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Curling is a good sport. I play a bit and watch a lot so if anybody has any questions just ask. For anybody in Canada (or possibly if you can pretend you're from Canada?) CBC has every single game on demand on their website for free! Mixed doubles is kind of weird but after watching the Canadian Olympics playdowns I've started to like it. The games are quicker and it rewards tactical thinking and soft precision shots over the "throw rocks really hard" strategy that some of the men's teams employ. It's also nice to have a curling event where the Canadians aren't medal favourites. I'll do some writeups on the teams later, but for now, I'll just leave this here so you can get PUMPED THE gently caress UP FOR CURLING!
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Feb 8, 2018 05:09
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Mixed Doubles Curling I know the least about mixed doubles curling but as it's started already I'll do what I can. Schedule Rules Mixed doubles is a brand new event at the Olympics and pretty new overall. It was invented in 2001 and the first world championship wasn't until 2008. As you might guess from the name, teams consist of two players, one male and one female. Teams play eight ends instead of the ten in men's and women's. Each team throws five rocks an end with one player throwing the first and fifth rocks and the other player throw the other three. The other player can either hold the broom for the thrower to aim at or they can sweep the rock. The thrower can also get up and sweep their own rocks. There aren't really any rules on this so you might see teams change it up depending on the type of shot. No rocks can be taken out of play until after the fourth rock is thrown.  The biggest difference is that there are two rocks placed in play at the beginning of each end. The team that has last rock in the end gets a stone of their colour placed in the house at the back of the button. The other team has their stone placed as a guard in front of the other rock. Each team has the option, once per game when they have last rock, to move the rocks 4 feet to the side. This is called a powerplay. Just like hockey. I guess? To determine who gets last rock in the first end (also called the hammer) all players throw a rock as close to the middle as possible. The team with the smallest combined distance to the middle get last rock. This is an advantage! Format The eight teams play a round robin. The top four teams make the playoffs. Team 1 plays Team 4 and Team 2 plays Team 3 with winners going to the gold medal game and losers going to the bronze medal game. Teams Canada - Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris  If you just looked at the pedigree of these two you'd think they'd be shoo-ins for the gold medal. Each have won an Olympic gold medal and between them they have multiple national and world championships. The only problem is that they've won all those in men's and women's. The first time they played mixed doubles was at the Canadian Olympic playdowns a month ago! Their biggest challenge will be learning the game. I noticed at the playdowns that John sometimes dictates what's going to happen while Kaitlyn often has the better plan. If they're going to challenge for a medal John's going to need to shut the hell up once in a while. Hero or Villain? If you're not from Canada definitely villains, Heroes if you're Canadian. China - Wang Rui and Ba Dexin  These two have won a silver and bronze medal at the last two mixed doubles world championships and they have have a handful of Olympic and world championship appearances. I haven't watched them play but if they're like the other Chinese teams they'll try to play a fairly defensive, low- scoring game. Hero or Villain? Hero if you're a fan of racial diversity at the Winter Olympics. Finland - Oona Kauste - Tomi Rantamäki  She's played for the Finnish national women's team for a while. He, on the other hand, has come out of nowhere. There's nothing about him on the internet. Is he a spy? A ringer? Nobody knows! All we know is that they are the most Finnish looking people in the world. Hero or Villain? Meh. Norway - Kristin Skaslien - Magnus Nedregotten  I saw them beat Canada in the first game and they looked really good. He missed a few shots but she was on the ball. Or rock I guess. I don't think they played a single take out the whole game so expect to see some really high scoring games. Hero or Villain? They don't wear cool pants like their men's team compatriots, so villain. Definitely not Russia - Anastasia Bryzgalova - Alexander Krushelnitskiy  They won the world mixed doubles two year's ago so they can definitely challenge for a medal here. Unlike most of the other teams almost all of their experience is in mixed doubles so expect them to have a leg up on the competition. Although they got stomped by the Americans so what do I know? Hero or Villain? I don't think Russia can avoid being the villains at these Olympics in any sport. United States - Rebecca Hamilton - Matt Hamilton  Like the Canadians, these two have very little experience in mixed doubles but quite a bit of other curling experience. I assumed they'd be bad but they beat Russia so they might actually be good. He might be the most stereotypical American at the Olympics. Hero or Villain? I want to say villain, but that moustache is endearing... South Korea - Jang Hye-ji - Lee Ki-jeong  These two have basically no experience and only got in because their country is hosting. They beat Finland in their first game though so the boisterous home crowd might just carry them to the playoffs. Hero or Villain? Underdog heroes! Switzerland - Jenny Perret - Martin Rios  Switzerland has won more mixed doubles world championships than everybody else combined and they are definitely the gold medal favourites. Hero or Villain? Do you like cheering for the New England Patriots, New York Yankees, or Manchester United? Then cheer for Switzerland you jerk.
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Feb 8, 2018 07:08
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You're in luck! Just the pants, not the jackets obviously.
