What’s with all the curling?

[Thedogswhiskers]

I don’t get t!

It is the same people

It’s basically bowls on ice, I fancy having a go

My DD 10 and I have been hooked. I love it, so much more to it than it seems. Plus love the fact they are sliding about on ice with one slider shoe, one grippy shoe and a sweepy thing… it must be nearly impossible yet I am sure half the country think they would be able to do it 🤣

My friend plays curling loads she started in her late 50s. She loves it. (Too cold for me!)

It’s the shittest bit of the Winter Olympics.
Maybe it is to make us appreciate all the other exciting winter sports more?

it's a tualy a brilliant game/spirt.

it's like chess on ice.

its actually also entertaining to listen to/watch a crowd who obviously don't actually know the sport. When a stone ends up near the middle because it hasn't gone where the playing team intended (maybe they were intending to set up a guard (put one in front of the circles)
the crowd can or knock one of the oppositions out of the way etc the crowd who don't understand the sport get all loud & excited. It's funny.

an added dimension with the mixed double is watching the relationship between the team mates. It's easy to pick the real life couples, the friends, the sisters etc.

Though my favourite to watch is the women's team.

No it's not. Not at all Only to people who don't bother to learn about it. Like most sports really.

I used to ski.

i once stood at the top of the ski jump in innsbruck the one they used for the Olympics, prior to it being rebuilt into the modern one they have now. When you looked down the cemetery was the first thing you noticed (I'm not sure if the new one is in exactly tge same place or not?!)

utterly utterly terrifying ...

and this was out of season, without skis on!! 🤣🤣. I was a skier, not suicidal!

Ha ha. I remember my son aged 3/4 absolutely obsessed with watching curling years ago, he never sat still for long so I was very thankful at the time & no I have no idea how it works.

You’ve got a wonderful way with words! 🤣

Big air?

Give Rob and Romesh Vs The Winter Olympics a watch. They have a go and it’s all explained. They make it quite exciting.

Whats the shouting for, presumably the team mate knows what to do?

SWEEEEEP, SWEEEEP, SWEEEEP MORE, MORE MORE MORE

I assume this is what is being shouted in Korean, Swiss, German, Italian or whatever

Snowboard, giant steep slope, huge jump, spin round lots, try to land

Possibly the most tedious winter sport and the one that's given the most coverage...

It seems strangely cathartic the shouting and screaming yet the smooth glide of the thing on the ice ...I may take it up. Only one curling place I believe

I think it's to help the teammate in estimating how fast they need to go at a particular point in order to get close to the centre. Too slow means the stone will remain on the outskirts and too fast could knock an existing stone out. The curler may not be able to see that far ahead.

I’m totally with you on this. Skeleton bob comes a close second to kamikaze ski jumpers though! The ski jump platforms are terrifying.

How can the curler not see when they're the ones in front and the screamer is on the floor behind them?

The one doing he screaming is usually down low and looking along the ice at the same level as the stone so probably has a better idea of which way it is curling etc that someone standing directly above it who is also sweeping and trying not to fall over.

Got it, that makes sense

I feel suitably informed now to support the curling.

It’s the perfect mix of chess, snooker and bowls, but all done on ice with 20kg rocks that might require you to rapidly work your way down sweeping for 40m. And then you’ve got a couple of minutes to get your heart rate down to do it all again.

Thank you, I slightly understand curling now.

Imo the most metal performers of all are the lady ice dancers spinning about in basically bra and knickers. They are tough!!!

Just favouritism isn’t it? I don’t approve. What about Sooty and Soo?

The BBC love/adore/worship curling because it's the cheapest TV known to man. All you need is a camera person at 1 end and a cctv camera above the circle, plus some bloke in his y-fronts commentating from his bedroom on the Isle of Skye.

At least tennis requires a camera person at both ends... This is half that.

I personally have turned it over and groaned every time it has interrupted the skiing, ice dancing, luge, and so on. It's duller than hearing any more about Prince Andrew* or Jeffrey...

Sorry, he's not 'prince' anything, just realised. Andrew battenburg saxe coburg hohenstein von zeppelin (that bloke), the guy who paid £12m to someone he'd never met, using mummy's money which she garnered from breeding corgis... That bloke anyway