World's Fool

It all started one snowy day at a local Tim Hortons. My brother and I decided to attend the 2000 World Curling Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. It ran from March 31 to April 8 that year. Each day there was a newsletter reporting on all events and information for that week. As I am a curler who competes in various events I am very familiar with the rules of curling. At that time the World Curling Association had a few different rules but I was confident I knew what they were. On the second day of the event we were in our seats and I was reading the newsletter for that day. I was shocked when I read the Word Curling Association had adopted a new rule for the 2000 event. There was a "PLAID" curling rock that could be used as a mulligan. If a team threw a rock and did not like the result they could call a "mulligan". In order to use the "mulligan", the fifth player was the only team member who could throw it, he/she would come down from the stands and deliver the "PLAID" rock. You could only use the "PLAID" rock once per game. It was beyond me how this rule could have been adopted and I was expressing my opinion to my brother and those around me when I was told to check the date on the newsletter: APRIL 1. I was the April Fool. I thought this was hilarious. Throughout the week I was constantly reminded of that "new" rule. If a team made a bad shot, there was always someone near me who would shout "USE THE PLAID ROCK....USE THE PLAID ROCK". What a great week our section had. It helped that we won Men's & Women's GOLD, as well as Men's Senior GOLD & Women's Senior SILVER. Go Canada go!!!
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