CSC Cup 2019, played in 2020.
This post may also be a continuation of an article published on the Curling Yaga blog on September 25, 2018. Back then, I wrote critically about the Czech Curling Federation Cup. I am sorry to say that none of the organisers of this year's Cup read my comments at the time. And if they did, they did not understand them. This year there have been a few cosmetic changes, which, however, have not banished the embarrassment. On the contrary. The five-minute break after the fourth end was removed from the inappropriate 105-minute time limit by simply stating that there is no break. We have talked many times about the limit after which only the end is played. It is as vicious a format for a union-organized competition as playing to a draw. Once again, the author of the schedule has not avoided bizarre things like: out of three matches, a team plays two on the same course, with the same colour stones. I don't know why we have a hall with four lanes and therefore eight sets of eight stones! The repeated insistence on allowing both teams to throw LSD in the same track can really be considered ignorant. Of the same barrel is the insistence on LSD drops before subsequent matches. It is customary to drop LSD at the end of the first and every other game for the following game. It's fair to both teams and saves time. The absolute highlight is the tolerated disregard for the equipment provisions of the curling rules. The consequence is that teams are coming in with now disallowed brooms (sponges) against teams that follow the rules. It's like sprinters in trinkets and bare feet running side by side, or one team having one-third less goals in football. And a juicy detail at the end. Once again, the women's teams (there were four participating, "fairly" divided one by one into four groups) did not make it to the semi-finals, thus sponsoring prize money for the men's teams for the fifth time in a row. The women would have their own trophy, or in a mixed model, a lower entry fee. Last year, everyone, including the women's teams, had at least a four-game guarantee, but not even that this year. I have believed all along that we will make the CSC Cup a respected tournament that will be the much needed second best competition organized by the association. But I am slowly losing faith.