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I must admit, I have watched curling in previous Olympics, and this is the first time I realized that the scoring was a closest to the center thing, and not a scale of x points for the first ring and y points for the outer ring.
It is hard to learn by watching on TV the first few times. One gets the sense from the commentators that the terminology is kind of fluid.
I can’t even imagine how translating the English of their coach to Mandarin Chinese works for the PRC team.
Growing up in Detroit without cable tv, we watched whatever “came on the air.”
As a hockey family, we regularly tuned into CBC, the canadian national station which airs in Detroit on most rabbit ear and cable tvs. Well on Saturdays mornings during most of my life (until recently) they had curling on during hockey season. So my dad and I would watch… not only that, the town where my wife’s family has a cottage has a curling club and rink.
I think it is cultural to some places… and when it came to the olympics a few years back it was AWESOME. Honestly… in terms of WHO to cheer for, outside of the olympics, it is a LOT like NASCAR. You pick PEOPLE and teams, based on either locale, or personality.
Also, as a side note… I will try and find some of the resources online, I originally found them in a book and magazine but there is/was a HUGE debate/war between Canada and Michigan over the INVENTION/ORGANIZATION of the first HOCKEY and CURLING teams/clubs. There are some reports that both sports started or at least gained their first popularity in Michigan. It is hard to say WHERE exactly such sports were 1st invented, as many grew from a combination of “games.” For a while though, there were groups in both Michigan and Canada literally fighting for the rights to claim where the SPORT was invented… and of course I think there was even a court case. AGain, I will try and find some resources. I think that Wikipedia still mentions it on their CURLING entry, but not the hockey one.
I watched it last Olympics, but this year I decided to go to the web and read the rules first. Now that I understand what they are doing (scoring, using the brushes, etc.) it’s a lot more fun. Now if I could just figure out the strategy for the early parts of each end, I will be set!
We’re enjoying watching the curling at the Olympics this year. Only problem is that I can’t really speak to others about it. I’m sure there’s something ontologically wrong with “Well, y’all think them Swedes are fixin’ to go shot rock so they git the hammer in the next end?”
While it’s a lot of fun to see, I guess Southern-born curling fans make about as much sense as an NHL team in Atlanta or Phoenix.
In Christ,
I love it! The entire reason why I started watching curling…because I didn’t understand what the commentators were saying.
I look at curling the same way I do cricket… rules would just spoil it.
What’s really fun is reading post-game summaries in Canadian newspapers, full of terms I have no idea the meaning or proper application for. Some are fairly evident like a stone being too “heavy” (too hard of a throw), but some are simply incomprehensible to a newcomer. This is even after reading up about curling online… Oh, and another great sport in that line is the incomparable Aussie Rules Football! I used to love watching that and the impeccably-dressed goal judges, and try to understand just why they were kicking a field goal–it never seemed to have much rhyme or reason to me.
Nothing wrong with being a Southern curling fan. People play shuffleboard down there, and curling’s kind of similar.
What y’all need is something that slides on dirt, or possibly clay. Then you can use brooms on the dirt for strategy. I guess you couldn’t have as heavy of stones unless you put them on wheels or something….
Maybe there’s a way to play mini-curling on one of those air hockey tables.
Ooh! I’m such an idiot! Curling is giant-sized marbles on ice! Just play marbles in the dirt, maybe with paintbrushes for brooms!