You really don't like him do you? Well, even though it's a long shot, Kranjec FTW.
Vancouver Olympics Discussion
- Thread starter tomalak301
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I am a 40 year old man who prides himself on a long history of learning and knowing a little bit about everything. And I have no idea what Curling is about. Can someone please tell me what the hell they are doing!?
I'm a competitive curler, and yeah, it confuses a lot of people who have never played before. It's a mixture of skill and strategy. Two teams of four, each player throws two shots, with the ultimate goal being to get rocks of your colour closest to the centre of the rings on the far side of the sheet at the end of each end (round). Only the closest team gets points at the end - one point for each rock closer than the closest opponent rock. The team with the most point after 8 or 10 ends wins.
The purpose of sweeping is to (a) straighten the path of the rock/reduce the amount of curl, and (b) make it go farther. The friction heats the ice just enough to have that effect. I'm not a physicist so can't get too specific how effective it is, but it works.
It's a great social sport. Tradition is after a game you go up to the bar and the winning team buys drinks for the losing team. Most people are surprised by how fun the game is when they finally try it - it's a lot harder than it works, and sweeping is a surprisingly good workout.
That's the nutshell version. Watch a game on TV, you'll either enjoy it or be bored to tears, haha. The commentators are usually quite good at explaining the strategy of the game as it goes on.
I love curling. I've played since I was a kid, but until this year, I had never played at an actual venue. I recently went to the St. Paul Curling Club and it was a lot different than playing on river or lake ice like we normally do (no bumbs to deal with). Anyway, it's a great game. Easy to learn, but a lot tougher than it looks.
You really don't like him do you? Well, even though it's a long shot, Kranjec FTW.
Ammann gets the first gold medal for these Games.
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Boo. 
I'm also sad Uhrmann didn't get a medal, he would've deserved that.
I'm also sad Uhrmann didn't get a medal, he would've deserved that.
This is why snowboarding is my favorite Winter Olympics sport. While the figure skaters are all crying the snowboarders are laughing and smiling and having a good time (and probably passing a fat one around).
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/va...-Japanese-snowboarder-busted-f?urn=oly,219311
I only watched some of it, I was thinking they went alphabetical and the Candaians went at "C", I assume the host nation came last?
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/va...-Japanese-snowboarder-busted-f?urn=oly,219311
I only watched some of it, I was thinking they went alphabetical and the Candaians went at "C", I assume the host nation came last?
For snowboarders that is probably considered a performance enhancing drug.
They did.
But I figured since the United States had the largest contingent of athletes, putting them *before* Uzbekistan was a bad move since it drowned out the latter (i.e. the Uzbek athletes were coming out while the camera was still focused on our people). They should have saved the US *and* Canada for last, because then no one would be - even accidentally - ignored..
They're not going to change tradition for NBC. I'm sure every country airing the opening ceremonies focused on their own county.
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That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
The teams come out in alphabetical order, with the sole exceptions of Greece first and the host country last. But for some reason the US should be granted special dispensation?
Please be assured that the people of Uzbekistan weren't watching the NBC feed.
No, I proposed putting the Uzbekistan athletes *before* the US ones so that we wouldn't drown them out.
I was.
Congratulations to Hannah Kearney for her own redemptive gold medal in women's moguls. We're good and nice hosts with smiles on our faces on the head start by the massive US Olympic team, but only up to a point.
That doesn't excuse the performances of speedskaters Charles Hamelin or Oliver Jean.
That doesn't excuse the performances of speedskaters Charles Hamelin or Oliver Jean.
Personally, I still think the designer of the luge track should be sued for every last dime he has for negligence. That track was designed solely to facilitate the fastest speed possible without proper safety precautions--no padding on the beams in such close proximity to low walls? Low walls when the lugers could accelerate past 90mph? At least four lugers crashed in practice and voiced reservations about the track before Nodar's fatal crash. An inexperienced luger like him was bound to get hurt. Someone's butt ought to be in a sling, but nothing will happen. That last picture of Nodar I saw on the internet blog I came across was horrific.
He was just a kid. His father dreams all his life that his son will follow in his footsteps to medal in luge, and this happens? Terrible.
At least four lugers crashed in practice and voiced reservations about the track before Nodar's fatal crash. An inexperienced luger like him was bound to get hurt. Someone's butt ought to be in a sling, but nothing will happen. That last picture of Nodar I saw on the internet blog I came across was horrific. His left ear was ripped off.
He was just a kid. His father dreams all his life that his son will follow in his footsteps to medal in luge, and this happens? Terrible.
Well, Canada's team is only slightly less massive and the host country typically does well in the Olympics, so I don't think the Canadians need to worry.
Pretty surprising end to men's short track and a fantastic performance by Kearney in women's moguls.
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