I’ll come out and say it: I LOVE CURLING more than I love my own children. Of course I don’t have children, (that I know of) but I digress.
My first exposure to the great sport of curling was in the 2002 Olympic games. I was mesmerized by the beauty and majestic way that the stones just glide upon the ice. I was amazed at the way the players could walk and slide on the ice the way they did. I knew that if I tried to do that, I would fall flat on my ass.
Despite my love for the sport, however, I had no idea of what the hell was going on. All I saw was people majestically sliding 42 pound granite stones down 93 feet of ice without an apparent purpose. To paraphrase Michael Scott, curling is ‘poetry’ on ice.
This is why curling is my favourite Olympic sport. While I obviously love hockey, the fact is curling is a rare experience; if I wanted to, I could go shell out about 20 bucks and go see my beloved Predators just about any time in the winter months, but curling only comes on TV a few times every four years—during the winter Olympics!
Therefore, because of my love for the great sport of curling, I will explain some of the basic rules of curling.
The name “curling”
The sport’s name comes from the motion of the stones when they are hurled during play. The stones will very literally curl during play.
Scoring
The game is divided into “ends”. The best way I can explain it is to compare an “end” to an “inning” in baseball. Scoring is done by getting your stones closer to the button (the thing that looks like a bulls eye) than the other team at the end of the end.
The Hammer
When a team “has the hammer” it means that the team will be throwing the last shot of that end. The team that didn’t score in the previous end will get the hammer. This is why teams sometimes choose not to score in a particular end. The hammer can easily be compared to having home field in the bottom of ninth inning in a baseball game.
Sweeping
Sweeping causes friction on the ice, causing a small amount of ice to melt. This causes the stone to keep speed, reduce curling (keep the stone straight), and make the stone go farther.
