Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

How stupid are these people?

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / In Defense of Curling

In Defense of Curling

by | 146 Comments

This post is in: 

My brother called me and told me that “everyone but the Canadians can go to hell. Curling is awesome and I’m tired of people picking on it.”

I’m reasonably sure I’ve made fun of curling in the past, but I think I am on Seth’s side on this now. It does look like fun. They all seem to be having a great time, and it looks like something you can do well into your middle ages. And let’s face it- it ain’t bowling.

Consider this your open thread.

*** Update ***

Here is a pic of Team RedKitten:

Reader Interactions

146Comments

  3. 3.

    Midnight Marauder

    For a brief moment, I thought the title of this post was “In Defense of Cutting” and I was all like “Whaaaa?” But then I saw what it actually was and nodded in firm agreement.

    However, my alternate title certainly applies to anyone who wants to hate on the greatness that is curling.

    +1

  4. 4.

    Mark

    John

    Curling is well-loved in Canada because you don’t have to take the cigarette out of your mouth when you throw the rock. Even in the World Championships.

    Also, from what I could tell growing up, “Curling” actually involves going to a bar inside a curling rink and drinking hard liquor while watching other people curl.

  5. 5.

    demkat620

    Curling is awesome.

    I am watching last night’s episode of Psych. I am kinda liking this show. Not as good as White Collar but i at least understand what is about.

    Unlike that Burn Notice show. What is the point of that?

  6. 6.

    Gus

    Where I’m from in Northern MN, curling pretty popular. It’s kind of like bowling: a low speed, non-physical sport that allows for heavy drinking. I’m told that there are brooms with hollow handles to hold booze. My mom’s next door neighbor who’s 83 with gout and a bad ticker still curls. What’s not to love?

  7. 7.

    soonergrunt

    @Robin G:
    I like the fact that she’s hard-working and not a primadona type.

    Curling looks like it would be fun to do but it’s about as exciting to watch as ice melting. Which is kind of ironic.

  8. 8.

    JK

    Mickey Edwards on why he isn’t attending CPAC

    I’m not at CPAC because I believe in America. I believe in liberty. I believe that governments should be held in check. I believe people matter. I believe in the flag not because of its shape or color but because of the principles it stands for–the principles in the Constitution, the principles repeated and underlined and highlighted and boldfaced and italicized in the Bill of Rights. The George W. whose presidency and precedents I admire was the first president, not the 43d. It is James Madison I admire, not John Yoo. Thomas Paine, not Glenn Beck. Jefferson, not Limbaugh. Ronald Reagan would not have been welcome at today’s CPAC or a tea party rally, but he would not have wanted to be there, either. Neither do I.

    Mickey Edwards chaired CPAC for 5 years

    h/t correspondents.theatlantic.com/mickey_edwards/2010/02/why_im_not_at_cpac.php

  9. 9.

    LT

    It is bowling – it’s slow motion bowling on ice. It’s the AV club of ice sports. Couldn’t handle hockey? Here, slide this stone across the ice real slow…

  10. 10.

    JasonF

    I have no idea why curling is so cool — on paper, it shouldn’t be — but I acknowledge that it is incredibly cool.

    On a completely different topic, Sid Merier’s Civilization V was announced today for fall 2010. One more turn and then I’ll go to sleep, I swear!

  12. 12.

    LT

    For a brief moment, I thought the title of this post was “In Defense of Cutting” and I was all like “Whaaaa?”

    The shoulder brace is really getting to him. Poor fella.

  17. 17.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Mumbly Peg is a great game too. But I don’t think it should be an Olympic event. Though I am warming up to Curling. I think it’s the brooms that skeert me.

  18. 18.

    worriedman

    I love curling. I go into a trance -like state as I watch.
    Best part of the Olympics. I love how you can just picture the day it was invented. A bunch of drunk guys out on the ice sliding big rocks around.

  19. 19.

    JasonF

    @demkat620: Burn Notice is about a spy who has been “burned” (disavowed) by his agency. The over-arching plot of the series is his quest to figure out who burned him and why (and to get un-burned), but in each episode, he invariably winds up having to use his spy skills to help some hapless innocent who is being pursued by criminals. It’s Magnum meets the A-Team meets MacGyver, updated for the 21st century.

  20. 20.

    Comrade Luke

    @soonergrunt:

    She’s not a primadonna? She wore a friggin’ tiara on the podium when she got her silver medal.

