Olympic Excitement

[DGuller]

Perhaps CC was responding to DGul explaining how he's at about Carl's level?

Thank you, and by thank you I mean fuck you.

[Berkut]

I have no trouble following the puck.  I am not sure why others do.  I suppose its because I know where to look.

Yeah, but I'm thinking you just may have a tad better understanding of the game than your average 4 year old. 

[In case you missed the context, the question was why Carl, age 4, preferred watching curling. The answer is that he could see the big, colourful and slow-moving rocks and so could get excited by the plays]

Give credit to Carl though.  Curling *is* a better game.

I am not really sure curling is a game at all - more of a competitive activity, I think.

Certainly not a sport, in any case. It does look like it is fun though. I don't get the guys brushing the ice though - wouldn't it be better to ust throw the rock thingy a little harder?

The guys with the brushes seem like they are kind of the chumps of the team as well - what a crappy job that it, compared to being the person who gets to throw the rock thingy.

[Barrister]

I am not really sure curling is a game at all - more of a competitive activity, I think.

Certainly not a sport, in any case. It does look like it is fun though. I don't get the guys brushing the ice though - wouldn't it be better to ust throw the rock thingy a little harder?

The guys with the brushes seem like they are kind of the chumps of the team as well - what a crappy job that it, compared to being the person who gets to throw the rock thingy.

The semantics of arguing game vs sport vs 'competitive activity' bores me, so I'm not going there.

It's not a rock thingy by the way - its a rock.  Or you can call it a stone.

Everyone throws 2 rocks, and you sweep for your teammates when you're not throwing.  So everyone gets a turn at it.

What's the point of sweeping (and why not throw it just a bit harder)?  Throwing a 40lb stone down the ice with the exact amount of weight to hit a specific point 100' away is incredibly tough.  Just a fraction more (or less) weight can cause it to wind up several feet from where you want it to go.  Once you throw a rock there is absolutely no way to slow it down - but by sweeping you can make it go a bit further.  So what you really want to do is throw the rock just a bit 'lighter' so it would land a bit short of what you want, but let the sweepers use their judgment on how much sweeping it needs.

Sweeping also impacts a rock's curl - a swept rock curls less than an unswept rock.  So that also impacts play.

[Berkut]

What does "curl" mean the way you use it there?

[Ed Anger]

I'd like to jam the NBC programmers who put curling on in the middle of the day into a wood chipper. There was other shit going on besides curling.

But at least it is off my TV for 4 years now. A month of snowtards tossing shit on the ice is tolerable for short periods.

[Barrister]

What does "curl" mean the way you use it there?

It means spin.  When the rock is released it is spinning clockwise or counterclockwise.  This helps keep the rock going straight (same reason you put spin on a baseball or football), but depending on which spin (called turn in curling) you use the rock will gently drift to the left or the right as it goes down the ice.  That drift is called the rock's curl.

[Barrister]

I'd like to jam the NBC programmers who put curling on in the middle of the day into a wood chipper. There was other shit going on besides curling.

But at least it is off my TV for 4 years now. A month of snowtards tossing shit on the ice is tolerable for short periods.

In Canada the Brier (Men's National Championship) starts next week.  It is both on tv, and is held in an arena 3-4 times larger than the olympic venue.   

[Grey Fox]

Who ever wins the Brier this year is going to feel bad for not doing it last year.

[Berkut]

Are the stones standardized other than weight? Is part of the activities competitiveness involved in preparing the rock thingys?

[Grey Fox]

Are the stones standardized other than weight? Is part of the activities competitiveness involved in preparing the rock thingys?

A curling stone is of circular shape, having a circumference no greater than 91.44 cm. (36 in.), a
height no less than 11.43 cm. (4.5 in.), and a weight, including handle and bolt, no greater than 19.96
kg. (44 lbs.) and no less than 17.24 kg. (38 lbs.).

http://www.worldcurling.org/_upload/downloads/6_Rules_of_Curling-final.pdf

[Ed Anger]

I'd like to jam the NBC programmers who put curling on in the middle of the day into a wood chipper. There was other shit going on besides curling.

But at least it is off my TV for 4 years now. A month of snowtards tossing shit on the ice is tolerable for short periods.

In Canada the Brier (Men's National Championship) starts next week.  It is both on tv, and is held in an arena 3-4 times larger than the olympic venue.   

Thankfully, all canadian channels are gone off my TV. 

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, but I'm thinking you just may have a tad better understanding of the game than your average 4 year old. 

[In case you missed the context, the question was why Carl, age 4, preferred watching curling. The answer is that he could see the big, colourful and slow-moving rocks and so could get excited by the plays]

But that doesnt explain why you and DG have trouble following the puck.

[HVC]

I have no trouble following the puck.  I am not sure why others do.  I suppose its because I know where to look.

Yeah, but I'm thinking you just may have a tad better understanding of the game than your average 4 year old. 

[In case you missed the context, the question was why Carl, age 4, preferred watching curling. The answer is that he could see the big, colourful and slow-moving rocks and so could get excited by the plays]

Give credit to Carl though.  Curling *is* a better game.

Now you've gone too far

[crazy canuck]

What does "curl" mean the way you use it there?

In addition to what BB said, the curl is the main part of the game because it is by curling the stone that you get get it protected behind other stones which guard it.

In relation to your jibe about it not being a sport - CTV did a segment called "how hard is it" or something like that.  They had hockey players trying short track, a race car driver trying skeleton, that sort of thing.  For curling they had four ex Calgary Flames go to the Women's rink in Calgary to try out Curling.  They had a hard time just getting the stones down the ice and an impossible time actually brushing the stones properly.

As with any sport the very best make it look really easy but they can only do it that way because of the countless hours of practice they have spent perfecting their skills.

[Barrister]

Who ever wins the Brier this year is going to feel bad for not doing it last year.

There was a separate olympic qualification process that took place in late 2009.