Curling thread

[lazarus]

it's on USA network right now (started at 9 am on the left coast). I missed the opening due to errands, but the Germans are looking good vs the US right now.

[SidDithers]

1. Norway have the best pants...

:)



Sid

[joeybee12]

2. How do you win? With the most curls or the best curls?

[madinmaryland]

3. Isn't it like shuffleboard on ice??

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Yeah, I Think So

They even measure the distance of the stones from the center of the target, don't they?
GAC

[lazarus]

6. they did that a couple of ends ago

had a fancy device out there for precise measurement. The Germans were 1/2 inch closer than the Americans.

It's much more than shuffleboard because of at least two factors. First, the stone curls or bends its path based on how much spin the thrower puts on it. Leading to second, the sweepers can affect the curl and the path on the way to the house. There's a lot of strategy and skill in this sport.

I think some may not like it due to its turn-based system. It's almost like chess. I find it exciting, though.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. I Thought I Saw That Right

The thing is laser based. The commentators described it when i was watching. This wasn't the olympics, but some other time, like on Versus or something.
GAC

[murphyj87]

61. Measuring device

The measuring device that I saw them use in Vancouver is definitely mechanical like all the ones used in clubs across North America. If if it were a laser device, the supervisor doing the measurement wouldn't have to adjust it. There was an adjustment knob of that measuring device, so it was mechanical.

[ProfessorGAC]

86. Had to Have Been Something Different

The thing i saw was using measurements to the 0.1 mm, and nobody was actually measuring anything. The judge put something down on the ice (i'm guessing a reflector) and the measuring system must have been above the circle.

I didn't actually see anybody measuring with a tool, simply that the judge would put this thing down, and a few seconds later the nearly exact distances were announced. That's why i guess laser. But, what you saw is not what i saw on that curling championship show.
GAC

[murphyj87]

97. Maybe it was

Maybe it was a laser tape measure, for what they call a "skill based tie breaking" system. Each player on the team attempts to draw closest to the button and the distances are measured (perhaps with the laser device) and the four distances are totalled for a team total. This is used to determine rankings, when there are multiple ties and equal records among the teams. As an example, if there were a three way tie for fourth place, and each team was 1-1 against each other, then the team that has the lowest total distance from the button gets the bye to tie breaker 2, while the other two teams play in tie breaker 1. The winner of tie breaker one plays the team that was ranked higher in tie breaker two and then the winner of tie breaker two plays the third place team in the Page 3-4 game.

[MadBadger]

5. Americans arent looking very good right now.

[Onceuponalife]

8. What is that weird stick they hold out to the side?

Is that for balance or to make sure your toss is lined up?

[lazarus]

9. that's a broom

they all rotate throwing and sweeping. I don't know why they keep holding the broom while throwing, though.

[charlie and algernon]

10. it's probably for balance

you wobble just a bit and your shot can be thrown off.

[caraher]

11. yes, it's balance

When you deliver a stone, one shoe has a teflon bottom making it incredibly slippery. Because you're trying to deliver the stone with the right rotation you don't want to lean on it; you just want to release it. So to be stable you need 3 support points, and those are your (slippery) foot tucked beneath you, the toe of the foot on your trailing leg and your broom.

I've done a few beginner's curling clinics... the hardest part is not falling over as you shift your weight pushing off from the "hack." Some curlers use a "stabilizer" rather than a broom; it's a little 3-legged thing with a handle that's a bit easier to use for the 3rd support "point" than a broom, but purists consider the broom the only acceptable choice.

[murphyj87]

112. Marvin Wirth

The only guy that I have seen who delivers a stone without a brush during a game was/is Marvin Wirth, who was second for Alberta when I was coaching the Nova Scotia team at the Canadian Mixed in Summerside in 1987. He also was on the Alberta team that won the Canadian Senior in 2005, and is playing third for Alberta in the Canadian Senior going on now in Ottawa.

[njlib]

12. Men are on CNBC now

and it's not looking good for them!

I became a fan during the last Olympics and wish I understood the rules and scoring better.

[fishwax]

13. but they're coming back now -- they've stolen points in back-to-back ends

And it's all tied up after 6. :woohoo:

[njlib]

14. Remarkable comback!!!

Best match I've seen so far!! Hope they can win the game, then the women get rolling!!

[fishwax]

15. d'oh! Missed the chance to win it in the 10th end

Extra End-ings! :woohoo:

[MadBadger]

16. Shuster blows it again

[Condem]

17. They choked like chickens!

Watched the final 3 (what do you call them?)frames. Sound was off. Up 6-4. I assume we're done.

[Upton]

18. They sure did..

right after one of the commentators said the team leading going into the final end won some 90+% of the time..

[Condem]

19. Aaaah. End.

Thanks, Upton.

[njlib]

22. Question

Why is Shuster getting the blame for blowing it? Don't the sweepers influence the speed and, to a certain extent, direction of the curl? I understand the thrower puts a spin on the rock and adjusts the speed at which he releases, but doesn't the rest of the team also control the rock?

