Olympic Curling: Does Team USA Have the Stones To Win Gold?
Published February 22, 2006
CURLING PERCENTAGE: The percentage of shots you "make," depending on the called shot. You get rated out of 4 points for each shot, so 4/4 (100%) is a perfect shot, 3/4 is a pretty good shot, and so on. It's a bit subjective, but it's the only personal statistic in the sport.
In these Olympics the median cumulative percentages for players by position were: Lead, 81 percent; Second, 76; Vice, 77; Skip, 76. The lead makes more shots because they traditionally have easier, simpler shots to make.
So we're down to four teams, three of them being English-speaking.
Markku "Alphabet Soup" Uusipaavalniemi led Finland all the way to the outright No. 1 seed with a 7-2 record. U-15 is a tested veteran of international competition, and it shows. He's made more shots than any other skip in these Olympics, leading in shot percentage (81 percent).
Great Britain, the birthplace of the sport, is highlighted by their strong frontend: lead Euan Byers and second Warwick Smith, who lead their respective positions in curling percentages (Byers 84 percent, Smith 85 percent). Strong play from the first two players is like a solid running game in football — it's a powerful trait which can ruin the strategy of the other team, and it sets up the rest of their game plan quite nicely.
Pete Fenson and Team USA did the unthinkable and moved all the way to the medal round. Some losers — notably myself — said some ridiculous things like "I'm not too naive to think the U.S. men have a chance at medaling — they don't." Yet here we are, where anything but an 0-2 finish gets them some kind of round disc prize thingy. Pizzeria Pete has lead the first American team ever into the curling medal round, but give all the credit in the world to vice Shawn Rojeski, who threw third stones better than anyone else (83 percent).
Team Canada and the Jason Mewes-resembling Brad Gushue have been consistent top to bottom. Other than a couple of close losses to Italy and Sweden, they've all been hot. In fact, they're the only team in which every player has curled at least 77 percent or better.
On Wednesday morning, No. 1 seed Finland plays No. 4 seed Great Britain, and No. 2 Canada battles No. 3 United States. The U.S-Canada semifinal will be shown on tape delay at 5 p.m. ET on CNBC.
Need a sneak peek at what may happen? Well, Finland topped Great Britain 5-2 and Canada just beat USA on Monday, 6-3.
Women's semifinals, also Wednesday, also as important and exciting
No. 3 Canada vs. No. 2 Switzerland (live at 8 a.m. ET, USA Network)
No. 1 Sweden vs. No. 4 Norway
For a curling info, check out this FAQ'ing article.
Matt Sussman is the sports editor of BC Magazine and also writes for Deadspin, SPORTSbyBROOKS, The Futon Report, and the Toledo Free Press. Catch him Mondays and Fridays at 8 p.m. ET with asst. sports editor Tuffy on Treehouse Fort, the official show of BC Sports. E-mail sports-related inquiries (or inquiry-related sports, such as full-contact Twenty Questions) to matt.sussman@blogcritics.org.
- Olympic Curling: Does Team USA Have the Stones To Win Gold?
- Published: February 22, 2006
- Type: News
- Section: Sports
- Filed Under: Sports: Olympic, Sports: Curling
- Writer: Matthew T. Sussman
- Matthew T. Sussman's BC Writer page
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Comments on this articleComments
Aaman, online Curling? I imagine that is at least giving you a taste of the essence of the sport. Isn't is weird how complex the strategy gets and it becomes calmly enegetic and exciting.
It is a cool sport. Good to see the USA and Canada up there in the rankings.
I hope it's not that pitiful game NBC threw up on their website. Or vomited, for that matter.
Probably the best online curling game is Granite, which is free for 14 or 21 days, I think.
I'm loving this sport! My daughter came in the living room yesterday...what are you watching...curling I said...she told me it was boring...I told her it reminded me of playing marbles when I was a kid..glad the marbles weren't that big...I might have invented a fashion style if they had been...you know...that pants down below your asscrack style that the snowboarders sport???
I'm not here to tell you how to raise your kid, Andy, but honestly your daughter needs a talkin' to.
No problem ... personally I think it's worth the 8 bucks.
Oh and U.S. lost to Canada pretty bad. Rojeski was just off his game. So it's Canada-Finland in the finals, with the U.S. against Great Britain in the bronze.
Sweden-Switzerland in the gold medal game on the women's side.
Any links to that curling calendar??? I can't seem to find it anywhere...the curling news site says it's sold out...
You're looking in the right place, most likely. That's the only place I knew that was selling it.
Besides, Cassie and Jamie Johnson aren't in it, so what's your motive in buying it?
I didn't realize the sisters weren't in it...to hell with it then! The motive was curiousity...
anyone know any good online games of curling [Personal contact info deleted]
My favorite curling scores of all time, or at least this week:
2-1
1-3
4-3
and, of course, 5-2
Next week I'll write up which teams I like and maybe connect them to the scores.
Oh, a wicked return jab.
Those are some low scores for curling games. The latest round of worlds went like this:
7-5
8-5
9-4
10-4
(U.S. is tied for first at 3-0)
Heh.
My favorite sports involving brooms:
1. curling
2. curling
3... hmm
Hi,
I just got promoted ... to play third in a new team and I know that one day, my skip will not be there for a game and I will be skip. I would very much like to find a website that has snapshot pictures or sketches of a game at different stages and then options are given and a rationale for each one.
Thank you,
Andre
Wow, if such a site exists, let me know. Otherwise, go download Granite, play a game and see what the computer does.
On the other hand, screenshots won't always help, because they don't take into account ice conditions. But being vice-skip is a good way to learn strategy without the pressure. Stay in communication with the skip and make sure you understand what he wants to call (and why).
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for your reply. I do have the Granite game and I use it for that purpose. However, I would really appreciate advices and comments from other skips.
As you say, being "third" is a great learning experience. However, a live game does not give very much time to really discuss each situation.
I hope to hear from someone in this group about such a website, or find out through other source as I continue my search.
Well, if I don't find what I am looking for, I am going to either initiate or collaborate with a known curling site to create a discussion section dedicated to curling strategies. You see, in my other life, that is before I retired, I was an online learning specialist and I have designed and taught web based courses.
Hope to hear from you and other people about ideas on this subject.
Andre :-)
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/43950)
I've been playing curling online - the dynamic seem very compelling and I'd love to try it out sometime