Are you ready for some CURLING!?!?!
Gomenasai! I get so easily distracted these days. Katie was good enough to remind me that I owe some updates, and since I'm stuck in MA watching Ashley's cat while everyone else on Earth is off and about enjoying their extended weekends, I guess now is as good a time as any.
So, last week the 2006 Men's World Curling Championships were held right here in Lowell. Yes, there's a World Curling Championship. Yes, they held it in someplace that wasn't Canada. My, aren't you full of questions today. They were held at the Tsongas Arena, which is only two blocks from my apartment. I knew I would have to go at least once to this. I've been a fan of curling since 2002 when I saw them during the Olympics at some random 2 AM timeslot. I'm not one of the many sheep that all of a sudden likes curling because NBC decided this time around it would be the sport-du-jour that nobody has ever seen before. I'm hardcore bitches! I keep it real! I know many of you would tell me that curling isn't a sport, and I'd be inclined to agree with you. Curling isn't a sport like golf, cricket, and auto racing aren't sports. They require a very specialized physical exertion, few people are good enough at it to make it worth watching, and have a fan base that can only be described as fanatical. Teams came from all over the world where snow exists: from as close as Canada to as far away as Australia and Japan. Europe made a strong showing, with all the nordic countries represented.
I picked Tuesday to head down since the US would be playing at 7, which gave me enough time to get home, changed, and fed beforehand. Marcel and Jo wanted to come for motivations I still don't understand. I think it was more to make fun of me getting excited about something as only I can do than to actually watch curling. Whatever. Nobody was getting me down that night. We got there right at 7 and went up to the ticket window, where I asked for 3 tickets as close as we could get. "Are you here to see the USA?" the lady at the window asked. I thought it strange to ask in general, but especially since Canada wasn't playing that night, so I answered to the affirmative and she sets us up with 3 seats 4 rows back from the front of the US sheet. I was totally psyched and only cost me $15 a piece for the tickets. Not bad at all if you ask me.
The US was throwing their first stone as we sat down, so despite all my pleas that we get there early, we managed to not miss a thing. It was much different than I was expecting. NBC did a really good job covering the Olympic curling by deftfully cutting out the defense part of the end with commercials and showing only the good part of the teams trying to score and knocking away opposing stones. Of course, there were no commercials here. This part was extremely hard on Marcel and Jo, who had no idea why they were stopping short of the house or blowing by it altogether. I was happy they asked so many questions and tried to learn as much about the game as they could. The US was playing Switzerland and it was a very close game. I won't bore you with the play-by-play because nobody wants to read it and I don't want to type it, plus, I was too busy taking pictures. I ended up taking 80 pics in total. Thank god I had a digital camera. ^_^
Now wouldn't that be mean of me to mention that I took all those pictures and didn't show you any of them? Well, I'm not that mean, so here we go:
Here they are. Your US Men's Olympic Curling Team. John Shuster, Joe Polo, Shawn Rojeski, and Pete Fenson.
A random shot of the other teams. They are, from furthest out and left to right: Japan, Germany, Finland, Ireland, and Denmark.
I thought this was a pretty good shot of Pete throwing the hammer.
Ok, so here's the deal. It's the last rock of the last end and the US is down to Switzerland 3-2. Pete made a fantastic shot just to set this one up, threading it between two opposing (red) stones and leaving his in the back (yellow). The US takes a time out to discuss what to do and they decide on this shot, which whispers in the crowd betray as a very tricky and risky shot. It was an all or nothing shot. If Pete was off by a little and didn't knock out the red stone in the red circle, the Swiss would get the point and the US would lose 4-2.
And a great cheer went up from the crowd! Pete had nailed the shot and scored the US two points in the last end. US defeats Switzerland 4-3.
Overall, the US was fourth in the tournament with Scotland beating Canada in the finals for the championship. Do I care? Hell no! The US won when I was there and that's all I care about. It was quite the thrill to see the US guys there, our bronze medal winners and the first US team to medal in curling in the history of ever. I'm so glad I went.
So, last week the 2006 Men's World Curling Championships were held right here in Lowell. Yes, there's a World Curling Championship. Yes, they held it in someplace that wasn't Canada. My, aren't you full of questions today. They were held at the Tsongas Arena, which is only two blocks from my apartment. I knew I would have to go at least once to this. I've been a fan of curling since 2002 when I saw them during the Olympics at some random 2 AM timeslot. I'm not one of the many sheep that all of a sudden likes curling because NBC decided this time around it would be the sport-du-jour that nobody has ever seen before. I'm hardcore bitches! I keep it real! I know many of you would tell me that curling isn't a sport, and I'd be inclined to agree with you. Curling isn't a sport like golf, cricket, and auto racing aren't sports. They require a very specialized physical exertion, few people are good enough at it to make it worth watching, and have a fan base that can only be described as fanatical. Teams came from all over the world where snow exists: from as close as Canada to as far away as Australia and Japan. Europe made a strong showing, with all the nordic countries represented.
I picked Tuesday to head down since the US would be playing at 7, which gave me enough time to get home, changed, and fed beforehand. Marcel and Jo wanted to come for motivations I still don't understand. I think it was more to make fun of me getting excited about something as only I can do than to actually watch curling. Whatever. Nobody was getting me down that night. We got there right at 7 and went up to the ticket window, where I asked for 3 tickets as close as we could get. "Are you here to see the USA?" the lady at the window asked. I thought it strange to ask in general, but especially since Canada wasn't playing that night, so I answered to the affirmative and she sets us up with 3 seats 4 rows back from the front of the US sheet. I was totally psyched and only cost me $15 a piece for the tickets. Not bad at all if you ask me.
The US was throwing their first stone as we sat down, so despite all my pleas that we get there early, we managed to not miss a thing. It was much different than I was expecting. NBC did a really good job covering the Olympic curling by deftfully cutting out the defense part of the end with commercials and showing only the good part of the teams trying to score and knocking away opposing stones. Of course, there were no commercials here. This part was extremely hard on Marcel and Jo, who had no idea why they were stopping short of the house or blowing by it altogether. I was happy they asked so many questions and tried to learn as much about the game as they could. The US was playing Switzerland and it was a very close game. I won't bore you with the play-by-play because nobody wants to read it and I don't want to type it, plus, I was too busy taking pictures. I ended up taking 80 pics in total. Thank god I had a digital camera. ^_^
Now wouldn't that be mean of me to mention that I took all those pictures and didn't show you any of them? Well, I'm not that mean, so here we go:
Here they are. Your US Men's Olympic Curling Team. John Shuster, Joe Polo, Shawn Rojeski, and Pete Fenson.
A random shot of the other teams. They are, from furthest out and left to right: Japan, Germany, Finland, Ireland, and Denmark.
I thought this was a pretty good shot of Pete throwing the hammer.
Ok, so here's the deal. It's the last rock of the last end and the US is down to Switzerland 3-2. Pete made a fantastic shot just to set this one up, threading it between two opposing (red) stones and leaving his in the back (yellow). The US takes a time out to discuss what to do and they decide on this shot, which whispers in the crowd betray as a very tricky and risky shot. It was an all or nothing shot. If Pete was off by a little and didn't knock out the red stone in the red circle, the Swiss would get the point and the US would lose 4-2.
And a great cheer went up from the crowd! Pete had nailed the shot and scored the US two points in the last end. US defeats Switzerland 4-3.
Overall, the US was fourth in the tournament with Scotland beating Canada in the finals for the championship. Do I care? Hell no! The US won when I was there and that's all I care about. It was quite the thrill to see the US guys there, our bronze medal winners and the first US team to medal in curling in the history of ever. I'm so glad I went.