Big dooings with what it means to compete in the world of Curling.

Curling Canada has followed the lead of the World Curling Federation in banning controversial broom heads for the 2015-16 season.
Olympic gold medallists Brad Jacobs, Brad Gushue, Jennifer Jones and former world champion Glenn Howard were among 50 Canadian and international teams who signed a statement in October, saying their teams will not sweep with broom heads that have “directional fabric.”
Coarse material on the broom heads creates a sandpaper effect on the ice, and with it sweepers have been able to manipulate the rock’s trajectory in ways they never could before.
Fearing that throwing accuracy and athleticism would be diminished, the curlers said they want to protect “the integrity of the game” in refusing to use the brush heads.
The athletes’ decision to police themselves had the sport’s governing bodies scrambling to come up with policies and guidelines for brush head technology.

Fights are breaking out… by the makers of the brooms…

To Archie Manavian, the president of Hardline, the agreement smelled of conspiracy.
“This is nothing other than corporate bullying,” Manavian said. “The bottom line is we have not changed anything on the IcePad the last three years. The complaints only started this year — the reason for that is our competitors are jealous of our success. Our broom is the best one out there — there’s no question about it — and sales started to skyrocket.”
Scott Taylor, the president of BalancePlus, said: “I can’t really respond to his comments. The thing that needs to be done by his company or others is to provide equipment that’s good for the sport. We’d hate to see anything in the way of equipment development that doesn’t make sense anymore.”

And you do see what makes the traditionalists upset over the new brooming technology.

Pete Fenson, a bronze medalist for the United States at the 2006 Turin Games, learned the game using cornhusk brooms while growing up in northern Minnesota. The new brooms, with carbon fiber shafts, allow curlers to sweep paths for stones, also known as rocks, in such ways that “it almost looks like they’re on remote control,” said Fenson, who has a sponsorship agreement with BalancePlus. “In the past, players that have the best feel for the game, work the hardest, are in the best shape and understand the game the best — those are the ones who were usually the most successful.”

Clearly the world of Curling has to take a stand somewhere.  I mean, next thing you know, we’ll have the brooms able to throw marbles out at the competitors, and then it’d just be a whole other game.

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