boop

The Brits seemed to be in full control going into the ninth, and it was theirs to lose.

And they did, with some critical errors that completely changed the momentum of the game.

Tough Olympics for her, but it’s good to see her get a medal.

I didn’t claim otherwise.

To be clear, this was a single location, not the entire company.

I don’t have a real issue with floor-crossing, since it’s true to the principle that you’re supposed to vote for the principle, not the party.

But it’s pretty tough to deny that that’s simply not the way most people vote.

“Slide fast” - suddenly I understand the sport!

They’re still three seats shy, thanks to the resignations of Blair and Freeland, and the Supreme Court overturning Tatiana Auguste’s election.

“Those conversations [with his family over the holidays] have been honest, difficult and deeply personal at times. But they also led me to reflect on the gravity of the moment that our country is living through — which our prime minister addressed head on in his speech at Davos. For Canada, this is a moment that demands steady leadership, constructive collaboration between all parliamentarians.”

“After further reflection with my family, and conversations with colleagues and constituents, I will be continuing to serve in Parliament — and I will be working with Prime Minister Mark Carney as a part of his new government to help build our country’s strength as we face the challenges ahead.”

It’ll be interesting to hear what he has to say for himself.

Having been the one to originally use the word “accident,” I should probably amend that to “habitual.” A bad habit that people generally don’t call, that the Swedish team doesn’t appreciate (and is technically correct about).

Check out the article I shared - many high-level curlers don’t consider it an infraction at all, let alone a major one. Even Oskar Eriksson, who made the original accusation, doesn’t seem to think it’s exclusive to Team Canada:

For us, it’s been a problem the last couple of years, so we think it’s good that everyone can play with the same rules. Hopefully it’s just getting better from this.”

It’s a dumb thing to do, though, and I’d be happy if people cleaned up their acts across the board.

Yeah, as the article I linked indicated, a lot of players simply don’t consider it an infraction, and therefore don’t give a damn whether they do it.

And for probably the fifth time, I have no problem with the rule being enforced.

I would love to see someone go to a curling rink and demonstrate this this is remotely possible.

There is no reason to be pointing a finger on release.

I completely agree. There is absolutely no reason to do it, because there is no chance it will do anything.

I have said several time that I have no problem with the rule being enforced.

a slight drag will prevent over -rotation of the stone.

I really don’t think so, especially the light touch that I’ve seen on video (which, to be fair, was Homan’s throw on the women’s side). Again, these things are damn heavy, and you’re not going to push them around with a finger without making a visible effort.

Look, I find extending a finger to give the stone a boop after release completely baffling…but there’s no chance at all that it affected the trajectory of the thing. You might as well “cheat” by blowing on it.

The brooms affect the ice in front of the rock, which changes the rock’s behaviour as it moves over the swept patch. You have to exert quite a bit of force to push the rock directly.

And if it had no effect why do they do it?

Sometimes by accident, I’m sure. And probably more relevant, sometimes out of sheer laziness.

this is a common strategy among cheaters in curling

Very confidently stated, but I really don’t think it is.

it is illegal to do for precisely that reason.

It’s illegal because it’s way simpler to implement a “no touching” rule than to try to define game-changing and non game-changing touches in a way that would be enforceable.

And again, I have absolutely no problem with the rule being enforced, even though I don’t think for a hot second that it impacted the game.

Having curled myself, I can assure you it does not…and if it did make a difference, it would almost certainly be negative, since you’re giving up any semblance of control that you had on the actual throw. There’s not going to be some “precision poke” that magically steers it where it needs to go. But don’t take my word for it.

Does it make any difference?

“No. The double-touching that I’ve seen has been incidental contact, and that’s fingers brushing or hand brushing on a 40-pound piece of granite,” said Eugene Hritzuk, a Canadian curler based in Saskatoon who has been involved in competitive curling and coaching for more than 60 years.

“What can fingers brushing against a 40-pound piece of granite do in any event? You need the palm on your hand against that stone to do anything.”

Delivering a stone entails acute skills to slide on line and on pace, he said.

Once sliding on target and at the right speed, releasing the stone and then touching it with any force would cause it to veer off its intended line and speed, Hritzuk said. “That would not be advantageous to good execution.”

Canadian curling commentator John Cullen, who hosted the CBC podcast Broomgate: A Curling Scandal, said most top curlers will say that double-touching has no effect on the stone.

As well, most top curlers will double-touch at times and don’t think it’s a foul, he said.

“The idea that a top curler would let a rock go and then want to try to adjust it with their finger —it doesn’t seem like there’s any way you could get an advantage from that. It feels like it would be worse.”

But as I said, the rules are the rules, and I don’t think it’s wrong to enforce them.