Curling sheets - Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010

So I’m watching Ice Hockey, and it’s the big one … US versus Canada.  What a game! I still can’t believe we won, but I’ll damned sure take it.  For me it’s almost as much fun as watching Rugby, and in the case of hockey, I can understand why they wear so much padding.  Anyway – I’m watching hockey, and they switch on me to “curling.”  My first reactions  - – - “Giant shuffleboard – come on, get serious – an Olympic sport?  Then I began watching it more closely and became mesmerized.

I couldn’t understand much at first, but the air began to clear, and it became very interesting.  Of course, being the obsessive that I am, I immediately began researching curling, even as I was looking at it on the telly, and became even more intrigued. Now I have a whole new vocabulary:  bump, a slider shoe, free guard zone, hammer, blank end, stealing, a biter, burn, and so many more.

Alas, I know curling has been around in Scotland since like the sixteenth century, in the US since the early 1800s, and an Olympic official sport since 1998, but it never perked my attention until I saw it in the Vancouver Olympic Stadium.

I love learning about new things…at least new to me…   Curling – - – who knew?