Brier Recap

My 4th Brier is in the books. Calgary '09 was a good Brier considering the talented field and excellent venue. It didn't hurt that Stoughton and team Toba was always in the playoff hunt. As we wait for the final between Alberta vs Manitoba on TV back in the Wheat City I thought I would put down some thoughts and revisit my predictions.

First my predictions..

I had the top 4 teams predicted right but that wasn't very difficult to do. Stoughton may upset Martin today but I will be surprised if he does so I think I've got the top 4 in the proper order. I was way off on Quebec, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick. Russ Howard surprised me and maybe he is on to something with the rotating front end. Jordison is a much better team/player than what he showed at the Brier. This guy qualified at a Slam this year but this week he was finished quicker than a pint of Pilsner at a Rider game. Quebec is always a coin toss so I don't feel too bad about that one. Nova Scotia had a really difficult schedule for a rebound and unfortunately they got off on the wrong foot so it was next to impossible to recovery. The team I was really off on was Northern Ontario...Thanks a lot JD for that pick!!. Jackabo was out of his league.

Reflections on the trip...

Don't Jay walk in Calgary - my buddy and I were stopped by police about it!!
Skiing in the Rockies is incredible! It's well worth the ridiculous line-ups and price tags.
Canmore is still my favorite town.
If you need directions to a strip club just ask a NWT/Yukon skip.
Podcasts are the best way to kill time on the road (thanks Simmons, Dameshek, Carolla).
Pilsner is my favorite beer.
Winnipeg has the best chicken wings.
A version of the C-Train would be nice in Winnipeg but I'm not sold we have the right people for it. I still think we are a car town.
The continental breakfast standard needs to be raised across hotels.
Don't play pool in the back of a sleazy bar...you might get drop kicked by an androgynous native woman.
It's great to have close friends you can travel with. Friends in other cities to visit. Friends back home to take care of business. Family to take care of you.
Don't go to Halifax in the winter. Save your money and go to Saskatoon the following year.

I should really save this as a draft and edit it and add pictures (maybe I will later) but I will post as is and cut me some slack....It's been a long week and I'm very very tired.