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Feb 8, 2018 07:16
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GobiasIndustries posted:so they brush forward and back if they're trying to keep it going and sideways if they want to slow it? Seriously I wasn't being glib with my previous post I don't know a loving thing about curling but I want to. In addition to what Stretch Marx said, a few years ago there was some weird fabric that they used on brooms that would change the curl of the rock depending on the angle the sweeping was done at. They banned the hell out of it but a few players will still sweep like that. Also in mixed doubles you'll see people sweeping in all kinds of weird positions so that they don't block the view of the other person. I am sick as hell today which means I get to stay home from work and watch curling through a fever which is awesome! I'm going to watch all the Canada games obviously but tell me if some of the other games were good.
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Feb 8, 2018 16:27
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GobiasIndustries posted:What's a good way to learn about curling basics? It seems like a fun sport to watch during the olympics but I never have any idea what the hell is going on. The best way to learn about curling is to head down to your local curling club. If you live in Canada there;s almost certainly one within 10 km of you. Judging by your av you're American though so here's the Wikipedia list of curling clubs in the United States. There's more than you might think! Plenty in Minnesota, New England, and the northern prairie states, but there's also a bunch in Florida for snowbirds. And there's one in every state except Alabama, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Hawaii apparently has a paper curling association which uh I'm not sure what that means. In the rest of the world, Scotland, Scandinavia, and Switzerland will all have plenty of curling clubs. Outside of that it gets a little more sparse but if you live in a country that has winter, chances are there's a curling club somewhere. Most curling clubs will have a new curlers event at the beginning or end of the season and even if you don't know if you want to play you'll still learn the basics and have a better understanding of the physical effort needed. Sweeping is surprisingly difficult. Other than that, the best way to learn about curling is to watch with commentary. CBC's commentary team is ok if you can get that. Not sure what the American commentators are like. This glossary of curling terms should help you out with some of the weird words we use. The worst way to learn about curling is reading a post on an internet forum but I'll give it a try! Olympic curling (besides mixed doubles) has two teams of four players each playing for ten ends. The coloured circles are called the house and the largest ring is 12 feet in diameter. Rocks that are not touching the house do not count for points. The team that has the closest rock to the middle will get at least one point, with an additional point for each rock in the house that is closer to the middle than any of the opponent's rocks. Throwing the last rock in an end is an advantage, so the team that does not get points gets last roick in the next end. If no teams gets points, the hammer stays with the same team. So it might be better to get zero points and keep the hammer than to only get one point and lose the hammer. One player throws the rocks, one person holds the broom for the thrower to aim at, and the other two move alongside the rock to potentially sweep it. In general (but not always) the skip holds the broom for the first three players and then throws the last two rocks. The lead will throw the first two rocks and then sweep the rest. The second will throw the third and fourth rocks and sweep the rest. The third will sweep the first four rocks, throw the fifth and sixth rocks, and then hold the broom for the skip. In terms of tactics, the general strategy is to try and get at least two points when you have the hammer. If that's not possible, you generally want to blank the end. Teams with hammer will often play rocks to the sides of the house, leaving the middle open for the skip to throw their last rock to the middle. For the team without hammer, you want to either get one point or force the opponent to take one point. To do this you play lots of rocks in the middle of the sheet, trying to get one rock in the middle of the house protected by guards. Obviously these two strategies are very different so the interesting thing to watch for is when teams move away from their strategy to trying to disrupt their opponent's strategy. These strategies are not universal! Teams that are ahead will often try to keep as few rocks in play as possible and just take out all of their opponent's rocks. Teams that are behind will try to keep as many rocks in play as possible. There's a whole bunch of other stuff that goes into choosing shots but that's pretty advanced stuff. One rule that changes things a lot is the "four rock rule" (will become the five rock rule for most events next year). This rule says that if rocks are outside of the house, they cannot be removed by the opponents team until the fifth rock of the end. This encourages teams to play a few guards and setup the end. It tends to mean that more rocks are in play and makes for a more exciting game. If you have any other questions, just ask! Chicken fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 17:08
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I bought that calendar for my sister for Christmas and cut her husband's face out of a picture and put him on the guys.
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Feb 8, 2018 18:01
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As an addition to that, only one player from each team can be sweeping behind the t-line at once. That includes sweeping your own rocks and your opponents rocks. So you can sometimes see people running around trying to both roll their own rock behind a guard and sweep the opponents rock out.
