Olympic fever is everywhere. If you turn on “regular” TV, AKA non-cable, you can’t get away from it even if you want to. Now, here in Texas it isn’t as big as it is up north where ice hockey is almost a religion. We do have a hockey team in Houston. However, it’s kinda the unloved stepchild of pro sports, attendance wise. The Houston Aeros, average attendance is just over 5,000 people per game, not quite a third of the average crowd for a Houston Rockets game (16,000+).
When I was little I wanted to be an ice skater; but there was only one rink, far, far away from my house. So instead I learned to roller skate and in fact, became quite good. I’d roller skate after school every day. Remember shoes with hard soles and skate keys? My 10th birthday party was at Tradewinds roller rink. My mom gave me a short black velvet skating skirt lined with red satin. It had a little hat to match. I was all that; or sure thought I was that day anyway. Rambling again, sorry. (Where’d I put that Ritalin?)
Anyway, I watch most of the winter Olympics and have the utmost respect for the athletes who have given up so much to be good enough just to participate, much less win; so many hours spent in the rink practicing before school, so many hours in the gym, so many parties not attended; not to mention the chance of serious injury or even death. I’ve ice skated, and I’ve skiied to mixed reviews. (My trip would’ve gone better, had I been better prepared.) I just couldn’t believe that you’d really need upper body strength to ski. I just never thought about what it took to get up after a fall, or in my case, a lot of falls. What can I say? I was young and dumb.
The brings me to the subject de jour. I really hope that I don’t alienate my Canadian readers who I’m depending on to answer this question- what’s up with curling? To me, it looks likes even someone who has a rock solid relationship with their Laz-y-boy while snacking on Cheetos and sipping a Coke could be good at curling if they just have the “touch”. Is it too late for me? Is spending a lot of time in the gym like the skiers do to build up their endurance necessary to be a good curler? I’m certain that the serious curlers do train for many hours to get to the top of their game. But is there ever any real danger involved? Are there curling accidents? I’m ignorant about the sport, I’ll admit. However I think even the curling fans would agree that watching a match doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat like say, watching the downhill.
While reading about curling today, I came upon this clip from the Letterman show. Curling was the subject of one of his “Top Ten” lists. Those who aren’t curling fans will probably like it.
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i use a combo of shea butter and aloe vera moisturizer. Works great. I use shea butter on my lips, around my eyes and nose (dry areas), My father swears by vasoline.
p.s. I dropped your name on Gina's post, Barb. ;)
Curling is often the favorite sport of those who enjoy watching paint dry.
I knew there just had to be a group who was really into it.
I actually watched it for about an hour last week to try and figure out the scoring etc. then decided I would just go on line and figure it out that way….I just can’t figure out what they yell and why they are yelling??
In their defense, I think it takes a lot of mental energy as well as perfect precision, and may be interesting to learn a little more about it, I’m just not sure why it reached the olympics as a game, escept perhaps based in tradition.
Canadian here. Had a great laguh at the David Letterman top ten list. Yes, we do have a sense of humour. Most of us, most of the time….
Tried curling once. Slipped a lot. The rock kept rolling right through the rings, out of play, or would stop way short of the first line and still be out of play. A lot of muscles and joints ached after one hour of ‘trying’ to play. I guess it is a ‘physical’ activity of some sort. Or maybe it’s all the falling I did, might not have been in so much pain had I stayed on my feet. You do need that touch you talk about. Seems it has a lot to do about wrist action, or something. There is also a lot of mental going on too since they ‘discuss’ all the moves they are going to make. Time outs abound. The yelling from me was mostly words I will not repeat and doled out after each fall or when the rock just slid through. They seem to yell as if the rock will turn on its own or something. Sometimes it seems to works!
I have a sister who is a big fan and used to curl. She is all excited about going to see the Canadian finals in March. A Christmas gift from her daughters. I should give her a call, maybe she can enlighten me on the exciting side of this sport.
I guess it’s to each his own. It’s like that sport in England, I think. The one where they have a ball on a stick and they have to hit it (it’s right there on the stick you can’t miss! dah!). I think that’s how it’s played. ‘They’ seem to love it.
I love to watch curling. I too have not figured it all out, but hey, don’t need to ‘understand’ something 100% to know I like it! To me it’s the passion they put into it. And you do have a lot of time to see them be passionate. O.K. They mostly stand around and frown. Look closely at their forheads, you can almost see the little hamster wheel at work.
anir