Scotties champ Nedohin turns “sugarballs” into cash

Nice curling, #Sugarballs. Here's a little cash.

Not that it's the most important thing here. Not nearly. But, the Scotties champs for 2012 get a little of the old "cha-ching" in addition to the obvious ecstasy of climbing all the way to the top of the women's curling mountain in Canada.

Alberta Skip Heather Nedohin, a delightfully concocted bundle of unbridled curling emotion, who uttered the words "S#!+balls" into her live mic after a disappointing shot during the week, probably couldn't care less about that right now. She and her teammates, Lead Laine Peters, Second Jessica Mair and Vice Beth Iskiw will spend hours, if not days, revelling in the afterglow of their 7-6 win over two-time Scotties champion Kelly Scott.

After that ride settles down for them, they can start to appreciate the dollars that will be coming their way because of this win.

Nobody, it's said, curls to get rich. While that may continue to be true, at least a national championship has begun to mean more than just a banner for your home club.

The Albertans, who will represent Canada at The World Curling Championships next month in their home province, get a nice chunk of change to be used toward their continued development as a team.

Among the spoils:

• $144,000.00 over two years from Sport Canada.

• $40,000.00 from "Own The Podium," the organization that funds Canadian athletes with an eye to earning medals at Olympic and Paralympic Games.

All that money for a team that started slowly, then caught fire near the end of the round robin. Carrying that into the playoffs, they beat Quebec in the 3 vs 4 game, Manitoba in the semi's (winning by the narrowest of margins on an exceptionally close measurement) and then British Columbia in the final.

It wasn't all wonderful for Alberta, all the time. They began inauspiciously with a loss to the Territories and stumbled to only two wins in their first five games. Nedohin and Iskiw occasionally were at odds. At one point, a seemingly exasperated Nedohin was heard to plead with her teammate to "trust me." (She again put her foot down when her vice spoke up in the final, and the two seemed to be disagreeing on whether to take a point or blank the end.)

Then, there was THE moment. After Nedohin came up light on a draw in a round robin game against Quebec, she could plainly be heard to exclaim "S#!+balls" as she commiserated with a teammate.

Curling fans on Twitter almost immediately took to it, making it a leading hashtag among those watching The Scotties.

For those who found that a little salty for their liking, the rival #sugarballs took over. Almost every tweet you see about the tournament carries one of those hashtags, sometimes both. Some have even taken to calling Nedohin, herself, "Sugarballs." Wonder how she'll like that new nickname? Better than the other one, I suppose.

Whatever she thinks of it, she's sure to let you know. Nedohin has always been one to wear her heart on her sleeve.

Now she gets another Scotties heart to wear on her sleeve.

Ain't that a load of sugarballs?