Every 4 years, there is a huge upswing in interest in curling. Coincidentally, this never happens during years when the world watches the Summer Olympics.
Curling is the greater of the two well known games invented by the Scots. These games have at least 2 things in common. Though you may play on a team, you are really competing against yourself, which is incredibly frustrating. The other commonality is that one can drink while playing. “What’s the point of a game without a wee draught?” asked one of the originators, while carrying his rocks to Pond Stirling early in the 1500s.
The lesser game, called Golf, was anticipatorially invented to pass the time when the ponds were not frozen firm enough to support stones and people. This game has been banned several times, but continues to re-emerge in outbreaks likened to influenza. It may be that acceptance of the lesser game is preferred to widewpread despondence during times of no curling.
Rocks were of many different sizes and shapes at the beginning. After 100 years, handles were added for ease of use, and ISO 9004 standardized the stones used to 42 pounds or thereabouts.
But enough history.
Though the game seems to confuse uninitiated observers, it is really not all that difficult to understand. To start the game, the Lead gets in the hack and looks to the Skip to learn the desired weight, and if an in-turn or an out-turn is desired. Then the stone is cleaned and delivered at the broom, usually with a push delivery in favor of the lift-delivery, which is not totally extinct. The Lead slides out past the T-line and releases the stone, being careful not to release past the hog line, or to hog the stone. The sweepers attentively accompany the stone down the ice, waiting to spring into action when the skip bellows the command to hurry hard, or whenever they feel the stone is light. Sweeping affects both the arc and distance the stone will travel, so on the occasion of a plan B, sweepers must be at the ready even though the weight appears good. Once in the house, and behind the T-line, a single opponent is allowed to sweep the stone or any to which it imparts energy.
Then it’s the opposition’s turn. Shots alternate between teams, with each member taking 2 shots alternately with their counterparts on the other team, first Lead, then Second, then Vice-Skip, and finally Skip, until the hammer is thrown. At the completion of the end, all the stones in the house of the same color, which are closer than any opponent’s stone, are counted. Just like Bocce. If that game is also a mystery to you, ask anyone of Italian descent. All Italians are required to understand Bocce scoring by the age of 5.
The Italians are also in the mix in international competition. However, the Canadians are generally the teams to beat if a medal is your goal. This is due to an inbred affinity for ice.
That’s about it. Pretty simple, eh? (“Eh” is Canadian lingo meaning “huh” in this case.) On the very small chance that you don’t completely understand even after reading this, you can learn more by going to the open house at the Rochester Curling Club. http://www.rochestercurling.org/?q=content/open-house
They may even explain why curling is the only sport where:
- Men are actually effective in using a broom.
- A man can tell a woman she is wide and heavy without being in danger of bodily harm.
- Pebbles on the ice actually improve play.
- A little nipping is preferred (ask the Iceman).
