# Am I crazy? I noticed 2 things about the Olympics (well, 3) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** olympic-sports-track\ **Created:** [February 15, 2022, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510 "2022-02-15T07:26:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/21 "2022-02-15T21:55:55Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > All the stones used by the competitors at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are hand-crafted at Kays Curling’s workshop in Mauchline, Ayrshire, using granite from the island of Ailsa Craig. > > The company’s stones are the only ones used in competition by the World Curling Federation. > > [The Olympic curling stones crafted in Scotland - BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-60259628) Thanks for the cool factoid! My mother’s family is originally from Mauchline. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/22 "2022-02-15T22:23:22Z")
Is it me or is _Monobob_ an unfortunate name for a sport? ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/23 "2022-02-15T22:29:00Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > And there are attempts to make curling-type games that don’t require ice. The summer Olympics are going to test cornhole next time. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/24 "2022-02-15T22:30:10Z")
It is. And why do Americans call it bob-“sled” while our neighbors to the north call it bob-“sleigh”? ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/25 "2022-02-15T22:57:13Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I don’t understand the game. At. All. There are subtleties, but it seems at heart a rather simple game: - Slide rocks down the ice toward a target. - Earn point(s) for rock(s) that finish closer to the target center than any of the opponents’. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/26 "2022-02-15T23:03:53Z")
Oh great! Son-of-a-wrek is very obsessed with Cornhole. We’ll never hear the end of this. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/27 "2022-02-16T08:51:27Z")
All of you are acting like you’ve never seen Lawn Bowls before. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/28 "2022-02-16T16:42:24Z")
I, for one, don’t even know what that is.🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/29 "2022-02-16T16:45:25Z")
I think it’s what barbers call a Moe Howard haircut. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/30 "2022-02-16T17:03:34Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > The summer Olympics are going to test cornhole next time. Sad comment on today’s world; I have no idea if this is a joke or not. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/31 "2022-02-16T17:47:57Z")
It’s a topsy turvy world we live in.🙃 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/32 "2022-02-16T17:55:22Z")
If I watch the woman’s curling I have to turn the sound off. I don’t mind the yelling of the two teams I’m watching play but it drives me nuts to hear the players from matches going on in the same building screaming directions to their teammates while the players in the televised match are in strategic discussion mode. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/33 "2022-02-16T18:59:48Z")
Sometimes I recognize the voices you can hear from the other sheets. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/34 "2022-02-16T19:18:10Z")
“Bob sleigh” is the UK term so I figure it’s from that influence. Here’s a discussion about it: > ETA: Here is a rhyme I just made up… We say zee and they say zed, they say sleigh and we say sled. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/35 "2022-02-16T19:20:07Z")
I believe that’s spelled “bocce” ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/36 "2022-02-16T19:32:23Z")
> [@3AxisCtrl](#): > > There are subtleties, but it seems at heart a rather simple game: > > - Slide rocks down the ice toward a target. > - Earn point(s) for rock(s) that finish closer to the target center than any of the opponents’. If you really want to appreciate the cut-throat nature of curling, you should watch the movie [Men With Brooms](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0263734/). [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HFt-5-630Zg/hqdefault.jpg "Men with Brooms trailer") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFt-5-630Zg) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/37 "2022-02-16T20:03:05Z")
You’re thinking of “petanque”. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I, for one, don’t even know what that is. It’s similar to curling, but instead of ice, you roll balls on grass, aka a ‘green’, and the points come from getting your bowls in close proximity to a white ball called a ‘jack’. It is very popular with the elderly because it’s a low impact outdoor\* sport, with a socialising aspect. \*_There is also Indoor Bowls, but played on a long carpet strip._ ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/38 "2022-02-16T21:10:26Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Son-of-a-wrek is very obsessed with Cornhole. > > We’ll never hear the end of this. ISWYDT ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/39 "2022-02-17T04:29:31Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > You’re thinking of “petanque”. Or if you’re French, “boules”. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510/40 "2022-02-17T05:18:58Z")
I dunno…I don’t have a problem with curling being popular or dominating Olympic coverage, but I just never can get into it as a sport. Mainly I’m baffled as to who thought having two players who can do nothing but very, very slightly alter the surface was a good idea. I keep thinking how much it must _suck_ to be a sweeper, to have the highest effort-to-actual-impact-on-the-game ratio in sports, mainly because you can never touch the stone **at all** no matter how horribly tempted you get. And it’s the same near-futile grind for seven shots a round for nine rounds. I barely could get used to having two useless limbs in youth soccer. If I tried to be a sweeper, I’d be snapping that thing in a rage after maybe fifteen minutes, assuming total exhaustion didn’t take me out first. Cornhole? My biggest issue is if such a niche game can have decent fields. As long as the players are there, sure, why not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-crazy-i-noticed-2-things-about-the-olympics-well-3/959510.md?page=3)