Curling Medal Rounds

Today we get the women's medal rounds, with Switzerland facing China for the bronze this morning. Sweden will battle Canada for the gold this afternoon (guess who the bird will be cheering for).

And the men's medal round tomorrow pairs Sweden and Switzerland for the bronze, while Canada and Norway will compete for the gold.

Were I a betting man (oh wait, I am) I'd be betting on a Canadian sweep. And after that, I'll have to wait four long years for the next episode of the excitement that is curling on my TV.

Added: Sweaterman just sent me another "Savage Chickens" curling cartoon. We could get away with doing this at the pub:

Update: China takes bronze, 12-6, with 4 in the eighth end. The Swiss concede.

Today in Curling

(thanks, Sweaterman, for sending me the cartoon)

Today we get a bonus, a tie breaker match in the men's division. Sweden will play Great Britain for the last spot in the finals. The lucky winner gets to play (undefeated) Canada in the semi-finals tomorrow. No tie breaker needed on the women's side.

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.