McEwen: Hurry, hard? That’s so not a thing
By Mike McEwen
Have you ever had someone refer to curling with the “hurry, hard” phrase? Has it ever made you cringe?
For me, it conjures up old (maybe not that old!) memories of the Manitoba Provincial Chicken Chef commercials featuring Connie Laliberte yelling it to some imagined sweepers outside of the camera shot. The phrase “hurry, hard” appears to have been forever engraved with curling and propagated by both the media and our sport promoters alike.
But, does it even happen out there on the playing surface? When is the last time you actually heard someone yell “hurry, hard!”? Long pause, silence … yep, didn’t think so! It’s just not a thing anymore and if it existed, which I’m sure it did before my time, nowadays it’s not part of the popular lingo.
Skips and throwers tend to direct their sweepers with simple commands such as “hard,” “harder,” “go,” “right-off,” “whoa,” “never,” and “clean.” Oh, and how can I forget the famous “really gotta go on this one boys,” uttered ever so often by the legend and now “in the booth man” Kevin Martin. Additionally, I would argue the command “hard line” is the most popular one out there. Funny how I chose that one and maybe I’m just sensitized to the phrase, or I’m biased because our team equipment sponsor shares that tagline!
Veering away to another subject, but still on the lines of things that don’t happen, let’s have a look at a couple of rules.
Have you ever wondered what if your third player proceeded to throw three rocks in a row leaving you as the skipper with only one left? The answer is: not really anything. Just go ahead and throw your last shot — no penalty!
From the rule book: “If a player on a four player team delivers three stones in one end, the end shall continue and the fourth player on the offending team shall deliver only one stone in that end.”
It’s a bit funny how we found this one out and it took place some years back when the legendary Ferbey Four was still rolling. It just so happened that Randy Ferbey threw three shots in a row and all ended up as perfectly placed guards. Slightly annoying when a team makes everything in any given end, but it didn’t help matters when the same player throws and makes an extra one of the same call! Would you like some salt with that fresh wound, sir? Alas, it wasn’t intentional and under the rules it’s not really a foul per se, as it is without perceptible consequences.
How about throwing the wrong colour? I’ve seen it happen many times and it’s a simple goof to make. I know I’ve done it before, but I tend to blame my front end as I’m a skip and don’t get my own rocks (or throwing broom) — pampered I know!
There’s no penalty for doing it — the rules read to simply replace the opponents’ stone that has come to rest with one of your own rocks. Now, I said it was a simple mistake to make and not a big deal, however, without throwing anyone under the bus I have witnessed some devious veterans toss their opponents stone colour on purpose! More or less, this was done to avoid throwing one of their own rocks that happened to be quite mismatched with regards to speed. After this took place in subsequent ends the other team was steaming! Crafty vets and their head games!
After reading these rule infractions is anyone else thinking about golf right about now? I’m feeling some harsh penalty strokes coming down for doing any of the above and that includes yelling “hurry hard,” whether by mistake in actual gameplay or forced to in a promotional ad. Quiet please, haha!
With all the handshakes before and after games and the “it’s okay you did that” rules in our sport, we really do have the “gentleman’s game”!