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Feb 8, 2018 19:57
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Women's Curling Schedule - Click here! Format Ten teams play a round robin with the top four teams making the playoffs. 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3 with the winners going to the gold medal game and the losers going to the bronze medal game. Why should I watch women's curling? Women's curling has improved by leaps and bounds in the past 20 years and the top women's teams are probably good enough to curl in the men's tournament. This is due to most curling federations moving to equalize curling funding between men and women. In Canada, the big tournaments have an equal amount of prize money for men and women and women's events get just as much TV time as men. Unlike a lot of team sports, most of the women's teams here could play toe to toe against most of the men's teams. All that being said, while there are no rule differences between the two events, women's curling does tend to play out slightly differently. Women tend to play more of a finesse game with fewer big take out shots and more rocks in play. I slightly prefer watching women's curling because it's more the style I like to play when I'm skipping. Teams Canada - Skip: Rachel Homan Third: Emma Miskew Second: Joanne Courtney Lead: Lisa Weagle Alternate: Cheryl Bernard  This is the best women's team in the world. They went undefeated at last year's world championships and look unstoppable most of the time. They play more takeouts and big weight shots than most of the women's teams but are not at all afraid to play a low weight finesse game. Generally they'll play the first end as open as possible, mix it up for a few ends to get the lead, and then hit everything until they win the game. It's not always the most exciting game to watch but their brutal efficiency is a masterclass in strategy. If they have a weakness it's that their play on the curling tour this year has been a bit spotty, but they've been very clear that their priority has been the Olympics and I expect them to be in top form. Official Chicken Prediction: Gold Hero or Villain? Hero if you're Canadian, so very villainous if you're not. China - Skip: Wang Bingyu Third: Zhou Yan Second: Liu Jinli Lead: Ma Jingyi Alternate: Jiang Xindi  There have been a few line up changes, but the bones of this team surprised a lot of the world by winning the women's world championship in 2009. They followed that up with a bronze in Vancouver but it's been slim pickings since then, finishing middle of the pack at most events. They tend to play a low risk game; they'd rather make a simple draw for one than a triple take out for three. Their strategy is generally good if a bit risk-averse, but they do sometimes have problems with ice reading (how much the rock will curl at different weights). Expect some low scoring games especially for the first 2 or 3 games although they may have to move to a more aggressive game if they start falling in the rankings. I've seen a few places thinking they're medal favourites, but I would be pretty surprised. Official Chicken Prediction: Sixth Hero or Villain? On one hand, they could be a good comeback story, on the other hand they're kind of boring to watch. Mild villain I guess? Denmark - Skip: Madeleine Dupont Third: Denise Dupont Second: Julie Høgh Lead: Mathilde Halse Alternate: Lina Knudsen  Denmark just squeaked into the Olympics over Italy and I expect they'll have a tough go of it here. They have a bit of experience at the world championships but looked outmatched against most of the top teams. Their fundamentals are sound so don't expect them to get blown out in every game, but their shot calling is occasionally suspect and they don't have quite enough talent at the top end to bail them out. I've only seen a few games from them but they tend to play with a lot of rocks in play eschewing the hitting game almost completely. They'll sometimes be completely overwhelmed with two or three opponents rocks well guarded and only a hail mary left for their final shot. Expect them to lose a lot but also put up a ton of points and have some exciting ends. Official Chicken Prediction: Tenth Hero or Villain? South Korea gets the underdog hero spot, but it will still be hard to cheer against Denmark. Great Britain - Skip: Eve Muirhead Third: Anna Sloan Second: Vicki Adams Lead: Lauren Gray Alternate: Kelly Schafer  The good news: Eve Muirhead and Anna Sloan are two of the best curlers in the world. The bad news: the rest of the team, not so much. The team is still a medal favourite and have loads of experience in international play, but I just can't see them competing for a gold medal. There are times where Anna will be facing a pile of opponent rocks on her first throw. To their credit, they can get themselves out of almost every situation, but expect a rough game when they play Canada or Sweden. In terms of strategy, they're a well-rounded team: equally comfortable with big weight shots and the soft finesse shots. Official Chicken Prediction: Bronze Hero or Villain? If this makes you think of Braveheart and gets your Scottish juices flowing then hero. Japan - Skip: Satsuki Fujisawa Third: Chinami Yoshida Second: Mari Motohashi Lead: Yurika Yoshida Alternate: Yumi Suzuki  Most of the European and North American teams are semi professional. They'll play a whole bunch of events on the World Curling Tour and the (kind of) big money Canadian tournaments and then work the rest of the year at an accounting firm or something. The Asian teams, due to the travel costs, won't play many events outside Asia, but are generally funded by the Olympic committees in the country to be full time curlers. Japan sort of does both: the team actually works for a company but spends most of their time curling on the company's dime as a promotional thing. So this team has the time and the money for coaching and are extremely solid curlers. What they lack is a lot of experience against top teams. I'm sure they've played China and South Korea a lot but may find themselves playing blind against some of the other teams. Of course that goes both ways; Canada and Sweden might not know what to expect when they play Japan. They tend to play a bit more offensively than the Chinese with more rocks in play and might be able to surprise a few teams. Official Chicken Prediction: Seventh Hero or Villain? As a man terrified of corporations taking over everything, I'd have to say they're villains. That Country Between Finland and North Korea That We Can't Name - Skip: Victoria Moiseeva Third: Uliana Vasilyeva Second: Galina Arsenkina Lead: Julia Guzieva Alternate: Yulia Portunova  For years, Anna Sidorova has been the face of Russian women's curling but her team lost to these women at the national playdowns. I don't know anything about this team, but Anna Sidorova would have been a medal favourite so this team must be pretty good. For most teams, the alternate is only there in case of illness or injury but in the past Russia have used substituted their alternate if one player wasn't playing great or to play