113 thoughts on “Swept Up by Sochi”

1. Canada vs Norway appears to be the premier match of tonight's session.

   1. China (4-0) vs Sweden (4-1) isn't appealing?

      1. China has beat up the weakest teams in the tournament thus far - Denmark (2-3), Germany (0-4), Switzerland (1-4), and the US (1-3). Sweden’s faced some decent competition - Canada (3-2), the UK (4-1), Norway (3-1), and a couple mediocre ones (Denmark, Switzerland).

2. Wikipedia's interface is pretty straightforward, so I've been using that, and through general Wiki wandering, I discovered this:

   Muirhead is also an accomplished bagpiper, piping at four World Championships.

   1. Anything on the Russian Skip?

   2. She's also a scratch golfer-the Scottish trifecta

3. Well, if you take my advice, you can watch all the Canadian curling you can stomach on YouTube when the Olympics aren't happening, so no need for hibernation!

   1. A very good point.

4. First CBC feed up was CAN-SWE.
   Norwegian Pants!!!
   Canadian Announcers!

   1. My stupid NBC stream has no audio whatsoever. Not just no announcers, but no audio at all. Switching to Sweden vs China only yields "Coverage Will Begin Momentarily." I can't believe I'm paying money to access this crap.

5. Switched over to SWE-CHN
   China in Yellow shirts (red dragon on shoulder) and with the Yellow Rocks.

   1. Chinese skip Liu looks a bit like my Malaysian co-worker.
      Wow, these guys are a lot better than Ott or Brown.
      Just one end, but I've been impressed.

6. And the NBC app/streams have shit the bed entirely. Now I'm getting "Coverage Will Begin Momentarily" for Norway vs Canada, and Sweden vs. China has disappeared from the options for viewing. But hey! I can watch the US vs Germany, though, if I want to watch two mediocre teams flail at one another.

   Eff you, NBC.

7. Norway's pants would be popular if sold in restaurant kitchen-friendly cuts.

   1. And prices?

      1. Yeah, they do look expensive.

         1. I saw they cost $110/pair.

            1. Uff da.

8. I know I'm the king of conclusions from Small Sample Size watching curling this time, but China, man.

   Against the US Women, they'd score 8 in a single end, and might find a way to score 9.

9. I'm going back to CAN-NOR

   1. and I lost access right before the Norwegian Hammer.

      1. Mjölnir?

         1. They always get the hammer back? That would be real convenient.

            1. This could very well be the best string of comments so far this Olympic cycle.

10. Splitting attention with the short-track skating on the TV.

11. I'm not sure who the announcer is for US vs Germany, but he sure sounds like he's from Saskatchewan.

12. Beauty of a shot there by the Canadian skip.

13. Nice end for Canada.

14. My streaming site of choice appears to be dead...ugh.

15. I'm not going to make it.

    Goodnight.

    1. 'Night, AMR!

16. Too many games against the Canucks, I keep moving the s to hear the Swedish skip's name as Nikola Sedin.

17. Man, I could listen to this announcer read a grocery list.

18. Yowza. A 4-ender in the 7th.

19. China down 1 with the hammer in the 10th. Outlook for free curling getting better all the time.

20. A double-touch? Seriously? WTF?!

21. US can't let that call rattle them. Issacson throwing one clear through the house with the Germans lying three is just terrible.

    1. I refuse to switch over to that just to nail-bite through the end of a match that had a US lead of 5 after 7 ends. If they blow it, just don't tell me.

22. Pretty decent match. Two four-enders was pretty wild.

23. Ok, I'm getting really pissed off by the production idiot who keeps cutting off this announcer in the middle of really interesting finer points of the game in order to cram commercials in to the coverage.

    1. Six consecutive commercials. I'm not going to get to find out who this guy was, am I, NBC?

24. Russia three ahead of the Swiss in the final end. Looks like they're just going to keep taking out each rock until the Swiss have too few to tie.

    1. Swiss with two rocks left and one in the house. Russia's skip just took out their last guard.

       1. Double takeout ends it.

25. NBC just showed the boxscore (drawscore? icescore?) of the US-Denmark game. 2-9. Ouch.

    1. I know I'm like 12 years old, but the US skip says they're just having a hard time generating a deuce.

       1. That's just pathetic.

       2. I, also, am 12	SelectShow

26. The US has got to tighten up here against a very beatable Russian team. That three point end was nice, but it almost seems like they got it by getting bailed out and this sixth end could be going better (though the back-end stones are still left to go).

    1. Bailed out again, so we're all tied at 5-5 heading to the 7th.

27. I'm casually watching GBR-DEN while doing CdL and work stuff today. It's close again, so maybe I'll pay more attention.

    1. ...he said, as his stream froze.

       1. sorry, Streams. They have medication for that now.

28. Going much better for the US now. Made a nice steal in the seventhand Shuster had a excellent double in the eight to force a blank end (even got a fist pump). 6-5 US in the ninth with RUS having the hammer.

    1. That was a serviceable take out.

       Also, with my low resolution streaming going on right now, the Russians' pants look very pink.

