Blogcritics Category: Sports: Curling

Reaching Your Potential: Pass or Fail

EPelle — Fri, 1 Feb 2008 11:43:10 EST

I grew bored of having potential without the results that I finally traded in my spikes for a remote control.
Have you as an athlete felt as though you reached your full potential?This is a subject which has both intrigued me and burned inside of me through the years following an athletics career which had its challenging periods and very successful ones as well. I was indirectly asked this question on a forum on Wednesday, and can honestly say in...

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Fri, 1 Feb 2008 11:43:10 EST

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Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Q: How Did Curling Become a Sport?

Mental_Floss — Fri, 6 Apr 2007 12:50:34 EDT

A: What's not to love about an Olympic sport that resembles the household task of "Swiffering" your kitchen floor? Originally created in 16th-century Scotland, curling primarily involves people sliding heavy granite rocks towards a bulls-eye on the ice.Sure, it might sound boring, but it quickly gained popularity during the colder months. Before you could say "shuffleboard copycat," the sport was big enough to necessitate a World Curling Federation. The game eventually evolved into a team sport consisting of four players per team. But just how four people curl is what's so intriguing to watch.One player throws the rock, a second player visually guides the stone from the opposite side of the ice, and two players (who we like to call the Swiffettes) adjust the stone's trajectory by frantically sweeping brooms in front of the traveling rock to control its speed, direction and curl. While most popular in Canada, the rest of the world joined in on the rock-sliding goodness in 1998 when it became an official Olympic sport.

mental_floss magazine is where knowledge junkies get their fix. It's a fun blend of trivia, humor and everything you should've learned in school but didn't.

BCRadio Podcast, February 5, 2007: Super Bowls, anti-Christs, BC of the Month, and GlossLip

Josh Hathaway — Mon, 5 Feb 2007 23:51:45 EST

Download the BCRadio Podcast.A short show this week, but a good one. Topics this week range from 24 to the recently-played Super Bowl as well as some topics of a more insular nature.We congratulate our new BC of the Month, Tom Johnson. That segues us nicely into the introduction of a new feature in the BC Magazine music section, The Listening Room. I am particularly proud of this series as it was, well, my idea. I think we're going to have some fun with it.Before bringing in our guest, I also take some time to fawn all over the great work Dawn Olsen is doing over at Glosslip. If you haven't been to this newest addition to the emerging BC Network, you are cheating yourself of comedic and literary gold. Deny yourself no further. Get thee to Glosslip.Our guest this week is Ken Edwards. Ken and I make fun of Sussman's curling fetish and talk about this new Nintendo Wii game, WarioWare.

Josh Hathaway is Assistant Music Editor for BC Magazine. He is formerly an award-winning journalist and broadcaster and publishes the BC Network site Confessions of a Fanboy .

The Rock Slide: Mele Kali-Kiwanuka

Matthew T. Sussman — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 10:40:54 EST

