"Gotta' LOVE those slacks!! TAZ"

"Second end is a lot of time. Two guards hard to blank, so I go for two. Draw around center guard and a freeze are both good choices. If draw is partially buried in front of the tee line a take-out rolls to the open and lies for a double. A freeze on the shot's inside will mean a take-out will be outside or roll to the inside behind the tee. I don't like a take-out on the shot (yellow has daw or open take-out). Peeling the center guard will be defensive, likely yellow to take one in the end."

"I think there is no question that it's better to be tied in the last without as opposed to being down two in the last with. So at the beginning of the penultimate end, blue should be trying to steal. Obviously, you adjust as the end progresses, but in this situation (whether blue is throwing the #3 rock or the #6 rock), it's conducive to getting a steal, so that's what blue should be trying to do. Given that, I agree with Gabrielle's advice for how to go about doing that."

"... The blue non-hammer team replaced the shot rock. With their 7th rock, the hammer team then attempted to run their center guard back onto the opponent shot stone. (I'm not sure if they intended to double the rocks out, or sit shot behind cover. They missed and things did not end well.)"

"Ugh! The yellow team really needs a deuce or a blank and they don't even have a rock in play? Bummer! But this is a ripped-from-the-headlines scenario from a major Canadian cash spiel, so it happens to the best of 'em. :) With rock #3, the hammer team on TV played for the blank by peeling the guard and hoping that their opponents would have a difficult time replacing it perfectly. With rock #6, they played a double, even though it left their rock as a center guard...."