Originally posted by The Goonbut I know next to nothing about the men's skip, Brad Gushue. I'm hoping it's two more golds for Canada, but it'll be competitive in both events.
Several of the players on the Canadian men's team are from St. John's, about twenty minutes from where I live, and Mark Nichols, another team member, was in a couple of my classes in university. The team isn't playing as good as they can right now, but they're usually coming up with the shots when they need them and currently sit at 3-1.
Oliver: Ferbey isn't the Canadian skip because Gushue's team won the Olympic trials in Halifax in December to win the right to represent Canada at the Games.
I didn't realize it till NBC's helpful video package but The Girl Who Fell Down is The Girl From The Annoying Visa Commerical! This was all some sort of cosmic justice!
Eee. OK, am I to believe that y'all actually are curling fans, or are you just saying it to be ironic?
To me, watching curling is like watching paint dry. But watching team pursuit speed skating is like watching dry paint.
What I have liked so far:
--The figure-skating, particularly the pairs skating with the Russian pair coming back from adversity and the Chinese pair bouncing back from a nasty fall and taking the silver.
--The snowboardcross, OMG the SNOWBOARDCROSS~! To me, snowboardcross will be to my Winter Olympics watching what team handball will be to my Summer Olympics-- something I absolutely have to see every time it's on.
--The speed skating, everything but team pursuit. Seeing two people in a heat at least gives the impression that there's, y'know, a race going on. Team pursuit is like watching a flock of geese flying. A minor miracle of nature to be sure, but that doesn't make it fun to watch.
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My wife and I have found curling to be very interesting. We keep trying to throw together the combinations of sports/games that are "like" curling (i.e., bocci, darts, pool, bowling).
My wife and I have watched copious amounts of curling since the beginning of the games (and we still have trouble with the scoring). The Mrs. said that its "mysteriously addictive." I can watch just about anything else the Winter Games throw at us, except the figure skating.
It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them. P. G. Wodehouse (1881 - 1975), The Man Upstairs (1914)
I'm a huge fan of curling. There is no sarcasm intended. I think it's an amazing sport.
There are very few sports where I think men and women can attempt to compete at completely equal levels. I think auto racing, horse racing, and curling are the three that I can come up with off of the top of my head. Golf, perhaps.
Curling is a sport where everyone has the potential to be able to do it, but some people are just amazingly good at it. I think just about anyone could throw a 42 lb stone down ice, but the real skill is in thinking ahead 3-5 stones and setting up a playing field where you can score.
They do all this while taking account for a more unpredictable field than in most games. For example, basketball. You play indoors, the 3 point line is always the same distance, the hoop the same height. It's just repetition of a motion that you have done thousands of times. In curling you have to read the ice, make constant adjustments on the fly with your sweepers, and then execute.
I like baseball too, and some people think that sport is boring as well.
I got drawn into the whole Curling thing last spring when I was up Canada way (Calgary, actually) during an amazing event called the Scott Challenge or cup or some such. It was all curling, all the time. Amazing. The words HAARD! and Whooa! fell into my vocabulary. I felt seriously like opening a curling venue in Louisville. I wanted to watch end after end and have the hammer every time. I wanted to be the skip...
Crap, I came home and found Curling freaking videos on the net and shared my new love with my daughter who is hideously too much like me. Soon, we had DirectTVs scout looking for curling. We found a curling VIDEO to buy for goodness sake - and when I went to toronto, I went and saw a meet live (I think it's better on TV personally).
So, yeah, we're all about it. To say the least. Pretty interesting for (relatively)newly minted southerners.
My friends have this basic reaction: What?!?
And Guru, I put Curling and baseball as my top two mental sports on a poll I took yesterday. I couldn't think of another (it was top 3), so I put chess. Maybe Tennis might be third (lot of thought into surfaces, environment, strengths of opponents).