Women should be coming up on CNBC, but NBC's back to short track speedskating...looks like I'll be flipping back & forth for the rest of the night.

[murphyj87]

33. Executive responsibility

For the same reason that a CEO may end up taking the blame for a mistake a clerk has made. Often a skip's miss is mostly caused by a miss by someone else earlier in the end. It may not even be an open miss but can be as simple as having a draw earlier in the end come behind the tee line, allowing the opponent to freeze to it in such a way that the skip can't blast it out of there.

[caraher]

20. Scoring is simple

Once the last rock is thrown, the team with the rock closest to the "button" (the dot in the center of the rings) scores. The number of points equals the number of rocks in the rings closer to the button than the nearest rock of the other team. If nobody has a stone in the rings (aka "the house") then neither team scores.

[njlib]

21. Ahh, OK

Thank you! It's such an interesting game!

[murphyj87]

29. Sweeping and stop watches

What sweeping does is to create a thin film of water (melting the ice) which causes the running surface of the stone to dig in less. Sweeping does not speed up a stone. What sweeping does is to have the stone slow down less quickly (which also keeps it straighter with hit weight).

In using a stop watch, maybe counter-intuitively, the keener the ice is, the longer it takes to go down the ice (actually, the longer it takes to slow down). If a stone takes 23 seconds from hog line at the throwing end to stop, if the ice gets keener, it may take 25 seconds from hog line at the throwing end to stop.

Sweepers also use a stopwatch to gauge the speed of a stone. Timing for sweeping is done from the back line to hog line at the throwing end. Assuming the 25 second ice we discussed before, a draw would be 3.8 seconds back line to hog line at the throwing end. A guard would be 4.0 seconds back line to hog line at the throwing end. Normal hit weightr would be 3.2 seconds back line to hog line at the throwing end. If you're looking for 3.8 seconds for a draw and you get 3.9 seconds, the stone is light and needs to be swept. If the time you get on a draw is 3.7 seconds back line to hog line at the throwing end it's about 4 feet heavy.

If you hear a front end player talking about 80, it means 3.80 seconds back line to hog line at the throwing end. The 3 is understood... unless it gets up to, say, 10, it means 4.10.

[MadBadger]

23. Shuster blows it again.

[Jimbo S]

25. Ugh, what a horrible match to watch

My first curling these Olypmics and I doubt I'll make an effort to watch Schuster again.

Ninety minutes of my life I won't get back.

[fishwax]

27. I missed most of today's match, but came in for the last couple of ends

Saw Shuster make a great throw on the last rock in the 10th, and even though the other skip made the shot he needed anyway, I thought maybe Shuster had shaken off the demons. Then he blows it in the extra end.

I feel your pain about the time invested, though. I was pretty pissed at yesterday's fiasco, after being riveted for a couple of hours and putting off errands I needed to run, only to have it end with the US team blowing the lead after fighting so hard to get back in it.

Ah, sport. :shrug:

[MadBadger]

24. I'm starting to think that the US Skips (Mens and Womens) are spies for other countries

LOL, not really. But they sure do know how to fuck things up.

[Condem]

26. Hey, everybody.

Quit pretending you like this shit. As long as it takes to play 10 ends, you can watch a college football game. I say no more.

[fishwax]

28. pretty tough to watch college football in February, Condem

:)

[murphyj87]

30. Strategy - Men vs Women

There tends to be, with few exceptions, a difference in strategy between men's and women's curling. Strategy in men's curling tends to be more complex, mostly due to the fact that men can throw bigger weight and make 10 to 15 foot runbacks which few women can make (Jill Officer an exception). Wayne Matheson, a 3 time skip of PEI at the Brier, level 3 coach, and level 4 official, and a clinical psychologist by profession, put forth a controversial theory a while ago which said that the difference in strategy between men and women is due to the fact that women have two speech centers in the brain, while men have one speech center, and where women have a second speech center, in men it is used for three dimensional thinking. Wayne claimed to be able to tell whether a PET scan belonged to a man or a women solely by the use of these two centres within the brain.

[murphyj87]

31. States

Most US men's, women's, junior men's, and junior women's champions have come from Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Washington (state) , Massachusetts, and New York. In 1989, the US women's champions who went to world championships were from Houston Texas, although a couple of them were expatriate Canadians who had won Canadian championships but were working in Texas. The current US Olympic women's team has two Canadian born players, skip Debbie MacCormick (Winnipeg) and third Allison Pottinger (Otterburn Park, 20 minutes outside of Montreal).

http://www.maritimecurling.info

[murphyj87]

73. My Mistake

I remembered that Wally Henry had curled in Winnipeg for many years, but I guess he moved to Saskatoon and Debbie Henry (McCormick) was born there, and moved to Madison, Wisconsin at a young age.

