The internet (and what passes for the local media in Duluth) have been highly critical of the men’s Olympic performance, and have singled out John Shuster in particular. The “John Shuster sucks” meme is just another sad example of how the anonymity of the internet encourages bullies. The labels applied to Shuster are inaccurate, but fortunately they won’t stick. Anyone remember Star Wars Kid? Keyboard Cat? Sarah Palin?
I thought not. The internet phenomena of today will be forgotten tomorrow. Meanwhile, John Shuster will still be curling competitively, winning some games and losing others. The facts are that he is young, he’s a really good curler, and despite a statement made in frustration to the contrary, he does not “hate this stupid game”.
For a more detailed account of Shuster’s history and future, please read the post on the MonkeySee blog by Linda Holmes, “Being John Shuster“. It is a great story.
According to the New York Times, the gilded dipshits who were so busy driving our economy into a ditch a couple years ago have taken a shine to our favorite sport. Is this good for capitalism, or bad for curling?
I don’t think anyone who has ever, you know, actually curled, would call it a “slow-poke game”. This is journalism, apparently. Well done Eric Dash! But for real examples of curling stories that are both slapdash and mean spirited, its tough to beat the Duluth News Tribune.
OK, if you’ve curled at the Duluth Curling Club recently, you are probably aware of the, um, strange dark stripe on sheet 6. The question for today is: What should be the preferred term for the odd topography on sheet 6?
1) The Trough
2) The Valley of No Return
3) The Valley of Occasional Return
4) The Run Away, Then Come Back, Then Run Away Again
5) The Bermuda Wang-Dangle
6) Super Pick
7) The Half Pipe
8) Sixth Avenue East
Ice making at the Duluth Curling Club is back on track after a brief mechanical setback, and it should be ready for rocks in time for league play.
A team of Duluth Curling Club members worked on cleaning up some of the accumulated grime on Monday night, and the club’s appearance is much improved (as long as the lights are kept dim).
Finally: Attention gum chewing curlers– the bottoms of the tables and chairs in the club lounge are not appropriate places to dispose of you unwanted gum.
Chinese skip Fengchun Wang and German skip Andreas Kapp sweep in the house in draw 2.
We made it back to Duluth after watching the first three draws of the 2008 World Men’s Curling Championship in Grand Forks, ND. I sure wish we could have stayed all week– it was curling heaven. The meticulously prepared ice set against the opulence of the Ralph Engelstad Arena served as a fitting stage for an event featuring the best curlers in the world. Click the “more” link below to see a ton of pictures from the trip. . .
Toronto Globe and Mail sportswriter Bob Weeks is preparing a new book and is looking for tales of curling conflicts that escalate to violence. It seems implausible, but apparently it happens. If you have witnessed or participated in curling related fisticuffs, and would like the story to be immortalized on the printed page, send it to Bob Weeks.
Al Cameron also writes about the darker side of the roaring game in his latest post, in which he discusses ways to cheat in curling. Thankfully, violence and cheating are not nearly as prevalent in curling as they are in other sports, particularly other sports that are played on sheets of ice. That may be why accounts of such aberrant curling behavior are so tantalizing.
Curling was nonexistent on television in the U.S. prior to Dec. 23, 2007. On that day, NBC broadcast the Korbel Elite Challenge, an exhibition match against Sweden’s Peja Lindholm and Bemidji’s Pete Fenson which took place in Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Visually, the broadcast was great, with Rockefeller Plaza decked out in holiday splendor and the skyscrapers framed by a bright blue sky.
In contrast, the game was pretty disappointing, mainly but not entirely due to the ice conditions. The sheet was outdoors, and despite damage control by icemakers, it was not immune to warm weather and rain on the days leading up to the match. There were numerous hogged rocks and missed easy takeouts, even in the later ends. It wasn’t real fun to watch a professional curler shrug his shoulders and laugh after delivering a rock. But there were other issues besides the ice, such as only playing six ends in a two and a half hour broadcast, and one of the two color commentators having seemingly no clue how the game is played.
After the surprising success of NBC’s coverage of curling in the Torino Olympics, couldn’t they have done a better job than this? The location was an interesting choice, and made for good holiday visuals, but if they insisted on outdoor ice, they could have also insisted that it be filmed later in the year, when below freezing temperatures are more reliable. For our one chance to see curling on the big screen this year, NBC and Korbel could have done a lot better.
Here’s a YouTube video of the setting– and a hogged shot:
