Garth McQueen/CTAL/CTC 12/30/2004 09:11 AM Subject Pioli Papers - December 28 Some 2004 years ago a similar story played out. The names have changed but the story line remains the same. Read on to see this unfold: Travelling from a far, three men descended onto a lake side city. They crowded quietly, head bowed into a mangy place known by all as the City. These men were considered wise and knowledged (well at least two, the other had four balls which in Africa is a great symbol of wisdom). Together they huddled and talked: playing the loonie machine in an attempt to exercise the brain as they most often did (their initials were plastered all over the game). Riding on camels will do that to you. Suddenly, upon gazing into a loonie beer (that now costs 1.25), four balls cried out to all who were near (that being the other two)...." I have seen the prophecy, I have seen the coming of the Skip". Well Mark, I thought he had seen a girl with three breasts on the loonie machine so I did not pay much attention but he persisted..."Tonight a star will appear in the north and we will go to a land much colder than here (although the beer will still be warm)... there we will be joined by a fourth.. a man of great distinction for he has lived a long and generous life (of course that was a court ordered generosity).. once again we will huddle and through the powers of our many minds we will see the future, we will be foretold the prophecy and the Skip will appear" Excitement rained supreme at this mangy place...people ran everywhere upon hearing the rant of four balls "I'll have one,,,me too,, I had a large" they all cried out. The manager of the mangy place had to calm the crowd " no, he's not buying, he's just epileptic"... All quietly returned to their well warn seats. The trio soon left on their journey to meet with deep pockets. The joining of the four took place in the north in the land of many ice. This was a royal place and the prophecy had began to unfold as this ice palace (as it soon would become) was located on KING street. The veil begins to unfold... Once in sight of each other, all saluted and passed the secret phrase (Who's round??). And surely, the prophecy began in earnest...one of the four was not there but rather was already in full motion on the ice sheet. It was clear his wisdom shone bright , he returned to the group shortly as the round had arrived. Glasses were raised and soon four balls began to tell of the vision in the glass that he had seen earlier. All agreed it was time,... all matters of heaven and earth had aligned... it was the coming of the Skip on King street playing on sheet #1...it was time, it was right and so it passed........ Yes Mark, I must be humble at this point...that Skip was me. The only undefeated skip this century has known. I was pretty enthused to know that these guys were capable of some high level thinking.... I have held back oh, these so many years... The Game: CTFS 11 Spionosas Bakery 9 Ends CTFS 4 Spinosas 4 Lead 95 Second 100 Third 95 Skip 98 The team was buoyed by a new found confidence. The old stocking must of been stuffed pretty good, as we came out strong taking 7 in the first 2 ends. Skip Garth was surprisingly on the mark. A masterful job for a first timer. Spinosas clawed back but soon Skip Garth put the game out of reach and had the boys play a clean game ensuring we were never in trouble. Mark, I will admit to a little nervousness in the 8th. We were well up (11- 8 and had our 4 ends) but I had to ensure the victory. I had worked hard to get here and wasn't about to let it slip away. We just played them out of rocks and when it came time for my final 2 my emotions had been depleted and I just didn't have the focus like the other 7 ends. They stole a point but we had won and again our slide to the top continues. I better mention that a guy from Remax told me Shannon has already been talking about game in January. They will be gunning for us... Now Mark, the line up was changed a fair bit so we had some different players in different spots. Bruce as lead, did a commendable job and seemed pretty comfortable throwing the light weight. Mike was excellent but must of hurt his wrist by the seventh, as his shots were pretty limp wristed. I didn't see him digging for change earlier so maybe he was just trying to warm up some parts and sprained his wrist. He didn't mention this so I guess this happens allot. Sounded like Mike got a new pair of gloves for Christmas,...he kept saying that's all he ever gets at home... I had to keep Mauro close to me so I didn't go overboard and try to blank our opposition. He helped make sure that didn't happen. All in all we played pretty well, the other team weren't that great which explains my position as skip. I wish to thank all who had the patience for allowing me my first victory..you won't be disappointed. Happy New Year, gentlemen: we leave 2004 at 6-2-1 the greatest start ever... a fitting end to a year that saw us become C Flight Champions. Who knows what 2005 will bring ... PS. Mark I almost forgot...I stayed and played a second game with CTFS Rocks. I stunk, we lost and I don't want to talk about it. Suffice to say, we will play this team in the last game of the year. When they see me again, I can assure you they will begin to relax feeling comfortable that I am on the team. Bruce Clark 12/30/2004 09:37:12 Mark: Hell has frozen over,pigs can fly and Mike got laid. Its the dawn of a new era!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please make note of the following. Garth (skip) appears to have invoked the "Don Cherry" rule utilizing the reverse 7 second delay. Our sweeping action would commence 7 seconds before Garth (skip) provided an authoritative instruction to begin sweeping. We would stop sweeping approx 7 seconds before Garth (skip) gave commands to halt weeping. This required a keen eye and sound judgement.(Garth (skip) must have thought he was in a WAM meeting) It would appear that Garth (skip) did not get everthing that he wanted for xmas. What was missing was a colostomy bag.(Garth (skip),please consider a double bagger in your next letter to Santa). Garth (skip) seemed to have forgotten that excess amounts of liquid consumption would result in frequent trips to the pisser. Garth (skip) in his position of leadership forgot this and was absent many times during the course of the game. His team was forever looking for the guidence and direction which were lacking. Typical stratum 2!!! p.s. Garth (skip) forgot that the R.I.C.E. program was in effect.Reduce Impaired Curling Everwhere p.s.s. Garth (non skip) duly noted he returned to form for the second game.Sorry Mikey,while Hell will remain frozen over and pigs will continue to fly you will once again have the pink dolphin jumping thru a hoop!!!