[murphyj87]

32. Curling Strategy

Basic strategy is that the team without last rock sets up front stones toward the centre of the sheet. The team with last rock plays stones to the side of the sheet. A team with last rock and looking for two or three points will set up two corner guards (to a side or the two sides of the sheet) and try to maintain those until third's last rock (unless an miss creates an opportunity earlier). Third's last rock is generally the "action rock" where a team will make an offensive move when attempting to score two or more with last rock or to steal (i.e. score without last rock).

[joeybee12]

34. Stop! are you trying to make us actually learn something????

:hi:

[murphyj87]

35. Sorry ;-)

I guess it comes from being a national level curling coach and world level official.

[joeybee12]

36. Just kidding...it's interesting...

..I, probably like most people, only hear about curling every 4 years.

[murphyj87]

37. Oh I know

I know you were kidding. Sometimes I get carried away having played in games for 47 years and coached for 39 years, but threw my first stone at age 3, and coached at 5 Canadian national championships.

[SidDithers]

38. Martin and Morris were throwing some big weights last night against France...

was a fun draw to watch, lots of rocks in play :)

Sid

[murphyj87]

39. After Kevin got up 9-2

They were just running everything.

[MadBadger]

40. USA USA!!

[Iggo]

41. Kick

Curling!

Yay!

[joeybee12]

42. Stop that!

Whoops!

[Iggo]

43. Okay.

Whoops.

[fishwax]

44. U.S. men just won their second in a row

Jason Smith was the last to throw and had to draw to the button in the extra end, and he did it. U.S. is now 2-4.

Shuster was benched during the last game and was back on the team this game, but throwing third instead of last.

[alfredo]

48. That was a good match. My wife has become a fan. She yells

at the TV (Mostly at Shuster).

She doesn't dis me anymore when I want to watch curling.

[elleng]

45. Watching curling first time ever, Brit v. U.S. women.

I hope I can learn something!

[MaineDem]

46. That was a great game!

Congrats to the US women.

[elleng]

47. Yes, congrats!

WTH happened????

[njlib]

49. Both have won two games in a row

Hopefully they'll continue their winning streaks! After such dismal starts, it would be nice to see them finish strong!

[lazarus]

50. earlier, watched Canada vs Great Britain

men's curling. Wow, those teams are light years ahead of the US. Remarkable shots every end. The US has no chance against these two teams.

[Iggo]

51. Hammerfall -- Hearts On Fire (Curling Version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL9mlqbG5CU

[alfredo]

52. Virtual Curling online game

http://www.mousebreaker.com/games/virtualcurling/

[fishwax]

53. well, the tournament is over for the men's team

They just conceded to China in the 9th end. Pretty disappointing tournament -- wound up at 2-7.

[Awsi Dooger]

54. "I'm sick of this stupid game"

Shuster, after blowing a key shot late in the China match.

Shuster and Debbie McCormick were the 2010 equivalent of Bode Miller from 2006. Not as publicized, but even more inept. Bode has talent so he was eligible for a rebound. Shuster and particularly McCormick seemed like kids picked last for every team who finally found something they excel at, and that's marvelous, but at highest stage the comparative lack of athletic ability was too much to overcome. I had to laugh every time the bubbly female curling analyst was describing the ideal strategy for Shuster and McCormick on the hammer shot. Can I bet on a miss?

[lazarus]

55. What I found staggering

was the talent gap when we played Canada. You can see that the Canadians pay their curlers (full time for two, part time for two), while we're using amateurs.

[murphyj87]

58. Canadian team

Martin's teams all have jobs. Kevin Martin operates a curling supply store chain. John Morris is a fire fighter. Marc Kennedy is a university student. Ben Hebert is a marketing consultant. Canadian teams get no special funding neyond olympic funding, which US teams get as well. There are no professional curlers in Canada.

[lazarus]

63. huh

they said the skip and vice-skip are full time on the NBC broadcast. :shrug:

[murphyj87]

66. Of the Scottish team (not the Canadian team)

David Murdoch and Euan Byers of the Scottish (Great Britain) team are paid full time to curl.

[lazarus]

67. D'oh!

You're right, it was Scotland. Thanks for the correction, and for your input on this thread. :hi:

[murphyj87]

65. Paid curlers - Scotland not Canada

It's Scotland not Canada that pays two of their team members to be full time curlers.

[fishwax]

56. I remember back in the 2nd or 3rd game of the tournament

the announcers were playing up Shuster's athleticism by touting the fact that he played junior college baseball. I mean, there's nothing wrong with playing juco baseball or anything, but when you're talking about Olympic Athletes, playing on the Hibbing Nine isn't convincing evidence of athleticism. (Disclaimer: the announcer might have been talking about Jason Smith, since they both played at Hibbing Junior College, but I think it was Shuster.)

Shuster's team did much better at the World Curling Championships last year, but this was a disaster. And that match against China was the worst of them all. His misses on potentially game-winning shots last week got a lot of attention, but against China we blew end after end.

