Question about the Winter Olympics

[Mephisto]

Can anyone explain to me the training and appeal behind Olympic Curling?

Not caring much about the Winter Olympics, I can't understand why Curling is even considered a sport, much less an Olympic event. From my untrained (and unappreciative) eye it seems to be at least as strenous a sport as shuffleboard and requiring about as much skill.

I certainly don't want to anger any professional or amateur (are there amateurs?) Curlers, but this sport seems (to me) about as exciting as tic-tac-toe or tiddly-winks, yet the television audiences go wild when Curlers put their "rocks" on target. What is the deal behind the guys with the brooms and all the screaming they do while sweeping? Is it a prerequisite that you become a school custodian before you become an Olympic Curling Sweeper? What ARE the requirements and WHERE do you get the training?

Also, who determines what sports will be included in the Olympics and will bowling, miniature golf or whack-a-mole ever have a chance at being included?

 

[sesmo_k]

Can't explain the appeal, to me its like watching crown green bowls, or darts... Yawn!
There are no curling rinks (?) in the UK, so its probably why the Great Britain team are all scottish. Perhaps its one of those games thats better to play than to watch.

I think the sports in the Olympics are chosen by the IOC... I think.

 

[AnotherSillyAlias]

Also, who determines what sports will be included in the Olympics and will bowling, miniature golf or whack-a-mole ever have a chance at being included?

As far as I'm concerned the Olympics, (any variety), became a farce and a non event when they included synchronised swimming!

 

[jj]

Not caring much about the Winter Olympics, I can't understand why Curling is even considered a sport, much less an Olympic event. From my untrained (and unappreciative) eye it seems to be at least as strenous a sport as shuffleboard and requiring about as much skill.

Well, curling is not terribly strenuous, although it does require a really good balance and ability to stay stable on the ice. Watch those people sailing up and down the ice on their slippery shoe/sticky shoe combination, and then go try it yourself sometime. It does take actually a decent level of physical fitness to protect joints, not crash and get hurt, etc. In other words, it's neither as safe or as physically easy to do as it looks.

As to skill, it's actually very (rule8-gerund) hard. It requires very fine control of pushing around quite a heavy weight. Those stones are HEAVY and man, they slide like you wouldn't believe. Getting one to stop in the right place is (*&(& hard, and the degree of accuracy that one needs to score, defend, etc, is rather more than you might imagine. It took me about 30 "ends" just to learn how to get one to stop short of the back of the whole curling rink or whateveritistheycallit. It's easier to get to the far end than you expect. A LOT easier. It's hard to get "weight" right, i.e. the right distance.

You notice, however, I'm not being offended. It DOES look easy. It just isn't. Not even a bit.

No, I'm not an expert curler, I've done it twice in my life. I stunk at it, but not any more than any of the other beginners.

It only looks easy.

And, as to it being a sport, you keep score and you can tell who wins. That makes it a sport in my book, more of a sport than dance skating, pipeline scoring, or any of the other subjectively judged "sports", in my book, too. That doesn't say that those are easy things to do either, though.

 

[Jorghnassen]

It's much more of a sport than half-pipe and American football...

/off to watch the short-track stuff
//and cross-country skiing, now there's a winter sport
///and hockey, the only watchable team sport (when well played).

 

[Withnail]

It's much more of a sport than half-pipe and American football...

/off to watch the short-track stuff
//and cross-country skiing, now there's a winter sport
///and hockey, the only watchable team sport (when well played).

What separates a sport from a game? Steroids of course. If steroids make you better at the event, then it is a sport, if not, just a game. That is my personal test. Also, anything judged on artistic merit can't be a sport in my book. Curling fails the steriod test, it seems. I like it though.

 

[Manny]

Well, it's tricky. They want to expand events but keep the whole "winter" theme. In most countries, if you ask "what do people do on ice?" the answer is "they put salt on it" which is definitely not a good Olympic event. So the Olympics types go to places where there's ice all the time and ask what they do. All the actual athletic things like skiing and speed skating are already in the Olympics so now they have to go after things which people can do with a cigarette and a beer. Think of it as winter bowling.

 

[Mephisto]

As to skill, it's actually very (rule8-gerund) hard. It requires very fine control of pushing around quite a heavy weight. Those stones are HEAVY and man, they slide like you wouldn't believe. Getting one to stop in the right place is (*&(& hard, and the degree of accuracy that one needs to score, defend, etc, is rather more than you might imagine. It took me about 30 "ends" just to learn how to get one to stop short of the back of the whole curling rink or whateveritistheycallit. It's easier to get to the far end than you expect. A LOT easier. It's hard to get "weight" right, i.e. the right distance.

You notice, however, I'm not being offended. It DOES look easy. It just isn't. Not even a bit.

No, I'm not an expert curler, I've done it twice in my life. I stunk at it, but not any more than any of the other beginners.

It only looks easy.

And, as to it being a sport, you keep score and you can tell who wins. That makes it a sport in my book, more of a sport than dance skating, pipeline scoring, or any of the other subjectively judged "sports", in my book, too. That doesn't say that those are easy things to do either, though.

Thanks JJ,

I was hoping someone could convince me that it's not as easy as it looks. Coming from a desert, I've never known anyone who has curled before and although I can imagine that balance plays a major part, I just couldn't comprehend where the difficulty lies. Considering the "rocks" are heavier than I would have imagined makes the notion that the momentum would carry them beyond the target makes it seem to require more skill than I would have imagined.

Now, I know it's not part of the Winter Olympics, but about synchronized swimming . . .

 

[Mephisto]

It's much more of a sport than half-pipe and American football...

