The family and I probably attend about five professional sporting events each year. We usually make it to three or so Lowell Spinners games (local Class A minor league baseball team), perhaps a college or minor league (Lowell Lock Monsters) hockey game, and the odd Red Sox or New England Patriots game.

Last weekend, we delved into the exotic: a professional curling tournament.

Not just any tournament or bonspiel, this was the Men's World Curling Championship. Now, ordinarily I don't think I'd travel all over the place for a sport I have barely no knowledge of, but this event was staged right next door at the Paul E. Tsongas Arena (Lowell, MA). We opted for tickets during the first weekend of the round-robin style matches, and now I wish our calendar conflict would allow for our going this coming weekend, it was that cool.

There was not a huge crowd at the 7,800-seat arena. The empty seats were a bit obvious, but once the action got going, the enthusiasm of both fans and players made up for it.

I knew this was going to be a special event - there were cowbells. To me, the cowbells added a bit of sporting chic. After all, I only hear them when watching some sort of Wide World of Sports televised event. Oh yeah, this was the big-time baby. I swore that Amanda Peet was sitting in the row in front of us. I thought about getting an autograph, but I eventually realized it was just a doppelganger. Still, you never know who could have shown up. No, I didn't crane my neck for a glimpse of Jack in his ever-present shades, but I felt that celebrity vibe for sure.

I noticed that seeing this sort of event live was quite different from the few times I'd seen curling during Olympic coverage. As a matter of fact, it strangely reminded me when I went to see a WWE live event, Backlash, last June. When my sons force me to sit and watch the televised wrestling antics of JBL, Triple H, or John Cena, a huge part of the show is the back and forth of the commentators. It was very strange, almost disconcerting to be at the live event, and to think how quiet it was. Oh, the audience was wild and strange - and loud, but the action in the ring was very quiet. And no commentary! Or, rather, commentary that was intended for the Pay-Per-View home audience, not us in the Verizon Wireless Arena.

And so, this curling thing was not quiet by way of passionate fans, but missing was any kind of 'Curt Gowdy' (RIP) type broadcasting a TV viewer like me is spoiled by. I had to rely on my in-laws' knowledge of the sport. Not that they were huge curling aficionados, but they had at least watched just about all the coverage from Torino, and knew which 'end' was up.

I needed the help, too. First of all, I thought I was just going to see Ireland vs. USA, but there were four busy sheets in the arena. Sheets are the ice 'fields' that the matches are played on. So, even though it was somewhat distracting, it was also pretty cool to see these fine gents in the additional and simultaneous contests: Finland vs. Norway, Denmark vs. Japan, and Germany vs. Switzerland.