# Seriously, how does a Curler benefit from doping? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 23, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430 "2018-02-23T20:15:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/21 "2018-02-24T21:32:48Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Curling was once an activity best carried out beer bottle in hand. No more. [Speak for yourself, sir!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHRePLWCvcM) (That’s me, delivering a rock while using a beer can rather than a broom or stabilizer.) ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/22 "2018-02-24T21:53:09Z")
(missed the edit window) That was an empty beer can. I would never take the risk of spilling alcohol in the middle of the ice sheet. Messes up the ice surface. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/23 "2018-02-24T22:25:32Z")
My initial thought was that curling benefits if they give the drugs to the audience, to keep them awake. ---
**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 24, 2018, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/24 "2018-02-24T23:02:26Z")
Doping allows him to Sweep Like a Mother-Fucker! > [@sevenwood](#): > > [Speak for yourself, sir!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHRePLWCvcM) > > (That’s me, delivering a rock while using a beer can rather than a broom or stabilizer.) I always threw darts with a beer in my hand. 5-time consecutive champ! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/25 "2018-02-25T04:01:21Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > If I might jump in, yes, the sweepers can tell right away if the stone is light (going to come up short of the called shot), about right, or heavy. The more sweeping they do, and thus the sooner they start, the more effective it will be. As they come down the ice, they’ll fine tune that prediction to try to get the perfect distance. > > The way it tends to work is that the sweepers are walking next to the stone and are well placed to judge the speed of the stone. Lots of them will use stopwatches and time how long it takes for the stone to travel between two lines, and use that to predict how far it will travel. You’ll sometimes hear them call out numbers to their skip; 1 is a high guard, 4 is the top of the house, 7 is T line (which goes across the center of the house), 10 is back of the house.[sup]\*[/sup] > > The sweepers can judge the speed, but it’s hard for them to judge the line. The skip is in the house and the stone is coming right at him. He can judge the line, but not the speed. He takes that number he gets from his sweepers and chooses how much sweeping is needed to bring the stone where he needs it. > > - That’s the way I was taught it, and I’ve heard some of the teams doing it, but it may not be a universal system for everyone. One thing to keep in mind that hasn’t been mentioned here is that sweeping not only makes the stone go further, but also straighter. You need to stop sweeping at some point when you really need it to grip into the ice to change its line. If it’s not going fast enough without sweeping at that point to make it to the location it was intended, sweeping then is going to cause it to go off-target as it curls less than intended. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/26 "2018-02-25T04:22:34Z")
Curling was invented in Canada. It makes sense in a place where the streets are covered with ice 364 days out of the year, the one day they’re not is called Summer. Perpetually drunk as a means of dealing with the interminable cold and incongruous politeness the Canadians desperately needed a sport requiring no special equipment or athletic skills. Further, in order to avoid flaming the passions of the participants and observers the sport could not be in the least bit interesting, or even tolerable to watch for more than two swigs of beer (one can = 3 Canadian swigs). Eventually couch potatoes throughout the norther climes got wind of this pointless waste of time and rapidly adopted it. To the surprise of everyone who lives where plants grow curling was suddenly an Olympic sport. Of all the inane aspects of this unlikely ‘sport’ it is the existence of separate men’s, women’s, and mixed double teams. What on earth difference does it make what kind of chromosomes curlers have in order to slide rocks on ice? ---
**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 25, 2018, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/27 "2018-02-25T05:11:04Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Curling was invented in Canada. It makes sense in a place where the streets are covered with ice 364 days out of the year, the one day they’re not is called Summer. Perpetually drunk as a means of dealing with the interminable cold and incongruous politeness the Canadians desperately needed a sport requiring no special equipment or athletic skills. Further, in order to avoid flaming the passions of the participants and observers the sport could not be in the least bit interesting, or even tolerable to watch for more than two swigs of beer (one can = 3 Canadian swigs). Eventually couch potatoes throughout the norther climes got wind of this pointless waste of time and rapidly adopted it. To the surprise of everyone who lives where plants grow curling was suddenly an Olympic sport. You don’t know what you’re talking about. No special equipment? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/28 "2018-02-25T05:15:58Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > You don’t know what you’re talking about. I did have to assemble most of those details from a combination of watching several minutes of Olympic curling and my imagination. > [@](#): > > No special equipment? I guess you could say brooms are special equipment, at least for small values of ‘special’. I won’t consider rocks to be special though. Rocks were around for the very first sport known as Rock Tag. ---
**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 25, 2018, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/29 "2018-02-25T06:08:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I guess you could say brooms are special equipment, at least for small values of ‘special’. I won’t consider rocks to be special though. Rocks were around for the very first sport known as Rock Tag. Curling rocks are quarried from a single island off the coast of Scotland. They’re assembled from two different pieces and grades of granite; one that comprises the body of the stone, and an insert in the bottom for the running surface. They cost $500, each, and you need sixteen of them for a game. The ones in the Olympics have handles that can detect skin contact, they’re activated by tipping the stone sideways, and will show red light if the player is still touching it as the stone crosses the hogline. Then there’s shoes… And actually, I read an article about a couple Canadian guys that invented an instrumented broom for use during training. It measures pressure and speed of sweeping. $3,000. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/30 "2018-02-25T06:33:08Z")
I wonder how fast a curler can clean his/her home. They have to use those skills right? Get your floors cleaned, windows washed, lawn raked and house painted in an hour. ---