    She bugs me.

    BTW, the best thing about curling? It gives us middle-aged guys the chance to dream about being an Olympian :)

  23. 23.

    ppcli

    I was a schoolboy curler growing up in northern Ontario. It’s incredible fun. One thing that makes it a great sport for smallish towns is that every age group can play. The whole town gets involved. Team skips are usually the old guys with the beer bellies and bad backs that can still hit 9 of 10 draws to the four-foot. The younger guys with strong sweeping arms and erratic draw shots but a decent handle on takeout weight play lead and second. (Back in the day when we used corn brooms, the sweepers had to be really pretty strong to be effective. Nowadays with the pushbrooms, not so much.) Then as you get more skill and gray hair you move up the order.

    I love watching it whenever it is on. The game has changed a lot in the twenty years since I was playing it seriously. Some of these guys are setting up and making shots that would have been inconceivable back then.

  24. 24.

    Mary G

    Tim F, if you are reading this, I’ve been calling Senators Boxer and Feinstein to pass the damn HC bill already and now they have both signed the letter to Harry Reid asking him to have a vote on the public option in reconciliation.

    RedKitten, Sam is adorable!

  25. 25.

    Steeplejack

    I’m down with the curling. The other night I got pissed about all the announcer bloviating, the ads, the fawning “up close and personal” profiles (USA-centric, of course) and the dearth of actual competition and accidentally discovered that MSNBC and CNBC (and USA during the day) are showing the Olympics too, with a much higher action-to-bullshit ratio than NBC proper. I happened to tune in to the USA-Japan women’s curling match (game?), waiting for something else to come on, and I got sucked into it. There is skill involved, and the intensity of the women’s concentration and focus was riveting. Now I find myself hoping there is curling on. I still don’t understand half of what is going on. It seems like a weird mutation of darts, shuffleboard, bowling and housecleaning. In a good way.

    Also, I recently got an HD TV, and that has really made a difference in watching the Olympics. I knew they are great for sports, but I didn’t realize how great. Now I find myself peacefully meditating on the fabric nap of the cushy chairs while Al Michaels and Mary Carillo go down the commentators’ rabbit hole. And when there is some actual sporting event being shown, it is awesome.

  26. 26.

    getsmartin

    Dave Barry’s breakdown of curling here

    “Curling is very popular in Canada, which stands to reason inasmuch as Canada itself is basically a giant sheet of ice with things sliding on it”

  27. 27.

    Brian J

    Am I the only one here who hasn’t watched more than ten seconds of Olympic coverage? I mean, I just don’t care, which makes sense since I am not a sports guy. I’m glad everyone else is enjoying it, though.

  28. 28.

    hal

    So if anyone was looking for a new way to celebrate MLK day:

    Utah State Sen. Mark Madsen (R) is introducing legislation to create a holiday honoring John Moses Browning — the Utah native and “gun pioneer” who founded the Browning Arms company — on the same day as Martin Luther King Day. Browning’s birthday is believed to be around Jan. 21, so “Madsen proposes doubling up Browning and King”

    Madsen noted that he’s not committed to MLK day and will find another day “if the race baiters are out there looking for an opportunity” to start a controversy.

  30. 30.

    Morbo

    Another day, another pair of humiliating losses for the American curling teams. The skips are just hilariously bad.

  31. 31.

    Mark S.

    Even Republicans disagree with the decision in Citizens United:

    The bipartisan nature of these views is striking in these largely partisan times. The court’s ruling is opposed, respectively, by 76, 81 and 85 percent of Republicans, independents and Democrats; and by 73, 85 and 86 percent of conservatives, moderates and liberals. Majorities in all these groups, ranging from 58 to 73 percent, not only oppose the ruling but feel strongly about it.

    I know we are a center right nation and only vote for Democrats when we are confused or emotional, but along with the numbers on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, it would seem that we at least agree with some liberal proposals. It would be nice if Democrats wouldn’t run away from issues that large swaths of the populace support.

  33. 33.

    mcd410x

    The whole of Canada is about to curl up in a ball in the corner if this hockey score stands up … Swi 2, Can 2 15 mins to play.

  34. 34.

    Laura W

    @JK:
    Christ, The Sequel.
    Christ Redux.
    Christ Deux.

    I think it pretty much has to contain “Christ” and have an “e”, “u” and probably an “x” in it.
    I might be overthinking it here, but the interview with Banal Costas was pretty damn endearing and oddly hypnotic…

  37. 37.

