Jordan is joined by Gerry and Kevin just after the Women's Worlds and before the start of the Men's World Championships. They discuss Rachel Homan's surprising loss and the process of World and Olympic qualification in Switzerland and other countries. They cover some of the changes and challenges in USA Curling. Note: Due to technical difficulties the podcast was cut short and discussion on team rumors and Brier relegation were lost. The boys hope to be back next week with those topics and more.
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the idea that teams without money will drive to enough OOM events to compete successfully with USOC funded teams is preposterous. Who has the stamina or vacation time to drive to the number of spiels needed to compete every weekend from October to December? The system will be self-fulfilling, the team the USOC picks to fund will be the 'best team' based mainly on attendance instead of head-to-head competition. Couple that with the assertion that this will be a long term commitment (over years) there is no way to expect that hard work approach to be fair.
ReplyDeleteBrad Jacobs and co did it, in Canada no less. If a U.S. team won't, forget winning internationally.
DeleteI'm pretty much convinced that the system in the US is going to change and not for the better. I agree that US Curling needs to get better, but I suspect that the result will not be good for US curling.
ReplyDeleteThe system where some National Governing Body selects the elite players and gives them all the resources may result in improved results internationally, but it will mean that the pipeline of competitive curlers will decrease. Even today, that pipeline is getting smaller. US Men and Women no longer compete regionally to go to the Nationals, but must participate in a "Challenge Round", where the USCA has already selected some of the teams that will be in the national championships (because they have the funding and resources and it would look terrible if they don't have their choices validated).
In the meantime, the grassroots will wither. The USCA doesn't do much for the existing clubs in driving demand, besides the Olympics, which isn't anything they have any control over. I think they think they do, but I don't see that happening (and I've been pretty close to it over the past 4 years)
Finally, I think that comparing the economics and logistics of a country (Switzerland), where you can drive for 3 hours and get to the other side with the US (or Canada), where 3 hours might not even get you out of the state is ridiculous. If the USCA continues to make the choices it making (and advocated by Gerry), then you might as well just pick the curlers from Blaine, MN and be done with the charade.