Lead: The first person to throw rocks on a team.Well, the New York Giants had the lead against the Tennessee Titans, then they didn't. The Big Apple needs to hear little more beyond that. (Okay, don't read this if you are a Giants fan: New York took a 21-0 lead into the fourth quarter only to have Tennessee storm back with 24 unanswered points for the win.)As for Mathias Kiwanuka, he'd rather be fishing, apparently. Because on a 4th down play, the Giants' defensive end played catch and release with Titans QB Vince Young, who then wriggled for the first down. Although you can't help but snigger at the New York Post's sports front page: "TITANIC CHOKE GAGS BIG BLUE." Double entendres aside, the ones in blue weren't choking. See, the Giants pulled out the red-and-white unis. Although after Young's fourth quarter mastery, I'm sure the voters are kicking themselves for giving the Heisman Trophy to Tiki Barber prior to this game. Second: The second person to throw rocks on a team.So USC moved up to second in the BCS polls with a win over overrated Notre Dame. (His words, not mine.) So let's recount who the Trojans have beaten: Arkansas (by 36), Nebraska, California, and now the Irish -- all by a combined score of 145-57. Forget the squeakers to Arizona State and the Washington duo, as well as the heartbreak to Oregon State. Those four victories against current Top 20 teams were all decisive. Michigan played Ohio State well, and beyond the Notre Dame and Wisconsin victories they didn't have a ton of tough games. Wow, maybe USC did earn the right to play in Glendale. Of course, this will probably change when UCLA upsets their crosstown foe, and I'll be singing the glory of Arkansas or Boise State or someone like that.House: The three concentric rings (the "bullseye") on either side of the sheet, where points are scored.Does it bother nobody else that the University of Hawaii accepted a bid to the Hawaii Bowl, making it their fifth straight bowl game in Hawaii?The bowl committee and UH department of athletics are practically the same entity, with Hawaii Bowl executive director Jim Donovan being a previous UH associate athletic director and current UH AD Herman Frazier on the bowl's committee.Hawaii will likely play an inferior team -- Scout.com projects UCLA -- and blow 'em out, giving them their fourth straight bowl victory. But it won't be so much a bowl win as it is a nationally-televised home game. I have little doubt that UH is worthy of the Top 25, and I'm fully aware that two, yes two, of our contributors are big time Warriors fans. But I gotta call shenanigans. Most of us would love to see them play someone their caliber like BYU. That would truly be the battle for the title of Best Western Mid Major Team Not Named Boise State, and someone might even score 70 points in that game.Instead, they'll likely face a potentially 6-6 UCLA team. And "aloha" means "cherry pickin' football program."Bury: Description of a rock that is completely behind another rock.And the Steelers are done. The Baltimore Ravens basically sunk their season with a 27-0 shutout. Can we just give the division to the Ravens now? At 9-2, they are three games ahead of the Bengals. Or should we wait until after Thursday when the Ravens travel to Cincy? Because their remaining schedule ain't so tough: Kansas City, Cleveland, the aforementioned buried Pittsburgh, and Buffalo.Gripper: A piece of equipment worn over a shoe so one can walk on the ice.Ben Wallace and Scott Skiles both need to get a grip. After Skiles made a team rule that no one can wear sweat bands during games (huh?), Wallace defied the rule and entered the game wearing one. The $60 million center was promptly benched. Know how to settle this dispute? A rousing game of one-on-one. If Scott wants to tip the scales in his favor, he may want to ensure the game heavily involves free throws.Biter: A rock that just barely touches the outside of the house.An obligatory shameless Bowling Green item, granted, but it was good to see BG's men's basketball team -- by no means a quality one -- win in the final seconds against South Alabama, 65-64. It should be noted that the University of South Alabama's acronym would technically be USA, but it might be less confusing to call them the U. of SA. How Borat-y.Hack: The "starting block" from which the thrower pushes off to begin the delivery.Mike Vanderjagt is panhandling outside my office holding a sign saying, "WILL SHANK FOR FOOD."Hammer: The final rock of the end.This one's actually a curling item. No, wait, don't go!Sunday afternoon had some boring football games, and NBC had a boys vs. girls ultimate supreme match between Pete Fenson's Olympic team and Debbie McCormick's world championship runners-up team. So an improbable series of events had my TV on NBC rather than Fox or CBS.Team Fenson won big, mostly because boys rule and girls drool. But the women's honorary team captain, Picabo Street, was allowed to throw the hammer in the final end since the score was out of reach. Her delivery was a tad shaky -- no more so than mine, for what it's worth -- and the sweepers took it right to the tee line. Damn, those women are awesome.It should also be noted that according to the announcers, Street had never curled prior to that day. Anyone who can throw tee line weight -- world-caliber sweepers or not -- on their first day can join my team.

Matt Sussman is the editor of BC Sports, and is sometimes seen rolling around in his own sty he calls The Futon Report. He's also one of Deadspin's occasional weekend editors and the host of BC Sports' official radio show, Treehouse Fort, heard live Mondays and Fridays at 8 p.m. ET.

