The ancient Scottish sport of curling has been called a hybrid of bowling and chess set on ice, but perhaps the closest analogy is
shuffleboard. Two four-member teams slide 42-pound granite stones (the best of which come from a single
quarry in Scotland) on a
sheet of ice toward a target area. Teammates sweep the ice in front of the stone to help maneuver it towards the center target.
Each player on the team throws two stones during an "end," which is sort of like an inning in baseball. The team with the most points after 8 or 10 ends wins the match. Did I mention that you can knock your opponents' stones out of contention?
The name "curling" comes from the Old English verb "to
curr," or growl. There's a fair amount of shouting during the game, as team members urge each other on while sweeping the ice in front of the stone.
This year, the British women's team gave their country its first
Winter Olympics gold medal since 1984, while the Norwegian men's team upset the Canadian favorites.
Curling looks like a lot of fun, I
wonder where I could try
it in my
area?
