You want to rag on curling as sport, but you will sit there and watch poker on espn?
At lest curling requires some physical skill, and endurance if your sweaping. But hell there are plenty of other things passed off as sports on tv that is a lot worse then curling.
And yes I’m Canadian and yes I curl. It requires mental skill and physical skill to play it well. Before you start slamming things you should give them a try to see what they are about.
Thats strange, our national sport is lacrosse.
I also thought that in the 19th cnetury when curling and criket were introduced to Canada as a form of social control, we took to more aggressive sports such as baggatawa ( spelling may be wrong but was changed into lacrosse) and hockey.
Even then we knew curling was gay.
[quote]keaster wrote:
Thats strange, our national sport is lacrosse.
[/quote]
We have lots of national sports, its part of our multi-cultural and diversity program.
In case anyone wants to get caught up on the last Brier or Scott tournaments.
Curling is a game of strategy. While at first it seems boring and pointless, you get more into it the more you watch. Especially during the olympics when the team is representing your country.
I have curled a few games in my lifetime… I actually a college curling class and played in a few tournaments.
I would put it in the same category as bowling, darts, pool, snooker and a few other sports.
Technically it is a sport because it fits the IOC definition of a sport. Would I personally call it a sport? Well, it is no less of a sport than archery, the shot (skeet shooting, not shot put), bridge (which was once disputed as a demonstration sport at the Olympic games), poker, chess (which is also recognized as a sport), etc.
I wouldn’t call it a physically demanding sport, it doesn’t require more than a decent general physical condition… but golf is pretty much the same thing.
[quote]Raimisch wrote:
At lest curling requires some physical skill, and endurance if your sweaping. But hell there are plenty of other things passed off as sports on tv that is a lot worse then curling.
[/quote]
Skill…fine. Sport…no. I still don’t understand how this activity has such a massive following.
Someone downplayed the popularity but I disagree. Go to any community, association, town, etc etc in Canada and Curling is the shit. I know a town that pretty much shut down for a 5 day bonspeil or whatever its called.
I can understand beers and socializing… but Curling has TV ratings that outperform Hockey Night in Canada. For example: two years ago a total of 4,899,800 Canadians tuned to watch CBC’s coverage of something called ‘The Scott’. And this was down 27% from the previous year because of shitty CBC coverage or something.
I could go on and on about how serious people are about Curling but the bottom line is…WHY!!!
What is in the fucking kool-aid??
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
I have curled a few games in my lifetime… I actually a college curling class and played in a few tournaments.
…[/quote]
So CT, are you in the middle of writing a curling article/program for T-Nation? I can’t wait to see the Max Effort phase! 
As for the TV popularity.
However, consider this, all you see on TV is National Championships or some International/Olympic coverage, not regular weekly coverage.
Casual viewers will tune in to “support” their province (or Canada at the Olympics). It’s an easy sport to follow for casual viewers since it isn’t fast paced and the commentators are generally very good and give descriptions of scoring rules and strategy.
(CBC rant)
As for the reason the ratings were lower a couple years ago, that’s because CBC Sports has installed idiots to run their broadcasting schedule. CBC didn’t air most matches live (and hence were sued for not fulfilling contractual obligations). This is why CBC has lost Olympic coverage, will lose curling coverage (likely) at the end of the contract and will (if they haven’t already) lose Hockey Night in Canada. I didn’t mind my tax dollars going to CBC when sports coverage was well done, but if they do lose curling and HNIC, I hope they cut the whole sports department(end rant).
[quote]Deathroe wrote:
entheogens wrote:
I
I think a reasonable case for destroying america would be to rid the world of the ultimate left-turn race, NASCAR!
…but americans should be the last people to be bashing another first world country, so lets cut the insults before you get hit by dale earnhardt jr. while eatting your double big mac and attempting to point out china on a map.[/quote]
You have a point about NASCAR! Perhaps we should make SELECTIVE strikes to take out curling and Canada could make SELECTIVE strikes against us to take NASCAR. By the way, in taking out NASCAR Canada would scoring a double-whammy by eliminating the majority of tobacco chewers in the world.
As for insults, come on already, forget the Battle of Quebec City, we’re just joking here (though I do think Curling and NASCAR suck). And, hey, I know where China is, it’s right by Nova Scotia, isnt it?
I don’t know why anyone cares. In australia Lawn Bowls is pretty big. I don’t know why. Most boring sport known to man. But hey, it keeps the oldies off the streets so it’s okay with me.
Funnily enough, not everyone wants to fight in the ring or lift weight either. I know!