Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Curling Report


The first day of Olympic Curling is in the books, and it was a really bad day for the Americans. In the first round of round robin play, the Men's team had two stones in the house in the 10th end, but the German's skip was perfect, knocking both out for the win. Final: Germany 7, USA 5.
The first round of the Women's competition pitted Japan against the USA, and while the final score was fairly close, Japan winning 9-7, the match wasn't. The Americans made multiple strategic mistakes and shot poorly on crucial skips. I think they're going to have a really tough time in the next two days, as they play Germany and Denmark; both considered much better than Japan.
And last nights men's second round brought us Norway. The picture above shows the Norwegian argyle pants...I don't think the Americans ever stood a chance, faced with those uniforms. But the match was much closer than I expected, and was tied 5-5 at the end of the 10th end. So it went into an extra end (like extra innings in baseball), but the US's final throw was long and Norway got the win, 6-5.
The biggest news of the day was Sweden's upset of reigning champion Great Britain, a huge surprise. Also, the Canadians won both their matches and have a bye today.
Now for a brief rant: NBC's network of stations coverage really sucks. If I get the chance, I'm going to try to watch today's matches online.
Added: Ten more days of curling until all the medals are settled. I doubt that I'll do daily reports, but expect at least a few more curling reports ahead. Everybody needs a hobby, and I need something to keep me sane until baseball.

3 comments:

Fearguth said...

Move over, Jim McKay!

Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!) said...

the thrill o0f victory, the agony of de pants?

urland said...

I caught the repeat last night of the women's Germany vs Canada match. A real squeaker with Canada just getting through in an extra end. Exciting stuff in my book.