With the Olympics in their final week I have become almost addicted to the sport of Curling. Perhaps it’s the daily coverage that CNBC has given the sport, the strategy involved, or the beautiful Johnson sisters who run the US Women’s Team but Curling has got me hooked.
Before these Olympic Games I thought Curling was just a weird sport that was easy to make fun of. I mean they take this 42 pound rock and slide it across a sheet of ice trying to hit a target. At the same time some other people use a broom and sweep the ice trying to effect the movement of the rock. But after watching a few rounds, some of them even live thanks to CNBC and a day off, I pretty much understand the sport. There are some detailed rules that I don’t know, but I understand the basics — just enough to make it fascinating.
It’s all about the large target area on the other side of the ice, it’s called the House. At the end of the End, the team with the closest rock (shot rock) to the center (button) gets a point for ever stone they have inside the house that is closer than the other team’s closest rock. The strategy comes in when one team puts up a guard rock trying to make the shot to the house more difficult. The question then becomes “do you peel away the guard or curl around it and aim for the house?”
As I mentioned above, the US Women’s Team is lead by the beautiful Cassie Johnson and her older sister Jamie. This, of course, is part of the reason that I became hooked on the sport. Though, they have been eliminated from the Olympic tournament. They finished a sad 2 and 8, but you can’t win them all and the US has never won a Curling medal anyway. However, the US Men’s Team has made it to the Medal Round. They play Canada today and if they win, they play in the gold medal game. If they loose, they can play for bronze.
Curling is exciting and if you don’t believe me, just turn on CNBC at 5pm and check it out.
UPDATE (2/24/06):
Today, February 24th, the US Men’s Team won the first American curling medal ever! They beat Great Britain 8-6 today to pick up the bronze medal!
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The world’s greatest winter athletes have all descended upon Torino, Italy for the 20th Winter Olympic Games. This means that for the next two weeks or so I’ll be pretty much glued to the television… well more so than I usually am.When it comes to Olympic events, I enjoy the ones that have to do with speed. In the Summer Olympics this means anything on the track. But when it comes to the Winter Games, it means so much more. There is downhill skiing, the ski jump, trick skiing, trick snowboarding, speed skating, bobsledding, and of course, the luge. There are of course the weirder sports like curling and the thing where the guys ski from place to place shooting things in the process (how is that a sport?).
Yeah, I love the Olympics and everything they stand for. For two weeks the entire world — the Virgin Islands even have an Olympic team — comes together in the spirit of competition. China and Taiwan, Israel and Iran, Lebanon and the Netherlands — everyone puts away their differences and competes for the pride of their nation, so that they can stand atop the medal stand listening to their national anthem as the whole world recognizes them as a true champion.
Here is to unity, to peace, and to the Olympics.
For a look back at my opinion on comments made before the 2004 Summer Games, check out Let Patriotism Rock.
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I think America has lost its mind. For many reasons America has tarnished its name among the rest of the world. There is a huge anti-American sentiment and tons of people who hate America, Americans, and everything that our great country stands for around the world. Giving into this attitude, the U.S. Olympic committee has urged its 550 athletes to use discretion and avoid being overly patriotic. Like I said, our country has gone mad.
Evidently “U.S. officials” want the athletes to use restraint when winning an event and appear humble rather then waving the American flag as has been previously done. The idea is that this will help show the rest of the world that America is not a boisterous rebel who likes to make naked Iraqi pyramids. Though telling Olympic athletes not to wave the flag after winning an event is like telling Ted Kennedy he can’t have a bottle of vodka after dinner.
Our country hand selects a group of elite athletes to represent America not because of political beliefs but because of their raw talent. These athletes should be allowed to wear their pride on their sleeve, right next to their American flag. If I had the seemingly once-in-a-lifetime chance to participate in an Olympic event and I happened to medal there would be only one thing running through my head: pride. I wouldn’t care what the current American policy was, all I would be thinking about is how I just became one of the greatest athletes in the world.
The Olympics are supposed to be a seventeen day break from the rest of the world. A place where politics and disputes are set aside and people of every nation can come together as equals. The official publicity statement for the 2004 Olympic Games is trying to portray this very message. They are calling it “Celebrate Humanity.” TV spots will run with phrases like “It doesn’t matter where you come from… all that matters is that you give it everything you’ve got” or “…an athlete aspires to be the best their country has to offer and ends up representing the best humanity has to offer.”
When the Olympic Games begin, if of course the Greeks finish the stadiums by August, our athletes should be allowed to show their patriotism and wave their flags in excitement and pride. After all, isn’t denying them that right against everything that our flag represents?
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Less Stuff
Before these Olympic Games I thought Curling was just a weird sport that was easy to make fun of. I mean they take this 42 pound rock and slide it across a sheet of ice trying to hit a target. At the same time some other people use a broom and sweep the ice trying to effect the movement of the rock. But after watching a few rounds, some of them even live thanks to CNBC and a day off, I pretty much understand the sport. There are some detailed rules that I don’t know, but I understand the basics — just enough to make it fascinating.
It’s all about the large target area on the other side of the ice, it’s called the House. At the end of the End, the team with the closest rock (shot rock) to the center (button) gets a point for ever stone they have inside the house that is closer than the other team’s closest rock. The strategy comes in when one team puts up a guard rock trying to make the shot to the house more difficult. The question then becomes “do you peel away the guard or curl around it and aim for the house?”
As I mentioned above, the US Women’s Team is lead by the beautiful Cassie Johnson and her older sister Jamie. This, of course, is part of the reason that I became hooked on the sport. Though, they have been eliminated from the Olympic tournament. They finished a sad 2 and 8, but you can’t win them all and the US has never won a Curling medal anyway. However, the US Men’s Team has made it to the Medal Round. They play Canada today and if they win, they play in the gold medal game. If they loose, they can play for bronze.