Women's Curling

[mpare]

Canada's loss of the gold medal was brutal. Missing the last shot in the 10th and 11th ends handed the game over to Sweden. So sad.

[Weazl]

The rookie choked, but still got a silver!

[Ginker]

That was a tough one fore sure.. They had two chances for gold but couldn't get it done.. I can't imagine the pressure. I wouldn't even be able to throw the rock..

[jeffc]

She choked twice. Brutal.

[Big Johnny69]

Did the skip choke, or did someone else on the team throw a few bad shots? I only ask because all week the Canadian skip had been curling wonderfully.

[fundonny]

She chocked. But the Curlgar will be back! = )

[BC MIST]

She choked twice. Brutal.

There is no way that we can determine if nerves/pressure caused Cheryl to miss those last two shots. The reality is that they missed by only a fraction of an inch each and to expect perfection every time is a little unreasonable. The real culprit in the loss was 11th end miss by the lead that set the whole end up, and earlier, Bernard missing a draw to the 4 foot for two in the second end.

Yes, the loss is disappointing and I'm sure that Cheryl will beat herself up for a while, but in the end, they represented Canada very well, they were NOT the favourites going in, and ought to be proud of what they accomplished.

[mpare]

I have a strategy question for you curlers. In the 11th end, why didn't Cheryl throw up a further guard, rather than remove the existing guard? I ask because by removing the existing guard she gave the Swedish skip a clean shot to bump her own rock, removing Canada's then closest stone, and leaving two of Sweden stones locked near the button. Wouldn't it have been more strategic to have put up one more guard so that the Swedish skip would have had to make a miracle shot to remove Canada's counter? And even if she had been able to dislodge Canada's stone that shot would not likely have left two of Sweden's stones abutting one another near the button. Keep in mind that I am not a curler, but I remember thinking just this when it was obvious what Cheryl intended to do with her first stone.

[jeffc]

There is no way that we can determine if nerves/pressure caused Cheryl to miss those last two shots. The reality is that they missed by only a fraction of an inch each and to expect perfection every time is a little unreasonable. The real culprit in the loss was 11th end miss by the lead that set the whole end up, and earlier, Bernard missing a draw to the 4 foot for two in the second end.

Yes, the loss is disappointing and I'm sure that Cheryl will beat herself up for a while, but in the end, they represented Canada very well, they were NOT the favourites going in, and ought to be proud of what they accomplished.

While i am not going to argue the symantics of what choking is, the fact remains she had two chances to win on relatively simple shots and she didn't execute

IMHO she choked

[Baxter]

There is no way that we can determine if nerves/pressure caused Cheryl to miss those last two shots. The reality is that they missed by only a fraction of an inch each and to expect perfection every time is a little unreasonable. The real culprit in the loss was 11th end miss by the lead that set the whole end up, and earlier, Bernard missing a draw to the 4 foot for two in the second end.

Yes, the loss is disappointing and I'm sure that Cheryl will beat herself up for a while, but in the end, they represented Canada very well, they were NOT the favourites going in, and ought to be proud of what they accomplished.

Well said and 100% correct.

It sure looked (to me) as the Lead and 2nd were the weeker links in a lot of the close games, and the 3rd and skip had to save...

Nice interview with Brian Williams last night....

[jonf]

I have a strategy question for you curlers. In the 11th end, why didn't Cheryl throw up a further guard, rather than remove the existing guard? I ask because by removing the existing guard she gave the Swedish skip a clean shot to bump her own rock, removing Canada's then closest stone, and leaving two of Sweden stones locked near the button. Wouldn't it have been more strategic to have put up one more guard so that the Swedish skip would have had to make a miracle shot to remove Canada's counter? And even if she had been able to dislodge Canada's stone that shot would not likely have left two of Sweden's stones abutting one another near the button. Keep in mind that I am not a curler, but I remember thinking just this when it was obvious what Cheryl intended to do with her first stone.

I am also not a curler, but my thought was that if she did put up that guard, and the swede then made her shot, she would have a very tough time getting anything in there. By clearing out the guard, she ensured that she would have a shot to win at the end.

And technically, she blew three chances to win it. The biggest miss was actually the second last shot of the tenth end, where she missed the takeout.

[Big Johnny69]

I'm surprised so many of you non-curlers watched the match last night. And to think my wife thought I was crazy because I was regularly checking my BB during the concert last night to see if we scored another gold. (And I am not a curler as well).

[mpare]

I said I wasn't a curler. I never said that I wasn't a fan. I'll watch good curling on the tube anytime and have done it for years. It's chess on ice as far as I'm concerned. Great stuff.

I'm surprised so many of you non-curlers watched the match last night. And to think my wife thought I was crazy because I was regularly checking my BB during the concert last night to see if we scored another gold. (And I am not a curler as well).

[jonf]

I never understood it...also always found it boring. But I found myself watching it so much during the olympics because there was always a game on. It was preferable to watching painfully repetitive filler on other channels. The more i watched though, the more i started to understand and appreciate it. Plus, I've realized that my only real hope of ever becoming an olympian is curling.