gregchad

SCCCCCOOOOOORRRRRREEEEEEE!

You can kinda hear the soccer announcer guy - and the excitement in his voice when a team scores a goal!  You know what I am talking about, right?  Well, that’s almost exactly what happened this afternoon at…. wait for it ….the curling venue.  It was the United States versus Japan in the first round of the women’s preliminaries.  The US had blown a 3-point lead and was now 1 point behind the Japanese women.  On their last stone, the Japanese made a mistake and left the door open for the US women to get at least the one point needed to tie - and possibly come away with a clean 2-point win.  The US calls a time out so as not to rush the skip, Debbie McCormick.  They huddle up to discuss where, exactly, to place the stone, how fast, how to sweep the ice, in order to achieve at least the tie.

They come out of the timeout and Debbie got into position - and she pushed that stone down the lane, with some authority, and it hit.  It hit just where it was supposed to hit - and it moved the Japanese stone out of position.  The Japanese stone veers off the center of the tee and lands slightly off center to the left.  Only a sliver of the stone is in the center ring.  At the same time, Debbie’s stone, Team USA’s last hope to tie this prelim game, slides off the center of the tee to the right - and lands slightly off the center ring, but just a sliver.

How will this game be decided, you ask?  With a measuring device of course.  Oh, the drama.  So the wait begins - and when the measuring device is brought out on the field, they start with the US stone.  It is measured from the the center of the center ring to a point on the stone.  Then the device is removed and is placed (as it was measured on the US stone) on the Japanese stone.  And, the call is made ….

SCCCCCCCOOOOORRRREEEEE!!! JAPAN!  The US Women’s Curling Team loses its first game.  But don’t tell me curling isn’t exciting, damn it!

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