Curling in the Olympics

[Dawg52]

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.

 

[cube_rat]

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.

 

[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.

 

[REWahoo]

...Curling involves Skills and Strategy...

Like chess and poker?

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

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...

 

[Cool Dood]

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.......

 

[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.

 

[Maximillion]

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?

 

[setab]

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.

setab

 

[azanon]

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.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

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...

 

[Outtahere]

Yes CFB it's a regional thing, in fact it's hard to find Ten Pin bowling in my part of the country.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

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.

 

[justin]

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?

 

[BigMoneyJim]

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.

(edit: spelling)

 

[Martha]

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.

 

[setab]

"Is sitting on a couch a sport?"

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

setab

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

When I do it...yes!

 

[Outtahere]

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.

 

[TromboneAl]

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.

 

[Honkie]

Are the 2 fools sweeping in front of this oversized hockey puck really considered athletes?

It was an old attempt to encourage more women participants - get a version of sweeping up and mopping on the events list.

(Blue touch paper lit.....now going to stand well, well back.............!!!!!)

 

[Texas Proud]

Love how people make up their own definitions of 'sport' and 'athlete'... here is the meaning...

sport ( P ) Pronunciation Key (spôrt, sprt)
n.

Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
A particular form of this activity.
An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
An active pastime; recreation.

Seems all the 'games' mentioned then are sport (except fly fishing... unless it falls under the pastime)


ath·lete ( P ) Pronunciation Key (thlt)
n.
A person possessing the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts.

Now, those fat guys that smoke like a chimney that can lift 700 pounds seem to qualify as athletes. However, I doubt they could run 100 yards either.

SO, what have we learned.. Curling is a sport... But my question is why is it an OLYMPIC sport?

 

[Honkie]

Love how people make up their own definitions of 'sport' and 'athlete'...  here is the meaning...

sport    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (spôrt, sprt)
n.

Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively.
A particular form of this activity.
An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
An active pastime; recreation.

Seems all the 'games' mentioned then are sport (except fly fishing... unless it falls under the pastime)


ath·lete    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (thlt)
n.
A person possessing the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts.

Now, those fat guys that smoke like a chimney that can lift 700 pounds seem to qualify as athletes.  However, I doubt they could run 100 yards either.

SO, what have we learned.. Curling is a sport... But my question is why is it an OLYMPIC sport?

.....and why is Baseball / Softball an Olympic sport? Given that most participants are stationary for extensive periods of time and very very few other countries have even the remotest interest in it?

 

[Martha]

The only Olympic event I have watched on television this year is women's curling.

Come on, Minnesota and Wisconsin have to get something. We don't get a president. We don't get congress. We don't get the supreme court. At least let us have curling.

 

[Maximillion]

You are also home to some of the most dynamic Medical Companies in the US, plus the largest mosquitoes.