(edited by AWArulz on 20.2.06 2106)
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
I was home sick from work yesterday and watched the entire US/Canada match live. It was three hours long and I could not look away. I would get pissed when they went to commercial because I was missing something. It is very addictive.
I watched curling for years, thinking it looked like a pretty simple sport, not much effort involved...
My wife, who played when she was a kid, and a bunch of friends decided we should take it up because it was something we could do together. So we did, about 7 years ago.
I now play twice a week at least and what a lot of fun!! It also is not nearly as easy as the Pros make it look! I am certainly no expert, but when I am able to make an amazing shot, be it a double take-out or just burying a draw behind a guard, it is an exhilirating feeling.
Actually playing the game has changed the way I see the games on TV too. I am always looking at the rocks in play and trying to think 2 or 3 shots down the road, as opposed to just being amazed by the first shot.
Lots of fun watching it in the Olympics. GO CANADA!!!
(edited by haz on 21.2.06 0815) Where the wild are strong, and the strong are the darkest ones, you're the Darkest One.
Curling is a very important sport to me; I get very defensive when people insult it. IT's been a love and a passion of mine since childhood, since I grew up around it. I guess the same could go for others with hockey.
After consideration, I think that Gushue, Howard and company was the best choice for our Olympic team: I've seen Randy Ferbey's rink in action too many times to know that he takes way too many chances and plays too flashy a game for my preference.
I've really grown to respect Gushue's playing style...and it's great to see that Russ Howard still has what it takes.
"At the end of every hard-earned day, people find some reason to believe." -- Bruce Springsteen
I know only one thing about Canada's curling team. That Russ Howard is one scarey son of a bitch when he's tossing the rock. The Canucks get like 6 on one end, lead by 7 after 7 ends and he's still out for blood. That is one old scarey neufie.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
I think overall it was a really good Olympic games. Certainly in Canada, everyone is pleased with the results our team (especially the ladies) achieved.
I hope everyone makes the trek to Vancouver/Whistler for 2010. My cousin who lives there said it's cool for all of us to crash at his place.
Originally posted by The GoonUp here, the 2006 Scott Tournament of Hearts just kicked off. Wall to wall curling coverage, and some seriously cute girls.
This is what got me hooked in 2005. I wish there was some waay for me to see TSN for the next couple weeks. Maybe it's time for a Canadian road trip....
Do they ever have a DVD compilation, ect on this?
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
Originally posted by AWArulzI know only one thing about Canada's curling team. That Russ Howard is one scarey son of a bitch when he's tossing the rock. The Canucks get like 6 on one end, lead by 7 after 7 ends and he's still out for blood. That is one old scarey neufie.
Actually, Howard is the only one on the team who's not from Newfoundland. He's from Ontario and is living in New Brunswick.
Originally posted by The GoonUp here, the 2006 Scott Tournament of Hearts just kicked off. Wall to wall curling coverage, and some seriously cute girls.
I think overall it was a really good Olympic games. Certainly in Canada, everyone is pleased with the results our team (especially the ladies) achieved.
I hope everyone makes the trek to Vancouver/Whistler for 2010. My cousin who lives there said it's cool for all of us to crash at his place.
...and I live in Vancouver, too...so anyone who wants to crash at my place has an automatic invite, as well :-)
(edited by Oliver on 26.2.06 2349) "At the end of every hard-earned day, people find some reason to believe." -- Bruce Springsteen
Originally posted by Mr Heel IIDirecTV lists it as "World Championship Men's" Sports (2005) From Victoria B.C. Series. Event. Repeat. CC.
Must be an awfully ABBREVIATED repeat to be a half hour long.
And will apparently be even further abbreviated since the Rugers/UConn Women's game has gone over.
It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them. P. G. Wodehouse (1881 - 1975), The Man Upstairs (1914)
Yes, it's a great day for our little city here in Ontario, as we have pulled off the odds and... what? London, ENGLAND?! Oh. Well, that makes more sense.