Gratuitous Sleeper-Hit-of-the-Turin-Olympics Post

"According to a CBC feature, curling at the 2006 Winter Games has drawn 5 million [Italian] viewers, eclipsing ice hockey and figure skating. "

Curling, often described as "chess on ice", is the new black. I got interested in curling during the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, and officially became obsessed this year.

Some links:

• Ardsley Curling Club, where I curl.
• Wiki wiki wiki.
• CurlTV. I kid you not.

And some pics (all descriptions lifted from the USCA website):


Drawback. Pull the rock straight back on the line of delivery and draw back the sliding foot. Simultaneously elevate your hips and draw them back behind the hack. At the peak of the drawback, your body weight is anchored and about evenly distributed on both feet. Your sliding foot is now about toe to heel in relation to your hack foot, with space between. Maintain the rock’s "turn" position.


Release. The rock is released during the last few feet of the delivery. Until that time, your throwing arm remains comfortably flexed and the position of the rock handle is still turned as it was during set-up. Using the good grip established at set-up, turn the handle from the turned position to 12 o'clock as you simultaneously extend your arm. Release the rock cleanly and follow through so that your hand finishes in the "handshake" position. The rock should rotate about two and one-half times during a draw shot.


Sweeping. The more speed and pressure applied to the broom, the more friction is generated to affect the ice surface. But it’s impossible to achieve maximum speed and pressure at the same time. When a rock is first released, most curlers cannot move the broom across the same spot on the ice more than once because the rock is moving too quickly. The focus should be to put as much pressure as possible on the broom. However, when a rock is coming into the house, rapid sweeping will allow the broom to be swept repeatedly across a given spot. So, as the rock slows down, increase the speed of the brush head and "finish" the rock.