against some the opposing teams weaknesses and you might see that here. Official Chicken Prediction: Uhhhhhhh fifth I guess? Hero or Villain? You just can't cheer for Russian people at these Olympics. Villain. South Korea - Skip: Kim Eun-jung Third: Kim Kyeong-ae Second: Kim Seon-yeong Lead: Kim Yeong-mi Alternate: Kim Cho-hi  Another team I don't know much about. I expect they'll play a bit like the Chinese and Japanese teams but they've pulled in some top Canadian talent to coach so you might see some more North American style strategy. I don't think they'll do well due to their lack of experience but never underestimate how far a home town crowd can get you. Official Chicken Prediction: Ninth Hero or Villain? Underdog Heroes! And as has been mentioned in this thread, the South Korean fans are loud and boisterous and a lot of fun. Sweden - Skip: Anna Hasselborg Third: Sara McManus Second: Agnes Knochenhauer Lead: Sofia Mabergs Alternate: Jennie Wåhlin  Eternal second place finishers, this team has never won a major international competition but they're almost always a medal favourite. They're a well balanced team with no flaws and they're young but have a pile of international experience. In terms of strategy they play more up weight shots than most of the teams but not quite as much as Canada. They're fun to watch and will put up a pile of rocks in play if they feel they can exploit a weakness in the other team. The only question is if they have can finally win a gold medal. Official Chicken Prediction: Silver Hero or Villain? As the only team with a shot at toppling the Canadians, they've got to be heroes. Unless you're Canadian. Switzerland - Skip: Silvana Tirinzoni Third: Manuela Siegrist Second: Esther Neuenschwander Lead: Marlene Albrecht Alternate: Jenny Perret  This is another team that's come out of nowhere. It's no surprise to see Switzerland here, but for years this has been the third best team in the country. But this team went undefeated at the Swiss qualifiers and could certainly surprise a few teams here. I haven't seen more than a few games from them but they appear to be a poor man's Sweden: well rounded, excellent strategically, just a bit less skill. Official Chicken Prediction: fourth Hero or Villain? Good black horse team. You can cheer for them and when they finish well you can astound all your friends by saying that you were cheering for Switzerland at the beginning of the round robin. United States - Skip: Nina Roth Third: Tabitha Peterson Second: Aileen Geving Lead: Rebecca Hamilton Alternate: Cory Christensen  There's some impressive junior curling credentials on this team but not a lot at the senior level. Lead Rebecca Hamilton is also playing in the mixed doubles which could give them a spark of momentum or just tire her out. From what little I've seen, they're a middle of the road team with no glaring weaknesses but nothing that puts them above the rest of the pack. Official Chicken Prediction: eighth Hero or Villain? Do you really want to cheer for Americans?
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Feb 8, 2018 21:01
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Teams have definitely skewed younger in the past ten or so years, and it's more pronounced in the women's game. It was pretty common for a while to have a grizzled old veteran skipping the team with some young up and comers playing lead and second. But I think teams have realized that there's some advantage to be gained by playing together and learning together for a long period of time. Three of the team Canada players have been playing together for over fifteen years which is impressive considering they're all late twenties.
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Feb 8, 2018 21:25
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Most countries prohibited players from being in both but a few allowed. I think it's really bad idea for the reason you mentioned, but also because curling 2 games a day for 2 weeks is exhausting and I think it will hurt their men's and women's teams chances Next Olympics I'm guessing all countries will prohibit their players from playing in both.
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Feb 8, 2018 21:36
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John is being less of a dick to Kaitlyn but he's still being very bad at curling. Good thing China is also very bad or else Canada would be behind by like 3 already.
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Feb 9, 2018 01:07
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And just as I say that Kaitlyn comes up with a beauty of shot!  Canada kicking some rear end.
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Feb 9, 2018 01:11
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I don't think I've seen the powerplay actually work out for a team yet. Seems like they'll need to modify the rules around that a bit.
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Feb 9, 2018 01:42
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USA gave up a 6??? How do you even do that? Gonna have to watch that game.
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Feb 9, 2018 02:21
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Josh Lyman posted:Wikipedia says the stones just need to weigh between 38 and 44 pounds. That's a huge amount of potential variation. Even if you targeted 42 lbs, the granite would have variation in density. What do they do if a stone is over/under weight? Generally the stones are matched in sets. So all the rocks at the Olympics will come out of one set of stones which will all be the same weight. There are still minor differences in the rocks so teams will try and learn that, but the difference is minimal.
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Feb 9, 2018 02:23
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Vertical Lime posted:we gave up a 7 in 2014  Edit just so I don't post three times in a row: Just watching RUS-NOR from earlier today and in the first end they both had a rock so close to the button that they couldn't measure it and they couldn't tell which was closer. They ended up no points anybody. Never seen that before! Chicken fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Feb 9, 2018 |
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Feb 9, 2018 02:26
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Just got back from curling irl and get to watch CAN-FIN before bed. Hell yeah great curling day.
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Feb 9, 2018 06:29
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CellBlock posted:I still think Team Shuster has a good shot at making the top 4, but until they actually start playing, it's a pretty baseless prediction. I'm doing the writeups for the men's teams today and I think the top 2 and bottom 2 are pretty clear but the middle teams, including the US, could be anywhere. I don't get to see Schuster a lot as he doesn't play on the Canadian money circuit. My impression is that they're primarily a defensive, big weight team. Any insight into their strengths/weaknesses/strategy?