[murphyj87]

59. Female curling analyst

I haven't seen it, but read it somewhere, the analyst for NBC is Colleen Jones, 15 time Nova Scotia rep. (Women's and Mixed) and 6 time Canadian women's champion and twice Canadian Mixed champion. I would rate TSN's Linda Moore and Moose Turnbull far higher than Colleen and Danny Digit as analysts.

Needless to say, particularly men's curling has some colourful names. Ron Northcott was "The Owl" because of his black horn rimmed glasses. Barry Fry was "The Snake" because of the big s-curve in his backswing. Brian Cassidy, Head Statistician for the Games in Vancouver and former CCA Head Statistician is "The Mouse" because of his rodent-like front teeth. Bill Robertson, a CCA head official, and I think I saw him as a supervisor in Vancouver, is know as "Shadow" because he can appear and disappear silently and no one notices. Bob Decker, another CCA head official is "The Enforcer". Mike Burns, CCA official photographer is "The Hound". There are hundreds more of them.

[Awsi Dooger]

62. Colleen Jones has generally done a good job

She'll provide her own opinion on proper strategy and doesn't back down when the teams choose another option. She's enthusiastic and handles the light moments well, like listening to the Chinese team needing an interpreter, since they have a Canadian coach. She said every Chinese time out is like half a time out because everything is said twice.

When Gretzky showed up in the booth for one end a few days ago she was obviously beaming and kidded with him a couple of times, asking him to pick the next shot. Gretzky said he was a comparative novice but becoming more and more interested.

I like her because she abuses golf references. Without exaggeration, there have been at least 25. She'll say, "it's just like a left to right putt but you have to get the line and speed exactly correct."

Early in the tournament she used terms without explaining. The play by play guy had to prompt her on definitions several times. But slowly she grasped she was dealing with an American perspective, and has been more dumbed down and specific.

[murphyj87]

68. Colleen

Let's out it this way, strategy was never one of Collen's strong points. Nancy Delahunt (on Colleen's team) usually was the one who had the mind for strategy and kept the team from strategic traps, giving Colleen a nudge when necessary.

[caraher]

75. Colleen Jones is a good broadcaster though

I don't know since I moved away from Detroit, but CBC used to have her do sports and weather on their morning program in addition to curling coverage. Always very upbeat, but without quite crossing the line into irritating

[SidDithers]

70. Ed Werenich - The Wrench ...

we like our Ontario curlers :)

Sid

[murphyj87]

71. Of Course - Ontario nicknames

Yes, "The Wrench" is a good one. Paul Savage was "The Round Mound of the Come Around". Al Hackner is "The Iceman". Glenn Howard is "Cliffy".

[Awsi Dooger]

57. USA women stay within a touchdown in finale

Damn, I wish I had witnessed that collapse, for entertainment purposes. They led 3-0 then I clicked away when it was 3-3. Somehow they turned it into a 10-3 defeat.

Americans can tolerate Olympic mediocrity in obscure individual events. But we expect our teams to be competitive, if not exceptional. From what I understand, there are several "John Shuster Sucks" groups on Facebook. McCormick is more vulnerable looking and seems like a nice lady so she won't be ripped to the same degree, but damn was she pathetic. The USA had a chance to steal a win vs. China this morning until she completely botched a block attempt when the USA was sitting two, and perfectly spaced.

Both American teams finished 2-7. It's stands out because the USA teams (volleyball, water polo, etc.) were excellent in Beijing, and hockey has done very well in Vancouver.

[murphyj87]

60. US Olympic teams

From what I hear, the US is thinking of putting together an "all star" team for the next Olympics. That was tried for the first Olympic curling (1988 as a demonstration sport). There were regular teams and a couple of "all star" teams (put together by the CCA). The bottom line is that the regular teams who played together for years did well and the "all star" teams (like the US says it wants to try) did very poorly.

[Awsi Dooger]

64. The USA selection process will likely be changed

Yesterday NBC interviewed a top guy from USA curling and he said they were looking into different options. I had the same impression, that it would be an all star format. They can't afford embarrassing tidbits like this time, that -- playing as a team -- the men's Olympic squad recently finished second in the Tuesday night league at the Duluth Curling Club

American curling has so little depth that an all star team might make more sense than a hotbed like Canada or Scotland with so many established teams.

The stories of the American team are interesting; sharing a two bedroom apartment for the past year, supposedly spending 97% of their time together. I wish it had worked out but there's so much frustration and anger right now that I'd be shocked if the same approach were used for 2014. I post on golf message boards and football message boards, etc., and every one of them has had multiple threads ripping American curling.

[fishwax]

74. maybe they'll just change the Page Playoff system

Tyler George's team trounced Shuster's team in the draw (9-2) and then beat them in the 1-2 game (6-5) in the playoff round.

But since Shuster's team came out of the lower bracket (the loser of the 1-2 game plays the winner of the 3-4 game for a spot in the winner-takes-all final against the winner of the 1-2 game), then Shuster's one win (10-9) over George's team trumped both George's 9-1 record in the draw and the two earlier victories over Shuster. That structure has never made much sense to me.

