Olympic Curling has been an official Olympic sport since 1998, but was invented in 16th century medieval Scotland. It’s just taken a little time, about 400 years, give or take a month, to build its own audience following like “American Idol.” It’s a team sport in which 40 pound stones are slid across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It’s like frigid shuffleboard. Two sweepers with brooms accompany the boulders to their final resting place.
It’s important for U.S. professors with an interest in medieval ice sports to support the curling competition in this final week of the Olympics. Below are 10 reasons to consider watching Olympic curling as opposed to just your own neighborhood variety.
TOP TEN REASONS
10. It’s the number one ranked broom-based event at this year’s Olympics
9. The thingamagig swept on the ice is like a hockey puck on steroids
8. It’s the only Olympic sport that takes February “sweeps” literally
7. It’s Bob Costas’ fave sport named after an iron
6. It’s the only event that cleans up after itself
5. It’s the cheap forerunner to the Zamboni ice resurfacer
4. It’s popularity waned under its former name: “Bowling with Boulders”
3. It’s as entertaining as a scholarly presentation
2. Watching it can catapult its Olympic viewing audience into double digits
AND THE NUMBER 1 REASON TO WATCH IT:
1. It’s just as exciting as most of our colleagues’ lectures
Please tune in this week for all of the curling festivities as well as all of the other amazing events and your faves. Enjoy the rest of the Olympics. I can really relate to these sports, living in Snowmageddon these past few weeks.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Thanks for the laugh. I needed that today!
ReplyDeleteSharon Buchbinder