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Feb 9, 2018 17:27
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Renegret posted:How are those little beads on the ice made? I think someone said they spray water on the ice? I'm not sure exactly how they do it for the Olympics but it's probably pretty similar to how they do it in clubs. Ice making is a huge part of curling and there's a Canadian curling hero named Shorty Jenkins (A+ name) who's famous solely for ice making. Maybe half an hour before each game you'll see some dude with what looks like a backpack come onto the ice and walk backwards down each sheet gently sprinkling water drops the whole way. After that, he'll take a huge planer out onto the ice which just barely clips off the very top of the new ice pebbles. The final step is to take a seven foot wide lambswool broom out onto the ice to clear off all of the ice shavings. At the Olympics they probably add a few steps but the process is functionally the same. Over time in a game the pebble will gradually wear away and you might hear curlers comment on "flat spots" or say a rock is "running" in a spot. It probably won't come up much in the mixed doubles as the games are shorter and they only throw 10 rocks an end, but it will definitely be a factor for the men's and women's events. It's all part of the game and the skips just keep an eye on it and might expect rocks to curl a bit less and go a bit slower as the game goes on. Another factor is the conditions in the building. Humidity is a huge problem and when you have larger than normal crowds (like a gold medal game) the heat and humidity from the crowd can hugely affect the ice. I think this building was purpose built for curling and they have some great ice makers so they should be able to mitigate that.
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Feb 9, 2018 19:47
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ilmucche posted:The Brad Jacobs rink had some means gazes and comments sent their way when they hit the scene if I'm remembering it right, because they had the gall to cheer and whoop a bit when they were making good shots. Brad Jacobs is an rear end in a top hat and I won't hear anything to the contrary. There are often a few broken brooms from curlers slamming it on the sideboards when they miss the shot. You'll also hear quite a few fucks because the players are all miked up. John Morris does it quite a bit but he's toned it down either because he's at the Olympics or because he doesn't want to swear around women. Back in juniors I curled against a group of three brothers who were the sons of a former Canadian champion. They were courteous and even nice guys to people they were playing against but they were huge assholes to each other and the poor non brother on the team was stuck in the middle of all the arguments. One time the skip and the third disagreed on a shot the third was throwing. The skip won the argument and the third threw the rock about twice as heavy as he needed to and nowhere near where it was supposed to go and then said "See? I told you it wouldn't loving work!".
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Feb 9, 2018 20:02
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So at the world men's curling championships, the Americas get two spots and up until five years ago, they went to Canada and the US by default. But for the past five years some Brazilian guys who live in Canada have been trying to get in as Brazil. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/curling/continental-cup-canada-brazil-curling-1.4486222
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Feb 9, 2018 22:01
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I won't say that an all star team wouldn't work for the US, but most of the top teams in the world have been together for a long time. There might be one or two changes due to life events (moving away from where the team practices, can't commit to the insane schedule needed to be an Olympic athlete, etc) but the core of a team usually stays together for a long time. The best way to make a team better in the short term is money. Pay for the best coaches, pay for training, pay for them to go to some World Curling Tour events or the Grand Slam events in Canada. I see lots of European teams on the tour and a handful of Asian teams, but the American teams are almost never there. Also focus not just on one team, but two or three to give them some competition and some continuity if one team disbands or starts declining. The Scottish have been really successful at this and while their men's teams aren't great at the moment, they have three teams who could all be real good for the next Olympics. In the long term, focus on junior teams. It's a lot cheaper and you don't have people leaving for job opportunities or to have kids or something. It gives people an opportunity to compete on the world stage and get used to the training regimen. Get a few groups of two or three people who can form the core of a team and then add players who complement that. Canada is very lucky in that we have at least ten teams on both the mens and women's side who could compete at the Olympics at any moment and curlings big enough here that the high performance stuff is done at a local level without much oversight. But obviously we're the only country that can do that. I hope you Americans can have a cool and good team next Olympics!
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Feb 9, 2018 23:16
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The Americans are actually making 74% of their shots which is third best behind Canada and Norway. So they're playing well except they miss all the important shots! And they beat Norway and Russia who are sitting second and third right now. The Official Chicken Analysis is that they are Good curlers who are not used to mixed doubles. If that makes you guys feel better. Playoff picture is starting to get sorted out. Canada and !Russia are guaranteed a playoff spot. If Norway beats China, then Norway and Switzerland are in. If Norway loses to China and Switzerland loses to !Russia we'll see a tiebreaker! I think. I can't find the seeding information anywhere so it might be determined by who had the closest draws the the house at the beginning of the game over the tournament.
