Homer's Travels: The Fading Allure Of Curling

Sunday, March 23, 2014

The Fading Allure Of Curling

Curling Stone.
This weekend was the fourth annual Sioux City Curling Classic.  The amateur tournament is organized by my brother in law.  The Wife and I have participated with other members of her family each one of these four years.

This year I was not as enthusiastic about it as I've been the prior years.  I was hoping to sit it out in the stands cheering on the Wife and her family this year but, due to a lack of family players, I once again participated.  I am not a bad curler ... but I'm not a good curler either and that makes sense since I only curl during these tournaments and that's it.  You can't become a good curler if you only practice once a year.

The prior years we came in very near dead last.  This year, with more participating teams, we managed to make it to third place in our first group of six or seven (There were thirty-four teams total).  We got this third place by winning one game and losing two others.  We were out of the running when we lost our first game against other third place qualifiers.  We scored three points in our one winning game though two of those points were made by the other team when they either knocked out their own stones or knocked one of ours into the house.

This tournament is just for fun.  All the teams are amateurs.  The equipment is loaned to the  tournament.  The ice ... is not up to par to the professional curling standards.  It shouldn't matter if you win or lose. It should only matter if you have fun or not.  The fun I had the first time three years ago has diminished each year little by little.  I'm just not much of a sports guy.  I think this will be my last.  Next year I think I'll insist on watching the Wife and her family from the stands.

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