373 replies to this topic

[Spacemans Bong]

Check out the Scottish skip, Eve Muirhead.

19 years old, a junior world champion, plays golf off a handicap of 2 and is a world-class bagpipe player. She is possibly the most Scottish person ever. If she has a weakness for Special Brew, heroin, deep-fried pizza and fitba she might be the uber-Scot.



Oh yeah, no mentions of last night round here. Big giant turd by the British men against Sweden.

[FarvinMoosey]

I have a question for people that know about this sport than I do.

If you are going to an extra end and you have the hammer, why not just clear every single stone your opponent throws until your last throw and then all you have to do is simply draw it anywhere in the house?

That is probably way oversimplifying but I cant yet think why that wouldnt be an incredibly effective strategy. Please help my curling ignorance.

[Maalox]

How fucking thick-skulled do you have to be to qualify as an online content editor for NBC?

I presume that by "thick-skulled" you mean "incandescent with genius." Or else you are so incensed by the ethnic slur that you are discounting the compensatory value of breast innuendo.

[Maalox]

I don't know whether they are tattersall, harlequin, or just plain ridiculous.

Yes.

[cannonball 1729]

I have a question for people that know about this sport than I do.

If you are going to an extra end and you have the hammer, why not just clear every single stone your opponent throws until your last throw and then all you have to do is simply draw it anywhere in the house?

That is probably way oversimplifying but I cant yet think why that wouldnt be an incredibly effective strategy. Please help my curling ignorance.

I believe you're not allowed to clear the other team's stones on your first two throws unless those stones are in the house (the so-called "four rock rule"), so the other team will set up guard stones in front of the house to make it harder to do what you describe.

Edit: Wikipedia discusses exactly this in regard to the four-rock rule:

This rule, a relatively recent addition to curling, was added in response to a strategy of "peeling" opponents' guard stones (knocking them out of play at an angle that caused the shooter's stone to also roll out of play, leaving no stones on the ice). A team in the lead would often employ this strategy during the game. By knocking all stones out, the opponents could at best score one point (if they had the hammer). Alternatively, the team with the hammer could peel rock after rock, which would blank the end, keeping the last rock advantage for another end. This strategy had developed (mostly in Canada) as ice-makers had become skilled at creating a predictable ice surface and the adoption of brushes allowed greater control over the rock. While a sound strategy, this made for an unexciting game. The 1990 Brier was considered by many curling fans as boring to watch because of the near-constant peeling, and the quick adoption of the Free Guard Zone the following year reflected how disliked this aspect of the game had become.

Edited by cannonball 1729, 17 February 2010 - 11:05 AM.

[johnmd20]

The US women are missing so many easy tosses, it almost seems like this is the first time any of them is playing curling. The US curling program leaves much to be desired.

[The Napkin]

The US women are missing so many easy tosses, it almost seems like this is the first time any of them is playing curling. The US curling program leaves much to be desired.

Granted I don't know what I'm talking about but it really is impressive how often they seem to miss what appear to be pretty easy throws that other teams routinely make.

[The Napkin]

and that was a perfect example. Now the 7th end is basically ruined for them.

[JulE6]

God the US is awful. Shameful, disgraceful, etc.

[The Napkin]

"and that's a mistake"

heh. it's brutal.

[FarvinMoosey]

I believe you're not allowed to clear the other team's stones on your first two throws unless those stones are in the house (the so-called "four rock rule"), so the other team will set up guard stones in front of the house to make it harder to do what you describe.

Edit: Wikipedia discusses exactly this in regard to the four-rock rule:

Gotcha, that makes sense then. They seem to skip past the first few throws a lot and last night since it was streaming I had no commentary that may have shed light on that.

And for those watching the women, is it all of them missing shots? I agree from watching yesterday that the Japanese were hitting their shots with such immensely greater frequency that it was bizarre hearing the commentary about how it was a seeming upset.

So far the US has looked overmatched in every single match. I will watch any and all curling, but man I miss the 06 Men's team already.

[Sprowl]

Gotcha, that makes sense then. They seem to skip past the first few throws a lot and last night since it was streaming I had no commentary that may have shed light on that.