    John S.

    … with Gabrielle Anwar.

    And for the ladies (and some of the guys), Jeffrey Donovan. I met him at a charity event last year. Really nice guy. Lousy tennis player.

  38. 38.

    demkat620

    @Laura W: OMG, I was being totally serious. That is funny.

    I just don’t understand, I thought you know, you piss off the CIA they kill you, not dump you in Miami and let you live with your mom.

    Also, that is one cute babeh.

  39. 39.

    nalbar

    Curling is without a doubt my favorite Olympic sport. With a few exceptions, it’s the only thing worth watching.

    Any ‘sport’ that requires a 5+ panel of judges to tell you if you have won or where you have placed should not be allowed in the Olympics, no exceptions.

    .

  40. 40.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @Mark S.: That is a really good sign. And after the freak show on their teevees this fall from insane ads right up to election day, those numbers should go up. Maybe the backlash has already begun.

  41. 41.

    Svensker

    Sam Kitten is cuteness incarnated. And the jacket is to die for. I so want to squinch him. Those cheeks!

  42. 42.

    John Cole

    @JasonF: A late thumbs up from your host on Burn Notice. Big fan of the show, but, what is not to like about Gabrielle Anwar (she needs a sammich, though) and Bruce F-ing Campbell!

  44. 44.

    mr. whipple

    I am a freshman at a small midwestern college and never thought this would happen to me, but last week I found myself accidently walking through the school hockey rink and there were these girls called ‘curlers’ there…..

  45. 45.

    nalbar

    Steeplejack;
    “It seems like a weird mutation of darts, shuffleboard, bowling and housecleaning. In a good way.”

    LMAO!

    That’s a perfect description! You forgot to add ” …… housecleaning, played in a refrigerator.”

    .

  48. 48.

    mr. whipple

    She’s not a primadonna? She wore a friggin’ tiara on the podium when she got her silver medal.

    It’s plastic. And a goof.

    Don’t mess with my real estate heiress.

  49. 49.

    Ash Can

    Curling is actually a very nuanced sport — a game of millimeters, combined with exactly the right speed and exactly the right angle of impact. I have a lot of respect for people who can do it well.

    And that little Sammy is cute as can be!

  50. 50.

    JK

    @Comrade Mary:

    Dan Ackroyd and Steve Martin should sue the Norwegian Men’s Curling Team for copyright infringement because they originated the wild and crazy guys meme by wearing horribly and disgustingly loud pants.

  51. 51.

    Steeplejack

    @mr. whipple:

    Dear Penthouse Forum: I am a freshman at a small midwestern college and never thought this would happen to me, but last week I found myself accidentally walking through the school hockey rink and there were these girls called ‘curlers’ there . . .

    Fix’d.

  52. 52.

    SIA

    Shaun White was the guy with the long hair and the snowboard? Fuck-ing awesome! Loved his threads too.

  54. 54.

    SIA

    @Brian J: No! You’re not the only one! It is BORING to me, as are all sports. But the kid on that snow-boardy thing was incredibly beautiful, and people like him pushing the evolutionary envelope to new horizons.

  55. 55.

    The Dangerman

    Enjoy curling mostly as all the athletes have to have real jobs. No NHL types like in Hockey. Shaun White is rich beyond words. One HAS to be rich to even think about being an ice skater, then if one makes it, one is even filthier rich, too.

    Curling folks? They all have day jobs.

    Enjoy the strategy, enjoy the applied physics, enjoy the fact that it looks like I could curl (after consuming heavily, of course). Now, to look up a Curling … um … Alley? … Place? … Arena? … in Southern Cal.

    Fun stuff.

  57. 57.

    ellie

    Ha Steeplejack! I, too, watched that game between the U.S. and Japan. I was unable to shut the TV off. Tonight I watched the Dutch vs. the U.S. The U.S. women’s curling team is not having a good Olympics.

    I love Burn Notice. It is my favorite show, currently.

  59. 59.

    JenJen

    @Laura W:

    Shaun White is quite probably the Second Coming Of The Christ.

    This.

    Watching the ladies now, while still stoked over last night’s men’s snowboarding. USA! USA! USA!

    JenJen +3

    ETA: OK, OK, Curling, sure, great, awesome, yippee-hooray, a point being driven home painfully with MSNBC/USA/CNBC’s 9,000 hours of coverage so far. So someone explain to me why shuffleboard isn’t a Summer Olympics event, then?

