Scottish Championships Final Post

Well that was shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite.

After going 8-1 in the Round Robin, we lost both the 1v2 game and the semi-final. Disappointing does not quite cover this one.

We didn’t fire at all in the game against Warwick Smith in the 1v2. Saying that, we had many opportunities for 2, and we even converted a few of them. The key end was the 8^th when things were really not setting up well for us. After two freezes by Dave Smith, we were in a fair bit of trouble. Dave gave us a chance with his first, but the second didn’t quite come off and Warwick had an open draw for 4. We were only 2 down at this point and we gave ourselves an opportunity to make the comeback, but Warwick made 2 good draws to the button in the 10^th for a place in the final.

Skip Cottage Curling
David Edwards

The semi-final was a much better game. In the 3^rd end we had to draw to the 4ft against 3, the stone picked at the hogline but we managed to drag it to the top of the 8ft to cut it down to 1. In the next end, things were looking quite good for us with a lot of our stones hanging about. Tom blasted them but left us with a double for 2. Unfortunately we jammed and gave up another steal. Next end we had a split for 3. Hard to describe how unlucky this one was. But trust me, it was fucking unlucky. After that we forced the 1, we then had a hit for 2/1 depending on a measure. Obviously the umpires decided that the stones were exactly the same and that apparently means it was only a 1. We had to go for it a bit in the next couple of ends, we had a small hit and roll with Dave’s last that wrecked and left Tom with and open draw for 3. He made it and we conceded.

                                                                  GAME OVER

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Colin Campbell/Scott Macleod/John Penny

 Well 3^rd place is not awful, although it was not what we wanted after going 8-1.

Thanks to everyone over the last week and the entire season for their support, it has been much appreciated.

I would also like to congratulate Tom, Greg, Scott and Michael for winning the Scottish again. Well done. Also congratulations to Dave for getting to go as 5^th. Your rock matching skills will have improved significantly this year! Good luck in Basel!

Cheers

Team Edwards


PS I thought I would just let you all know that with these blogs it is possibly to find out what people have searched to reach the blog. The most popular search used to reach the Team Edwards Blog over the last month is "Swingers Club". I find that very entertaining.

Tommy Sheridan

Scottish - Saturday Update

New blog to kill some time before the 1v2! The background TV show today is Jeremy Kyle US Version. (Also John’s choice). One observation from this is, if you have a tattoo on your face, some shit is going down.

Mike Tyson

And with the curling, we really can’t complain about how it has gone so far.

As you can see, we are on 8-1. But I am sure that you will all already know that as I have inundated you with facebook statuses. Apologies, I am a Social Networking junkie. Anyway, this means that we have won the Round Robin and are lined up to play Warwick Smith in the 1v2. Tom Brewster plays Ewan MacDonald in the 3v4.

The game kicks off at 2.30pm with the semi-finals at 7.30pm. Hopefully we will not need the semi-final, but it is nice to have the back up!

I am limited with time and have the memory of a goldfish so I will only give a quick rundown of the last 2 Round Robin games yesterday.

Goldfish

 

John Hamilton 9-6 Win

We were always in reasonable control although we gave up a couple soft 2’s which made it close. They took their 2 in the tenth for an Extra End. Dave made a short run back for a 3, and the victory.

Tom Brewster 6-5 Loss

It was a good game against Tom. It did not change things at all for us, but we had the chance to put him in a world of pain if we were to win. We held an early lead and had the opportunity to go down the last end peels with the hammer. We were unfortunately forced to take our 1 in the 9^th, then had to prevent Brewster from taking a 2 in the last end. We did not manage that, and Brewster got the Win.

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Greg Drummond/Tom Brewster + John Penny/David Edwards

My form in “Bugger your neighbour” has dropped. I have had a second last and two last place finishes in the last couple of days! And this was with Greig Henderson playing! Unbelievable!

We changed up the game last night. It was now Team Whist. This was the first appearance of the game since the Oslo Cup in September. If I remember correctly, my team, which had many different combinations, were 0-7. This time it was going to be different. The line-up was Team Frontend (Colin and Scott) v Team Rearend (Dave and John).

The result was a big win for the sweepers. Very pleased.

Well we are away to get some calories for the 1v2. Wish us luck with this one. We really want to be in the final.

Cheers

Team Edwards

Scottish - Wednesday Update

We have got a lie in this morning, so I thought I would do a blog update as John is being entertained by kid’s television. I am not joking. It’s not even like it’s the only thing on! We have got sky! I had forgotten how annoying the Chuckle Brothers are. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch Chucklevision.

The Chuckle Brothers

On Monday morning, we had our 8 minute practice on each sheet. This gave us a chance to pick out any temperamental stones for the upcoming games. My Advanced Higher Graphic Communication A came into use for the first time since the exam in 2006. I got my compass and set squares out and had a wee project to draw a curling head on a grid. We used this to mark down where thrown stones landed and to compared to splits. It was immensely professional.

My gear

The first game was against Ewan MacDonald. Dave made a good draw to get the hammer. Following that, it was a rocky first couple of ends with John pulling us out of a lot of trouble. His triple was especially sexy. The 8^th end was the key for us. We played a really good one and after a few big smashes from MacDonald, there were still a few lying about the house and had the nose hit for 3. Good win!

© Skip Cottage
Dave Murdoch/Dave Edwards

We had a 7.35am first practice on Tuesday Morning. Raged. The game was again Jay McWilliam. We covered the pin with the LSD to get hammer. The early ends went well and we built up a 3-0 lead. We kept it reasonably clear throughout the rest of the game with McWilliam needing a 2 in the 10^th for an extra.  He didn’t really have a shot and ran out of time. So it was another win on the board for Team Edwards.

© Skip Cottage
Glen Muirhead/Scott Macleod

The Tuesday afternoon game was against David Murdoch. It was a big game for us. If we won, we had the potential to go clear at the top of the table. We once again got the hammer and we needed it as we did not have a phenomenal first end. In the middle of the game we got a great couple of twos courtesy of Dave’s nailers. One up with in the last end, we had a nose hit double for the game, which we made. 3-0 and the top of the table!

There is a really long way to go but we are certainly happy with our start. Today we have Graeme Black at 12 noon and Warwick Smith at 8pm.

So, the curling is going well, but I have not mentioned the most important development of the week. Our card game of choice is “bugger your neighbour” which is a variation of trumps. The rules are here.

http://www.pagat.com/exact/ohhell.html

Anyway, I(Scott) am winning it! Anybody with experience of our games will know how much of a turnaround and a shock this is. In my opinion, it was just a matter of time before my superior skill and talent shone through to get these vital W’s on the board. I intend to keep the run going.

Bob Cowan is blogging from the event, http://skipcottagecurling.blogspot.com/.

I will try and blog again, but don’t count on it!

Wish us luck!

Team Edwards