Gone are the days of watching Canucks games on my 20-inch TV, trying to find the puck, waiting for the camera to catch up when it shoots across the rink, desperately praying for a fight so something will happen. Instead, I watch curling. For the patriots who are offended by my scorning of the NHL, I would posit that curling is more Canadian than hockey because no other countries care about it, and the players wear microphones so you can hear every “Oh, jeez” and “Have at ‘er.” Furthermore, unlike hockey, whose merits I will admit to when watching it live, curling is the perfect sport for television because it doesn’t go too fast, so you can watch while you’re eating dinner, having a conversation, or working on your needlepoint. It’s also easy to understand the plays, and since it happens in a straight line, the camera is always exactly where I want it to be, so I can see all the action. And while other sports are available only to the landed gentry with their cable and satellite subscriptions, all the Scotties games are posted on YouTube, showing that curling is truly a game for the people.
Simple, accessible, beautiful, glacial: curling.
