Tried curling? Know anyone who does?

[Kimmyt]

The Boy and I signed up for a cheap 6 week course at a nearby curling club, it is a ton of fun and the people in the club seemed like they had a really good time, with lots of parties (i think they call them bonspiels as one of the posters above wrote). I really dug the strategy part of it, if we didn't have other hobbies we might have gotten into it.

[Grog]

I played twice, including once in Vancouver (at the Marpole curling club in Southern Vancouver, accessible by Heather and Kent bike routes...).

I thought it was a lot of fun, and, as others noted, a lot harder than it looks.

We live 10 blocks away from the curling venue for the Olympics and that's the only event I'm really interested in. We have a pair of tickets. I am thinking about getting tickets for the paralympic curling, too. I don't watch sports on TV, but if we're going to have the olympics in town at least I'll have seen... curling.

[shootingstar]

So you managed to get through the web to get tickets. We have friends where he took 3-4 hrs. of trying to order Olympic tickets online. He was lucky..got men's hockey gold (I think) final tickets and speed skating (can't remember if it was men's or women's). They are both cyclists.

They knew someone else who tried for 6 hrs. Unsuccessful on that day.

Maybe curling will become more popular ...later like snowshoeing in the mountains or deep snow, where people realize the skill and effort and has now become popular for many more people. But boning up on lunging exercises, etc. first.

Or like table tennis (that seems to be less high status / cool in North America)...where one can get whipped by champions who are experienced. A brother to Canada's national champion a few years ago..played with a bunch of us weekly. It was fast, nimble playing.. hardly saw the freakin' ball whizzing back and forth. Of course he had his brother to practice with.

[Grog]

Chris got tickets in the first round. He got about 1/3 to 1/2 of what he entered the lottery for, if I remember correctly.

He's got a hockey game, some curling, some short-track speed skating, and long-distance cross-country skiing. I think I'll go to curling and skating with him, not sure about the skiing, and I'm leaving my hockey seat for someone who'll enjoy it more!

[kenyonchris]

Here in Texas, curling is what is on ESPN7A at 2AM...so it is what is on the PD station TV when we are on nights (it avoids the network infomercials for male enhancement). We enjoy making fun of it, because, of course, we are from Texas.