**Author:** ![bluezooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bluezooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluezooky)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/31 "2018-02-25T10:40:02Z")
> [@moojja](#): > > There’s an Olympic shooter who got caught using Beta-blockers to calm his nerve and steady his shot. > [Olympics: Korean double medallist expelled for drug use | Olympics 2008 | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2008/aug/15/olympics2008.drugsinsport) > [Why would an Olympics shooter take propranolol? | Scientific American](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/olympics-shooter-doping-propranolol/) Quite a few shooters have been caught using Beta blockers, it’s only cheating if you don’t have a heart disease. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/32 "2018-02-25T14:29:43Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Curling was invented in Canada. Curling was invented in Scotland. It was perfected in Canada. :):)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/33 "2018-02-25T15:29:32Z")
You don’t see any out of shape olympic curlers, so athletic performance is a factor. We all know how when we work or play at some physical level it helps to feel your best and your strongest. It would also seem metal acuity is a factor which doping would also seem to help. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/34 "2018-02-25T16:00:07Z")
I heard a comment made by one of the Swiss curlers saying, ‘The sweepers are really fit and they need a strong core. They go to the gym like 5 times a week.’ :rolleyes: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/35 "2018-02-25T16:13:25Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Light sweeping is often advisable irrespective of the stone’s weight simply to “clean” its path. A hair or tiny piece of debris that came off someone’s clothes can catch a rock and alter its path. Okay, that makes more sense to me for those that just start immediately sweeping just as soon as the stone is released. > [@Grey](#): > > They train to deliver rocks at (slightly made up numbers) 3.2, 3.4 or a 3.6 from backline to hogline. A 1/10th of a second is about 6’ so you can see they can “dial” in about 24’ on a shot. Now ice conditions, rocks and bunch of other things kick in but if after practice the lead is saying her 3.4 second deliver put a stone on the button everyone has a starting point. Interesting. Okay, so I understand that once the stone is released some time it to see how far it is going on ice. So do some also time the delivery to let the sweepers know he was off a few tenths, and needs to either back off sweeping, or better get to sweeping asap? You know, I can see where this would be fun on occasion, getting friends and family together every now and then. But when it gets this serious and competitive, like so many other activities, I think it would take the fun out of it for me on this level. Maybe for those so gifted, they still can find fun in it. > [@kanicbird](#): > > You don’t see any out of shape olympic curlers, so athletic performance is a factor. We all know how when we work or play at some physical level it helps to feel your best and your strongest. Yes, for football, basketball, marathon runners, weightlifters, etc, but for this? I’m just not seeing it. I bet someone could get various groups of seniors, say over 50, who are in reasonable good health that could probably do as well that had been involved in this once before. Maybe I’m not seeing the athletic prowess that some seem to think you have to have for this, just seems like a SNL skit in the works for curlers doping to me though. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/36 "2018-02-25T18:18:23Z")
> [@sevenwood](#): > > Originally Posted by Hari Seldon View Post > “Curling was once an activity best carried out beer bottle in hand. No more.” > > [Speak for yourself, sir!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHRePLWCvcM) > > (That’s me, delivering a rock while using a beer can rather than a broom or stabilizer.) And that video leads to this one about extreme curling, the Toughest Sport on Ice: Dennis ---
**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 25, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/37 "2018-02-25T19:26:15Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > I bet someone could get various groups of seniors, say over 50, who are in reasonable good health that could probably do as well that had been involved in this once before. Curling’s a bit like golf in some respects. You don’t need to be fit or young to play it, there’s a strong tradition of sportsmanship and socializing, and (while not terribly strenuous) there is a certain amount of activity involved. You don’t even need to be good to enjoy it. But if you want to be really great at it, every little bit of fitness, skill and practice helps. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/38 "2018-02-25T19:49:32Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > For pretty much any activity where you are competing to be the best in the entire world at something, there’s going to be some sort of drug to give you a shortcut. Darts, pistol shooting, curling, whatever. And you would be amazed what is included in “whatever”. Really - this is what WADA says: > **[2016\_anti-doping\_testing\_figures.pdf](https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/2016_anti-doping_testing_figures.pdf)** In amongst the things you would be inclined to believe, you will also find sports you never heard of, sports where the words make sense but nothing else does (eg underwater rugby, apnoea), sports where doping, or at least testing, is - uh - unanticipated (spearfishing, frisbee (under Flying Disk), minigolf, go, bridge, and in an earlier version I can’t be bothered to locate, scrabble). It’s a fine way to waste half am hour. j ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/39 "2018-02-25T19:59:50Z")
> [@sevenwood](#): > > Just last week I was an instructor at a “learn to curl” event that my curling club was holding. The brand new curlers on my sheet were two short for a full team, so I volunteered to sweep for both teams. And, of course, being brand new curlers they mostly threw light. So for an hour I’d madly sweep a stone down the sheet, then run back to the front of the sheet to madly sweep the next stone down the sheet, then run back down the sheet, … > > That was exhausting! We have a curling instructor on the strait dope!!! It does sound like it could be a bit of work. As a few have said, I thought it would be something to help with concentration. I wonder if the PGA does drug tests? ---
**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 25, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430/40 "2018-02-25T20:31:14Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > We have a curling instructor on the strait dope!!! Two curling instructors. At least. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-how-does-a-curler-benefit-from-doping/809430.md?page=3)