Every time the Winter Olympics roll around, all the media outlets and TV viewers scramble to find out about this weird "curling" sport. Well, it's that time again, and while you may see ample curling coverage on Blogcritics, you may not really understand what curling is.

"Hey Suss, I liked your story on curling ... too bad I had no clue what you were saying."

So let's explain a little bit. I'll start out with the questions I get asked the most:

Often Heard Question No. 1: "Who throws the stone, and who sweeps?"

Both. Each end (think baseball innings), players throw two stones each, for a total of 8 stones per team and 16 stones per end. The lead throws the first two stones, The second throws the next two stones, the third (vice-skip) throws the next two, and the skip throws the final two. Teams alternate throwing stones. The skip is usually the best player on the team, and he/she stands at the other end calling shots and putting their broom on the ice, giving the thrower a target. The other two players who aren't either skipping or throwing are the sweepers. The vice acts as the skip during the skip stones.

Often Heard Question No. 2: "What are you sweeping in front of the rock? There's nothing in front of the rock."

No, not really, but this is where science comes into play: Thrown rocks will not go straight, they will always curl one way or the other (hence the name of the sport), and sweeping in front of the rock will melt the ice a bit, making that rock stay a little straighter. It will also allow the rock to travel a bit further if it's underthrown. The third reason is that while there's nothing really in front of the rock, debris like dirt or fuzz may have landed on the ice, and the sweeping will knock that out of the way. The smallest bit of dirt can knock the stone off course.

Often Heard Question No. 3: "How do you not fall down?''

Curling ice is not the same as hockey or skating ice. Typical arena ice is perfectly flat, but curling ice has tiny little bumps on it. Before the games, the the ice is prepped with a fine spray of warm water (known as pebbling the ice), which melts and creates tiny bumps known as the pebble. So the pebble has better grip than your common skating ice. This pebble also allows curling rocks to travel across the ice. A curling rock really wouldn't move across skating ice very well.

Now, let's open it up to some questions I solicited from various Blogcritics:

Matt Largo asked:

What is the back story behind the game of curling? Was it originally played with leftover stones from a newly built castle? With the heads of your enemies? or did it originate as contest between burly, Scottish Ice Witches?