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Feb 10, 2018 17:17
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ilmucche posted:I've always been a bit lost on the #-rock rules. I get that you don't want guards peeled constantly for blanks, but it always seemed to me that the early guards are there more to help the team without the hammer clutter up the house and force the hammer to take points if they can't steal. what's the difference between 4 and 5? How many ends really shape up where not letting the second from the team without the hammer peel is a detriment? Emma Miskew posted:We played a seventh end last year where we tried a hard shot to blank the end instead of an easy shot for a point because we were up by only one point at the time. We preferred being tied going into the eighth end with hammer (if we were to miss and give up a steal of one) rather than two points up without. That’s a decision we would never have made with the four-rock rule, where being up by two points is usually considered a control situation. That's from an article by Emma Miskew of Team Canada. The point isn't so much to help the team with or without hammer, rather it helps the team that's behind which leads to more exciting games. In the javelin event they have had to introduce more and more stringent requirements on the javelin because athletes were getting stronger and better technology meant the javelin could go further. The javelin event is inside a track and field oval, so to keep runners from dying they had to impose constraints on the sport. Curling faced a similar issue in the eighties. There was starting to be some money in curling which meant teams were training harder and becoming better. At the same time, ice making technology was starting to get better and rocks were becoming more standardized. Before the three rock rule you would routinely see games with scores like 4-3 and 3-1 because hits were now incredibly easy. To make the game more exciting to fans, they brought in the three rock rule in Canada in 1993. Since then, players have continued to get better, ice is a lot better and has a lot more curl, and sweeping research means rocks can be moved quite a bit as they move. It's a bit of an arms race. All this means guards are less effective as you can make a low weight takeout directly behind a high guard or you can easily peel two guards that aren't placed quite correctly. The five rock rule basically allows the team without hammer to set up three guards which are pretty unlikely to be removed in one shot. That gives the team a one rock buffer to play with and even a great hitting team won't be able to clear all the center guards until the third's shots at the very earliest. For the team with hammer you have more options but also more risk: you can play corner guards on each side, staggered corner guards on one side, a guard and a draw on one side, bury two rocks behind the center guards, or some combination. Every team will have different strategies depending on the score and it will be interesting to see what wins out. More rocks in play means cooler shots in my opinion. Tolly Totes posted:How does the selection process for Curling teams work? Do they take already very successful teams and send them to the olympics or do they attempt to make some sort of super team with standouts from multiple teams? As ilmucche said, Canada has a huge tournament to see who goes to the Olympics. Nine teams for each gender played in the final tournament and there was actually a pre tournament with fourteen teams of each gender just to get the last two spots in the final tournament. Other countries have a much smaller pool of teams to draw from and most of the European countries (and the US) will invite the top two to four teams to play a playoff to see who goes. The Asian countries and I believe Scotland/GBR choose a team to go based on who the committee thinks will do best. All star teams don't really happen although it's common to see one of the players from the opposing team come to the Olympics as an alternate player. And yeah Kaitlyn Lawes is very, very good and also just a genuinely nice person from what I've heard.
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Feb 11, 2018 00:50
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That was a long and boring post so here's a picture of one of the best curling teams in the world in 1968: Smoking on the ice wasn't banned at the Canadian men's championship until 1980! Possibly because it was sponsored by a tobacco company...
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Feb 11, 2018 00:58
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Minrad posted:yeah the whole mixed format seems weird in general. it's new? so it's not established with decades of history like, pairs figure skating or something, so the only people who seem to be playing it are a. brother/sisters b. wife/husbands or c. random pairing from okay curling teams that don't know each other but wanted to play in this event. it's a niche new? ruleset in an already niche sport, not really the best way to bring out the best players. Mixed doubles are indeed quite new and from my understanding, there were three reasons to bring it in. One, the IOC wanted more co-ed sports (see: the addition of luge relay, biathlon relay, and team skiing). Two, curling wanted a sport that was a bit more accessible to the average non-curling viewer. Mixed doubles games take about half as long as a regular game and are higher scoring and have more big shots. Thirdly, and a bit more far-fetched, was to see curling expand to countries that may not be able to support a full curling team. While there aren't any non-traditional curling countries at the Olympics this year, in past years countries like New Zealand, Spain, Austria, and Czechia have all medalled at the mixed doubles world championships. I hope that keeps up and you don't just see Canada, Scandinavia, and Switzerland dominating the mixed doubles. Mixed doubles has been played a bit longer in Europe and I think the players on the Russian team have only played mixed doubles at a high level and have never been on the men's or women's teams. So you might start to see junior curlers choosing to go into mixed doubles rather than seeing it just as a backup plan.
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Feb 11, 2018 01:15
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Holy poo poo Kaitlyn! She is nailing it this game. Korea's numbers may not be great but they've had to face some incredibly hard shots and have done pretty well.
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Feb 11, 2018 02:35
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Josh Lyman posted:Rachel Homan is a stone cold (heh) killer and Jennifer Jones is old and washed up that's right I said it fight me This is a good opinion. Playoffs are almost set. Switzerland (2) plays Russia (3) while Canada (1) plays the winner of the China/Norway tiebreaker. Winners of those games go to the gold medal game and losers go to the bronze.
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Feb 11, 2018 03:58
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Kaitlyn with the comeback! Norway with the big miss!
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Feb 12, 2018 02:06
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Norway needs a 4 ender to tie. Gonna see some sweet Morris double takeouts this end.
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Feb 12, 2018 02:30
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Kaitlyn Lawes' drug test results: 100% kicking rear end, 0% bubblegum.