  62. 62.

    aliasofwestgate

    I remember falling asleep in front of my grandparent’s TV over in ontario more than once when curling was on. I haven’t seen it in years, but i’d imagine i’d see it differently now.

    I was like 8? What do you expect? Especially after i’d been running around with my cousins half the day before that.

    Although i can believe curling becoming a sport just because that side of my family is big into the sports ‘n’ a beer in hand thing. Curling lets both happen. *grin* Granted, one of those uncles played both hockey AND Lacrosse. I also think he’s nuts, since i was never a sports girl.

  64. 64.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @soonergrunt:

    I’d wear a tiara on the medal stand too.

    And quite lovely you would be, I am sure.

    There is a Queen of Battle joke in there somewhere too.

  65. 65.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Brian J:

    And the fact that the majority of the “athletes” appear to be seriously stoned out drug addicts, I mean come on the snow boarding guy was wearing jeans and a jacket and the only thing he was missing was the dreds. For FSM sake.

  68. 68.

    Mark S.

    Go Team Redkitten!

    (I didn’t see the update until now and was wondering what the hell everybody was talking about)

  70. 70.

    mr. whipple

    I’m so in love!

    “After her coach gave her a plastic tiara as a good-luck token in 2005, she wore it over her racing helmet during several slalom races. She wore her tiara following her Silver Medal run in the Women’s Downhill and again at the medal ceremony at the 2010 Winter Olympics. In 2010, Mancuso launched her own lingerie line named Kiss My Tiara.[5] Mancuso also models lingerie and has been memorably quoted as saying, “I think underwear is my calling. You can be feminine and fast.””

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Mancuso

  71. 71.

    Comrade Mary

    @Litlebritdifrnt: The dreads were on the Japanese snowboarder. And he’s getting shit for that, and his relaxed attitude towards his uniform, back at home.

    Shaun White is an awesome athlete, seems to be a perfectly decent human being, and is also very pleasant to look upon, being a redhead and all.

  72. 72.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    Not gonna exaggerate my level of interest in curling, but I find it more interesting than NHL hockey. At least there’s strategery involved in curling, as opposed to hockey, which is a bunch of 220 lb goons locking up at center ice and the first two accidental goals wins the game.

  73. 73.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ppcli #23

    I expect you’ve seen the great episode (well, they’re all great) of *Corner Gas* with the curling tournament. Not sure which season/episode, and am not home right now to check the DVDs, but I do remember laughing heartily. (But then again, as I say, I laughed heartily at pretty much every CG episode.)

  74. 74.

    JK

    @mr. whipple:

    Thanks for passing along that great info. Love that quote from her.

    @Comrade Mary:

    Agree on Shaun White’s awesomeness, but have to part ways with you regarding the Norwegian Men’s Curling team pants.

  75. 75.

    JenJen

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Huh? For one, we know for certain they’re not stoned-out drug addicts because they have to give up a bottle of pee every time they turn around. They can’t even take an aspirin if they needed to. Saw a fascinating segment about this on Real Sports on HBO the other day. Being an elite athlete is kind of a pain in the ass.

    For another, if they are stoned-out drug addicts and can pull that kind of mastery on snow, well, then, more power to them.

    And I happen to love the US Snowboarding Team’s grunge uniforms. So nyah. :-)

  76. 76.

    YellowJournalism

    She’s not a primadonna? She wore a friggin’ tiara on the podium when she got her silver medal.

    THANK YOU! I felt exactly the same way. “Is she wearing a goddamn tiara?!”

    Edit: It was a goof, then. I guess this is why you read the entire thread before commenting, even though you were happy that someone else felt exactly like you did.

    Ah, just bring on the Weir.

  77. 77.

    nalbar

    A sure sign of America’s decline;

    Admiration for idiots like Shaun White.

    Admire what he does on a snowboard? Sure. It’s amazing.

    But he, personally, is an idiot. And snowboard half pipe should not be an Olympic ‘sport’.

    .

  79. 79.

    Laura W

    @SIA:

    But the kid on that snow-boardy thing was incredibly beautiful, and people like him pushing the evolutionary envelope to new horizons.

    Gorgeous. I wrote to a friend moments after watching the interview with Costas:
    What a delicious and radiant young man/old soul!

    A glimmer of hope remains.

