While I was debating what I should write my column on this week, I thought of a multitude of different topics. I considered writing about the mental breakdown I had earlier this week, sobbing on the phone to my mother, to the cheating scandal of the Canadian men’s curling team. How could I ever choose just one topic?
Instead of having another breakdown, we’re going to break down the rules and regulations of curling.
Gentleman’s Game
After doing immense research on this sport, I can confidently say I still don’t understand it 100%. I found out that they don’t use traditional referees, only game observers who are there to mediate.
This is a self-policing sport where they call their own hog-line violations and fouls. Now, you might say, “What is a hog line?” It is the main green line where once the stone crosses it, the player is no longer allowed to touch it.
“I haven’t done it once”
Now, the hog line was the star of the show between Team Canada and Team Sweden. Canada’s Marc Kennedy was accused of double-touching the stone after it had crossed the hog line by Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson.
Kennedy responded by saying some choice words and, “I haven’t done it once,” which is technically right because he did it multiple times.
A Swedish Snare
The Swedes were aware that the Canadians have tried to pull this stunt before in previous matches, so they decided to set up their own surveillance. Allegedly, Team Sweden set up cameras prior to the match in coordination with Swedish television to record during the game, but of course, they denied this accusation. The Canadians were not aware of this camera angle because it’s not a usual angle used in this sport.
“They have come up with a plan here at the Olympics, as far as I know, to catch teams in the act at the hog line,” Kennedy said according to Yahoo.com. “This was planned, right from the word go yesterday. From the words that were being said by their coaches and the way they were running to the officials, it was kind of evident that something was going on, and they were trying to catch us in an act.”
As I mentioned earlier, I’m no curling expert, but never in my five days as a fan have I been so taken aback by a scandal. “World Curling said they will not use video replays to re-litigate calls made by umpires during games,” according to opb.org. Even after all the controversy, the Canadians took home the gold medal Feb. 21. World Curling also released a statement clarifying the rules after the game, but I believe that Canada should’ve been holding themselves accountable for their fouls from the beginning.
Schlösser is the sports editor for the Liberty Champion.