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Feb 12, 2018 02:49
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Is that a style of facial hair in Russia or does that guy just naturally have very dark hair below the jawline? I have she still has an intact coccyx. 
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Feb 13, 2018 01:41
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Men's Curling Schedule - Click here! Format Ten teams play a round robin with the top four teams making the playoffs. 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3 with the winners going to the gold medal game and the losers going to the bronze medal game. Teams Canada - Skip: Kevin Koe Third: Marc Kennedy Second: Brent Laing Lead: Ben Hebert Alternate: Scott Pfeifer  After the retirement of Kevin Martin, there hasn't been one men's team that can claim to be the best in Canada. Gushue, MacEwen, Norris, and Jacobs have all given it a try but since the creation of this all star team in 2014, they've certainly made the best argument. The lead and third won a gold medal with Kevin Martin in Vancouver and there's a combined nine world championships between the four players. Kevin Koe himself has spent much of his career in obscurity, growing up in the curling backwater of Yellowknife, NWT and then spending years as a second tier team in Alberta before the retirements of Martin and Ferbey allowed him to come to the fore. These guys throw huge weight with deadly accuracy and there will be a highlight reel shot every other end. That's not the only tool in their belt though; their draw weight is exceptional and Kevin's ice reading is second to none. I wouldn't put them as heavily favourited as Rachel Homan, but anything less than gold will be a disappointment. Official Chicken Prediction: Gold Hero or Villain? They yell a lot and are kind of dicks on the ice. Even as a Canadian it'll be hard to cheer for these guys. Denmark - Skip: Rasmus Stjerne Third: Johnny Frederiksen Second: Mikkel Poulsen Lead: Oliver Dupont Alternate: Morten Berg Thomsen  A bit more experienced than their female compatriots, this team will still have a tough time of it here. They don't have the skill at the big weight shots that allow a team to hold a lead, so while they might be able to mix it up in the middle of a game, expect the other teams to pounce on these guys in the eighth and ninth ends. Official Chicken Prediction: Ninth Hero or Villain? The most villainous Scandinavians here although that's not saying much. Great Britain - Skip: Kyle Smith Third: Thomas Muirhead Second: Kyle Waddell Lead: Cameron Smith Alternate: Glen Muirhead  This team was selected by their country's Olympic committee over the established David Murdoch which was a bit of a surprise. Having seen a bit of their play, it's hard to see why that decision was made, but Scotland is deep enough that these guys could win a few games. The talent is apparent but the experience just isn't there and unless they've done a lot of homework since I last saw them, the shot-calling will be hit and miss. Official Chicken Prediction: Eighth Hero or Villain? Villainous usurpers of the rightful representative. Italy - Fourth: Amos Mosaner Skip: Joël Retornaz Second: Simone Gonin Lead: Daniele Ferrazza Alternate: Andrea Pilzer  Every time I've seen these guys play, one of the commentators brings up when they beat Canada in the round robin at the 2006 Olympics in Turin. They didn't make the playoffs that year, but a victory over Canada by a second tier curling country put their name in a lot of people's minds. There have been a few lineup changes in the past twelve years, but there's still that ability to beat some top teams. They play a quiet, unassuming game but keep enough rocks in play that they can score a big end by capitalizing on mistakes. I can't see them in a playoff spot but will be on the edge of my seat when they play Canada. Official Chicken Prediction: Fifth Hero or Villain? Giantkilling heroes. Japan - Skip: Yusuke Morozumi Third: Tetsuro Shimizu Second: Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi Lead: Kosuke Morozumi Alternate: Kohsuke Hirata  This team's competed a bit on the Canadian circuit and get a little better each time I see them. The weight has always been good, but the strategy and ice reading has improved by leaps and bounds. They would prefer not to throw a lot of takeouts, and when they do, they'd prefer to play soft enough weight that some rocks will stick around. Hard to see them doing well against the top half of the teams but if they can beat the teams they're capable of beating and get a bit of luck, you might see them in a playoff spot. Official Chicken Prediction: Sixth Hero or Villain? They're only getting better so get on this bandwagon while you can. Norway - Skip: Thomas Ulsrud Third: Torger Nergård Second: Christoffer Svae Lead: Håvard Vad Petersson Alternate: Sander Rølvåg They wear cool rear end pants. The last two Olympics have seen the pants of the Norwegian team achieve great heights: New York Times articles, magazine spreads, their own Facebook page. But behind the pants is a great team. Ulsrud is (I believe) the oldest player in the field and he's got the kind of veteran savvy that can carry a team. One of the most finesse based teams here, they play a fun style of curling with lots of rocks in the house. They've got the skill and savvy to stay in games even without the huge takeouts and when the dust settles I wouldn't be surprised to see these guys go home with a medal to showcase at their next pants photoshoot. Official Chicken Prediction: Bronze Hero or Villain? The pants are cool, the team is cool. Heroes! South Korea - Skip: Kim Chang-min Third: Seong Se-hyeon Second: Oh Eun-Su Lead: Lee Ki-bokAlternate: Kim Min-chan  I've only seen this team once, when they finished second at a Canadian event late last year. Put a big asterisk next to that, because most of the big teams were preparing for Olympics qualifying and the winners were a third tier Scottish team. Still that's great experience for a young team and they should have the skill to keep most of the games close even if they don't win many. Official Chicken Prediction: Tenth Hero or Villain? Hometown heroes. Sweden - Skip: Niklas Edin