But then again you're right about the disparity in the talent pool too. All I know is, after the surprise bronze last time around, a strong performance in these games could have been huge for the sport in the states. On the one hand, it's cool that there is anger about American curling, but on the other hand--oy, what might have been.

[murphyj87]

69. Olympic Curling Playoffs are set

Women's:

Thursday Noon EST. Semis:

Canada vs. Switzerland (Sportsnet)
Sweden vs. China (CTV)

Men's

Wednesday:
Sweden beat Great Britain in the tie breaker for fourth so:

Thurday 7:00 pm EST

Canada vs Sweden (Sportsnet)
Norway vs. Switzerland (TSN)

[murphyj87]

76. Women's Finals

Women's:

Friday

Gold Medal: Canada vs. Sweden (TSN) 6:00 pm EST
Bronze Medal: Switzerland vs. China (Sportsnet) Noon EST

[murphyj87]

79. Bronze Medal Game

After 5 ends

China 6 Switzerland 4

China

WANG Bingyu 90%
LIU Yin 6 95%
YUE Qingshuang 90%
ZHOU Yan 90%

Switzerland

OTT Mirjam 70%
SCHAFER Carmen 93%
KUNG Carmen 80%
GREINER Janine 75%

[murphyj87]

80. Bronze Medal Final

China 12 Switze4rland 6

China

WANG Bingyu 88%
LIU Yin 89%
YUE Qingshuang 83%
ZHOU Yan 84%

Switzerland

OTT Mirjam 59%
SCHAFER Carmen 89%
KUNG Carmen 81%
GREINER Janine 80%

[Awsi Dooger]

81. Ott was horrendous at the end of the bronze medal game

Butchered the final two shots, and conceded 12-6 after 8.

The American curling analyst tried an apologist's role, saying we've learned not to take the easy shots for granted in these Olympics. Colleen Jones broke in and said, "That's when we were watching the USA. Come on."

[murphyj87]

82. Gold Medal Game

Sweden 7 Canada 6 (Extra End)

Canada

BERNARD Cheryl 82%
O'CONNOR Susan 80%
DARBYSHIRE Carolyn 84%
BARTEL Cori 89%

Sweden

NORBERG Anette 78%
LUND Eva 78%
LINDAHL Cathrine 77%
SVARD Anna 90%

[SidDithers]

83. Bernard's numbers aren't bad...

but I bet she wished she had another try with her final stones in both the 10th and 11th.

Was an exciting match, tho.

Now, go Team Martin!

Sid

[murphyj87]

101. Curling Statistics

There are a couple of factors which are not reflected accurately by curling statistics. One is strategy - if a skip calls the "wrong" shot, and the player makes it, they still get 4 out of 4, even though the shot that was called actually works against the team. A second is that often it matters WHEN you miss as much as how many - missing a single draw for an extra point doesn't cost you as much as missing a single draw against 6, yet each is only one miss. As a coach and a statistician, when I look through statistics in preparation for a game, the shot distribution (how many draws versus how many takeouts, how many inturns versus how many outturns etc.), tells me as much, if not more than the simple percentages do.

[murphyj87]

77. Men's Finals

Men's:

Saturday

Gold Medal: Canada vs. Norway (TBA - probably Sportsnet) 6:00 pm EST
Bronze Medal: Switzerland vs. Sweden (TSN) Noon EST

[Dulcinea]

78. Thanks for your insight!

I live in Georgia, so I never see curling except for the Olympics. But my family loves it! We'll probably go through curling withdrawal!

My husband is originally from Buffalo, NY & watched curling on Canadian TV growing up. He understands it. I have a lot to learn, but I like watching it.

[murphyj87]

88. Bronze Medal Game

Switzerland 5 Sweden 4

Switzerland

STOCKLI Ralph 92%
HAUSER Jan 79%
EGGLER Markus 80%
STRUBIN Simon 85%

Sweden

EDIN Niklas 83%
KRAUPP Sebastian 79%
LINDBERG Fredrik 76%
KJELL Viktor 80%

[murphyj87]

89. Gold Medal Game

Canada 6 Norway 3

Canada

MARTIN Kevin 78%
MORRIS John 85%
KENNEDY Marc 95%
HEBERT Ben 85%

Norway

ULSRUD Thomas 72%
NERGAARD Torger 80%
SVAE Christoffer 86%
PETERSSON Haavard Vad 98%

[murphyj87]

90. Gold Medal Record Tied

Kevin Martin's gold medal is Canada 13th, which ties the most gold medals ever recorded in Winter Olympics.

Most gold medals won by a nation at the Olympic Winter Games

13
Canada - 2010 *
Norway - 2002
Soviet Union - 1976

Should Canada defeat the US in hockey tomorrow, it will set a new record of 14 gold medals in a Winter Olympics.

