Arnold,
at 2:30 EDT today, Canada plays Switzerland for the World Championship in Women’s Curling: Kelly Law v. Luzia Ebnöther.
wanna put something on the game? A tin of maple syrup says that Canada wins.
You have until 2:30 EDT to cover.
(Oh, and by the way did you see the final score in the men’s semi-final this morning? Canada 11, USA 3. hee-hee-hee)
I’m a Canadian so I can say this,
You do realise, when you watch televised curling that most of the time you are watching people shouting at stones?
Well, alright then, so long as you know…
Wisdom is the boobie prize,they give you when you’ve been --unwise!
but elbows, when you shout at a stone, it moves the way you want - the louder you yell, the more it moves. at least, that’s my game-plan when I curl.
jti, don’t have cable, and from checking in the Los Angeles Times, I see that neither ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN or Paramount are carrying the event live. Bastards!
With that being said, a box of Lindt chocolate says that Luzia Ebnöther will wipe the floor with the canadians. Go Switzerland!
Done!
Arnold,
my sympathies on the misplaced priorities of the networks in your area.
To compensate, but here’s a couple of websites (not live, unfortunately):
After 2 ends:
Suisse 2, Canada 1
(it’s still early)
After 4 ends:
3 all
(Arnold checks in briefly to ring his cowbell)
Allez Luzia! Allez Luzia! Allez!
After 6 ends:
4 all.
“Hurry, Kelly! Hurrrry HARD!!”
:::my case and point:::
Witness please,
Adults shouting at stones! What does it say about the demise of western culture?
It can’t be good.
Wisdom is the boobie prize,they give you when you’ve been --unwise!
After 8 ends:
Canada 6, Suisse 4
(Canada stole 1 in the 8th end)
p.s. - elbows - we’re yelling at the skips, not the stones. entirely different.
After 9 ends:
6 all.
(Switzerland was sitting 3; Law on her last rock threw a take-out leaving her 2nd shot; Ebnöther on her last rock did a take-out and rolled out for 2)
it’s very evenly matched, Arnold, but Canada has the hammer coming home. I think I can taste chocolate…
It came down to the last rock.
On her first throw, Ebnöther did a take-out and rolled behind a guard into the 8-foot, sitting shot.
Law on her first rock took out Ebnöther’s stone and rolled into the 4-foot/button.
Ebnöther threw a freeze onto the Canadian rock to sit shot, just touching the button.
Law on her last rock took out the Swiss rock for one.
Final score: Canada 7, Switzerland 6.
mmmm, chocolate.
It’s official… I’ve found something even more boring than darts on TV. :rolleyes:
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I went curling once, but was not invited back. I suspect it was my yell:
Sweep! Sweep, you bastards! Hard, hard hard! Fast, faster, furious. Sweep, you assholes! Stop! I said stop, you fucking morons! Whoa! Hold It! Sweep! Stop! Sweep!
I watched much of this. There was one thing in the last end I didn’t understand. On the first shot, Switzerland placed a red stone just past the line, then Canada knocked that rock back, leaving their yellow stone in about the same place. But before Switzerland shot again, they swapped the yellow rock for a red one. Why?
Another thing I wasn’t sure about, was when they talked about weight, as in playing a heavy weight. Was this really the stone’s weight, or is this lingo meaning speed or meaning where they leave the stone on the court?
It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.
Ahem. Let me quote from an on-line article:
Law captures women’s curling world championship
This sentence clearly shows that Kelly Law was subdued because she realizes she won only by luck, and the Swiss team deserved the victory that was snatched away from them by the cruel hand of fate. :mad:
jti, e-mail me your address and I will make sure a box of swiss chocolate gets to you. Since I’m not sure that this victory deserves the real thing, you might want to test it to make sure it’s not one of those joke chocolates made with laxatives! 
ZenBeam, I don’t know enough about the rules to answer your question, but I’m sure jti will come back here and set us straight.
ZenBeam,
I missed the opening shots of the 10th end (busy posting the results of the 9th), so I didn’t see what you described. However, there are two possible explanations.
First, it’s possible that one of the Canadian sweepers accidentally touched the yellow Canadian rock with her broom or foot. Any contact like that is illegal, and the stone is removed from play. If the “burned” rock has touched any other rocks, those rocks are returned to their original position.
The other possible explanation is that the Canadian shot breached the “free guard” rule used in high-level competitions. Guards are “put up” in the area in front of the rings (the “house”) to provide shelter for rocks in the house, the ones that count. In competition curling, the “free guard” rule says that guards in certain positions on the ice cannot be taken out by the other side until each side has thrown three or four rocks. The Canadian rock may have taken out a free guard by accident, so the guard would be replaced. (For example, the Canadian shooter may have been trying to go behind the guard and wrecked accidentally on the guard itself.)
As for weight, you’re right - it’s not the weight of the rock, but the amount of oomph that the player puts into it. The three most common weights you hear mentioned are “draw weight” (putting a shot right at the centre of the rings), “take-out weight” (a rock thrown hard to take out another rock), and “hack weight” (the weight needed to take the rock just to the end of the ice, without hitting the board.)
“Draw weight” is the most difficult, because it’s the lightest, and most susceptible to the curl. “Take-out weight” is the easiest, since you’re throwing hard, almost directly at the target, and the curl won’t have much effect. “Hack weight” is the in-between.
If some new poster asks what MPSIMS is for, I’m going to send them here and say “Check it out, kid, this is what pointlessness is all about.”