Burned by the Rock: Inside the World of Men's Championship Curling

Glynn A. Leyshon is a professor of physical education at the University
of Western Ontario, a former weekly columnist for the London Free Press
and author of 18 Sporting Stories.

Another book about curling! Well, yes it is, but with some differences.
First, it has no photos or illustrations; second, it deals with only 11
star male curlers and their rinks of the past decade; and third, it gets
down and dirty to reveal the meanness, spite, and other
less-than-flattering aspects that make competition in the “roaring
game” as intense as it is in more conventional sports.

Sonmor provides an overview of curling in Canada in a 26-page
introduction that successfully sets the stage for the remaining chapters
on the lives and loves of the champions. We learn that curling is a
major force in Canada, with 1300 rinks and 750,000 curlers; the book,
however, is not about the club player but about the small number who are
truly competitive—the Werenicks, Hackners, Howards, and Lukowichs.
These people and their rinks can win up to $100,000 in a good year. Not
bad for a nonprofessional.

In 1991, three million TV viewers watched the Canadian Curling
championships. If curling is accepted with full status in the Olympics
(it has been a demonstration sport) in 1998, one can expect even greater
exposure to—and interest in— ice, rocks, and brooms. It behooves
some of us to know more about curling.

The rich details of Sonmor’s chapters on the several curling
champions reveal that they are indeed human. She pulls no punches in
covering all aspects of the many disputes inevitable in competition of
this sort, nor does she shy away from revealing weaknesses. Some of this
select group are shown as drinkers, others as abrasive and blunt or
prone to bend the rules unto breaking, and still others as having
amassed all these negatives. Still, they have been Canadian and/or World
Champions (no mean accomplishment), and the pressure, like wine, elicits
the truth about character. Sonmor has done a good job in revealing those
truths.