I finally have a chance to see the most important sport of the Winter Olympics.
CURLING!
Right now the USA women are beating the Japanese.
UPDATE:
I am conflicted.
The Westminster Dog Show is also on:
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Oh man! I love curling.
Especially those 12 ounce Killian’s Red curls. Well, until tomorrow anyway. :(
I don’t think you are taking this SERIOUSLY!
GO USA! Beat the Japanese!
Gosh, I FINALLY found what channel was playing it. Doesn’t NBC know that curling is the most important sport in the winter olympics?? Ah, peacefulness and a sense of rightness have settled over me . . . :)
Canada owns curling.
Sorry Father, but the more important ice and stick sport is simultaneous to the curling this evening…men’s hockey.
Fr.Z……..Curling?????
Dear Father, I just don’t understand. You are from the great state of Minnesota, the State of Hockey, and your fave sports are…baseball…and….curling.
Baseball is fun if you live in a mega market, such as Philly, Boston, Los Angeles or New York.
Curling is…..whatever it is. Sweeping ice in front of a large ceramic circular thing……..
(jk)
Well, they say that prehistoric relics exist of stones used by ancient man for what is now called curling. Speaking as a female who can’t help observing that men will find any excuse, and any object (like a rock! excuse me, stone) to have fun?, I haven’t developed an enthusiasm for the sport. Peter Breugel even painted it in the 16th century. Sheesh! I know, I know. Women do it now, too. Seems the Scots perfected the sport and set rules, etc. Must be pretty boring in the winter in Scotland if they had to spend all that time developing rules for sweeping snow in front of a stone. Do these people have as much enthusiasm for sweeping snow off their front walk? I’m being facetious here, so, don’t give me a hard time. I just prefer speed and figure skating.
Penguins Fan – Curling stones are made of granite, not ceramic. They weigh around 40 pounds each.
Oops! I forgot that it was WKC dog show time! I can’t turn it on now…if I do my kids will want to stay up and watch it, too! I need to get TiVo!
Father, being from Winnipeg the “heart’ of curling in the world, I agree with you about the sport. Women’s curling is great too. Hockey might have a slight edge though.
Watching figure skating gives me a headache.
With all due respect: curling is the silliest sport in the Olympics. I too watched this today. Basically, you have to be a really good sweeper to be good at it! No, but seriously, I admire these woman, many of whom are moms and have other full-time jobs, for their dedication!
I a totally endeared to you right now Fr. Z….a conflict between curling and the Westminster dog show!!!
I am, not ‘I a’ that should be…
As to your second point: I have an English Bulldog; super-wrinkly. She would probably fare-well in a show, but man is she a genetic train-wreck (we have to deal with cherry-eye and cleaning out her wrinkles), but strong! I have an old skateboard from my skateboarding days, and she pulls me fast on it–for a few block, and then she is tuckered out. In the summer, she can barely walk a block without demanding for rest in the shade. Still, she is a perfect dog with the kids…
I love dog shows…curling, not so much.
I LOVE curling! So fun to watch!
Penguins fan–would that be a fan of THE best team in the NHL? And if so, what team are you rooting for in these Olympics?
I wish some of the bench varieties of these dogs didn’t look so freakish.
It is a pity that Schipperkes are nearly always snubbed for honors.
I had to read the Wikipedia article on curling to get a clue, but eventually the match started to have some suspense for me. In the end, it was a nailbiter, settled with the aid of a measuring device. The Japanese won; and good curling sportsmanship requires that one not complain in the least.
Penguins Fan: Did you see what state the USA men’s team is from?
Curling… about as interesting as watching the ice they play on freeze. Though, the contrast between the “Hurry,… haaaard!” calls that are frequently followed by a bland, almost post mortem “Off” is absolutely hilarious.
I vote for the dog show. The dogs show more character than the curling players.
We are big dog people in my family so the Olympics had to be put on hold for the past two nights between the hours of 8 and 11pm, but we did sometimes check-in during commercial breaks!
I love dogs, but not the dog show. Too many of the dogs are freakish looking. Who was the bright boy that decided that German Shepards (a wonderful dog) should have such sloping hindquarters that their behinds drag the ground? I’ll stick to a healthy mutt thank you. Or even better, a nice cat.
No TV for me last night (although I don’t think I’ll ever watch curling or dog shows) – it was ‘Carnevale’ here in Italy and I took my class of special needs children to a fancy dress party … and this morning: straight to get the ashes.
A prayerful Ash Wednesday to you all.
A Scotty won Best in Show.
It’s true that the “show” quality dogs often look a bit odd. But the one breed that I really like as a show dog is the Labrador Retriever…most of the pet ones I see are so big, lumbering and dopey. The show ones are much smaller.
Not quite as intense as the sports where one may go hurling off the course at a high rate of speed.
Sorry, the most important sport in winter Olympics is the downhill- Go Lindsay Vonn!! USA!
Marie: Sorry, the most important sport in winter Olympics is the downhill
HA! Again, HA! Nothing compared to the sheer drama of curling.
Eric, Should that be ‘hurtling’? Although the hurling could be some good reality tv.
In fun.
introibo,
The show (or “English”) Labs are smaller than the bigger American variety, but they are too short-legged and MUCH too fat to do the job they were originally bred for.
In the hunting world they are known as “Pigadors”. Sad to say, since in the conformation world dogs are judged purely on appearance and not performance, many of the essential characteristics of breeds are being bred out in favor of extreme exaggeration of physical points that the judges place high.
So you have the German Shepherds, who began with a slightly sloping topline appropriate for a herding dog, being bred for lower and lower hindquarters until you wound up with dysplastic, “tricycle” Shepherds that can’t be used for herding or Schutzen work. And you have the Labs, who are a naturally broad-chested and stocky dog, being bred lower and lower and wider and wider until you wound up with a dog that has a naturally short stride and no endurance.
When we had the National Labrador Specialty (a multi-discipline event limited to one breed) here in Atlanta a few years back, quite a number of the conformation folks came out to try to put a Working Certificate on their show dogs. A WC is a very elementary test of a dog’s retrieving ability — not to get too technical, but they must retrieve ONE live shot mallard at 50 yards on absolutely flat ground with no cover, then retrieve two water singles to show that they are willing to re-enter the water.
I was one of the gunners (and my husband was the mallard-flinger) for the WC test, and it was pathetic to see how many dogs who were bred to be cold water retrievers would not mark, would not pick up a duck, would not go into the water, and would not bring the bird back to their handler. And it was very sad to see them huffing and puffing after a 50-yard retrieve.
My girls would win no prizes at Westminster. They are not the Pigadors, nor the huge American type, but lean, muscular, agile dogs of around 50 pounds, plus or minus. I think of them as a compromise type between the greyhound-looking high end field Labs and the Pigadors. They think nothing of back-to-back 150-200 yard land marks, although my ten year old crossbred type (her father was a conformation champion who couldn’t find a bird in a phone booth if you poured gravy on it) has now decided that 100 yards is her limit in her senior years. Which is fine, because once she gets her final Seasoned qualifying score she will be retired to ride on the truck, look superior, and act as a Test Dog when needed.