i love this story of curling
www.nbcolympics.com/kpnx/5120870/detail.html
Curling's on a rollBy Paola Boivin/The Arizona RepublicWhat have I done?
"We're not cowards because we're hot for Howard!" scream the Canadian women to my right, in support of an Olympian with a receding hairline who turns 50 on Sunday.
"If you're pissed (drunk) and you know it, clap your hands," sing the British fans to my left.
Who are these people?
Curling fans. I came to the Palaghiaccio on Friday to make light of a sport with brooms and 42-pound granite stones and found a sport to, well, make light of with brooms and 42-pound granite stones. What I didn't expect was the appeal of this sport's quirkiness and a rapidly growing fan base.
If the presence of the Scottsdale-based Coyotes Curling Club isn't enough to convince you of its popularity, consider why crowd favorite Russ Howard was late for his first Olympics news conference.
"I didn't have my accreditation," he said. "Because at every Olympics or Trials or Grand Slam, everybody knew me, so I always threw it in the garbage on the first day and away I went."
Even television executives were surprised to learn that nearly 5 million Italians, a 23 percent audience share, tuned in to watch Italy's men shock the favored United States in curling on Wednesday.
It was just two years ago that former top Canadian curler Colleen Jones told the Canadian Press that "women are going to have to curl naked in order to get people out there."
Wouldn't you know it? Last year a calendar came out featuring 12 curlers from all over the world wearing little or no clothes. It was a hit. Photographer Ana Arce, a former curler who created the calendar, hopes it changes the image of the sport.
"It's not such a good image right now," she said.
It's improving.
In Nagano in 1998, the only coverage CBS gave the sport was when television host David Letterman sent his mom out to report on the sport. In 2002, NBC gave curling expanded coverage at Salt Lake City and it quickly developed a cult following.
That was evident Friday. At the women's competition between Norway and Italy, among those in attendance were Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
"I just said 'hallo' to him," skip Dordi Nordby said after meeting the prince afterward. "What else can you say?"
There was not much for the U.S. women to say after losing to Russia 8-7 and falling to 1-5. The team, led by telegenic sisters Cassie and Jamie Johnson, had medal expectations. Later in the evening, the U.S. men beat Switzerland 7-3.
For the curling novice, Friday's event was an odd scene because four competitions are played simultaneously. Throughout the evening, people screamed and rang cowbells.
The teams, called rinks, are made up of four people. One person slides the stone, a polished granite circular disc with a handle, while dropping to his knee. Another shouts instructions from the 6-foot wide target. The other two teammates sweep like crazy in front of the moving stone to warm the ice, which shares the texture of a pebble-tech pool, and keep the stone moving.
Each teams tries to push its eight stones near the center of the target with hopes of blocking or moving the competitor's stones.
Basically it's shuffleboard, although curlers hate when you say that.
The numerous Canadian flags hanging around the Palaghiaccio confirm the sport's popularity north of the border. More than 1.2 million people there curl, according to the Canadian Curling Association. That number in the United States is 16,000 but growing, according to the U.S. Curling Association.
"We're not going away," said Pete Fenson, the "skip" for the U.S. men.
Is that a threat?
), but what the hell, I don't have anything better to do out in this gorgeous weather in the Northwest. 
