# Is curling the only sport where the teams announce their strategy? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** olympic-sports-track\ **Created:** [March 13, 2023, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094 "2023-03-13T04:07:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/1 "2023-03-13T04:07:46Z")
Like @NorthernPiper I was watching the Brier today. One thing that struck me is that the players are miked up for the television feed, and so you can hear them discussing their strategy at every move. In fact, the opposing team can probably hear them pretty clear as well, since more often than not the players are shouting across the full length of the rink. This behaviour is in stark contrast to every other team sport I can think of, where strategies are discussed by the teams and coaches in private before each play, or are communicated on the fly with nominally secret hand signals. Is curling the only team sport where strategy is discussed openly in front of the opposing team? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/2 "2023-03-13T04:19:38Z")
In most auto racing series the teams communicate by radio that all the other teams can listen in on. They do, however, often use code words or other means to limit the amount of info they’re giving away. They have also been known to make misleading statements to try to fool competitors. ISTR that in the IndyCar series teams were allowed to encrypt transmissions during practice sessions, but not during races. But that was decades ago. I don’t know if they still do that, or if any other series allow encryption or require transmitting in the clear in all sessions. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/3 "2023-03-13T04:24:17Z")
I’m not particularly knowledgeable about curling, but if the opposing team can hear the discussed strategy, can they do anything about it? In most sports where plays and information are being communicated secretly (baseball, American football, etc.), the other team is in a position to directly defend against or counteract that strategy, and foreknowledge of it prior to the play would be a huge benefit. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/4 "2023-03-13T04:40:49Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’m not particularly knowledgeable about curling, but if the opposing team can hear the discussed strategy, can they do anything about it? There’s nothing they can do about the current throw, since the throws happen asynchronously. However, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the skips discussing not just the current throw but the effect they want it to have on the rest of the game, which is probably information that the other team _can_ use to their advantage. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2023, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/5 "2023-03-13T05:18:06Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > In most auto racing series the teams communicate by radio that all the other teams can listen in on. They do, however, often use code words or other means to limit the amount of info they’re giving away. They have also been known to make misleading statements to try to fool competitors. So it’s the same as gridiron football. The defense can hear the offense shouting all their plans, but since everything is in code (and/or references plays that have been created in secret) very little of it will mean anything to them. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/6 "2023-03-13T05:27:03Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > So it’s the same as gridiron football. The defense can hear the offense shouting all their plans, but since everything is in code very little of it will mean anything to them. The only “shouting” by the offense is the quarterback’s signals at the line of scrimmage, and it’s not the primary way that play calls are given to the players. In the NFL (and maybe in college football), the quarterback has a radio receiver in his helmet, and plays are relayed to him by the coaches on the sideline (or in the press box). Prior to the use of the radios, offensive coaches sent in plays either by hand signals, or by shuttling in a substitute player, to relay the play call to the quarterback (and that’s what’s still done in lower levels of play). In any case, the quarterback then verbally relays the called play to the rest of the team in the huddle. The calls at the line of scrimmage, which _are_ the quarterback shouting, are at least one of a couple of things on a given play: - An “audible,” in which the quarterback changes the play which had been called in the huddle (using code), usually because he sees that the defense is set up well to counter the play that had been called. - Calling the play at the line of scrimmage, which is what teams do when they are in a hurry, and not huddling in between plays; those calls are similar to audibles, in that they’re given in code. - No information is being given; the calls aren’t using the codes for audibles, and are mostly there to cover for those plays in which an audible is actually called (i.e., so the defense doesn’t think, “oh, the quarterback is shouting stuff, it must be an audible”). In the majority of plays, this is all that they are. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/7 "2023-03-13T07:57:24Z")
Pool. “Three-ball in the corner pocket.” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/8 "2023-03-13T11:11:21Z")
I don’t know about football, but in Formula 1, at least, I don’t think the “codes” in the radio calls are very secret. When they tell the driver things like “Go to plan 2,” the commentators usually infer that means they are switching to a two-pitstop strategy. It’s more shorthand than encryption. But they do occasionally attempt to deceive other teams by, for instance, having the pit crew take positions readying for a pitstop when they aren’t really going to bring the driver in. Or a driver may say he’s having some kind of problem in a coded manner that means he’s not really having a problem. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/9 "2023-03-13T15:57:09Z")
I don’t know if you count duplicate bridge, where each pair announce ‘bids’ publicly (suggesting the final contract.) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/10 "2023-03-13T16:00:25Z")
Pool isn’t normally a team sport, though I suppose there may be some (local?) scotch doubles tournaments. In any case, simply calling a shot, as required by the rules, does not amount to much of a “discussion” of strategy. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/11 "2023-03-13T16:01:05Z")
