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Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-22-2006, 07:18 PM   #1
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Curling in the Olympics

First let me say I am a redneck from the south. But I can not for the life of me figure out what in the hell is going on with an event in the winter olympics called "Curling". Are the 2 fools sweeping in front of this oversized hockey puck really considered athletes? I'm sure there must be some logic to this event but I'm not sure what it is. Please enlighten me.

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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-22-2006, 07:43 PM   #2
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

When I heard about curling, I thought it was contest on how many bicep curls someone can do within a predetermined time frame. I haven't the foggiest idea what curling has to do with ice hockey.
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-22-2006, 08:51 PM   #3
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

Ignorance, Curling involves Skills and Strategy, more so than fat guys trying to hit a ball out of a park with a piece of wood.
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-22-2006, 08:57 PM   #4
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

Quote:
Originally Posted by Maximillion
...Curling involves Skills and Strategy...
Like chess and poker?

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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-22-2006, 08:58 PM   #5
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

Quote:
Originally Posted by Maximillion
Ignorance, Curling involves Skills and Strategy, more so than fat guys trying to hit a ball out of a park with a piece of wood.
Try standing in the wrong place when the fat guy hits it...or putting the wrong guys to bat in the wrong order...
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-22-2006, 09:31 PM   #6
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

It ain't a sport if middle-aged ladies do it...

(ok, there's one exception, but there's no olympic event in that....)


As for the appeal of curling, you got me...

--

Oops, if I offended anyone, then let me add that it's also not a sport if middle-aged men do it.......
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 06:23 AM   #7
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

I think Curling is one of those regional sports like candlepin bowling here in New England. Is it a sport? Not in the aerobic sense but it does take skill. I always thought of it as Ice Shuffle Board.
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 06:29 AM   #8
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

CoolDood, goyette who just won Gold in Ice hockey is 40, and one of the female sledders was 51, and what about Navitolova in tennis and and and

oh yeah, the Biathalon and wimen's Triathalons.

Curling is a strenuous sport that involves skills and strategies, not being born 7 feet tall and playing on an archaic playing surface , or weighing 350 pounds and dumb as a stick.

When will they change the dimensions of Basketball Courts and Football fields to reflect todays Players?
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 06:51 AM   #9
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

I've always defined a sport as something I was not all that good at, in which case all of the above are sports, as far as I'm concerned.

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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 07:04 AM   #10
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

Are we talking about a sport or what constitutes an athelete?* Those aren't the same.* * I might call bowling a sport, but someone who bowls is no athelete.* * Some of the best bowlers were beer-gutted, pig looking dudes that probably couldnt run 100 yards before falling over.

Michael Jordan is an athelete.

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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 07:34 AM   #11
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

Quote:
Originally Posted by Outtahere
I think Curling is one of those regional sports like candlepin bowling here in New England. Is it a sport? Not in the aerobic sense but it does take skill. I always thought of it as Ice Shuffle Board.
I had never realized that candlepin bowling was a local thing. When my g/f and i first moved to california, we decided to go throw a few rounds. After 3 stops at alleys that all turned out to be "big ball" we finally asked the guy behind the counter who had candlepin bowling. "Wha?". I asked people at work the next day. They were sure I was talking about lawn bowling or some other sport. On looking it up, it appears there are a half dozen major bowling spinoffs. I'm pretty sure that one up in wisconsin or minnesota or someplace like that involved throwing a food product down the lane...
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 07:53 AM   #12
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

Yes CFB it's a regional thing, in fact it's hard to find Ten Pin bowling in my part of the country.
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 08:05 AM   #13
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

Oh I remember...maybe one or two lanes way down at the end.

I did try "big ball" once. Turns out the skills translate well. I threw something up in the mid 100's. Better than all but one of the guys I went with. They got a kick out of me walking really fast up to the limit line and flinging the ball like an underhand softball pitcher though. I think the guy managing the lanes was close to telling me to cut it out...

Too bad it hasnt caught on elsewhere. Its a great sport for small kids, especially when they put the air bags in the gutters so they cant miss...

For anyone who's never seen it, candlepin bowling uses a softball sized ball and pins that are a few inches thick and slightly smaller at the top and bottom. You almost run up to the limit line and whip the ball down the lane. The lane and everything else including scoring is pretty much the same as "regular" bowling.
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 08:16 AM   #14
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

Half the winter olympics events are arguably not "sports". Snowboarding? The luge, bobsledding, skeleton? Gravity pulls you down. The only thing you have to do is don't fall off/over.

The same requirements apply to sitting on a couch - just don't fall off/over.

Is sitting on a couch a sport?
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 08:26 AM   #15
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

I like watching Olympic curling, but to me it's more a fascination that goes back to childhood. I recall mom & dad trying it once or twice at a local club in Anchorage, and I went and watched. I was watching with the childhood equivialent of "what the hell?" Adults frantically wiping the ice with brooms was spellbinding in a bewildered way. I watch it in a way somebody would watch somebody with very peculiar eating habits...sit there and try to figure out why the peas have to be just so and how important the particular motions are; do they really know just how much and how hard to sweep? (Don't answer; it will ruin the mystery for me.)

I don't disrespect it, though. I find it a tad odd that people who want to leave the workforce before anyone else to do their own thing would begrudge others their recreational and competitive activities. And I don't recall anyone complaining about Olympic ballroom dancing or Olympic synchronized swimming.

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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 08:31 AM   #16
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

I am insulted by this thread.

I f*rt in your generall direction. (except Jim's)

Bemidji Minnesota, home of half the US men's and women's curling team. Go Bermidji, ja!

We often play host in our home to a curling team from Wisconsin who plays in bonspiel Duluth. The guys sleep all over our living room floor after a hard day of curling.

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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 08:32 AM   #17
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

"Is sitting on a couch a sport?"

If it is, I might have to revise my earlier post. *

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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 08:39 AM   #18
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

When I do it...yes!
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 08:41 AM   #19
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

I didn't say I didn't like watching it... I think it's a rather neat sport, I just can't seem to follow the rules.

I'm a candlepin bowler, I've tried the ten pins but it really strains my elbow to throw that ball down the ally and it's difficult to find them here.
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Re: Curling in the Olympics
Old 02-23-2006, 09:06 AM   #20
 
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Re: Curling in the Olympics

It's NASCAR for Canadians.

Actually it reminds me of one weekend with my roommates in college. We dreamed up all these weird games, most of which involved beer cans, frisbees, and throwing objects down the hall of our apartment. Any of those games could have been an olympic sport.
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