E-mail sports-related inquiries (or inquiry-related sports, such as full-contact Twenty Questions) to matt.sussman@blogcritics.org.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2006 10:40:54 EST

Crafty Swiss Curlers Steal Italy's Hottest Athlete On Ice

Matthew T. Sussman — Fri, 4 Aug 2006 04:28:55 EDT

Those Swiss lulled us into a belief they were this adorable little country that couldn't harm a fly, all the while feeding us Toblerone until we don't know what hit us.Rather, until Italy doesn't know what hit them.The blow hath been struck. A Swiss curling team has lured away Italian curling sensation Joel Retornaz from his home country. Retornaz, who skipped Team Italy in the 2006 Olympics, will vice-skip for a team led by Swiss national player Claudio Pescia. Maledicalo!Before I go any further, yes I am reporting on curling in August. Baseball's pennant chases, NFL training camp, and NCAA previews are all top stories here in the States. And here I am -- with the opportunity to bring some delicious insight into any of these three scalding-hot topics -- writing about curling. European curling.So let's put this story in American perspective. Imagine if our crimson-haired posterboy Shaun White, fresh off winning his first gold medal, took his tomato-hued locks north of the border and represented Canada in next year's Winter X Games. Since extreme sports are not our prime sport, we'll survive. But the border cross would no doubt elicit a puzzling, almost irritable "what the hell?" from even the casual sports fan.During the Winter Olympics, Retornaz was Italy's Shaun White. The 23-year-old held rock star status with his spiked hair and dark-rimmed glasses. But rather than land a No. 1 single on the charts, he made curling the No. 1 sport in Italy, if only for a few days. The height of Italy's curling fever came when Retornaz led his team to victory over eventual gold medal winner Canada in a round robin match. Team Italy finished better than predicted, placing seventh in the round robin after losing their final game 10-2 to -- well, isn't this a coinkydink -- Claudio Pescia and Switzerland.Well Italy, hope you enjoyed your curling phenom while it lasted. If you need him, he's in the Alps right now with the sound of music.Before I condemn Retornaz entirely -- or at all -- he has some validity justifying his move to a higher altitude. For one, the Italian national team is assembled by the national curling committee, rather than holding a playdown tournament to determine the champion (like in Canada and the U.S). Retornaz's teammates in Torino are not his regular curling buddies, and next year the national team could be completely different -- or worse, not including the young stallion at all. So he grabbed the opportunity which best suited him to compete in next year's world championship. Plus, Retornaz was born in Switzerland. So it goes without saying that his cough drop of choice is Ricola.Since the man is only 23, he has several years of international competition ahead of him. Canada's Russ Howard proved you can win an Olympic gold medal at 50 years of age, so perhaps our studly hero will bounce between Italy and Switzerland -- maybe one year he'll play for Slovenia as the result of a terrible misunderstanding -- and bring home trophies emblazoned with two different flags.Italy's main athletic exasperation is definitely the result of Juventus becoming a minor league soccer team. But thanks to those scheming moneychangers and their tiny pocketknives, I'm sure Switzerland made Italy perturbed that Retornaz is now a Swiss curler. Much like most of you are perturbed that I'm writing about curling in August.

BCRadio - June 12, 2006

Josh Hathaway — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 08:25:05 EDT

Download BCRadioIt's our fullest show yet. Eric Olsen discusses increased fines for broadcast indecency, Joan Hunt added a great new blues compilation to her collection, Saleski cops to some guilty pleasures. Dawn Olsen is a prophet, Sussman is wrong about the NBA Finals, Sal Marinello is right on about steroids in baseball, Ken Edwards has a fancy new toy, and Sir Mary has found a new show to alleviate her Jack Bauer withdrawal. BONUS MATERIAL:Ken Edwards DS Lite Review Want to hear some blues, courtesy of BC on the Blues' chief blues correspondent Joan Hunt? You can download "Kassie Jones, Pt 1." If you liked that, here is Part 2.

