curling

Sam and I tried out a new sport tonight - curling!

Honestly, most of what I knew about curling before this evening came from very brief glimpses during the Winter Olympics and an episode of the Simpsons. It seemed to me to be like shuffleboard on ice.

And now I know that it is indeed like shuffleboard on ice, only with 42 lbs stones. The most difficult part is sending that 42 lb stone across the ice without falling over, releasing the stone too hard, releasing it too soft, curling it too much, or giving it a shove in the wrong direction. There's also a knack to sweeping the area in front of the stone to melt the ice and keep it moving or curving.

Mostly, curling appears to be a sport of finesse, and finesse takes practice. Unfortunately, the curling club meets only once a month for about three more months. We'll see how much finesse I can gain by in that time. Perhaps I'll even get to enter a spiel (tournament).