  81. 81.

    pcbedamned

    I’m Canadian, and I HATE curling. Many years ago we had to take curling in Grade 12 gym (it is Canada, after all…). Worst 2 weeks of my life. Well, actually maybe more like 2 days coz me and my ‘bestie’ (yes, I have teenage girls) didn’t go back. Hanging out at Dairy Queen was much more fun. Mind you, we did that a lot for gym class that year…..

  82. 82.

    Anne Laurie

    @LT:

    It is bowling – it’s slow motion bowling on ice. It’s the AV club of ice sports. Couldn’t handle hockey? Here, slide this stone across the ice real slow…

    Hand to goddess, many years ago I asked my dad why there was no curling in our working-class Irish-American Bronx neighborhood, given that hockey was so popular it got played on asphalt & roller skates during the non-ice seasons. He said it was because the guys in our neighborhood who best loved street hockey (which they called hurley) couldn’t trust each other in the presence of a stone large enough to crush an opponent’s skull during the mandatory booze-fueled pre-, during-, and post-game fights.

  83. 83.

    JenJen

    I’ve never seen “Burn Notice,” hell, I’d never even heard of it before y’all started talking about it, which is probably why this SNL skit cracked me the hell up.

    @YellowJournalism: Go Johnny Go! How much longer until the Glitter Grenade? NBC should have a “Countdown to Fabulous” clock, if you ask me.

  84. 84.

    Comrade Mary

    @Bill H: And if you were to walk into a woman’s bedroom and see a large, stiff broom next to her bed, how would you feel about that?

    Straight women and gay men: Norwegian Men’s Curling Team. Doable or not-doable?

  85. 85.

    SiubhanDuinne

    O Samada!
    RedKitten’s precious spawn
    Makes me feel young
    (You kids get off my lawn!)
    With carrots mashed and potatoes strained
    Every meal requires a bib,
    Followed by a bath and a lullaby
    Before he’s put to crib.
    Dog keep our Sam
    Cute as can be,
    Oh Samada, we are in awe of thee!
    B’loon Juicers are in utter awe of thee!

    +2

  86. 86.

    madmommy

    I love watching curling every Winter Games, even though I still don’t completely understand it. I even got the big kid into it today, though he was a bit sickly from bronchitis and therefore a captive audience.

    Mancuso’s tiara is cute, she works very hard to be extremely good at what she does. If she wants to wear a plastic tiara on the medal stand at the Olympics, have at it!

    Samkitten is just getting cuter and cuter!

  89. 89.

    Steeplejack

    @demkat620:

    I’ve been sort of easing into Burn Notice. After I got the new TV and upgraded my cable box (with bigger DVR disk), I started recording a lot of different stuff just to see how it looked on the bigger screen and whether I might be interested. Some shows I tried on the recommendations of people here were Chuck, White Collar, Human Target, Psych and, yes, Burn Notice.

    About Burn Notice, at first I thought, WTF?! But it has a loopy charm that starts to grow on you. Yes, half the time Jeffrey Donovan looks like an underage guy trying to get into a club without showing his ID, and Gabrielle Anwar’s lips are symbiotically parasitically feeding on the rest of her body. But, hey, you’ve got Bruce Campbell in a role perfectly tailored for him, the plots are not awful, and the Miami locations are nicely scuffed. It’s sort of the anti-CSI: Miami, which is a good thing. (In fact, the preview of tonight’s episode has a shot of Campbell spoofing CSI: Miami.) Still, i have to admit I was surprised to find from the SNL skit that the show is so popular. I figured it was something like Silk Stalkings retooled for the ’00s. (Oh, Mitzi Kapture and Rob Estes, where are you now?)

    So Burn Notice is a keeper, for the time being. I just happened to record and watch a rerun of the pilot earlier tonight. Didn’t really need the back-story, but it was nice to get it filled in. Fiona has really dropped the Irish accent since then, hasn’t she?

    White Collar and Human Target are both surprisingly good. I am having a harder time getting into Chuck, but that’s probably because (as others have suggested) I need to go back and get up to speed on the previous seasons in sequence.

    Psych is pure fluff, and probably the one I’ll get tired of soonest, but for now it is fun to watch the two main characters’ shtick. Bonus points for Shawn saying that he was putting something on his “to don’t” list.

    Now my two recommendations for people to give a try: Modern Family and The Mentalist. The first, people think, “Oh, just another sitcom.” But it is very, very well done. The premise of The Mentalist sounds kind of hokey, but the cast is very strong and the writing has improved a lot this season. Plus lots of eye candy: Simon Baker, Robin Tunney and Amanda Righetti.