And for those watching the women, is it all of them missing shots? I agree from watching yesterday that the Japanese were hitting their shots with such immensely greater frequency that it was bizarre hearing the commentary about how it was a seeming upset.

So far the US has looked overmatched in every single match. I will watch any and all curling, but man I miss the 06 Men's team already.

The Japanese women are doing a consistently good job of making their shots against the Canadian women right now. I think the US team is just plain... not very good.

And compared to the Canadian men's team, the Canadian women make plenty of mistakes too. Japan looks on the verge of a decisive triumph.... (edit: but Canada has the hammer, and narrowly avoids a major loss)

This is, of course, a match that Browndog should not miss (if it ever makes it to NBC).

[Greg29fan]

The Germans stink almost as much as the US.

[johnmd20]

The Germans stink almost as much as the US.

That they do, they are completely choking at a time when they had a chance to step on US' neck. ALIVE!

[JulE6]

Germany certainly wins the award for "Team I'd least like to go to a pool party with"

[johnmd20]

Germany certainly wins the award for "Team I'd least like to go to a pool party with"

Their captain is, um, very manly.

[The Napkin]

yeah, there's no way anyone on the us team would have made that shot

[johnmd20]

yeah, there's no way anyone on the us team would have made that shot

That one split the uprights and the uprights weren't that wide. We'll see what Germany does with the hammer. This is a huge toss.

[The Napkin]

so bad. this should be an easy 2 for germany

and it is.

[johnmd20]

so bad. this should be an easy 2 for germany

and it is.

Germany keeps giving US gifts, but it's too late. The German team is making the difficult shots look easy and the easy shots look difficult. But the US hasn't done anything right, I think it'll take a miracle to win this.

Edit - God damn, Debbie SUCKS!

Edited by johnmd20, 17 February 2010 - 02:23 PM.

[The Napkin]

lol
"that is not a good enough shot. again."

[The Napkin]

How the heck did she/this team wind up being the ones that won the trials? They haven't made a shot all game.

[johnmd20]

How the heck did she/this team wind up being the ones that won the trials? They haven't made a shot all game.

She barely made that last shot, and it was a wide open one. But the shot before was catastrophic and it wasn't that tough. Now the US needs a German choke now, pretty much. That is asking a lot when Germany is holding the hammer.

[johnmd20]

Switzerland putting up a US-esque choke job in their game against the US, missing shot after shot after shot. US was down 4-0 but are now up 5-4 in the 8th.

[hunter05]

In fairness, the US men have rebounded from a poor start and made their shots. 6-4 now.

[johnmd20]

In fairness, the US men have rebounded from a poor start and made their shots. 6-4 now.

They have been on fire of late, but it was the Swiss who opened the door to the US' strong play by missing a multitude of make-able shots in the middle frames. It gave the US confidence to step up. Maybe it was what the US needed, a chance to breathe. But the Swiss could have put this away early.

If the US somehow finds a way to lose this one, it would be awful.

[hunter05]

Shuster chokes again. Amazing.

[johnmd20]

Shuster chokes again. Amazing.

Ouch. I can't believe he/they left that short. Bad shot, bad sweeping. It ain't over yet, but the US goes into OT with their shoulder slumped and the Swiss go in with a 2nd life and nothing to lose. I hope the US can pick themselves up and not get down and win this frickin' thing.

[The Napkin]

I give him about a 5% chance of making this shot

[JulE6]

Shameful

[The Napkin]

lol. embarrassing.

[mabrowndog]

John Shuster: Greatest Choke Artist in Winter Olympics History?

[hunter05]

Wow, 0-3. Just awful.

[cannonball 1729]

Anyone else watching online? The feed (mind you, NBC'S ACTUAL FEED OF THE EVENT) crapped out, switched momentarily to hockey, and then gave up.

[johnmd20]

I spent over two hours sweating along with the US on that game. And they blow it twice. With the hammer, both times. Team should be 2-1. Shuster is making a name for himself and it's not for a good reason. He's 2004 Yankees at this point.

[johnmd20]

Anyone else watching online? The feed (mind you, NBC'S ACTUAL FEED OF THE EVENT) crapped out, switched momentarily to hockey, and then gave up.

The game went longer than expected, which might explain the crap out of the feed. However, you missed nothing but Shuster shit the bed. So maybe you're better off.