I don’t watch golf on TV, but aren’t golfer-caddie conversations broadcast over the air? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/12 "2023-03-13T16:04:36Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I don’t know if you count duplicate bridge, where each pair announce ‘bids’ publicly (suggesting the final contract.) And there’s a deeper sense in which you are obliged under the rules to announce your strategy. All bids prior to the final bid do not necessarily represent a proposed contract. They are a systematic code to communicate information about your hand to your partner. Players use different systems, and if the opposition do not know your system they are allowed to ask the conventional meaning of a bid in your system. For obvious reasons, if you don’t understand an opposition bid, you don’t ask the bidder - you ask the partner of the person making the bid what they understand it to mean. That can be a little embarrassing when you are a beginner. On one occasion I was obliged to say “I haven’t the faintest idea”. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2023, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/13 "2023-03-13T16:23:58Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Is curling the only team sport where strategy is discussed openly in front of the opposing team? Dart leagues that use teams rather than individual players also have this. Particularly in the game “[Cricket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_(darts))” some people will discuss their plans for which order to close their numbers, as this may affect the final points tally at the end of the game. As with curling, the opposing team hearing the plans doesn’t much affect the game play, as both sports are entirely offensive-play based. There’s no “defense” that’s tasked with trying to disrupt the offensive as the play is made. And the strategies are all pretty standardized, and are based on information that is equally available to all players, since they can all see the whole playing field, and the results of each team’s play. In both, ultimately winning comes from just playing better, and a bit of random chance, rather than in disrupting the opponents. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/14 "2023-03-13T16:32:49Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I don’t watch golf on TV, but aren’t golfer-caddie conversations broadcast over the air? Golf, unlike even curling, has no counter-plays. Each golfer is playing against the course and where a player’s ball lands or the club used has no bearing on any other player. In fact, if another player’s ball is in the way it is removed and replaced with a small marker so that the player whose turn is up can make any shot without being blocked, ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/15 "2023-03-13T17:00:25Z")
Sure, there are no counter-plays, but if two golfers have their ball in the same tricky area, and one of them openly discusses a strategy for getting his or her ball out, and this strategy turns out to be successful (or unsuccessful), then the other golfer might benefit by using (or avoiding) the same strategy. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/16 "2023-03-13T17:02:49Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > As with curling, the opposing team hearing the plans doesn’t much affect the game play, as both sports are entirely offensive-play based. There’s no “defense” that’s tasked with trying to disrupt the offensive as the play is made. Curling isn’t entirely offensive-based play, because a huge part of strategy is putting stones in play that impede the ability of the other team to make their preferred shots. Guard rocks are the obvious example, but it can also be a simple as trying to force play on one side of the house rather than the other because they perceive that, for example, the opposing skip seems to be struggling with weight on out-turn draws. If you know which shots your opponents are least comfortable with, you may well tailor your strategy to forcing them to play those shots, so giving away information about what you don’t want to play could be advantageous for the other team. That said, curling almost always comes down to who actually makes their shots. Playing a slightly sub-optimal strategy and making every shot is going to beat calling perfect strategy but not executing the called shots. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/17 "2023-03-13T17:58:19Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > There’s nothing they can do about the current throw, since the throws happen asynchronously. However, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the skips discussing not just the current throw but the effect they want it to have on the rest of the game, which is probably information that the other team _can_ use to their advantage. That’s theoretically possible. But in high-level curling, there aren’t many secrets. Every player has been around the track several thousand times. So while theoretically you might call your seven-rock to set up an unusual and unexpected eight-rock, and might not want your opponents to know lest they use _their_ eight-rock to block it, it’s unlikely in practice. Your opponents will figure out what you’re doing anyway. I mean, never say never. If you look hard enough, you can probably find a situation where a team suffered by virtue of their strategy being public. Likewise in golf. But all parties agree that it’s worth suffering the rare and minor inconvenience of losing a secret in order to make the game a better spectator experience, which draws viewers and thus money into the sport. ---
**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:** [March 13, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-curling-the-only-sport-where-the-teams-announce-their-strategy/981094/18 "2023-03-13T18:03:07Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Curling isn’t entirely offensive-based play, because a huge part of strategy is putting stones in play that impede the ability of the other team to make their preferred shots. Yes, but my point was, there’s nothing the other team can do to affect the final placement of those rocks, even if you’re trying to place them in a spot to defend another rock, or force a particular shot on the next play. That’s a defensive “strategy”, but it’s not really a defensive _play_. It’s more akin to a football team choosing a running play over a passing play. Each choice opens up or closes off different possibilities, but no matter what, the team on defense is still able to screw with the play, and upset the result. You can’t do that in curling. The rocks will end up where they end up based almost entirely on the offensive team’s skill.