  90. 90.

    Ash Can

    @Omnes Omnibus: I suspect someone attempted snowboarding once, face-planted 30 yards down the hill, and looked up just in time to see his little sister whizz past him on her own board, grinning and thumbing her nose at him.

  92. 92.

    soonergrunt

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    There is a Queen of Battle joke in there somewhere too.

    Damn Straight!

    For those of you going “huh?!” Infantry, the branch I held 20 years, is commonly called “the Queen of Battle,” while Artillery (fucking gun bunnies) is commonly called “The King of Battle.” Cavalry, the branch I was in for the last two years is commonly called “those weirdos stuck in the 19th century wearing spurs, sabres, and stetsons.”

  93. 93.

    Ash Can

    @Comrade Mary:

    Norwegian Men’s Curling Team. Doable or not-doable?

    Seeing as they wouldn’t be wearing their loud pants for that, there’s no real issue, is there?

  95. 95.

    YellowJournalism

    @JenJen: I’m watching CTV’s coverage, so I had to sit through the hockey game. Watching my youngest imitate his father yelling during the game was cute. He’d put his head in his hands like his dad was doing when Switzerland scored. I think the Men’s Freestyle is coming on soon.

    I bet Johnny would smile at T-shirts that read: “Weir Fan Club: BJ Chapter”.

  96. 96.

    Tax Analyst

    Curling – at least its not Cricket. I guess Cricket might be OK except it has the most bizarre, unfathomable scoring system in the known universe.

  98. 98.

    Laura W

    @SIA: I don’t have a link, sorry. They just aired it two hours ago. I’ve googled a few things and it’s not coming up easily.
    I’m not very patient tonight.
    Or ever.

  99. 99.

    Superking

    Curling may be a ton of fun, but during tonight’s broadcast on CNBC, one of the commentators made a point of noting that one of the curlers on our women’s team is a “fitness buff.” It shouldn’t be an Olympic sport if you can do it without being a fitness buff–that should go without saying for Olympic competitions.

    Also, does anyone understand the scoring? It’s incomprehensible. I have no idea how you win at curling.

  101. 101.

    gnomedad

    @JenJen:

    So someone explain to me why shuffleboard isn’t a Summer Olympics event, then?

    I want to see short-track racing in the Summer Olympics.

  104. 104.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SIA #87

    LOL, thanks, then my work here is done :-)

    O/T but I have had *THE* most comical ridiculous-sounding laryngitis for the past couple of days. I think it would have devolved into full-blown sore-throat-head-cold fluey stuff, but I have been dosing myself with black elderberry and honey, which someone on this blog recommended months ago (whoever that was, please declare yourself so I can thank you). I bought some from the local health store on spec for just this kind of occasion, and I must admit it is lovely soothing stuff. And non-alcoholic, so I can slug it down and still operate heavy machinery.

  106. 106.

    gbear

    @pcbedamned:

    You reminded me of the couple days of curling lessons we had in my high school phys ed class. Our curling ‘stones’ were concrete-filled 3-pound coffee cans with a bent metal bar handle stuck in the concrete. If you didn’t set the coffee can down perfectly flat, the edge of the can would dig into the ice and fall over. It was such a joke.

    I have no idea how you win at curling.

    By being better than the other guys!

  109. 109.

    Martin

    I’ve always liked curling. And I don’t see how it’s any less fitness oriented than yachting or archery.

  110. 110.

    wag

    Dude, if I were #2 in the WHOLE FRICKIN WORLD I’d wear a tiara on the medal stand too.

    this

    and she can shake it, too.

  112. 112.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    Also, does anyone understand the scoring? It’s incomprehensible. I have no idea how you win at curling.

    That’s weird, because curling has just about the most intuitive scoring system of any sport. No judges penalizing you because you’re from the wrong country or are too gay or whatever. Closest to the bullseye wins.

  113. 113.

    Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse

    Oh, man. Patrick Chan couldn’t pull it through. It’s his first Olympics, so maybe next time.

    EDIT: Well, he’s in first with a near personal best score, so not as bad a it could be. But unless there’s a whole lot more falling, he won’t be on the podium with seven skaters left. He did look happier after his score was shown, though.

  117. 117.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Burn Notice has Bruce Campbell. Bruce Campbell is a God. If you haven’t seen Bubba Hotep, rent it.

  120. 120.

