Curling Night in America

T

TheBook

Ret Professional Goof Off
Silver Member
Reading the sports page and looking at what is on the tube tonight I see Curling Night in America on NBCSN at 7:30.

Is the market that large for curling? How many in the USA have ever played it?

I have never seen pool listed in the sports page TV listing and have never seen any results of a pool tournament written about.

Curling probably gets coverage because it is a winter Olympic sport. It also takes sponsors to air it. I think one of the customs of curling is that the winners pay for the beers after the match is over. Other than beer consumption I don't know of any other product that consumers would buy related to curling.

Any type of pool game is more exciting to watch than curling, but I am guilty of watching curling and the commentators do make it exciting.


🎱
 
TheBook said:
Reading the sports page and looking at what is on the tube tonight I see Curling Night in America on NBCSN at 7:30.

Is the market that large for curling? How many in the USA have ever played it?

I have never seen pool listed in the sports page TV listing and have never seen any results of a pool tournament written about.
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Hell Book, I've seen Hot Dog Eating contests on ESPN for crying out loud.

Maniac
 
Curling benefits from a couple things. A few years back it became a popularly watched/discussed sport during the Olympics so most people now know what it is because of that. Combine that with the fact that almost nobody plays it or has ever had the opportunity to play it and the fact that it's a slightly absurd little sport (you sweep ice!) there is some novelty to watching it because it's just a little odd. It's also easy to understand and reasonably visual in that you can see what they're doing to effect the path/speed of the rock (don't know what it's called).

Everybody knows pool and has played it at some point so it doesn't have the novelty factor. Along with that it's hard to see what the player is actually doing to effect the path of the cue ball. You can see how he's aiming and what he's going to shoot, but it's a lot hard to see where he's hitting the cue ball to effect it's path so most casual observers don't really "get it".
 
No curling hustlers either

I bet you wont find too many curling Hustlers either.

Wait I'm feeling a new movie.....The Color of Ice!
 
TheBook said:
Reading the sports page and looking at what is on the tube tonight I see Curling Night in America on NBCSN at 7:30.

Is the market that large for curling? How many in the USA have ever played it?

I have never seen pool listed in the sports page TV listing and have never seen any results of a pool tournament written about.

Curling probably gets coverage because it is a winter Olympic sport. It also takes sponsors to air it. I think one of the customs of curling is that the winners pay for the beers after the match is over. Other than beer consumption I don't know of any other product that consumers would buy related to curling.

Any type of pool game is more exciting to watch than curling, but I am guilty of watching curling and the commentators do make it exciting.


🎱
Click to expand...

They play it in Northern Minnesota.
 
This is because of the Olympics. NBC shows hours of curling during the winter games and has an incentive to keep it in people's minds.
 
TheBook said:
Reading the sports page and looking at what is on the tube tonight I see Curling Night in America on NBCSN at 7:30.

Is the market that large for curling? How many in the USA have ever played it?

I have never seen pool listed in the sports page TV listing and have never seen any results of a pool tournament written about.

Curling probably gets coverage because it is a winter Olympic sport. It also takes sponsors to air it. I think one of the customs of curling is that the winners pay for the beers after the match is over. Other than beer consumption I don't know of any other product that consumers would buy related to curling.

Any type of pool game is more exciting to watch than curling, but I am guilty of watching curling and the commentators do make it exciting.


🎱
Click to expand...

For the few out there who would like to understand a bit more here are a couple of links to professional curling tour sites. Note the sponsors and prize money.

http://www.worldcurl.com/

http://www.thegrandslamofcurling.com/curling/about/

For the rest of you, go have a beer, play some pool and stop whining about the success of other sports.

Dave
 
336Robin said:
Curling is simple, people understand it. Pool not so much.
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Somehow I suspect that you have no idea how the game is really played. Frankly it is only simple to those who lack understanding.

Again for those interested, here are a couple of youtubes :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZVXKRGHnZc
Mike McEwan makes, in pool terms, a 3 (4?) combo with a few caroms tossed within

http://o.canada.com/news/five-shots-that-rocked-the-curling-world
A story with several amazing shot videos embedded. These include a variety of caroms to remove rocks, combos to remove rocks, and other fascinating shots.

Yes, these curlers were trying to make the shots you see, they are that good !

Dave
 
The Scots have been curling since the 1500s.
They are spread around the world...like the Irish.
...so any country with a Northern climate is into curling.

....early stones....from the frozen pond days

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The people running the various Curling organisations work very hard to promote the game. It's more than just the Olympics.

As someone who doesn't follow curling, I know when a pro tournament is in town. By comparison, there have been pro pool tournaments that have come through my area and I only found out months afterwards.
 
DaveK said:
Aye ! The Dutch have claim to the game as well, but as a descendant of a Highland clan I will agree it is a Scottish invention :thumbup:

Dave <--- has a curling rock under his pool table ... as a conversation piece .... hey, it was $5 at a garage sale so I couldn't lose (it was a very good deal, see http://www.kijiji.ca/v-curling/moose-jaw/antique-curling-rocks-pair/1228236191)
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My maternal grandfather was Scottish so I'm with you on the curling....
...what the hell, we didn't try to claim their tulips.

Nice to know you're not like some pool players I know, David..they got rocks in their head...
....you got yours under a pool table
 
Thanks for the heads up!
 

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