[spoony]

72. I'm going to miss watching the US teams

Since I'm used to rooting for teams that chronically lose, they nestled right up in my heart.

[Awsi Dooger]

84. Cheryl "Van de Velde" Bernard

That may sound cruel but it's not an exaggeration. She had to be a 98% favorite at the point of that simple takeout shot in the 10th. Then she blows it, and blames the ice.

I was pulling Canada all along but other than Sven Kramer in the 10,000 meter speed skating, no one in these Olympics has thrown away a gold medal as blatantly as Cheryl Bernard. They gave a stat prior to the 10th: Bernard was 21-1 when her team led by 2 entering the 10th and the other side owned the hammer. Make it 21-2, even though that 10th evolved perfectly Canada. At one point NBC analyst Don Duguid said it didn't appear Sweden was even trying to score 2, and I couldn't disagree. They didn't even threaten the house until the final two stones.

In the 11th Canada had shot rock and the hammer with three stones remaining. I nearly fell over when Bernard said, "I like the slip," for her next to last shot. There were blocks and narrowest of paths all over the place and instead of applying another one to severely diminish Sweden's chances of maneuvering to shot rock, Bernard intentionally got rid of a block, rationalizing, "I still should have something." I'm a curling novice but it seemed inconceivable Bernard wanted to allow a one on one final rock situation against a woman with a far superior resume including Olympic gold. Colleen Jones has emphasized for two weeks that double hits on the final shot are anything but a guarantee but that's what Bernard essentially chose when gold was at stake.

I'm still in shock it played out that way. Great game but that's going to sting. Bernard could have been a national hero but I just Googled and sure enough, there are posts all over the internet linking her name to the word choke.

[murphyj87]

85. They had that game

They had that game in the bag, but on both the 10th and the 11th it appeared that they either took an inch too much ice or Cheryl came an inch or so outside. The ice had been tracking a bit on the edges of the 8 foot but neither hit was in the area where it tracked. At least they got to the gold medal game. Both Shannon Kleibrink (2006) and Kelley Law (2002) lost in the semi and won the bronze medal game.

[caraher]

87. Yeah, that was mind-boggling

Just an incredible blown shot in the 10th end and really strange choices in the 11th.

[Awsi Dooger]

91. Too bad it wasn't Martin vs. Murdoch

Norway seemed a bit overwhelmed, like a win would be a fluke. Consequently it was a much less compelling game than the women's final.

I don't know much about curling but I got the impression Murdoch is a Phil Mickelson type, erratic but capable of brilliance and someone who would feel he belonged, regardless of stage or opponent.

Congrats to Canada. The crowd singing the anthem during the 10th was bizarre but it came across well. Even the Norway curlers were amused. The Canadian anthem is about 1000 times more catchy and singable than that thing Americans use. Every Canadian sings during the medal ceremony. We're lucky to get an occasional, "...home of the brave," from an American. I wish the Canadian anthem had a different theme other than war based.

Otherwise:

* Too bad Sweden narrowly failed in the men's bronze medal match. I love the aggressive combination takeouts of the Swedish skip.

* I read hundreds of online comments on the women's final, primarily on cbc.com. Consensus was Bernard erred in the 10th by putting too many rocks in play instead of peeling with a two point lead. I think yesterday I called a peel a slip. Actually, my term is just as good. :)

* Those online posts agreed with my impression that Bernard should have blocked on her first stone in the 11th instead of clearing a path for Norberg. You had to put pressure on Sweden and end it right there, on her shot, without dumping the burden on yourself, particularly after you already wobbled on a routine takeout in the 10th. I guarantee in an Olympic final the percentage of a simple takeout or draw would be dramatically lower than typical. That's only natural but I don't think the curlers grasp it.

* Shuster's team will bypass the world championships. Predictable. I was glad Colleen Jones and Don Duguid ripped them for a minute or two, emphasizing how much investment the American curling program had made in that team for the past year.

[Awsi Dooger]

92. John Shuster's Wikipedia page, as it appeared on February 18th

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Shuster&oldid=344885093

"John "chokey mcchokestein" Shuster (born November 3, 1982) is an American choker from Chisholm, Minnesota and Olympic medalist. He received a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.<1>

He participated on the American team at the 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2009 World Curling Championships.

Shuster won the 2010 United States Olympic Curling Trials and is destroying the reputation of the United States at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.
At the 2009 Curling World Championships in Moncton, Canada, Shuster and his team finished in fifth place. They ended the Round Robin portion in a tie for the playoffs; however, they lost to Team Norway in the tiebreaker.

John Shuster has single handedly ruined the USA chances to compete for the gold. He missed 3 final shots that could have been made by a one armed, one legged, brainless monkey.

After the lost to Denmark, Shuster's fiancee officially denounced their relationship, stating that he would have failed as a husband down the line sooner or later."

[murphyj87]

93. From a walk with Sid to being mobbed buying milk, Kevin Martin and his rink getting the star treatme

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1170870.html

THE WORLD’S best curler got the rock star treatment, no pun intended, in Halifax on Friday.