    KRK

    @gbear:

    gbear, you must GO IN. The SPCC is awesome. The place is packed every weeknight during the season. Go upstairs, have a beer, maybe get something to eat, and watch the play.

    When I lived in St. Paul I joined the club with a friend and played in a mixed league for two years as a complete novice. It was really a blast. Some afternoons we could catch Tim Somerville (skip for the ’98 and ’02 Olympic teams) and friends practicing there.

  124. 124.

    Lurking Canadian

    Also, does anyone understand the scoring? It’s incomprehensible. I have no idea how you win at curling.

    Aha! An excuse to stop lurking!

    Scoring in curling goes like this:

    1) Only one team can score in any given end.
    2) The rock closest to the button (the centre of the bulls-eye) scores one point for the team whose rock it is.
    3) Each subsequent stone belonging to the scoring team also scores one point, provided it is closer than the opponent’s best stone. (Basically, you count all the scoring team’s rocks from the button outwards, and stop when you get to the other team’s best rock.)
    4) If nobody has a rock anywhere in the house, the end is “blank” (nobody scores) which is sometimes desirable because you get to keep last rock for the next end.

    I am unable to express the depth of my envy that you all in the US have been getting better curling coverage than we have. I’ve been able to see only a handful of games, because apparently CTV and TSN would rather show snowboarding in primetime. Their program directors should all be hanged as traitors.

  125. 125.

    asiangrrlMN

    Skipping the comments for now as I am watching tonight’s ep of the Olympics on DVR, but I have to squee over SamKitten. He is so dang adorable. Go, Team RedKitten! I have no comment on curling because I don’t have cable so I haven’t seen a lick of it.

  128. 128.

    CanadaGoose

    Curling is cool because the two best skips in the world (Kevin Martin & Glenn Howard) are almost as old as I am.

    I just moved to Canada six years ago and have became a curling fan. Thank heaven not all Canadians are hockey nuts. What a silly game.

  129. 129.

    Quiddity

    Answer me this, Balloon Juice commenters:

    Why are there a separate Men’s and a Women’s Curling Tournament? As far as I can tell, the equipment, playing surface, and rules are the same. It’s not a contact sport or a volley-type sport. “muscle” seems like a minimal aspect.

    What’s the deal?

  130. 130.

    slightly_peeved

    I guess Cricket might be OK except it has the most bizarre, unfathomable scoring system in the known universe.

    Really? It’s not much trickier than baseball. Run to one end of the pitch – that’s a run. Get back to the other end – that’s another one. A homer is 6 runs, and a shot that hits the boundary (or bounces over) is 4. And if the bowler (pitcher) does what would get a ball called in baseball, you get a run (or 2 runs, depending on the form you’re playing) and they have to bowl it again.

    Now the rules for Leg Before Wicket – they are a little complicated, I agree. And I can see the issue other countries have with playing a game for 5 days and having it end as a draw. If it ever spreads to the US and Europe, it’ll be as the 20-20 form (each team gets 120 balls to score as many runs as possible; the game is played in 1 evening).

  132. 132.

    Emerald

    @Superking: I finally found out how you score in curling. Read the Wiki article. You count how many stones of the same color are closest to the “button,” the bullseye of the target “house.” So, you can have multiple red stones in the house, but if you “draw” a yellow stone right onto the button, yellow wins that “end.” If there are more yellow stones closer to the button than red stones, then that number of yellow stones is the score. Or vice versa.

    The Americans seem to be lousy at it, so I’m rooting for the Canadians now.

    Personally, I think curling is awesome, and MSNBC is showing it live at 9 a.m. Pacific time.

    I am, however, furious at NBC for delaying the skating until 10 p.m. Lots of little kids had to miss it, and it was fantastic tonight. And for once, they got the scoring right.

    Awesome.

  134. 134.

    RedKitten

    @SiubhanDuinne: That was just awesome. I’ve bookmarked it for posterity, so that I can look back and marvel at your awesomeness. :)

    That hockey game last night was STRESSFUL! Say what you will about Sidney Crosby, but he does well under pressure.

    And yes, I was damn impressed with Shaun White. That was some crazy, dizzying altitude that he was getting — I thought for a moment that he was going to clang off of one of the lightposts.

  135. 135.

    Platonicspoof

    @Quiddity:

    Why are there a separate Men’s and a Women’s Curling Tournament?