Josh Hathaway is Assistant Music Editor for BC Magazine. He is formerly an award-winning journalist and broadcaster and publishes the BC Network site Confessions of a Fanboy .

Toby Keith, I Challenge You To a Curling Match

Matthew T. Sussman — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 03:04:35 EDT

Dear country music superstar Toby Keith:I read that you took up the great sport of curling at the Nashville Curling Club. You and your band apparently have a team and after watching curling at the Winter Olympics you have aspirations of playing in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.One small problem, Toby: You gotta go through us. My team and me.The qualifying rounds for the next Olympic games aren't for a few years, but you might want to get a taste for what you're into by driving up I-75 and facing off against us in a friendly bout of superiority.That's right, we challenge you, Toby Keith, to a curling match. Name the time. Come to Bowling Green. We'll take you on. While the sport is that of a friendly one, me and my band of merry men will unfortunately bury our draw shots behind our guards, and knock your stones out with takeout after takeout.See, when I finished my college curling career in Chicago I turned pro and set my aspirations on also qualifying for the '10 Vancouver games. I've done plenty of conditioning for the sport: stretching, sliding, sweeping, playing Granite in my spare time, and... um, well, that's it. But that's more than you have ever done with the sport, Toby Keith.And after the beatdown in Bowling Green, watch out in a few years. If our paths cross at the U.S. Nationals, we'll have to put a hammer in your ass, courtesy of the red, white, and blue.Granted, other curlers have a better chance at being Olympians than you or me, such as -- oh, I don't know -- Pete Fenson and his band of Bemidji, Minnesota men. There are also a slew of good young curlers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the other part of Minnesota. Plus the University of Washington won the last two college national championships.All I'm saying is that this lofty dream of wearing the stars and stripes in Vancouver isn't big enough for the both of us. And my dream will be burst when I lose to a rink from Wisconsin, while yours will end when you run into a wall of hip young boys from Ohio.So we'll see you in BG, country music superstar Toby Keith. When you fall at the hands of Blogcritics' finest curler, you might want to trade in your guitar for the world's smallest violin.--Suss

BCRadio - April 17, 2006

Josh Hathaway — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:32:49 EDT

BCRadio: The big show featuring EO, EB, Suss, Sir Mary, Saleski, and Ken Edwards.Segment 1: Eric Olsen - Rediscovering the humanity.Segment 2: Matt Sussman - CurlingSegment 3: Ken Edwards - GP2XSegment 4: Mary Williams - Sir Mary got published!Segment 5: Mark Saleski - So did Saleski!Segment 6: Eric Berlin - Talking The Sopranos.Reading Material: EDITORS' PICKS Saleski on GusterOne Man Wrecking Machine Keep it Together Guster On Ice Ken Edwards talks more GP2X in his full review From the mind of DJRadiohead: Confessions of a Fanboy - Otis RushBonus Downloads Sussman - Extended: This might be the longest segment in the short history of BCRadio. Sir Mary - Extended: Sir Mary and I got to talk about her trip to go see Joe Satriani as well as her published status. Saleski - Extended: Saleski humiliates himself. Must-hear radio.

Josh Hathaway is Assistant Music Editor for BC Magazine. He is formerly an award-winning journalist and broadcaster and publishes the BC Network site Confessions of a Fanboy .

