Okay, I am not from an area in America in which Winter Olympic sports are prevalent. Living in Arkansas, you wont find very many fans of hockey, much less figure skating, cross-country skiing, or slalom. Yet, I am surprised to find a few of my friends interested in the winter Olympic game of Curling. 

          If you are not familiar with the sport of Curling, this is the sport in which either two or three teamates alternate slading a handled stone across the ice. At a certain point, the handler must release the stone before the faultline. From there, it is that teamates job to spot the sweepers by judging which way the stone needs to "curl". The sweepers job is to use a small broom to create abrasions on the ice in front of the stone. Depending on the angle and speed of the broom strokes, the stone will "curl" (bend left or right) and go further. The object is to get as many stones within the scoring range of the target. 

A point is awarded  for each stone that remains closest to the senter by one team. For example, if Team A has a stone 2 feet from the center and four feet from the center and Team B's stone is just outside at 3 feet. One point is scored for team A. 

        Each team uses five stones in each round of a curling match. The round is referred to as an "end". There are 10 end in an entire match. Teamates mustbdecide on whether to block their opponents with their stones, attempt to score by placing the stone just in front of their opponents', or draw their opponents stones out of the target. It really is interesting to watch, especially when curlers are able to knock up to three of their opponents' stones out of scoring position while simultaneously placing that stone in an andvantageous scoring position. 

        I feel like I have more than floundered in describing this sport I have watched a handful of times every four years for the last couple of decades, but hopefully it has been enough to leave you slightly more curious about the sport of curling.