Third: Oskar Eriksson Second: Rasmus Wranå Lead: Christoffer Sundgren Alternate: Henrik Leek  These guys match up pretty well to the Canadians and their round robin game next Saturday will probably be a gold medal game preview. The front end is a little more elegant but Edin can throw big weight with the best in the world. He's also great at strategy and ice reading and he might be upset with a shot that looks good, just because he rolled an inch too far to set up a shot later in the end. No weaknesses except that they're not quiiiiiiite as good as Canada. Nevertheless, if they can take advantage of a few mistakes they have a decent shot at a gold. Official Chicken Prediction: Silver Hero or Villain? Still kind of dicks on the ice but they're nicer than Canada. Switzerland - Fourth: Benoît Schwarz Third: Claudio Pätz Skip: Peter de Cruz Lead: Valentin Tanner Alternate: Dominik Märki  More well rounded than most of the other teams, they're partial to the low weight game but can throw big weight when needed. One of the unique things about this team is that their skip throws the third and fourth rocks. You'll see de Cruz holding the broom for the first two rocks, then run down to the other end to throw two shots, and then head back to holding the broom. It's a good tactical move to have whoever is the strategic genius plan the shots whatever rocks they throw, but there's some accountability to throwing the last rocks and running the team. You might see a bit of too many cooks in the kitchen, with the third and fourth expecting to have some input on the shots they'll throw. Keep an eye on the clock too, because all that discussion takes up valuable time. Official Chicken Prediction: Fourth Hero or Villain? Low key heroes. United States - Skip: John Shuster Third: Tyler George Second: Matt Hamilton Lead: John Landsteiner Alternate: Joe Polo  This thread's punching bag, John Shuster returns to the Olympics happily unaware of his terrible reputation here. They like big weight and that might be all you need at the Ten Thousand Lakes Fun Bonspiel in Cold-As-Balls, Minnesota, but at the Olympics you need the finesse game too and I haven't seen anything to suggest they can match up here. Still, they've had some decent results in the past and if they can go in under the radar and avoid getting mixed up in ends that will be on "Worst of the Olympics" highlight reels, they have an extremely outside chance at a playoff spot. Official Chicken Prediction: Seventh Hero or Villain? Villain.
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Feb 13, 2018 04:14
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Thanks to inept for putting these in the op. It's been fun writing them and I hope it helps you figure out that sport you watch once every four years. From now on I will solely be posting about how good Rachel Homan is, how much a dick Kevin Koe is, and how bad Jon Shuster is. Hopefully with a mixed doubles gold in there.
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Feb 13, 2018 04:19
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iospace posted:Will you do the same for the women's competition? https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3848626&pagenumber=2&perpage=40#post481107196 I already did!
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Feb 13, 2018 04:42
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Tolly Totes posted:Can't help but feel like there's an issue in game design when teams are literally trying to avoid scoring There's two things at play here. The first, as Aggro mentioned, is it's the first game of the tournament and teams are going to be playing defensively trying to figure out the ice and adjust to playing in a place for the first time. The second is that Italy is just good enough to challenge for the playoffs but not really good enough to play head to head against Canada. What they're probably trying to do (I just got home from work and I'm catching up on the game!) is play as open and defensively as possible hoping to goad Canada into a mistake. This probably isn't something you'll see from either team in the rest of the tournament although you might see Italy try it against Sweden if it's successful here. Yes, hammer is that important. At least in a game like this. One thing you might see is that teams want hammer in the last end, so they might gladly give up one in the ninth end. Most teams would rather be down with hammer than up without hammer (by 1 or 2 at least, 3 or more whatever) in the last end. Also, just watch women's curling. It's better about that. Very disappointed that the Italian third trimmed his beard. He had some impressive hipster facial hair. Team USA's white pants are an absolute travesty. I would go so far as to call them the anti Norway.
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Feb 14, 2018 02:28
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^This guy is right. In the SWI-GBR game extra end, Switzerland didn't even hit the house with their last draw and gave GBR the whole house to draw to for the win. Draws can be deceptively hard before you know the ice.
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Feb 14, 2018 05:26
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Josh Lyman posted:Russian skip is awful, Sidorova would be clowning on her. They clowned Sidorova in the Russian playdowns somehow. 
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Feb 14, 2018 07:37
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How is Homan 0-2 and in extra ends with Denmark?!?!? I felt like they had turned a corner halfway through the Sweden game even though they lost. Rachel started making some shots, reading the ice better, anticipating what the team would be able to make, and Joanne upped her game. I missed most of the Denmark game (because I was curling myself), but drat, if they don't turn this around that's pretty much goodbye to the playoffs.
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Feb 16, 2018 08:54
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 04:13 |
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Wow. Rachel. drat.
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Feb 16, 2018 09:01
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