If there was any doubt about the popularity of curling in Prince George, just stop by the Prince George Golf and Curling Club for the B.C. Women's Scotties.
The provincial championships are packing them in, with many draws (that's curling speak for the lineup of games in round-robin play) being played in front of a full house. It helps having two local teams competing among the 10 squads seeking to be Team B.C. at the Scotties Tournaments of Hearts next month. It also helps having Kelly Scott of Kelowna, the four-time defending champion and a former national and world champion, on the ice.
But make no mistake. The fans are out to see high-level curling.
Curling has enjoyed an incredible resurgence over the last 20 years, in large thanks to TSN's breathless coverage of the Scotties every February, followed by the Brier, the men's national championship, each March. The fit has been perfect, since the Canadian Curling Association desperately needed to raise the profile of the game and TSN desperately needed some unique, homegrown programming.
TSN found out quickly that curling is made for TV. It's cheap to produce since it only requires a handful of cameras, the game features plenty of colourful characters and clipping mics onto the players puts the viewer into the middle of the action.
From there, the Canadian Curling Association went out and turned the Olympic qualifiers into a two-part nailbiter, with the Road to the Roar, which Prince George hosted in 2009, and then the Roar of the Rings, all nationally televised, of course.
Sponsors came on board and suddenly there was a significant competing circuit (known as cashspiels if you speak curling) where the best teams play for dough, in the exact same way the professional golf and tennis tours work. The winners get paid and the losers not so much.
Curling has also worked the grassroots, getting into schools to build a young audience and pushing its kid programs. Curling enjoys a huge cost advantage over other winter sports and has attracted cash-strapped parents willing to spend hundreds but not thousands of dollars on winter activities for their kids.
Curling has also been successful at the other end of the demographic, attracting older adults to the winter equivalent of golf - a low-impact exercise (just don't fall on the ice!) that engages both brain and body, with a high social component.
The sport continues to grow in Canada, in numbers playing, in fan interest and in sponsor support but the popularity and the money haven't changed curling culture.
Perhaps the most impressive part about curling is that there is still no such thing as a professional curler, even in Canada. The top teams that have done well on the cash tour use their winnings to cover their expenses and to pay for the extra time away from work. That's right - these folks have day jobs. Scott, for example, owns a lawn-care business in Kelowna.
On a bigger stage, virtually all of the athletes taking part in the Olympics next month in Sochi are full-time athletes in their respective sports.
Except for the curlers.
Jennifer Jones, the skip of the women's Canadian Olympic team, is a lawyer in Winnipeg.
Brad Jacobs, the skip for the men's team representing Canada in Russia next month, is a Royal Bank account manager in Sault Ste. Marie.
That fact adds a degree of humility to even the best rinks in the country.
When Citizen reporter Peter James introduced himself to Scott on Monday for an interview, the first words out of her mouth to him were "thank you for covering curling."
Spot the veteran player who realizes she's an ambassador for her sport and also doesn't take public and news media interest in her or her sport for granted.
So stop by the golf and curling club for the last two days of the round-robin today and tomorrow or check out the playoffs starting Friday night leading up to Sunday evening's final. You'll be witness to some great athletes playing a wonderful game.
