World Curling tightens sweeping rules, bans firmer broom foams ahead of Olympics(www.cbc.ca)
44 pointsby emptybits5 days ago13 comments
  • ortusdux3 days ago
    Reminds me of Broomgate - a 'technology doping' scandal from 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broomgate
  • peeters3 days ago
    In some ways it's a shame because I love the finesse game as a counterbalance to the focus on power that seemed to peak around the time Brad Jacob's crew was dominating the scene. I don't follow curling quite enough to know what the impact will be on the meta game though. More guards? Fewer? More takeout attempts? It's interesting because finesse and power both have critical roles in both scoring and defending so it's not obvious to me where the negative/positive impacts to the game will be.
    • gucci-on-fleek2 days ago
      > In some ways it's a shame because I love the finesse game as a counterbalance to the focus on power

      The relatively recent ban on takeouts before the 5th rock [0] has pushed the game back towards finesse, so if you haven't watched curling for the past few years, you might find it to be a little more interesting to watch now.

      [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling#Free_guard_zone:~:text....

  • mattmaroon3 days ago
    Curling is proof that with enough alcohol anything can be a sport.
    • jdougan2 days ago
      You have to admire the "Winners buy the drinks for the losers." curlture.
  • jackschultz3 days ago
    My brother in law curls. Asked him about this and he said that it's been coming for a while, the men's teams at Canadian nationals has a self imposed a ban on them, and for amateurs it doesn't really affect them since they're not good enough to have it make a difference. Seems like it means it's not that big an issue and players aren't arguing to keep them.

    Now golf on the other hand has a much bigger equipment issues if people want to see some big time drama.

    • MegaDeKay2 days ago
      I remember back in the day when the brooms were real corn bristle brooms. You had to have forearms like hams to slap those brooms back and forth hard enough to get those stones to move. The side effect was that every now and then a piece of straw would bust off and cause the stone to veer way off course.
  • munificent3 days ago
    There is a "sweeping rule change" pun right there and the author lacked the courage to use it.
    • exabrial3 days ago
      It was just brushed aside unfortunately.
    • mattmaroon3 days ago
      I actually thought they were making that pun a couple times and then realized they weren’t.
    • sunrunner3 days ago
      Curling is a serious sport and not something to be joked about.
      • rpmisms2 days ago
        Any sport can be joked about. If you feel the need to defend it...
      • rtkwe2 days ago
        Sometimes you get swept up in the excitment of a good pun.
    • mynegation3 days ago
      You knocked it out with this pun!
    • 3 days ago
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  • schlauerfox3 days ago
    US has a curling team too. I wish the US had better olympics television coverage, but it's become mini athlete docs, a little of US performances and it robs us. There's this too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMLU6-NHINQ
  • jmclnx2 days ago
    I remember seeing Curling on TV as a young kid in the 60s. Most competitor were out of shape and they tossed the stone almost like one would bowl.

    I was shocked decades later seeing how it changed. I miss the old days :)

  • parpfish3 days ago

      curl -X PATCH http://worldcurling.gov/rules/firm-foam \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status": "BANNED"}'
  • m3kw92 days ago
    Like those Nike marathon shoes, Vapor flys
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  • johnea2 days ago
    They need to require consumption of a pint of ale prior to each round (and two on each penalty), to bring the game back to it's Canadian roots!
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