Hundreds of curling fans lined up at the Metro Centre to meet Kevin Martin and his Olympic gold medal-winning team from Edmonton.

Fans sought autographs, photos and a glimpse of the trinkets Martin and teammates Johnny Morris, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert have been toting since they left Vancouver after their gold medal victory over Norway last Saturday.

Martin, nicknamed The Old Bear for his grumpy exterior on game day, was the picture of a jovial champion for fans and the media Friday. Not even two hours could satisfy every fan request, and he said he wished he could have done more.

The team members will stick around for today’s opening draws of the Tim Hortons Brier, which they won the past two years without losing a single game. But they didn’t compete in the provincials this season in order to focus on the Olympics, so Kevin Koe will represent Alberta at the Brier.

The week has been a whirlwind for Martin, who found himself out for an early morning walk on Monday with Sidney Crosby, just hours after the pride of Cole Harbour scored Canada’s overtime winner against the U.S. in the gold medal hockey game.

It’s been that kind of week.

"It’s definitely been interesting the last few days, that’s for sure," said Martin, 43. "We’ll see what happens as time goes on, but you just have to soak it in, enjoy it and cherish it because things like that don’t last forever."

The three-time Olympian — he won silver in 2002 — said he didn’t even know until Friday that he had earned a $20,000 bonus from the Canadian Olympic Committee for winning a gold medal.

He got back to Edmonton long enough to take his medal to show and tell at his eight-year-old daughter’s school. Then it was off to Ontario for more interviews and then on to Halifax.

"To see them that excited was very special, for sure," Martin said of the school visit. "You want to share it with kids that age because hopefully you’re making an impact. Maybe you’re not getting them into curling necessarily, but getting them into sport and healthy choices, that means a lot."

The curlers have even been dealing with celebrity issues since they struck gold. Fans started rocking their van before a television appearance in Vancouver last week, and five-minute trips to the store for milk now take an hour.

Martin said one of his best memories of the Olympics will be the overall spirit within the Canadian team, something he hopes Canada can take forward into 2014 in Russia.

"We were really a tight team," he said. "It wasn’t the same in 2002 or 1992, it was different. Everybody was way more supportive of each other (this year). It was a really good thing to be part of."

He’d like to be competing in Halifax this week, though he said his jangled nerves and bloodshot eyes probably wouldn’t be up to the challenge. He’ll root for Koe.

"We’d love to be out there playing, but we wouldn’t play well," he said. "We’re way too tired. But to be part of it would be great. But Kevin will do great."

Martin reiterated his desire to see the Canadian Curling Association give the defending champion an automatic berth at the Brier as Team Canada. That format is already used in women’s curling.

He said he was excited to learn Friday that the Own the Podium program that allowed Canadian athletes to focus on their training will be extended for two years.

"You can’t argue with the results," Martin said of Canada’s record 14 gold medals in Vancouver.

The Martin foursome has made a commitment for the next two years, but Martin hasn’t even considered another Olympic run in 2014. He believes the rest of the team will continue on long after he retires.

"I’ll be the first one off this team, I just don’t know when that’s going to be," he said. "We had two more years planned, win or lose. That’s as far as I can go right now at my age."

Martin said he cherishes his walk with Crosby, who impresses him with how graciously he handles his adoring fans. He said Crosby reminds him of Wayne Gretzky in that way.

"We ended up walking down the street for about 10, 15 minutes and just talking. It was really good. He’s just a real nice person."

[murphyj87]

94. World Junior

Women's Standings

http://www.waldhausarena-flims.ch/curlingresultate/wjccwoman/te.htm

Men's standings

http://www.waldhausarena-flims.ch/curlingresultate/wjccmen/te.htm

[murphyj87]

99. World Junior Finals

Junior Women

Gold - Anna Hasselborg - Sweden
Silver - Rachel Homan - Canada
Bronze - Alexandra Carlson - USA

Junior Men

Gold - Peter de Cruz - Switzerland
Silver - Al Fraser - Scotland
Bronze - Jake Walker - Canada
USA - Sean Beighton (2-7) tied for 9th

[murphyj87]

95. Wheelchair curling

http://www.vancouver2010.com/paralympic-games/wheelchair-curling/

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/bwcca/

http://wheelchaircurlingblog.blogspot.com/

[murphyj87]

103. Olympic Wheelchair Curling Finals

Gold Medal Game

Canada 8 Korea 7

Bronze Medal Game

Sweden 7 USA 5

[murphyj87]

96. Eight ender video

This is an eight ended scored by former Canadian and World champion Kelley Scott against former Canadian champion Cathy King in one of Canada's top cashspiels on WCT tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC6Dap35B_Y

[murphyj87]

98. World Women's - Swift Current

http://www.seasonofchampions.ca/2010worlds/


Jenn is representing Canada for the third straight year

[murphyj87]

