U.S. mens curling team

Submitted by tick on
Curling is one of my favorite sports. But the way the U.S. team is playing I am sure I could do a better job at it, and I have never played before. I saw 3 U.S. team members miss easy shots. They are on there way to lose 3 games in a row. I wish there were more curling facilities in the U.S.
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BiSB

February 17th, 2010 at 6:18 PM ^

is getting THROTTLED in curling, both on the mens' and womens' sides. Fortunately, we're kicking some serious ass in basically everything else.

Joined: 08/15/2009

MGoPoints: 46071

samsoccer7

February 17th, 2010 at 6:20 PM ^

I was just watching the match against the Swiss and the men are choking badly. I agree, it seems like I (we) could do a better job. I'm sure it's tough, but don't these guys practice for years to get better at this? It's not like the Swiss were extremely strategic or anything. I really want to put together a team and see how we could do.

Joined: 07/08/2008

MGoPoints: 11850

spumich

February 17th, 2010 at 6:59 PM ^

I was thinking the same thing. What I like about curling is that all of those guys have regular jobs and yet there they are representing the United States at the Olympics. That's awesome. I wish there were more curling facilities. It's one of the few sports that you can pick up later in life and you don't need to be in shape for. I'm sure it is harder than it looks. I have been surprised by how much I actually like watching it.

Joined: 02/14/2010

MGoPoints: -28

TTUwolverine

February 17th, 2010 at 7:37 PM ^

This is why I am so fascinated by this game. Those guys are probably drinking buddies with normal jobs, who just happen to be really really good at sliding rocks across an ice rink. Nobody knows who they are, except for one week every four years when they get to represent the entire country in the one thing that they are better at than everyone else. I love it.

Joined: 04/13/2009

MGoPoints: 2149

clarkiefromcanada

February 17th, 2010 at 10:15 PM ^

In Canada, every little town has a club (basically every town with more than 2500 people) and at my club the kids start playing at 5 years old in a junior program. It is true you can take it up later in life but it is, in the same way as golf, damn easy to watch and understand but damn hard to play consistently well. The variables in the game are incredible (changing ice conditions, rocks curling or not so much, stone to stone variances in performance). I hope you find a club near where you are and give it a shot, you'll have a great time. You are absolutely right that nobody knows who those guys are except every 4 years. That said, the quality at the top end of the US program is quite good although some significant distance behind the Canadians. that's mostly due to volume of curlers/high level curlers. As an example, I played an event at the Detroit Curling Club in Ferndale a couple years ago against some of the better rated teams in America and they were pretty solid. We had good games. In Canada our team wouldn't be good enough to get close to even the top teams in just Ontario. I hope you try it out. Good luck.

Joined: 11/20/2008

MGoPoints: 49242

formerlyanonymous

February 17th, 2010 at 7:45 PM ^

Wikipedia:
In WCF play, if such a violation occurs prior to the delivered stone crossing the far hog line, the touched stone may only be redelivered. If the violation occurs after the delivered stone crosses the far hog line, the skip of the non-offending team may only place the stones where he believes they would have stopped had the infraction not occurred.
and
Under both CCA and WCF rules, if a stationary stone is touched in a way that would have affected the result of a moving stone, the skip of the non-offending team may choose to leave the touched stone and any affected stones where they end up, put the affected stones in their original position and remove the stone whose course would have been altered from play (not necessarily the touched stone), or place all affected stones where he believes they would have stopped had the infraction not occurred. If a touched stationary stone would not have affected the result of a moving stone, the touched stone is simply returned to where it was before being touched.
Okay, so that 10% I was talking about...

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 38964

JeffB

February 17th, 2010 at 8:14 PM ^

Dammit. The NBC Olympic website feed went from the curling to other stuff once the match hit overtime, then the video feed went back to the beginning of the match. WTF???

Joined: 09/22/2009

MGoPoints: 197

RichRodFollower

February 17th, 2010 at 9:03 PM ^

I have a buddy in his early thirties in Minneapolis who is in a Curling League. He says its so much fun because they drink during the match and afterwards, they sit with their opponents and have beers! How great would that be?

Joined: 08/16/2008

MGoPoints: 1114

Sommy

February 18th, 2010 at 2:33 AM ^

The first curling club in the US was located in Orchard Lake, MI, and the Detroit Curling Club, located in Ferndale, MI, is an extension of that particular locale. Curling rules.

Joined: 07/29/2008

MGoPoints: 1806