Sucked in

This is really embarrassing...but I watched curling again last night. I keep telling myself that the interest is merely clinical: that I'm trying to figure out the rules to this, uh...sport. But I'm afraid that there's some deep, hidden interest bubbling to the surface.

As best I can tell, each team throws (slides) 10 rocks, alternating turns (each set of alternating throws is called an 'end'). The scoring is pretty much like bocce, in that you get one point for each rock you have closer to the target than any other rock of the opponent's. Whoever goes last has the 'hammer'.

The game seems to be a dreadfully boring series of 'guards' and 'clears', where one team lobs a stone in front of the target area to prevent the other team from hitting the target. The second team then slides a stone into that stone, clearing it out of the way. This cycle repeats itself until someone screws up, either coming up too short or too long on a guard, or someone misses a clear attempt. And it all comes down to the hammer throw in the tenth end, when you're actually done with guarding and clearing and now you attempt to score.

The US women lost to the Japanese in extra ends last night, in easily the worst display of curling I've ever witnessed (I've seen it twice now.) When the US men lost, it appeared to be an error in strategy. But these poor chicks couldn't hit whatever the hell they seemed to be aiming at. If any of you ladies harbor dreams of becoming an Olympic athlete, I'd strongly suggest you look into this sport.

Actually, the best part of curling is the hats the fans wear. No doubt the civilized world snickered at the first crude Americans to don cheeseheads, but bizarre foam hats now appear to be an international phenomenon.