Brock’s Random Thoughts: The Olympics

I'm not the biggest Olympics fan out there.  I don't like the judged sports, because I've seen so many injustices over the years in figure skating, boxing, gymnastics, etc.  So I won't be paying attention to much of the Sochi Winter Olympics which began this week in Russia.

However, I will be paying attention to the ice hockey tournament for both men and women.  It's the best event by far in the Winter Olympics.  The NHL players that will be there representing their countries make this tournament so exciting.  And it should be loaded once again.  Canada, Russia, and the U.S. are favorites for medals in the men's tournament.  For the women, it's either Canada or U.S. for the gold.

I'll also be paying attention to the curling competition.  This is like shuffleboard on ice, and it's really interesting as to how the strategy works.  There are 10 ends in a match, which are like innings in baseball. Each team slides a rock eight times per end down the ice towards a bullseye target.  And whoever is closest to the center target scores points.  The team with the most points after 10 ends, wins.  The team that has the last shot in the end, or last rock, has a major advantage because they can dictate who scores, and how many points are scored in each end.  The sport is popular in Canada, Great Britain, and the Scandinavian countries.  It's also popular in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota in the U.S.  It was instituted in the Olympics back in 1998.

I know I'm in the minority on this.  There are many people that love figure skating and the skiing events among all the other events.  But hockey and curling will be peaking my interest over the next 17 days.

That's all for now, this is Brock Palmbos.....signing off.