What's Not to Love about Curling?????

Seems curlers get no respect.  Over the years, I've heard some people just plain diss them and other "callous sports sophisticates" delight in making fun of them.  

Heck, even I've chuckled when the subject of curling has come up in conversation. 

I shall laugh no more, especially after my first afternoon on Toddie nursing duty here at the Lovestead temporary Infirmary.  

Consider the schedule of pill-administering, iodine dabbing, potty walking on a yucky day, and the TV definitely comes in handy.

Yesterday afternoon's choices included hockey (with teams other than the USA) or curling. 

Curling got the nod and maintained an afternoon's intensity,  especially after I saw some close-up shots of Norwegian curlers.  

I even told Bill later that our preconceived notions about curlers NOT being among the most chiseled or svelte of athletes was nothing more than a notion.

Yesterday I learned that the high-intensity sport does, indeed, have its share of attractive HUNKS----hunks wearing wild clothing too.  

And, yesterday I didn't even tune in on the guy on the left.  

No. 2 had me pretty transfixed every time he bent down with his curling tool and the camera closed in on that perfectly tanned Viggo Mortensen-style face with the firm jaw and nicely groomed mop of hair.  The body wasn't bad either. 

Didn't matter what this curler was doing or how bad he was doing whatever he was doing, the eye candy of his very being superseded any concerns about what was happening in the competition.

After a whole afternoon of watching curling and Mr. Norway, I still haven't got the foggiest idea of what goes on in the sport. 

But it's sure fun to watch. 

The intensity, all that shouting in foreign tongues and that furious sweeping---it's downright mesmerizing.   

Can't get enough of it, in fact, and I'm guessing NBC feels the same way cuz there sure are a lot of hours of curling to watch.

Throughout the afternoon, as Brits and Norwegians strategically duked it out with their rocks and brooms,  the commentator suggested a few times that the sweepers did not do their job and that's why the rock ended up in a bad place.  

At one point, they also suggested that Mr. Norway was showing uncharacteristic tension when one of his rocks ended up in a bad place.

They also suggested that one of the Brits was gonna have to get a new broom.  At first I thought that was cuz he was sweeping so hard but later learned it was cuz he had slammed it to the ice so many times----off camera, of course. 

They also noted that Mr. Norway slammed his broom once.  If he did, I'm sure all the women there at the match were watching. 

I still haven't quite figured out what's a bad place and what's a good place for those rocks to stop sliding.  I just know there's a lot of yelling going on OR there's dead silence. 

The Norway-Great Britain contest went on for several hours, and then the Scot on the Brit team was faced with a decision to go for it all by getting two points.  

His team conferred.  They were smiling with glee while considering the delicious possibilities. 

Then, the British coach came to the ice.  The Scottish brogue and the British dialect got so thick I couldn't figure out what the coach and his curler were saying to each other or what was gonna happen next.

And, I never did get to see what happened because that's when our satellite dish outside got loaded down with enough wet slop that the TV screen inside started breaking into all those crackling images, resulting in a similar visual effect to those wild and wacky Norwegian uniforms.

So, I had to put on my boots and take my broom outside and sweep off the dish.  In my case, I slammed the broom to the floor first because I knew by the time I got back into the house, the Brits would have used their brooms and probably finished off the Norwegians. 

They did. No broom slamming there.  Brits were happy.

I wasn't so happy cuz that means the Norwegians and that handsome hunk probably won't be on my TV screen again during the Olympics.  

But I'm betting Mr. Norway could be getting a Hollywood contract, or maybe Duluth Trading Co. will hire him to model their offerings like those shirts with long tails that hide plumber's butt. 

Maybe by the time the Olympics ends, I'll understand more about curling.  Even in my ignorant state, I must say the sport has earned my respect.

Happy Wednesday!  Can't wait for today's Olympics.