The Year In Curling: 2005-06

Matthew T. Sussman — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 06:48:49 EDT

Well, curling season's over. And it was a doozy of a year. We had American breakthroughs in the Olympics and the World Championships. We had Quebec representing Canada at worlds. We had women curlers exposing it all for the good of a calendar. And I had a blast playing the game myself.Canadian trialsIn choosing who would represent their country at the Olympics, some nations just sent whoever won their national title from the previous year. Other countries appointed a team. Canada simply up and had another tournament.Brad Gushue is normally a skip, but he invited veteran -- and I mean veteran (52 years old) -- Russ Howard to lead the young team as skip. In Howard's advanced age, he threw second stones and defeated Jeff Stoughton's team to earn an Olympic berth.On the women's side, Shannon Kleibrink had kind of an off year in 2005 but got hot when it mattered most, beating Kelly Scott 8-7 to go to Torino.2006 OlympicsTeam Gushue and the Newfies cut through the competition when they beat up their opponent in the gold medal game, Finland and everybody's easy-to-spell name - Markku Uusipaavalniemi. Canada had never won gold in curling (kind of a shock) but the country was so thrilled over the game, all of Newfoundland cancelled school that day so the kids could watch the pride of Canada curl against the Finnish on TV.The surprise team -- besides the US -- was the host country Italy. Young Joel Retornaz became a national rock star for a couple weeks, with the high point of the games being their extra-end victory over Canada.The USA behind Pete Fenson won the bronze medal game over David Murdoch and the UK, giving the Americans their first ever medal -- men's or women's -- in Olympic curling.But what made these Olympics so special for the USA is not simply that they finally won a medal. NBC took a chance and showed live curling on its sister channel USA Network. They even bumped Jim freakin' Cramer on CNBC in lieu of tape-delayed curling. But I think it paid off because the sport received a rather large boom - even bigger than when the Olympics were in Salt Lake.On the women's side, Team Sweden led by veteran Anette Norberg beat Switzerland and Mirjam Ott in the finals. Kleibrink and Canada finished third. The U.S. women led by Cassie Johnson, despite all the attention they got from guys like me, didn't do so well, winning only 2 games out of 11.My curling yearThis was my first year playing in a curling league of any sorts. In college I worked nights at the newspaper so I was unable to make it to league nights. But this year I made the most of it. If I was in town, I was at the Bowling Green State University Ice Arena every Thursday night. People of all ages -- high school to senior citizen -- were in the league. Our team won a handful of games, and I can't recall our overall record (you tend to forget such minor details when you suck) but our team picked up some good advice from the veteran players. Personally, I improved my delivery and feel more comfortable throwing the rock. I improved my sweeping on the left side of the rock. And we picked up even more strategy in terms of what to throw when the ice is acting up, or whether or not we have last rock advantage.I also got more in tune with the social aspect of the game. After each match, the two teams sit down and eat together. This is the most unusual yet rewarding facet of the game, and few other sports leagues do this on a regular basis.U.S. college curlingThe collegiate level isn't widely reported, namely because there is no varsity curling in the United States. The regional and national tournaments are predominately for exposure and to get the college-aged audience exposed to the game. But winning or even placing in these things is pretty remarkable, because in the past couple years the sport has boomed.In 2002 I was on one of four teams in the first annual Great Lakes College Curling Regional Tournament. Three of those teams were from Bowling Green. In 2006 there were 14 teams from three different states. The schools in attendance besides BGSU were Michigan State, Ohio State, Miami University, Tennessee, Oakland University, Lawrence Tech and Michigan.This was the first year I was not eligible to play in the tournament (that whole I-have-a-diploma-and-a-real-job thing kinda took me out of the running) but I did watch my team participate at the tournament at Detroit Curling Club. Our team did quite well two years ago at DCC - we finished third out of seven teams. This year they only had three players. I usually play vice, so my college roommate/skip made our normal second the vice for the tournament, and they found a new girl (with about a month experience) to fill in as lead. So they were undermanned from the get-go, but that didn't stop them from winning their first two games against Lawrence Tech and Miami to advance to the semifinals. With a chance to tie or even take the lead on the last shot, they just came up short against eventual champions Oakland. The next day those guys won the bronze qualifier game against yet another Lawrence Tech team but simply ran out of gas against the same Miami team they beat the previous day. Had they had one more sweeper (i.e, if I decided to stick around for a fifth year in college) they may have fared better. But fatigue set in and they lost pretty bad, finishing fourth overall. But it tugs at my heart a little bit to watch those guys play awesome for the first four games yet not be able to join them on the ice.At the national college championship in Chicago, the University of Washington defended their title.World Curling ChampionshipsThe women's curling championships were held in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. Again, Sweden and Anette Norberg showed their dominance in the sport by beating the United States and Debbie McCormick, a former world champion herself. Canada took third place.The men's championships, held in Lowell, Massachusetts, were won by David Murdoch and Scotland, who beat the Quebec native Jean-Michel Menard and Team Canada. Norway, no longer under the reign of veteran curler Pal Trulsen, took third place.Lasting impressionsThe sport continues to grow in Europe and the Americas. In the U.S. clubs seem to be popping up at the weirdest places -- even Arizona. Find a club near you and find out when they have an open house. They're some of the most inviting people in the world who don't care who they show how to play.A lot of countries improved in world competition, notably the U.S., Italy, Finland. New Zealand seems like a dark horse in the next couple of years (no reason, just a hunch, plus we need a Pacific team to do something big soon). Right now Canada's men and Sweden's women are the two powerhouses. But Canada, obviously, has the most depth of any country. Year in and year out, their national championship is likely the battle for the world championship.Now that the season's over I can focus on baseball. And when the World Series ends, curling starts up again. So you can take a wild guess what I'll be doing come November.