/off to watch the short-track stuff
//and cross-country skiing, now there's a winter sport
///and hockey, the only watchable team sport (when well played).

I thought the half-pipe was at least mildly interesting and I'll have to admit I don't much care for American football, but cross country skiiing and the biathalon seem at least to have been rooted in viable skills required by people living in areas where winter is much more severe than in the SW desert.

 

[Mephisto]

What separates a sport from a game? Steroids of course. If steroids make you better at the event, then it is a sport, if not, just a game. That is my personal test. Also, anything judged on artistic merit can't be a sport in my book. Curling fails the steriod test, it seems. I like it though.

Sounds like a good definition to me, Withnail. I wonder if they test synchronized swimmers for steroids?

 

[Mephisto]

Well, it's tricky. They want to expand events but keep the whole "winter" theme. In most countries, if you ask "what do people do on ice?" the answer is "they put salt on it" which is definitely not a good Olympic event. So the Olympics types go to places where there's ice all the time and ask what they do. All the actual athletic things like skiing and speed skating are already in the Olympics so now they have to go after things which people can do with a cigarette and a beer. Think of it as winter bowling.

*LOL* I daresay you've probably gotten more experience on ice that you would have liked lately, eh Manny? The only thing I've learned to do when it's icy is to set up a video camera in a public place and try to catch as many slips and falls as possible. Definitely not an Olympic sport, but twice as funny. Hope the weather has gotten better there.

 

[Ryokan]

I've never played curling, but it's the only winter olympic sport I find amusing to watch. And I'm not a big sports fan.

To me it looks like there's a lot of skills and tactics involved, not just who runs faster with wooden planks on their legs.

And I think curling belongs more in the winter olympics than bridge does in the summer olympics

 

[Charles Livingston]

As far as I'm concerned the Olympics, (any variety), became a farce and a non event when they included synchronised swimming!

Men's synchronised swimming isnt even in the Olympics, yet.

 

[epepke]

Well, curling is not terribly strenuous, although it does require a really good balance and ability to stay stable on the ice. Watch those people sailing up and down the ice on their slippery shoe/sticky shoe combination, and then go try it yourself sometime. It does take actually a decent level of physical fitness to protect joints, not crash and get hurt, etc. In other words, it's neither as safe or as physically easy to do as it looks.

As to skill, it's actually very (rule8-gerund) hard. It requires very fine control of pushing around quite a heavy weight. Those stones are HEAVY and man, they slide like you wouldn't believe. Getting one to stop in the right place is (*&(& hard, and the degree of accuracy that one needs to score, defend, etc, is rather more than you might imagine. It took me about 30 "ends" just to learn how to get one to stop short of the back of the whole curling rink or whateveritistheycallit. It's easier to get to the far end than you expect. A LOT easier. It's hard to get "weight" right, i.e. the right distance.

I quite agree. It requires an enormous amount of finesse. Probably more than pocket billiards, which I do like to watch.

I must admit that watching it is like watching paint dry. But maybe that's what the olympics are for. ESPN handles all the exciting sports, with people throwing things really fast and hitting each other with sticks and running into each other.

 

[Cylinder]

I like the IOC practice of adding these novelty sports from time-to-time. I think that one of the goals of the Olympics should be introducing different obscure sports to the international community. They should maintain a few rotational slots to accommodate these events for two or three games before moving to the next.

Being from the South, I would have never really know about curling until its inclusion in the Olympic games. Look at the explosion in snowboarding after the half-pipe events were added. I think the practice does promote sports around the world.

 

[WildCat]

I'm really enjoying the curling, watching it right now (womens US vs. Sweden). There's a lot of strategy involved in it, and it is absolutely amazing how accurate they are sliding 42 lb. granite stones down the ice.

eta: there's a cute set of sisters on the US team, and the Swedes ain't bad either.

 

[Tmy]

Whats up with the ice danceing?? If you have judges deciding the winner, it aint a sport.

 

[Dr Adequate]

Flonking the dwile

Two teams are formed and a sugar beet tossed to decide who is going to 'flonk' first.

A "dull witted person" is chosen as the referee or 'jobanowl'. The game begins when he shouts "Here y'go t'gither!"

The team which is not flonking holds hands and dances around in a circle - known as "girting". A member of the opposing team stands in the middle of the circle holding a "driveller" (a pole 2-3 ft long and made from hazel or yew), on the end of which is a beer-soaked dwile.

The flonker then turns in an anti-clockwise direction and flonks his dwile at the opposing circling team.

If the dwile misses completely it is known as a "swadger". When this happens the team forms a line and the flonker takes hold of a pot filled with ale.

He then has to drink the contents of the pot before the wet dwile has passed from hand to hand along the line, chanting to the ancient ceremonial mantra of "pot pot pot".

The team with the highest number of points wins, after deducting one point for every player still sober.

 

[joobie]

I like the IOC practice of adding these novelty sports from time-to-time.

from time to time? curling has been an olympic event since 1924. would you care to guess which year saw the first winter olympics?

 

[Jas]

It's much more of a sport than half-pipe and American football...

/off to watch the short-track stuff
//and cross-country skiing, now there's a winter sport
///and hockey, the only watchable team sport (when well played).

Dude, the half pipe is the sh**! I love watching boarding. I guess Jasey Jay Anderson was disqualified from the Boardercross for pushing another boarder
I didn't actually see it though.

Have to agree with the hockey, but Xcountry skiing? How is that fun to watch?

And curling, while taking skill, is pretty much an excuse to drink. That's why people go to the curling rink. For more info on this, watch 'Men With Brooms'.