World Financial Group

WFG's Randy Ferbey and his rink have done it.  Over the past weekend, they entered the invitation-only event at the Casino Rama in Orillia, ON along with the rinks of Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard and Jennifer Jones.  By Sunday afternoon, the Ferbey 4 left Ontario with $70,000 and the title of Casino Rama Skins Champion… for the second time.

The team of Randy Ferbey, Marcel Rocque, Scott Pfeifer and David Nedohin began the weekend against Kevin Martin and his rink.  The action was heated and at one point, an end was worth $11,000.  The next day, the World Financial Group sponsored masters of curling faced off against the team led by Glenn Howard.  And then the competition really got turned up.  Both teams traded skins until the sixth and seventh end.  Those skins carried over for an available $43,000 at the end.  And it was the last rock that determined who would take it all – it was a Ferbey 4 win!

WFG’s own Kent Davies was at the event and provides us with the pictures below.

Additionally, more World Financial Group Ferbey 4 pictures can be seen at the TSN website, including one of the oversized check.

Next up for Randy, Scott, Marcel and David is the BDO Classic Canadian Open in Winnipeg starting on January 21^st.  And look for more info on the Kings of Canadian Curling here at wfgsports.com.

The start of 2009 has seen two game so far for our WFG Canada sponsored Clippers.  The first one was a victory against the Powell River Kings on January 2.  Nanaimo was able to hang on for a 3-2 win.  Alas, the next day, the Clippers found the same score to be in favor of the Burnaby Express.  Both of these games were played on the road for the Clippers.  And while playing in other arenas offers a nice change of pace, it's really nice to be playing at home.  In the Clippers's case, that's Frank Crane Arena.

So, for the second week of BCHL action in 2009, WFG's own Nanaimo Clippers (man, that is fun to type) return home for a game against the Cowichan Valley Capitals this Friday, January 9.  And on January 11, the Clippers will be home again to take on Alberni Valley Bulldogs.  All of a sudden, songs about valleys spring to mind.  Oh, well.  The Friday game starts at 7 PT while the Sunday game is a 3 PT matinee.

Saturday, though, won't be a rest day.  The Clippers will travel to Alberni Valley to play the Bulldogs in their home arena.  So this weekend will have three games on the docket before the All-Star break.  And that game will be played next Wednesday in Vernon.

 We at World Financial Group are excited to sponsor the Nanaimo Clippers.  Go Clips!

When you hear the word “casino”, you mainly think of slot machines, roulette wheels, shooting dice, blackjack, that sort of thing.  Or maybe you think of locations: Las Vegas and Atlantic City.  It never occurred to me that casinos would exist in Canada, but they do.  In fact, the Casino Rama in Orillia, Ontario is the only First Nation’s commercial casino in the province.  And this weekend, WFG’s own Ferbey 4 will be playing there.  But it’s not what you think.

World Financial Group's Randy, David, Scott and Marcel have been invited to participate in the Casino Rama Curling Skins Game.  They’ll be playing against Kevin Martin at 1 PM Saturday.  At 8 PM Saturday, other invitees Glenn Howard and Jennifer Jones will square off to determine who will play in the final on Sunday at 1 PM.  The cash purse will be somewhere around $100,000.  When I saw that, my eyebrows went up.  And I should also mention that Jennifer Jones is the first women’s rink to be invited to this game.  This will be very interesting.

If you live in Canada, coverage of WFG's Ferbey 4 will be provided on TSN.  says, take The House, Ferbey 4!

As of the 30th, our football teams in the Pac-10 were three and zero in their bowl games.  The last two days of the 2008 calendar year brought the Pac-10's last bowl games for the season.  The Sun Bowl was played in El Paso, Texas and featured Oregon State.  And the Rose Bowl, "the granddaddy of them all", was played in Pasadena after a really nifty parade.  We at WFG were there to see the goings on.

I got to see the Sun Bowl, believe it or not.  My wife and I watched the Beavers beat the Pittsburgh Panthers by the low score of 3-0.  This is the lowest scoring major bowl game in fifty years.  In fact, the only points came towards the end of the first half.  Beaver place kicker Justin Kahut scored from 44 yards out on a very windy day in west Texas.  What was surprising, naturally, was the lack of offense.  Pitt led the Big East conference in scoring this year, averaging 29.3 points a game leading up to the Sun Bowl.  But it was the day of the Beavers's defense.  Linebacker Victor Butler led the day with four sacks, including a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter to seal the game.

If the Sun Bowl was a display of defense, then the Rose Bowl could be considered an outpouring of offense.  The University of Southern California Trojans met Big Ten conference champ Penn State in Pasadena.  The end result was a 38-24 victory for the Trojans.  USC quarterback Mark Sanchez had a 413 passing yard day with four touchdowns.  Come to think of it, four of those touchdowns and a field goal were scored on the first five offensive possessions USC had in the first half.  Those 31 points set a USC Rose Bowl record for points in the first half.

Penn State, led by longtime coach Joe Paterno, made things interesting in the second half.  In fact, Penn State gained 410 yards during the game.  That's almost twice the average yardage the Trojan defense allowed during the regular season.  The Nittany Lions also turned the ball over three times and had nine penalties.

This Rose Bowl capped a tremendous year for the Trojans.  Led by coach Pete Carroll, USC has won seven consecutive Pac-10 conference champion titles and played in seven consecutive BCS bowl games.  Both of those are records.  In fact, since taking over Trojan football in 2002, Coach Carroll has only lost nine games to 82 wins.

After a well deserved holiday break, the World Finanical Group sponsored USA Luge team was back on the course sliding for World Cup points.  This past weekend's race took place in Konigssee, Germany and featured one men's singles competitor, two female singles competitors and two doubles teams representing.  This particular track is a favorite in the luge community for its tightness, speed and overall ideal racing conditions.

On the men's slide, Bengt Walden finished in seventh place overall with 1:35.402.  This ties his previous personal best in individual competition.  On the doubles side of the competition, Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin finished eighth in their race.  Their combined time of 1.35.517 marks their third top ten finish in a row.  And not to be left out, teammates Christian Niccum and Dan Joye finished ninth with a time of 1:35.559 (wow, that's tight!).  Ladies sliders Erin Hamlin finished eleventh in her race with a 1:36.807 time and Ashley Walden finished fourteenth with a time of 1:37.034

Up next for the USA Luge team, sponsored by WFG, is Italy.  Racing will take place January 9-11 in Cesana Pariol.  Coverage will be provided by Universal Sports and www.universalsports.com.

Also, we at World Financial Group wish to extend our best wishes to USA Luge team member Toby Benshoof.  Toby underwent successful back surgery right after Christmas and will be back sliding later in the season.