An "Average Joe" takes on the US Curling team

[VeronicaConnor]

@anon52120741

The fact that there is an Olympic Korean Womans curling team gives me hope

You should go watch the replays of the Japanese womens’ team. They are amazing this year. Absolutely handed Canada our asses. It was painful to watch, but I had to respect how much they had clearly put into this program. The precision and consistency with which they hit shots was shocking. Hard to imagine they got a whole lot of support back home for this, either.

The Korean womens’ team were actually minor celebrities back home. Apparently one of the players’ names became a meme and slang for “hurry up” in Korean (a lot of skips yell the sweepers’ names only as the signal for what direction to sweep). Their mid-game snacks also became the subject of local news back home, apparently.

[aluchko]

@VeronicaConnor

You are entitled to your opinion on the matter, but I found it so bad that I couldn’t watch a second match with him.

I can certainly understand that reaction. Like I said I think the selection format did them a big disservice and Morris had trouble keeping his emotions in check. Morris has always been one to constantly chime in and suggest, when you have an established skip like Martin it works well, when you’re in mixed doubles you can end up bulldozing your partner.

@VeronicaConnor

There was one rethrow during the Olympics due to an illegal contact. I think it was Canada vs Korea womens’, but I don’t recall exactly because I watched about 200 hours of curling in the last week.

I didn’t see the shot but I’d be surprised if it was a burn. What’s happened before is the electronic handle malfunctions showing a burnt rock, and in that case teams have allowed a rethrow because there wasn’t actually a foul. I wouldn’t expect a rethrow if you actually did burn it since it’s a big advantage to the offending team since they just got a read on the ice.

@VeronicaConnor

This really shows up in the strategy of the different groups, as well. You see a lot of men throwing bullets just to clear the field when they get in trouble, whereas the women tend to think their way out of trouble more. The men also blank the end a lot more often as a tool to hold the hammer. It’s like someone with a really good break in pool. When you can hit that hard, you can muscle your way out of needing as much skill or strategy (not meant as a dig on the men, it’s just a different style of play).

I agree the men’s game can become boring more easily because the top teams are so good at throwing doubles/triples to get out of trouble. But the other side of that is that women’s teams are often afraid to mix it up because they don’t have the big weight ability. I do think the strategy is a bit trickier in elite men’s play since there’s so many more angles and scenarios you need to be aware of. That being said I was really impressed by Homan’s shot-calling in the Olympics.

One trend I’ve noticed in the Olympics and other big competitions is the coaches are exclusively male. And while they tend to be bystanders for the men’s teams when the women call a time out they usually come down and start calling the shot (except for the most experienced women’s teams). I’d really like to see more women in the coaching ranks (for both men and women).

@VeronicaConnor

All reasons that I vastly prefer watching the women- not least because they aren’t asses to each other quite as often either.

I can certainly see that. The rule of thumb is that the men’s teams treat it more as a partnership while the women are competing as friends.

[werdnagreb]

@VeronicaConnor

Lots of people wanted it to stay a silly bar game that you could play while drunk and smoking.

I mean…that’s the only time I’ve played it.

I did see the sport live once during the 2010 Olympics. F-yeah. It was nothing at all like what I played with my friends.