       1. Couldn't get the freeze though. Russians are gonna get two.

          1. Yeah, that was an ungood shot.

             1. Bailed out again.

          2. Or just one.

             1. These missed shots by RUS are karmic retribution for popped collars, aren't they?

                1. or for the women's US-RUS draw

29. No sound; was Shuster trying to get it behind the guard?

    1. I assume he was trying to get around the high guard and move the Russian stone in the four foot some, he just had a wide broom. Its possible he felt crashing on the yellow stone was ok, since it does both open a lane up and puts the (difficult) raise on the left side into play.

       1. But I was not able to listen in either.

          1. Yeah, I thought he was trying to get it behind because if he was trying to clear the guard, there would've been a better shot.

             Speaking of, gonna need a good shot here.

             1. That looks like a nope.

30. Not going good here. Some bad tosses by the US back end and Russia has a steal on.

31. I don't like the call by Russia to try to freeze. It over curled so now Shuster has a shot for the win. They really should have guarded the other side of the center line.

32. Welp, too much weight there. Looks like Russia to me.

33. if you want to relive the misery, CNBC is replaying the US-RUS match

34. I swear Muirhead's hair is a slightly different color/pattern each match.

35. The CBC wasn't working for me tonight, so I'm trying the BBC.
    CHI-SWE for now. Wang can draw to the T-line like nobody's business. (Or maybe watching Brown has lowered my expectations.)

    1. Expectations of Erika Brown can do the limbo like nobody's business.

36. Evening, gents. UK vs Korea?

    1. I'll probably switch over in an end or two.

    2. that's what i got so far.

37. Wang steals one when the Swedes can't draw to the button.
    But unlike Brown she didn't go all the way through the house, just the blue circle.

    Is it not fitting that Erika's last name is Brown? Cheering for US Curling feels like cheering for a Cleveland team. Or like being on Charlie's baseball team.

    1. "Of all the Erika Browns in the world, you're the Erika Brown-iest."

38. I assume Scotlands 3-ender there was some cool Muirheadishness.

39. I love when the Chinese team shouts English.
    [Chinese Chinese Chinese] Hard! Hard!!! HARD!!! [Chinese Chinese] HURRRY!!!

    1. Either I'm really tired, or the Korean ladies' voices are exceptionally shrill.

       1. i was just about to type something very similar; something to the effect of how they were very "vocal".

          1. man, that last shot was brutal, and that wasn't even the hammer.

             1. Yeah, I'm definitely over it at this point.

    2. WHOA! WHOA! [Chinese]

40. Nice last rock by Muirhead.

41. And a steal for the UK after the Korean skip misses with the hammer.

    1. So she Browned it?
       OK, I'll let it go.
       I'm on Korea-Scotland now, too.

42. And I lost my BBC feed. Can't get either draw.
    I really wanted to see how Wang would do here.

43. Caught the end of the 5th of CHN-SWE. Sweden stole a point when Wang would have needed a takeout. So she's not superwoman.

    Now I'm gonna watch some JPN-CAN, where Japan has a lead.

    1. I'm watching that match on the tablet and GBR-KOR match on the TV. It's kind of obnoxious when Korea and China are throwing at the same time, and they're currently synced right on top of each other.

44. Fantastic Double by the Japanese Third.

45. Back to China. I think I like them most.
    There's like 8 rocks on the ice and six yet to throw.

    1. Five left to throw and I counted 10 in the rings.

46. Two left to throw, China's sitting three with six rocks within the blue ring. If Sweden isn't great here and Wang does super, I could see five points for the Chinese.

    1. Heavy takeout throw with the last from the Swedes breaks up the logjam. Wang would need a super takeout for four, I think she could get three with a takeout. Two would almost be harder.

       They got two as my feed disappeared.

47. I wish the NBC legal feed would have a scoreboard for the other games so I know when to flip.
    Although GBR-KOR seems like a good place to stop.

48. Korea's about to give up 2.

    1. yeah, tough shot by the Korean and it almost paid off.

49. Miurhead looks really sharp tonight.

50. I think the announcer for the NBC legal for for CAN-JPN is a Canadian Scot. He has a weird accent.

    1. That's the guy I was talking about last night! He definitely is a Canadian Scot – one of my favorite faculty in my department is a Canadian Scot with an accent that sounds very similar. I wonder if they're both from Saskatchewan.

       I love that accent.

       1. Hmmm.
          All I know is that of all the announcers Ive come across on the online feed, he is my favorite. He actually gives a bit of strategy and insight, which helps me.

          1. I feel exactly the same. The English announcers are annoying because all they have to say is the obvious, and their delivery is really choppy, which doesn't strike me as appropriate for curling.

51. Gah! Canadian RBF!

52. whoa, korea steals two in the 9th.

53. Heckuva draw by Muirhead, but she couldn't get around that Korean stone. Going to be a tight 10th.

54. What a shot.

55. Yeah, I didn't think that last shot was gonna clear the guard.

    1. It was really tight. Muirhead's awesome.

56. I started falling asleep in my desk chair around the 7th ends.
    So I went to bed. Looks like everything ended how I expected, only more exciting.
    Next time, they should put the Winter Olympics in a different time zone.

    1. It will be. 2018 is in Korea.

       ugh.

       1. If my memories of the '02 World Cup are anything to go by, it is a very inconvenient timezone.

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