Babes vs. Boys showdown Sunday, 12:30 p.m., at the Calgary Curling Club.
Based on the last time I saw the “Boys” — Chris Schille and Braeden Moskowy — in person, I hold little faith that they will prevail in this event. That was back in early November at the Red Deer Curling Club, when they managed to barely stay upright en route to making the men’s final of the Red Deer Classic with skip Jamie Koe — one of the curling achievements of the season to date, based on the semi-coherent Tweets that were being sent out that weekend by Schille and Moskowy.
So it’s good that the so-called “Babes” — Jenna Loder and Erin Carmody — will at least add a touch of much-needed class to the proceedings, which will feature a six-end game played with the five-rock free-guard zone . . . well, does anybody really care about the rules? Suffice to say, it’s two-on-two curling, featuring piles of trash-talk and, one can safely assume, various games of Ends taking place in the lounge during the game, and much post-game “discussion” between the combatants and their supporters.
“I don’t think it will be that close, but that’s why you play the game,” said Schille, who has a Brier runner-up finish on his resume, back when he threw a lot of peels for Brad Gushue despite an only fleeting acquaintance with his inturn. “I mean if it was played on paper, our stats speak for themselves, so hand us the trophy.”
Awfully brave talk, considering both Loder and Carmody have some solid credentials of their own, and both are playing for squads ranked highly on the Canadian Team Ranking System.
Loder is throwing third rocks for Cathy Overton-Clapham’s Winnipeg team this season, and her last appearance at the Calgary Curling Club was on Thanksgiving Monday, when Cathy O and Co. won the Grand Slam Curlers Corner Autumn Gold.
Carmody, meanwhile, is spending her first winter in Calgary after moving here from Prince Edward Island along with Geri-Lynn Ramsay to curl with Crystal Webster, and that team has already qualified for the Scotties Alberta women’s championship next month in Leduc.
“With our upcoming provincial playdowns, we thought this weekend would be a great opportunity to boost our confidence before the big events,” said Carmody, who may or may not be dating Schille (neither party is willing to confirm, although the prevailing sentiment is that if it’s true, Schille outkicked his coverage).
“It’s a great way to get a light practice and warmup in beforehand. We hope we’ll get a decent game out of it. I think we’ll let the boys have their pick of ice, just to be sporting.” “But, seriously, is this for real?” added Carmody, who threw last rocks for the P.E.I. team that finished second to Jennifer Jones at the 2010 Scotties. “Two top-ranked girls against a middle-of-the-pack guy from Saskatchewan and a retired so-called super spare? I’ll even let them pick the rocks so that there are no excuses.”
If you can’t make it to the rink, I’m sure there will be some entertaining Tweeting from @cschille and @bmosk24, especially if they lose, as they’ll spend the afternoon at the beck and call of Loder and Carmody, which might be more entertaining than the curling game itself.