My Excellent Curling Adventure

Mary K. Williams — Fri, 7 Apr 2006 00:23:25 EDT

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.Right after "The Star Spangled Banner" ended, the players took to the ice to stretch out. That alone was an interesting scene. Seeing all the curlers gliding across the sheet in that funky low down - parallel to the ice - throwing stance was kind of amazing. It almost had the feel of synchronized swimming; there was a certain grace exhibited, to be sure.Also, there was something about that clunk of one rock hitting another one. I love that sound! It's a bit like the smack of billiard balls hitting one another. Fittingly, because curling has been likened to both billiards and chess. It's a simple game in design, but very difficult in execution. Also, each play is different from the one before, in tempo and temperament. In basketball, or hockey for example, you see variations of the same thing, not that these sports aren't exciting to watch, but pretty much the speed will remain the same, fast. In one respect, curling could be compared to baseball. Some plays are slow, a player might walk on base, or even if someone hits a home run, he'll take his bases slow and leisurely. Other times, speed is crucial to a win or loss. In curling, you could have a fast hard throw of the rock down the sheet, in hopes to either knock the opponent's rock out of the way, or to place yours exactly in the button. Other times, the rock will get a softer throw, and the sweepers simply act as escorts, keeping the same pace as the rock, not too fast, not too slow, when suddenly the skip will start yelling, and the sweepers start brushing..."Hard, hard, hard!" Then they slow down, watching the rock, then speed up again until they manage to get the rock exactly in the right spot. Incredible.Though we were able to watch all four games at the same time, USA and Ireland was the match-up we were all most interested in. Wouldn't you know, they wound up tied at the 10th end. When the teams went into the 11th overtime end, USA had the hammer, which means the advantage of throwing the last rock. They deftly used this to their advantage, winning the end, and the game.Currently USA is in 2nd place, right behind Scotland.What's even better is that BOTH my sons enjoyed it as well. The 17-year old had complained quite vigorously all the way leading up to the 4:00 start time, but when it was all said and done, he was the last one who wanted to leave. He, and the rest of us, had a great time.UPDATE: USA has slipped to fourth, 7W, 4L out of 11 draws. Scotland is in first place, 9W and 2L, Canada and Norway rest at second and third, 8W, 3L and 7W, 4L, respectively.

Mary K. is a freelance entertainment writer living in the Greater Boston area. She pens CD reviews for Metronome Magazine and is a former Features Editor for Hot Psychology Magazine. Mary K. has also contributed to the anthology, Brewed Awakenings.