    Twice as many matches and medal winners makes it a bigger event.
    @Martin:

    I’m guessing the guys don’t want to get beat by a bunch of girls on global TV.

    But that’s what I wanted to say.

  136. 136.

    Ash Can

    @RedKitten: If I were Shaun White’s mother, I’d be a complete basket case. I’d keep a fifth of vodka and a few bottles of vicodin in my purse at all times.

  137. 137.

    Platonicspoof

    If anyone watching on tape/delay gets a chance to see the women’s halfpipe from 02/18, I hope you see Mercedes Nicoll’s amazing smile and happiness (overwhelming her embarassment and shyness) after her second run (on NBC). Looked like pure joy, just for being there.

  138. 138.

    SRW1

    @Emerald:

    Exact same reason why there’s no female ski jumping competition: The male daredevils apparently don’t want to have their nimbus curtailed by girlie eagles.

  139. 139.

    SRW1

    @Martin:

    Exact same reason why there’s no female ski jumping competition: The male daredevils apparently don’t want to have their nimbus curtailed by girlie eagles.

  140. 140.

    soonergrunt

    @Lurking Canadian:

    I’ve been able to see only a handful of (curling) games, because apparently CTV and TSN would rather show snowboarding in primetime. Their program directors should all be hanged as traitors.

    And everybody says the Canadians are so nice!

  141. 141.

    RedKitten

    @Ash Can:

    If I were Shaun White’s mother, I’d be a complete basket case. I’d keep a fifth of vodka and a few bottles of vicodin in my purse at all times.

    No kidding. When I saw the air that boy was getting, my jaw was just agape. I mean, at the peak of his jump, that’s a scary fucking height from which to be looking down! And then you’ve got to land cleanly on this wobbly little board!

  143. 143.

    Lurking Canadian

    Why are there a separate Men’s and a Women’s Curling Tournament? As far as I can tell, the equipment, playing surface, and rules are the same. It’s not a contact sport or a volley-type sport. “muscle” seems like a minimal aspect.

    In amateur play (club play) there are mixed competitions all the time. At the club level, gender is irrelevant and only skill matters. I routinely get my ass kicked by all-female teams. There is even a mixed (two men and two women) world championship, in which there are rules for which genders can play which positions.

    But it is not the case that “muscle” is minimal. The best all-male teams will beat the best all-female teams most of the time; often enough that in an open competition, almost all the winners would be men, often enough that it wouldn’t be fair. There are two reasons.

    First, sweeping. Men (trained athlete men, not potbellied, beer-drinking club curling men) are stronger in the upper body and can therefore sweep harder. (Look at the front ends of the Olympic male teams. They are, to a man, big, strong and young. It is hard work.) As a result, male teams can control difficult shots more easily than women.

    Second, weight. If you watch elite male curlers, they routinely make big weight shots (double and triple takeouts, runbacks and so on) that are much more rare (though not non-existent) in women’s play. They can just throw the rock harder, so they can do things easily that are more difficult for women.

    It’s like (almost) any other sport. Any Olympic female cross country skier can beat 99.999999% of humanity in a race; unfortunately, Olympic male skiers come overwhelmingly from the remaining 0.000001%. So it is with curling.

  144. 144.

    canuckistani

    Late to the party, but

    a) Curling is a gripping sport to watch. All the time, I look at the stones, think of some outlandish bit of physics that would clear the house if the skip had the dexterity to throw a baseball into a soup can five miles away, and then they go and do it!

    b) Shaun the Red is an amazing athlete, but I wouldn’t lose any sleep if I was his parent. I’ve seen heaps of people fall off their boards over the past few days, and everyone has stood up and shrugged it off, though one guy had a cut lip. I don’t think it’s as dangerous as it looks. Skeleton, on the other hand…

    c) I’m glad the Canadian hockey team got knocked back last night. When they win gold, I want them to have earned it, not to have it handed over for showing up.

    d) Does Sam have his first sled yet? Will he get 4-bladed training skates when he’s ready? Eaten his first Timbit?

  146. 146.

    BruceJ

    Go find “Men with Brooms” on Netflix or your video store.The greatest curling movie ever.

    @demcat620: The reaosn he’s alive and not ‘shot dead in a ditch somewhere’ is because he’s caught up in some wheels-within-wheels power struggle.

    The multi-season story arc has some very nasty people forcing him to do stuff for them, due to his status, and at least some of them are ostensibly “our side”.

    But Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell make up for a LOT of credulity -straining.

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