[Obscure Name]

Someone better hang himself in his hotel room tonight.

[OilCanShotTupac]

John Shuster: Greatest Choke Artist in Winter Olympics History?

Yes. Epic fail.

[FarvinMoosey]

Holy hell. I had to run out when they were up by 1 after 9 ends with the hammer in the tenth. I need to go find video as to how the hell they managed to blow that.

[locknload]

Man that guy just cannot handle the pressure. Neither of those shots were difficult. Just needed to tap it in. Just give it a little tap tap taparoo.

[mjm3773]

How the heck did she/this team wind up being the ones that won the trials? They haven't made a shot all game.

Since the Johnson sisters appearance in Torino, the McCormick rink has pretty much dominated US Women's curling. They've won 4 straight national titles. Most of the other top womens' teams have shuffled lineups just to try to crack the McCormick run, but to no avail. (Their string of national titles will end this year, because although they automatically qualified for the championships as last year's champion, they decided not to compete - the probable favorites this year are Patti Lank's rink, who has finished runner-up to McCormick a couple of time during their run, including at last year's nationals/olympic trials).

As for Shuster, things just worked out well for him last year. Unlike the women, US men's curling has had four different national champions over the past four years (Fenson, Todd Birr, Craig Brown and Shuster). It's most likely that the champion this year will come out of that group as well. Fenson has been rotating new leads over the past few years, but might finally be settled on one as Tyler George, who skipped the team that lost to Shuster at last year's nationals/trials, broke up his team to join Fenson's as lead. Brown's team has become much better since added Rich Ruhonen as a vice three years ago and this year added the second from Craig Disher's team (Disher is former national champion who retired after last years nationals/trials).

I haven't caught up on watching all the games (will today), but it's been disappointing seeing all these misses by the US team, especially with Shuster missing draws to the button. It's probably the shot that skips practice the most, in addition to the one they throw before every competitive game in order to determine which team has hammer in the first end (which he has nailed at least 2 of the games, btw). And for example, at national playdowns, teams only get 10 minutes of practice on each sheet of ice before the tournament begins and only 7 minutes before each game (in reality, only 6 minutes - during the first minute you may only practice sliding). But they've had three days to practice on the ice. Not to mention that this is probably the truest ice these teams will ever play on. At most clubs, there are runs where the ice runs straighter than at other spots, places where rocks fall towards the wall at the edge of the sheet, so that rocks thrown outside might never curl back, etc. I haven't seen that at all so far these games.

[Doug Beerabelli]

Love watching curling. Strangely compelling watching the US continue to choke. It's like a virus...

[underhandtofirst]

Did I hear correctly that the US Men's squad was only the 4th seed at the US Championships? Did Shuster just have a crazy run to qualify? The other teams must be pulling their hair out watching him struggle like this.

[dwightinright]

The NBC site is messing with my work computer--is this a round-robin? Are both the men's and women's team out of it?

[Red(s)HawksFan]

The NBC site is messing with my work computer--is this a round-robin? Are both the men's and women's team out of it?

Yes, round robin. No, not technically out of it. There are 10 teams and they all play nine matches (one vs every team). Best four records advance to the semis.

So it's within the realm of possibility to be 5-4 or 6-3 and make the semis. Starting 0-3 just makes it a hell of a lot tougher to do that.

[JulE6]

The US is like the Natstown of the Olympic curling field

[dwightinright]

At least the US women's team has some MILFs.

[johnmd20]

That last one was a tough shot but Shuster missed the hammer toss again. I'm past being angry at him and am now feeling pity. He just can't get it done.

[The Napkin]

In all seriousness, is it possible for him to start going third and have someone else take the last 2? I know it's a different skill set and all but at this point how can it be any worse? They should be up 6-4 in the 9th end right now.

[johnmd20]

In all seriousness, is it possible for him to start going third and have someone else take the last 2? I know it's a different skill set and all but at this point how can it be any worse? They should be up 6-4 in the 9th end right now.

They really have to make a change. Not only should it be 6-4, but the team should be 2-1. These misses are catastrophic to the team's chances. Leaving Shuster in is akin to Grady leaving Pedro in.