Curling is not like baseball, football or basketball. It's not a popular sport in the states, and many people are not even aware of the game at all. A standard curling team consists of 4 players at a time, One, called the skipper, controls the stone. The stone is a large piece of rounded rock with a handle that is slid across the curling sheet to get it closest to the center of the house, or target, at the end of the sheet. Two sweepers on either side of the moving stone can manipulate its path in order to perfect the shot. A spotter is positioned close to target to communicate with the skipper and get the shot right (Keeney; Bleacher Report).
In the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, curling is already underway. The Men's competition involves 10 different teams and the events started February 10th and will run through the 21st at "The Ice Cube" in Sochi (NBC). To medal in this event these athletes must be even more mentally tough than they are physically. Strategy and planning is what winning curling competitions. The favorite of the competition features Canada, who have dominated the sport over the past few years, and won gold in 2010 in Vancouver (Dator; SB Nation).
Other squads to look out for include Great Britain, Sweden and China, who all rank at the top of the world. But, one of this year's top curling stories is about the Norway team. The jokesters have a uniform trick up their sleeve where they are planning to wear a different pair of funky pants to every match they participate in (Zaccardi; NBC OlympicTalk). They may not be the forerunner to win a medal, but Norway should provide some entertainment in this year's games.
Curling is one of the most underrated sports of the winter Olympics, and this year will definitely not disappoint. Take a look at any games possible over the next couple weeks, they should be fun!
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