Gushing over Gushue

Last night Glen Howard defeated Newfoundland's greatest son at the Brier.

Glen Howard has curled for 35 years and has already won two world championships as a third. His team lost a close one last year, and he has had a great team together for a decade.

Gushue, whose team is extremely talented, had been managed to success by Glen's brother Russ and to be fair, was playing WAY over his head this week.

Yesterday's game proves two things 1) Gushue's team remains extremely talented and 2) They remain completely inexperienced. They lost that game because they were stupid, not because Ontario made better shots. If Russ Howard had been on the ice with them, they would have won in a walk. Like they did at the Olympics.

This is not to say that Gushue is no good and needs Howard to win. Far from it. It is to say that If Russ Howard had been in the rings, NFLD would not have attempted either of the TWO shots that cost them the Brier. In fact, when they turned the camera on Mr. Howard, you could read his lips when he said (to his son) 'what the fuck are they doin?' Russ, of course, when cheering had no choice but to chose family.

There are some things you can't teach - you can only learn. Experience is one of them. Barring another hot shot junior, Gushue will be a factor in every significant tournament for the foreseeable future, and will eventually start winning them on his own. He remains stuck on a heavy take-out game that can often lead to unpredictability and where slight imperfections can lead to big swings. It is nice to have that heavy shot in the bag when it is needed, but you can't always win with it.