104. Going into last day of the Round Robin

Round Robin Leaderboard_________W_______________L
Canada________________________8_______________1
Scotland_______________________8_______________1
United States___________________6_______________3
Germany_______________________6_______________3
Sweden________________________6_______________3
China__________________________5_______________4
Russia__________________________4_______________5
Denmark________________________4_______________5
Norway_________________________3_______________6
Switzerland______________________2_______________7
Japan___________________________1_______________8
Latvia__________________________1_______________8

US (6-3) plays Sweden (6-3) this morning

Canada (8-1) plays Scotland (8-1) tonight

[murphyj87]

105. Stats Report after Draw 14 (Wednesday Night)

http://www.seasonofchampions.ca/2010worlds/archivedResults/2010%20Ford%20World%20Women%27s%20Curling%20Championship%20-%20Media%20Report%20-%20Statistical%20Report%20for%20Draw%2014.pdf

[murphyj87]

107. World Women's Playoff Set

Page 1 vs 2 Game

Canada vs Germany

Page 3 vs 4 game

Scotland vs Sweden (beat US in a tie breaker Friday afternoon)

[murphyj87]

110. Saturday and Sunday

Germany beat Canada in the 1-2 game.

Sweden plays Scotland this afternoon and the winner plays Canada tonight in the semi-final. The winner of the semi-final plays Germany tomorrow in the final.

[murphyj87]

115. Semi final and Final

Scotland plays Canada in the semi-final tonight. Winner of that game plays Germany in the final tomorrow.

Andrea Schoep, German skip, is playing in her 17th world championship, second to Dordi Nordby of Norway who retired with 18 world appearences.

[murphyj87]

116. World women's Final

Scotland defeated Canada in the Semi-final, so Scotland will play Germany for the World Championship. Sweden and Canada will play for the bronze medal.

[murphyj87]

117. World Women's Wrap up

Germany defeated Scotland in an extra end to win the World Women's curling championship. The 19 year old Scottish skip, Eve Muirhead's last rock overcurled on an attempted guard of shot rock to leave 45 year old German skip Andrea Schoepp a more or less open hit for the win. This was Shoepp's 17th World Women's appearence (one behind Dordi Norby's 18) and her second world championship win, 1988 and 2010, 22 years apart.

Canada defeated Sweden for the bronze medal earlier in the day.

[murphyj87]

100. Brier Final

Alberta (Kevin Koe, Blake MacDonald, Carter Rycroft, Nolan Thiesan) defeated Ontario (Glenn Howard, Richard Hart, Brent Laing, Craig Saville) in an extra end to win the 81st Brier, the 6th in Halifax, and 4th at the Halifax Metro Centre.

The Alberta team now represents Canada at the World Men's Curling Championships in Cortina, Italy Apr. 3 - 11, 2010.

The only member of the Alberta team with international experience is Carter Rycroft, who played second for Kevin Martin at the 2002 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal, when Martin's last draw was 10 inches heavy in the Gold Medal game against Pal Trulsen of Norway.

http://www.seasonofchampions.ca/2010brier/

http://www.maritimecurling.info/

[murphyj87]

102. Curling Hats

http://www.curlinghats.com/

[murphyj87]

106. World Women's Playoffs set

Page 1 vs 2 Game

Canada vs Germany

Page 3 vs 4 game

Scotland vs Sweden (beat US in a tie breaker Friday afternoon)

[Lasher]

108. You would think they would remember to clean off the ice before they start.

Seems like they never do.

[murphyj87]

109. The ice is cleaned ..

The ice is cleaned immediately before the practice and at the 5th end break. If it were needed between the practice and the first end, believe me that Hans Wuthrich, Dave Merklinger, BJ Gagnon and those all those top icemakers would change the protocol to do it.

[murphyj87]

111. Oh, and also..

Also, do you realize that the ice is shaved between games and first thing in the morning too? An Ice King machine has a blade with a tolerance of .003 of an inch and can do anything from clipping the top off the pebble to shaving all the old pebble off. The setting gauge on an Ice King (probably on other brands as well) starts at .003 of an inch and goes up to about .25 of an inch

[Lasher]

113. That can't be right.

Seems like every game you can see people in there sweeping the ice off even while the game is going on.

[murphyj87]

114. The fifth end break ...

The fifth end break of one game may be taking place while the three other games are still in play, as far as the ice makers sweeping the ice is concerned. The TV game is delayed 8 minutes after the other three games start during the round robin... for TSN to do their pregame spot. The three other games start and the TV game is held until the TSN floor director gives the away-end supervisor the signal on the officials' radio frequency or a hand signal (depending on the logistics of the building) and then the away-end supervisor passes it on to the skips for the TV game to start. Theoretically the TV game delay is 8 minutes. So the other three games usually get to their fifth end break (and the ice makers would be sweeping the ice for those games) before the TV game gets to it's fifth end break. It is true that if time is tight between draws (maybe because of an extra end game) the ice makers will start shaving the other sheets while the last game(s) finish.