Curling

I just spent the last 3 hours watching Olympic coverage of the Men’s Curling match between the United States and Italy. Italy won. Overall, I haven’t been watching much of the Olympic coverage, partly because the events so far have been rather boring, and also because any event I might watch (curling aside) I keep seeing the results for prior to the coverage airing on television (needless to say results for curling aren’t usually the lead story on espn.com and overall the coverage for curling isn’t that extensive - though it should be - curling usually airs midday on CNBC).

I would like to learn how to curl.

For those of you not familiar with curling, it’s pretty much the equivalent of shuffle board on ice (of course I’m not really certain as to the precise rules and regulations of either game - so this could be a slight misrepresentation. The only thing I really know about shuffle board is not to wear sandals on the court, I once got yelled at for doing so. I would presume the no sandal rule is also recommended if not required for curling as well).

Curling has been one of those sports over the last few years that is simmering just below the surface of mainstream popularity, and really I feel it’s only a matter of time before it blows up.

In the last year the sport has received some increased popularity due to the calendar of women curlers posing nude or semi-nude to promote the sport.

Generally speaking posing nude or semi-nude is a good way to promote anything. There was even that movie about all those old people posing nude for a calendar to raise money for their town. Though, I’m not sure what happened there, I never saw the movie - mostly because I had no interest in seeing a bunch of really old people posing nude or semi-nude for a calendar regardless of their motivation - so perhaps it’s not always a good idea.

Similarly, I probably wouldn’t think that a nude or semi-nude calendar of homeless people would be a good idea to raise money for the homeless, although who knows, all those bum fight videos did really well for a few months (other causes/people that should probably avoid nude or semi-nude calendars: anorexics, meth addicts, those afflicted by elephantitis, and people suffering from advanced stage syphilis).

Anyways, I’m gonna get back to work now…