Off-Topic Forum

jupiterhill,

Simple rules forbeginners:

1. teams are made up of 4 players, Lead, Second, Third and Skip. They each throw (slide) 2 rocks from the hack (foot grooves in the ice for a push off) one end towards the other end.  The rock must cross the far end's hog line in order to stay in play.  If it crosses the back line completely (using the largest circumference of the rock) or if it hits the side bumbers of the rink, it is out of play.

2. The last team scoring throws the first rock.  Obviously having the hammer (the last rock to be thrown) should be an advantage. Strategy is with the hammer, you want toscore 2 ormorepoints.  Without the hammer, you wouldlike to force the other team toscore only one point. Points are scored by the rock(s) closest to the center pin in the rings. You get a point for every rock closest to the pins than the opponent's closest rock.  A rock that is just on the edge of the circles (a millimeter counts and yes they have a somewhat sensitive sophisticated measuring device to see if it is actually touching the rings) counts if it is closer than any opponenet's rocks).

3. They play 10 ends. Team with the most points wins.  A team may give up after lesser ends if they accept defeat knowing they can't catch up.

4. The ice surface is "pebbled" so as to make the rocks glide easier and allows the turn in the rocks to move the rocks left to right or right to left depending on the turn. In throwing the rocks, a player will put a spin on the rock (not a huge spin but a gentle turn in the rock). If the player is asked to turn his / her elbow into his body, it is an in-turn; turning your elbow outwards is an out-turn. The player will aim for the broom that the  skip holds at the other end of the rink. Though the skip may want to have the rock end up on the right side of the centerline, he will hold the broom where the rock should be aimed at to take account of the curling the rock will do with the spin put on it. This is called the ice that the skip is giving for the shot. A rock thrown to stay on its own in play either in front of the house (the rings) or in the rings, will be thrown slower and therefore curl more so moreice is given by the skip.  A rock thrown to knock out an opponents rock or to raise one's own rocks forward will be thrown with more velocity and therefore curl less so the skip will give less ice.

5. A guard is a rock placed in front of the house to protect a rock in the house or to provide protection to a future rock to be curled around it.

6. The sweeping done by the two players (they actually used to use corn brooms that is why it is called sweeping) will heat up the ice in front of the rockand allow it to slide further. Sweeping can drag a rock a long way as well as help it stay straight to get around a guard.

I think this is enough to at least get started in understanding the game and the lingo you will hear from the broadcasters and analysts. Hope it helps. It is a good game to watch and harder to be good at than some people think.

Spoken like a true Curler.  You should be on telecast helping people who don't know  why they do what they doing.   

Watching womans hockey a little  and I wonder if  girl that plays for Korea, why does she wears PARK on name panel  but they call her Marissa Brandt.  Her sister Hannah, plays for USA team.  I had to go look it up online  The color commentor to busy saying everything but why and how   even 
"we are  live  from Korea".  1 PM in EST is 3 AM at Olympics.  No wonder they looked sluggished

I wonder in in 1984  the Italian Goal keeper  had an Irish name. He was born and raised in USA,  played in minors AHL, but because his grandmother was born in Italy, and never played in international games on an USA  team, he could play for italy  when they needed a goalie on short notice. 

Played when I was young and in school. Watched it on TV during the 70s when it was a game on Saturday afternoon and before it was such big money that players could live off their winnings every year, till recently when I got rid of satellite / cable. (Miss seeing Jennifer Jones in the hack ready to shoot.) 

A simple game to understand; a difficult game to master.

Yup, great write up sandy and an even better tag line at the end. Much easier to watch, on that not though JR says he wants to try it now. Nothing would make me happier!! Good Canadian kid LOL. Quiet night last night, Mr White was fun to watch for sure but after that I fell asleep.

The big story this morning in the US is not Shaun White winning his third gold medal but he dragged the flag on the ground and was "disrespecting" the flag. What garbage that is. Everyone needs to stop being so sensitive. He was so excited and emotional. He wasn't paying attention to the ridiculous "rules of the Flag". White just won a gold for our country, give him a break!

I just finished watching the Denmark vs. Sweden women's curling, and don't understand the score. Sweden had 7 points and had one stone in the circle, Denmark had two stones but only three points. Did anyone watch it and can explain why? I did miss the first couple of minutes. Bruno, I'm looking at you, that was a great help. 

I agree about Shaun White. By the so-called rules of the flag wearing it as a cape as they do is also illegal but nobody whines about that.

Billy, only the rocks closest to the center of the circle count in any one end.  Your team could have all 8 of your rocks in the circles but if the other team has the one closest to the center, you don't count anything. I did not see the game, only the final score of 9-5 Sweden.

Thanks for that great write up.  I remembered some stuff from 4 years ago, but I did learn from the telecast the surface is pebbled.  I kind of got the hang of it pretty quick, I'm just glad I got to watch it.  OAR conceded the game after the 7th end which was probably for the better as it seemed GBR was a much better team.

As for Shaun White, I didn't hear about him dragging the flag, which does sadden me, but if he didn't purposely do it, I'll get over it.  I am a little peeved how he brushed off the sexual abuse allegations that was brought back up after he won, calling it gossip.  It would have to be a bit more than that if he settled out of court last year.

Though, I'm just ready for bobsledding to commence.

I saw it live, and cringed as I watched him drag the flag low on the ground and continue to step on it with every other step.  As a military veteran with a life-long affliliation with the Army, it stuck out like a sore thumb to me.  I wondered if he even realized what he was doing and whether it was intentional or not.  I've never seen anything like that before.  I agree that there's a lot of hypersensitivity, but it's not with disrespect for the flag, however, it seems to have a lot more to do with everything being considered racist or sexist.  As a minority myself that grew up in numerous states in all 4 corners of country, the hypersensitivity I see is with everything being considered racist or sexist, or some other kind of -ist.  Milk is racist?  Who's being sensitive.

These people are saying that they are not disrespecting the military, when they're kneeling on the field during the National Anthem, but that exactly what they're doing.  Why don't they continue kneeling during other Anthems.  No, we should not worship idols, but that flag is what we use to symbolize everything that America stands for.  Our military is taught from DAY 1 to pay the upmost respect for that flag, and they'd better know the rulebook in what to do in every situation when that flag is encountered in daily life or they could find themselves in deep $h!t.  It is carried into battle, and draped across their dead bodies when they come home.  It is saluted every morning with reveille and every evening with retreat.  If showing respect for the flag becomes an option, our military would quickly become demoralized by having to show respect something they don't believe in really fast.  

I served in the Army so that "Americans" can continue to live free as "Americans" in their own country.  I did not serve so that Anti-Americans can overthrow our country because they have a citizenship and don't want this country to be America anymore.  Thats the distinction.  Good parents don't have children so that their kids can grow up to hate their parents, their parent's history, and everything their parents ever stood for.  "Oh, that's okay; that's why I became a parent".  That's not why patriotic Americans serve in the military either.

Snowboard dude should apologize, and say that he didn't realize what he was doing if it was unintentional.  

He never once stepped on the flag. Dragged it behind yes, but never on top of it. Collapsing on top of it is not stepping on it, unless you are specifically trying to find something to whine about and imagine some slight to a group that's not related or relevant in any way.

It's not a good look, but it's not what some people are imagining it to be, either. 

Something similar happened to Brad Keselowski last year or the year before. He was celebrating a win and the flag blew out of his hand. He immediately stopped, got out of the car and picked it up and cleaned it off, yet people still whined about him "disrespecting" the flag. Some people are not happy unless they are whining about nothing.