We just got this hot tip off the wire.

"The reigning Canadian and world champions will carry a perfect 9-0 record into today's round-robin curtain droppers, assured that they will be among the final four teams with a chance of hoisting the Tankard come Sunday night, and on the verge of overtaking longtime rival Randy Ferbey for the longest win streak in Brier history."

I don't know about you, but no part of that sentence makes any sense to me. I seriously had to read the entire article twice and do a Wikipedia search, before I knew for certain that it was about curling. Then I remembered how much I love those slippery little brooms. Seriously, this might be my favorite Winter Olympic sport (next to biathlon.) It makes very little sense to me, I can't tell the difference between good curling and bad curling, I've never played it and don't care to learn how. But when it's on TV—I'm mesmerized by it.

But I digress ... my brief research tell me that the Brier is like the World Series of curling, in that it really isn't a world championship but it is very, very important to Canadians. It's going on right now and apparently the team from Alberta is very, very good as they have won 22 matches (is that what they're called?) in a row—but that has nothing to do with this video from early in the tournament of what is allegedly the greatest curling shot in the history of the sport. That's right.... we got two separate curling tips today. It's some kind of Canadian miracle.

If you're looking to brush up (get it!?) on the sport before 2010, I suppose now is as good a time as any. Get your rocks off, baby. (I bet you they say that a lot up there.)

Perfectly sizzlin' Albertans take aim at Ferbey record [Calgary Herald]
Thought Curling Was Boring? Glenn Howard Makes An Amazing Shot For The Win [Total Pro Sports]
2009 Tim Hortons Brier [Season of Champions]
The Curling News [Curling News!]

In fact, we're finding now that we kind of like curling. And we would play it for real — as long as, you know, we could use puppies. And to all of our new friends in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, it just may be another reason to skip school. You're welcome.

Newfoundland Gaga For Gushue [The Halifax Chronicle-Herald]
Puppy Curling [Games Arcade.net]

The point of the post is a comparison between your average curling fan and your average bass fishing fan. Your curling fan, the argument goes, is almost certainly a curler themselves; "if you're excited about curling, you are probably in the running for the Olympic team."

But as they put it, your average television bass fishing fan is something decidedly different: "I want you to think about the kind of person who sits on the couch and watches bass fishing on TV. If your brain is being honest with you then you just pictured a sub-literate mongoloid on Social Security for disability. He has a terminal illness and he is trying to stretch every remaining moment of his simple-minded life out as long as possible."

Ooof.

In Defense Of Curling [Something Awful]

First up, curling! We found it amusing that Baseball Musings' David Pinto was covering curling so closely; somehow, curling as the Winter Olympics' version of baseball. We're not sure why. Anyway, KNBR, a Bay Area radio station, culled together a bunch of audio clips from curling matches and mashed them up in pretty hilarious fashion. (Actual audio clips are here and here.)

Honestly, we are now completely convinced curling rules.

Razor And Mr. T [KNBR]

What you missed while serving four-to-six months for "annoying a Mountie" ...

• Winter Olympics: Russia ousts Canada from men's hockey ... making curling your No. 1 sport now, we guess.
• College Football: St. Mary's head coach Nill departs for Calgary Dinos. Sad, really.
• Junior League Hockey Playoffs: Cumberland County Cool Blues lose to Sackville Blazers 3-1 — are one game from elimination. Please score your office pools accordingly.

Update: Jeff writes — "Nova Scotia is not an Island, and it 1 hour ahead of EST, I think you have us confused with Newfoundland, which would not sit well with the locals. Thanks for the Junior B hockey update, I can't find those scores anywhere. By the way there are like 10 black families in Amherst which makes the link even funnier."

We knew about the one-hour time difference. As for thinking it was an island — we are filled with shame.

They've also unearthed a little tidbit about how Bode Miller used to date the woman pictured to your right. He broke up with her, in order to spend more time on his apparent non-pursuit of Olympic medals.

More photos (with nipples that are not sheilded by Will Leitch) available here.

Check Out This Curlers' Curlies... [The Wade Blogs]

But was it worth $600 million for NBC? Some of the early ratings are suggesting otherwise, with opening ceremonies ratings down 50 percent from Salt Lake City four years ago. It makes sense. We're enjoying the events, but, because of the time difference and because we — like most of America — spend our days in front of a computer, we, at the end of the day, know who actually won each of these events. We're just watching for the pomp. It seems a strange strategy, pinning all this money and prime-time hours on events that have already been decided and the results of which have already been posted for the world to see. And with all the American favorites dropping out early ... well, we'll just see what happens.

It's possible that in a week, NBC will really wish it had Oswald back.

The "Real" Story At Torino [Off Wing Opinion]