Who would have thought that one day those chores your mother harassed you to do would actually pay off in the form of an Olympic gold medal?
With sweeping being a necessary and tactful function to the game of curling, you can now become an Olympic athlete as a sweeper.
Overview of Game
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| The playing field (or ice) |
-The object of the game is to slide 42 lb. granite rocks down an ice sheet in hopes of getting them closest to the middle of a 12 foot diameter circle.
-Curling is designed in a similar layout to baseball but instead of nine innings they have eight ends. In an end, each of the four players on the team will throw two rocks apiece, and then switch and repeat the process on the other side of the sheet combining for 16 rocks to be thrown per end.
-One point is earned for every rock your team has closer to the center than the other teams (CurlTech).
Where is the sweeping part?
Sweeping comes into play when attempting to curl the rock in a certain direction or change the speed in which it is traveling.
The purpose of sweeping is to generate heat caused by friction. This briefly melts a layer of ice in front of the rock which lubricates the bottom allowing it to travel longer and straighter (CurlTech).
Established in grass roots
Four years later, curling developed into the second most popular spectator sport at the Winter Olympics. "CNBC's weekday Olympic curling coverage is averaging 913,000 total viewers (0.62 HH rating) up 608 percent vs. Feb. 2005 (129,000)." (Karrys).
This video is an example of the news coverage of the Olympic Games about a men's curling Olympic gold medalist from CTV News.
Canadian women's Olympic curler, Cheryl Bernard, scored higher than Hollywood celebrities in online searches after her outstanding play in the 2010 Vancouver Games.
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| Cheryl Bernard |
Curling Coverage
TSN is the Canadian version of ESPN and delivers unparalleled coverage of curling. Fans have access to stats, highlights, scores and news about the sport. Here is the link to the TSN curling page:
http://www.tsn.ca/curling/
In fact, TSN and the Canadian Curling Association, recently announced a multimedia rights extension through the 2020 season. This deal includes access to broadband, mobile, radio and video-on-demand rights (TSN.ca staff).
Curling Advertisements
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| Simpsons ad |
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| Oreo ad |
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| Google ad |
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| Ford ad |
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| Tim Horton ad |
(Suburban Schoolmasters' Curling Club)
Here are two Canadian TV commercials for the sport of curling. The first is a national advertisement promoting the CCA. The second is a regional promotion for recreational level curling.
Attack of the Ads
This Vancouver sun article was printed after the CBC produced poor coverage of the 2008 Women's Curling Championship. The opening ceremony and parts of the actual game were skipped due to commercials and advertisements of CBC's upcoming shows (McDonald).
References
CurlTech.
(2011). The Curling Manual. Retrieved
October 26, 2011 from http://www.curlingschool.com/manual2007/Section1.html
Karrys, George.
(2011). The Olympic Impact. Retrieved
October 26, 2011 from http://www.curlinguru.com/olympiccurling/index.html
McDonald, Ian.
(2008, August 1). Advertisements on CBC
Ruined Women’s World Curling Coverage. Retrieved October 26, 2011 from
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/letters/story.html?id=5fd3580e-05b2-4653-ad02-40d1075e6c5d
Suburban
Schoolmaters’ Curling Club Est. 1958 (2011). Curling Advertisement. Retrieved October 26, 2011 from
http://www.sscurling.ca/curling_advertisements.htm
TSN.CA Staff
(2011, September 29). TSN, CCA Extend
Curling Partnership through 2020 Season. Retrieved October 26, 2011 from
http://www.tsn.ca/curling/story/?id=377044
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