The US Men’s curling team lost their final game to China just now, finishing 2-7 in the round robin tournament, well out of medal contention. As skip John Shuster missed yet another shot in the 8th end, he was overheard to say “I’m sick of this stupid game.” Oh, Mr. Shuster… such good taste in baseball teams*, not such good luck on the curling sheet. The word “shustered” was even coined for his style of play. (That style would be missing the big shot in key situations, it seems. Although hey, he’s got a bronze medal from 2006 and you don’t.)
On the plus side for the sport of curling, everyone I’ve talked to who has paid the slightest bit of attention (and, okay, all but one of those people were people I introduced curling to) has joked that they’re going to learn to curl so that they too can go to the Olympics and screw it all up. After all, it can’t be that hard to beat Shuster’s team, can it? (Um, yeah, it probably can.) Even if most of those people never actually pick up a stone, some will (I will!), some of those will stick with it, and maybe even some of those will compete for the US in future Olympics and actually do well.
And so, John Shuster, while you might be sick of this game, the rest of the country is just starting to pay attention.
* If you don’t want to install silverlight, it’s a video of John Shuster talking about how he’s inspired by the Minnesota Twins. Given how the Twins of late have a habit of working hard to make it to the playoffs only to fail miserably once they get there, it’s kind of an apt inspiration.

With a hat tip to the NBC announcer, from the country who brought us ABBA and Ace of Base, the Swedish band Hammerfall featured the Swedish women’s curling team in their music video “Hearts On Fire.” It’s… bizarre.

And what obscure sport am I reporting the scores for? Why, the only one in which you get to throw rocks at houses — curling!
For some bizarre reason, curling has become my new favorite sport. I first got into it during the 2006 Torino games, mostly because I loved listening to the announcers’ Canadian accents and because the women’s team was from Minnesota. Fast forward to last summer when I bought a Wii and brought it home. Deciding to buy me a new game, my dad selected a sports game which included curling and family fun at the cabin was had. (That game is actually not so good and I’ve since bought a better curling-included game.) So while I’ve yet to throw a real stone (I’ll get to that), I know the rules and the strategy.
Now that the 2010 games are under way in Vancouver, I’ve been streaming the curling matches at work and watching coverage on CNBC. (In fact, I am currently watch the Canada-Denmark women’s match.) For those who don’t know the difference between a peel and a tick, the summary of the first few days goes like this: team Canada is generally awesome and unbeatable (particularly the men) and team USA can’t win a game, usually due missing a clutch shot in the 10th end. (End ~ inning in baseball… kind of.)
But the US’s luck turned around today — both the men and women’s teams finally won! The men’s victory is not without drama as it came after they benched their skip (skip ~ last shooter/team captain) John Shuster and replaced him with 22 year old alternate Chris Plys. Oh, the tension in the curling world! Unfortunately for the men, they’re still ranked last while the women fare only slightly better. (They’re ahead of Switzerland, who remain the last unvictorious team on the rink for either gender.) I’m cheering for Canada all the way at this point.
Today’s Olympic victories aside, I’ve decided that curling is my best shot at ever being a world class athlete, given that hockey didn’t really work out for me. And so, on March 7, I’m going to the Broomstones open house with anyone who wants to join me. (Seriously, if you’re reading this, are in Massachusetts, and want to go, a bunch of us have registered for the 3:40 slot.) I’m bringing a camera and I’m sure I will discover that hurling a 44 pound piece of granite into a precise spot on the ice is not a easy as Cheryl Bernard makes it look… but I’m also betting that it will be a ton of fun!