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.

-Andy Skildum

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.

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

Vote or add more suggestions in the comment section.

In Japan, curling is very popular among cape wearing shellfish.

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. . .

The Ralph Engelstad Arena is absolutely beautiful, from the brick exterior to the stone floors in the mens’ rooms.  Every seat is upholstered in leather, with cherry armrests– very comfortable!

An army of ice technicians prepare the ice before the first draw on saturday.

Before the draws, the teams paraded out behind their flags.  At each draw, one country’s national anthem was played while a video showing scenes from the homeland played on the scoreboard.  Here we see the Chinese team being honored before the first draw.

US Skip Craig Brown discusses the shot with his teammates in the game against the Czech Republic in the third draw.  Brown had some trouble finding his draw weight in this game, and gave the Czechs a couple steals.  The Czechs won 7-6.

Brown watches his sweepers carry the rock in draw three.

China fielded a good looking young team.  This shot shows Jialang Zang, Xiaoming Xu, Riu Liu and skip Fengchun Wang getting ready before their game against Germany in draw 2.  China stuggled and only scored in two ends, losing 11-5.  They are currently in the middle of the pack with two wins and three losses.  Considering the youth of their Men’s team and the outstanding performance of their Women’s team in the Worlds a couple weeks ago, China has a bright future in world curling.

Chinese third Liu delivers versus Germany in the third draw.

Australian skip Hugh Milliken watches the rock closely in their game against Sweden in the second draw.  Sweden won 6-5.

The Aussies consider strategy in the second draw versus Sweden.  They may have the coolest jerseys in world curling.

Kevin Martin’s unstoppable juggernaut beat Denmark 9-3 in the second draw.  The scoreboard suspended from the arena’s ceiling showed the live broadcast feed (some games can be watched live over the internet, either at curltv.com or wcsn.com).

The Czech team skipped by Jiri Snitil consider their options late in their game against Scotland in the first draw.

The Scotties needed some time to cogitate also.  Here they get some advice from their coach, David Hay.  The Czechs went on to win the game 7-5.

In addition to the great curling on the sheets, it was a lot of fun to watch all the behind the scenes action of the umpires, camera crew, ice technicians, and event organizers.  Here is a shot of ice tech central, right behind the scoreboards.

We also managed to squeeze in a little sightseeing while in Grand Forks, and we found a good alternative to arena hotdogs.  We had our fill of tacos, tortilla soup and sodas– about $10 for the two of us.  Nice!

And that is the end of our photo odyssey to Grand Forks.  The drive back to Duluth Sunday was a little dicey; let’s just say the roads had a very heavy pebble.  But its all melting, so if anyone is considering a trip to watch this great event, I highly recommend it.

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.

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: