| Almost eight-ender |
[Thursday 2008.07.17|23:47] |
We almost had an eight-ender thrown against us today. I didn't want to be on the losing end of that. For a baseball comparison, it's kind of like having a no-hitter thrown against you – you get to be part of history, but it's not really in a way that you want. But ultimately, we only gave up one point in that end, and we went on to win (barely). So it's kind of like almost getting no-hit, but breaking up the no-hitter barely and going on to win the game.
Kind of like that. |
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| Last to hear the news |
[Monday 2008.05.12|04:09] |
| [ | Tags | | | curling, tv | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Fujishiro Minako - Look back my darling | ] |
Last September, I wrote about how I was interviewed by a local news crew at the Wine Country Curling Club's bonspiel. They interviewed a bunch of other people as well, so I wasn't expecting to actually make it on TV. Plus, it was for a Sacramento news station, so I wouldn't be able to see the segment anyway. If it even aired.
Well, last Thursday – over half a year later – I found out from someone who lives in Vacaville that they did put the segment in that evening's news, and I was on it! I know that for a lot of people on on my friends list, being on TV is no big deal, but that might have been a first for me. Or maybe not. Apparently it's not such a big deal that I can actually remember whether on not I've been on TV before. :-) |
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| That's what I'm talking about |
[Monday 2008.05.12|03:04] |
A month or two ago, I started reading Joe Posnanski's blog. Just over a month ago, I posted about an article that Posnanski wrote on Brian Bannister (your thinking man's pitcher). In Sunday's Banny Log, Joe included an aside (as is his writing style) about an incident that occurred in Torino at the last Winter Olympics involving the men's U.S. team conceding a game.
I know that I write about a set of unrelated topics in this blog that are of interest to me, but not necessarily anyone else. (Or rather, that each post interests a small subset of readers so that I manage to alienate the majority of readers with every post. :-) ) But when someone else writes about Brian Bannister, Hillary Clinton and U.S. men's Olympic curling team in one post, that's my cup of tea. |
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| Reason #147 why curling is fun |
[Tuesday 2008.04.22|22:19] |
| [ | Tags | | | curling | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Yael Naim - New Soul | ] |
Not one, but two girls split their pants this evening. |
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| Sports statistics |
[Tuesday 2008.04.01|14:43] |
Bill James answers questions in Freakonomics blog
As you probably know, I am quite interested in sabermetrics. There are many intelligent people (both paid and hobbyists) who do amazing work. I do believe that there is a lot more to be learned, but I have no illusions that I could be anywhere near the forefront of that wave. The Internet has made communication much more prevalent, but there's a lot of independent pockets of research, and some of it is secretive as well (for example, work being paid for by individual ball clubs). Plenty of people "discover" something, only to find out it's been done before. :-)
I've written about this before, but I found out that there have been at least some researchers doing analysis on curling statistics. There is already a large body of curling statistics. But I feel that it's largely unculled. Furthermore, the base information that has been gathered -- could better raw data be had? (I'm thinking about the way shot accuracy is scored and the shooting percentages that are generated.) I don't know, but I think so. I don't think enough serious analysis has been done.
While the natural evolution of the sport leads to good strategy decisions (people tend to emulate the most successful competitors), it would not surprise me at all if there are some semi-basic decisions which people take for granted that are not optimal. It's simply conventional thinking. The way everyone does it.
If I had no life -- check that, if I weren't trying to have a life -- I would dedicate a significant amount of time into analyzing curling statistics. I think I'd have to start by reading up on the existing body of work for baseball statistics in order to learn different ways of looking at things and techniques that are available. With the amount of work that has been done, I feel that I *could* make significant breakthroughs in the area of curling and provide a much greater benefit (albeit to a smaller target audience) than I could by researching baseball. I might be a hero in Canada, anyway. :-) |
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| Sweeper orientation |
[Sunday 2008.03.30|22:38] |
| [ | Tags | | | curling | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Chantal Kreviazuk - In This Life | ] |
Last Saturday I participated in a curling instruction course. An interesting discussion broke out on the topic of sweeping as to what is the proper orientation.
For the past couple years, I've learned that one orientation is proper and that is what the instructor once again advocated. During this class, three experienced curlers all said that the other orientation was better. Both sides were surprised that the other felt the way they did.
( Long technical post on orientation of sweepers in curling ) |
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| Curling patents |
[Sunday 2008.03.30|10:58] |
As you're probably aware, there are many patents which never actually get made. Here are three curling-related patents:
Curling brooms
Apparatus and method for curling and tools
Artificial curling rink
The first sounds kind of simple and useless. A sleeve which fits over a broom handle to avoid friction and damage to the curler's clothes?
I'm not sure about the description of the second one. I think it's a broom with a built in attachment that folds out for use as a delivery mechanism, and then folds in for conventional sweeping. I think!
The third one describes an artificial curling rink. No refrigeration needed. When he gets those plastic pebbles to melt and behave like pebbles of ice, we'll be right on top of that. |
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| Curling open houses |
[Thursday 2008.03.27|01:39] |
The San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club is having two open houses in the next couple weeks. There will be one at SharksIce at Fremont on Thursday April 3 at 7:30 p.m., and there will be one at SharksIce at San Jose on Tuesday April 8 at 7:45 p.m.
More details on our website.
I will be at both helping out if you're looking for a familiar face. |
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| Curling league |
[Tuesday 2008.03.25|13:08] |
I haven't been writing much about curling lately. I've still been doing it. Either once or twice a week.
Currently we have two leagues running. One on Tuesday in San Jose, and one on Saturday in Fremont. The Tuesday league had a surprisingly (to me) good turnout. Eight full teams. (We only have four sheets, so that's the maximum number of people that can sign up.) The Saturday league, however, had surprisingly poor turnout: only 13 people, not even enough for two full games.
I didn't mind the Saturday arrangement. It was a good situation for people to drop in and receive instruction. And often we'd just run one game. I was happy to not play and practice instead, because we rarely ever get practice time. At the end of the league we doubled on the ice time use for instructor classes.
I'm enjoying the Tuesday league this session. I have teammates I enjoy playing with, and we are doing well. We essentially have a team of five people. One got bumped because the registration allowed 33 people to sign up for what should have been a 32-person league. But ultimately, it worked out because people had to miss games for various reasons (business trips, illness, injury), so having a fifth person was a good thing.
My team lost its game the first week. But then there was a shuffle of the teams because several people had requested to play together and that somehow didn't make it into the original team assignments. So they got put together and that's the team I'm with now.
We lost the next week, a game I thought we should have won. But then we went on a five-game win streak culminating with a victory against what was probably the best team. We lost to them the next week, but then won three more after that.
My teammates all started in spring of '07. So we're hardly a team of ringers. They were all in the same class. A very successful class with many people who still curl with the club. In contrast, not a single person in my class (other than myself) still curls regularly.
I think our team has come a long ways. I've been learning as a skip more as well. I continue to hone my skills. I read the ice better. I've made significant jumps in two areas. Firstly, I call a more appropriate game for my teammates. Part of being a good skip is not just calling the appropriate shot for the game situation, but also calling the appropriate shot for the game situation and your teammates. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses and factoring that in along with the rock situation, the game situation (end and score) and your opponents' abilities. When I first starting skipping, it was all overwhelming, so it's no surprise that those factors took a back seat to simply figuring out what is a reasonable shot given the position of the rocks.
Another area that I've improved in is in the mental game. In the league prior to this, my team would often fall behind early and I'd check out. I wouldn't have confidence in our game, and I'd often try to gamble for a big end thinking it was our only chance to get back in it. In the current league, during those win streaks, there were certainly games where we got behind early. But now I call a better game. Chipping away, playing strategically.
I've also been trying to help my teammates to become better players. There's only so much you can do in terms of delivery when you're at the other end of the ice, but since my teammates have been rotation through the other three positions, they've all had a turn at being vice and so I try to help them out there.
The finals are today. We are confident and ready. I think our team and the league as a whole has the right idea in terms of balance between being competitive and having fun. I have never seen anyone get nasty in terms of competitiveness, but if you know me you know I want to win. And of course in the curling tradition, we always go up to the bar and have drinks with the team that we played against.
Curling is fun. You all should try it. Two open houses are coming up, and a new session starting next month. I'll provide information in a separate post. |
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| Trilemma |
[Monday 2008.02.11|18:29] |
I am overbooked on the weekend of March 15-16. Right now, I have tickets to the symphony on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. (That performance includes Copland's Appalachian Spring, one of my sentimental favorites.) I have curling at 9:45 p.m. On Sunday, I have Cinema Club at 10:30 a.m.
I knew about the conflict which is why I split the curling season with someone else and scheduled it so that the other person will have that week. But now I'm trying to free things up so that I can make more of the curling sessions.
Originally, I thought, "No problem!" I purchased a subscription to the symphony, but they allow you to change your ticket to other performances if you have a conflict. So normally, I'd change it to Sunday. The Sunday performance is at 2:30 p.m.
At Cinema Club, the movie is usually 90-120 minutes, but it doesn't start right at 10:30 a.m. (there's a pre-movie trivia giveaway), and it doesn't end right after the movie (there's a post-movie discussion, often involving actors/producers/directors of the movies). So I usually end up leaving after 1:00 p.m.
Before the symphony performance, they have a pre-performance lecture which I like to attend. That starts one hour early.
If I go to the symphony Saturday night, there's no way I get to curling by 9:45 p.m. More like 11:00 p.m., probably.
If I do both Cinema Club and the symphony on Sunday, I'll have to miss part of one or the other. It probably makes sense to leave Cinema Club as soon as the movie is over and catch as much as the symphony lecture as I can. At least in that case I don't have to go home and change (assuming I go to the movie theater dressed nicely).
I know all of the above is rather uninteresting to anyone. I don't think I'd even be writing about it if I didn't get to talk about "trilemma".
When I was thinking this through in my head, I initially thought, "What a dilemma." But no. A dilemma is a choice between two things. I could either go to the symphony on Saturday or Sunday, but really I had a choice between missing curling, the symphony, or Cinema Club. Was trilemma a word?
It turns out it is. I was even more pleased to find what it said on the Wikipedia page:
There are two logically equivalent ways in which to express a trilemma: it can be expressed as a choice among three unfavourable options, one of which must be chosen, or as a choice among three favourable options, only two of which are possible at the same time.
The latter description is perfect! |
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| 10 Reasons to Date a Curler |
[Thursday 2008.02.07|00:21] |
Shamelessly stolen:
10 Reasons to Date a Curler
1. We can slide through tight holes
2. When it gets taken out, we can put it back in just as easily
3. We don't care if you scream "hard", "harder", "all the way" or even "take it deep"
4. Our tools are long and hard
5. If you wait for it to come, it usually turns out better for everyone
6. The speed of our tools is determined by whoever screams "harder"
7. We constantly put our backs into it
8. We can go strong for 10 rounds, and if that doesn't settle it, we can go one more
9. We have no problem hitting the button
10. When the games over, we clean our tools and sheets |
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| Curling on the news and open house |
[Tuesday 2008.01.08|00:49] |
Last month, a curling sheet was briefly set up outdoors in Downtown San Jose to promote the sport. Gabrielle, being director for the morning news at NBC, had some pull and got them to cover the event. Here is the clip from last December 17:
So since that was last month, the open house referred to has come and gone (about 80 people came out!), but we are having another open house this Saturday. This time the open house is going to be at the Fremont rink we play at. Come on out if you like. More information here. |
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| Curling open house |
[Monday 2007.12.17|18:23] |
I know some of you have expressed interest in curling. We are having another open house this Saturday. It's at 8:00 p.m. at Sharks Ice at San Jose (formally known as Logitech Ice).
Details here.
Please come down and give it a try! It's free. We provide the equipment. Just wear athletic shoes, loose-fitting pants, and layered clothing. (I don't wear anything particularly warm, but you know whether you handle the cold well.)
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! |
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| Alex and curling |
[Wednesday 2007.12.05|03:19] |
Tuesday evening, I took Alex to the animal hospital. Details here.
Short version: he seems to be okay for now. So he's back home and seeming fine other than the still-frequent trips to the litter box.
I missed the beginning of curling because taking care of Alex is more important. But when I got home, there was still half of curling left, so I changed, packed up my stuff, and headed to the ice rink.
It turned out that my team had gotten an on-the-spot spare, so I actually didn't have a game to join. (All of the other teams had full rosters as well.) The extra sheet was being used by drop-in curlers, so that wasn't available for me to practice on. So I made the rounds chatting with people who were in games.
I had told exactly one person that I was going to be late because I was taking my cat to emergency. But it seemed like everyone I talked to knew about it! So many people asked me how my cat was. That was very heartwarming.
I realize I haven't told many curling stories lately. I've still been playing 1.5 times a week. I know most of you aren't interested, but I also know that a few of you really enjoy those. I'll admit that I'm less eager to write when my team loses. :-) But of course there's still plenty to talk about, so I'll see if I can write more. |
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| Playoff game #2 |
[Friday 2007.09.14|01:00] |
| [ | Tags | | | curling | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Angela Via - Catch Me If You Can | ] |
Today was the second round of playoffs in our league. We were playing Brian's team. They were the last team we played in the round robin.
In this game, we won the hammer and scored two in the first end. But then we gave up three, then two, and it just got worse after that. I wouldn't say we panicked. But we weren't making critical shots either. The game is kind of fuzzy in my brain right now. I do remember some of the game situations, but it's not like there was one critical shot in the match. Or maybe there was. I don't know.
Anyway, we lost by a big number. They definitely outplayed us.
I asked Jon if he would like to skip next week, and he said sure. I'm really not sure how people feel about the "integrity of the game". I'd definitely be skipping if we were in the championship game, but I don't consider playing for third a big deal and I'd rather give Jon a chance to skip. (I mean, when does one really get the opportunity to? Whenever one can, I think. :-) ) |
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| Bonspiel, day three |
[Sunday 2007.09.02|23:59] |
I got up super early to get to the arena at 6:00 a.m. in order to observe and help with the ice preparation. The guys who did the ice prepping for the bonspiel (Jim and Chuck) were going to show us how to go about doing things. It was quite interesting. I learned a lot. But many things are still puzzling and fuzzy. Ice making is complicated and confusing. (And frankly, not well understood in my opinion, considering how many people who have been ice making for years and years don't agree on things.)
I didn't get to play today, but I brought my stuff in case a practice sheet was available. But that wasn't the case once the game started.
I watched all the games going on. The championship game between Birr and Markowski was close for a few ends. In the third end, Markowski had the option of going for a double takeout with the hammer which would have left them sitting four or five, I think. But it was a difficult shot. If they missed they would have given up one. The discussed it for a while, but in the end they chose to go for the hit / draw with backing which they made for one. One of the other observers I spoke to said he definitely would have gone for the double takeout, considering the opposition. I don't think either choice was *obviously* right, but I think I agree with the observer. If I play conservative game against Team Birr, who do I think is going to be more consistent or make the first mistake? The double may be a low percentage shot, but if I make it, I might be able to protect that lead. (The score was 1-1 at that point, I believe.) And the downside would have been giving up one and keeping the hammer. (I think. I couldn't see the rocks from where I was at the other end of the sheet. I'm not sure whether Birr was sitting one or two, but I know that they did not have more than two in the house.)
But Team Birr did prevail in the end. They were very gracious to the organizers. I think the Wine Country Curling Club did a great job.
Edit (00:04): Oh yeah, there was a news crew at the bonspiel from KCRA. They "interviewed" (that is, asked the same couple of questions) to Gabrielle and me and a bunch of other people. I don't know which footage they'll include or whether it aired tonight or some later date or if at all. I guess they stick segments like that on the website sometimes. |
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| Bonspiel, day 2 |
[Saturday 2007.09.01|23:23] |
I got to the ice arena about half-an-hour before our 8:00 a.m. draw, and hardly anyone was there. The ice making crew was doing their thing. I watched for a bit.
Our first game of the day (second overall) went well. We scored eight in the first three ends, then the other team got one. Then they conceded.
That's not unusual in curling, but at our club, ice time is so valuable that we always play it out even when the score is lopsided. Nevertheless, I did not mind because I could use the sheet to practice which was something I badly needed. (Practice time is even more rare than ice time!)
I watched a lot of the other games during the break.
In our third game, we got slaughtered by Dave Markowski's team (one of the resident Vacaville curlers). They scored two with the hammer in the first, then they stole one, then we were held to one, then they scored one, then they scored five (or so). That was basically the game. We had our chance to take one instead of giving up a big number, but it wasn't just that one shot. We were getting outplayed every end. They were clearly the better team that game.
I was disappointed. If we had won, we would have been in the championship game tomorrow morning against what turned out to be Todd Birr's rink. (Todd Birr and his team are the defending U.S. champions and world bronze medalists, if you didn't know.)
I watched more curling in the next draw. It's cool to see so much activity going on. And the publicity seemed to work -- people who did not curl did come in to see what it was all about.
Before the banquet, I volunteered to help the icemakers do their thing. It took a bit long and so I was a little late to dinner, but I learned a lot and got to run the Ice King a bit. (It's like a mini-Zamboni.)
The rest of the evening was dinner, raffle, music, dancing and drinking.
I agreed to come in at 6:00 tomorrow morning along with a bunch of other people to help the icemakers, but more importantly to learn so that we can employ the techniques at our own clubs.
Obviously, I should be sleeping now. |
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| Day 1 bonspiel |
[Friday 2007.08.31|23:17] |
I left work around 1 p.m. b/c Margery had me kind of paranoid about Labor Day weekend traffic. I had smooth sailing until just short of the 80-680 interchange. Then it was sloooooow. I was falling asleep. (Never good while driving.) Traffic was slow on 80 for a few miles then mysteriously cleared up.
I was early so I volunteered my services to help where I could. First I cut several loaves of bread (oh, what I would have given for a good serrated knife!), then I plopped myself down at the registration table. (Odd, huh??)
Anyway, let me tell you. I'm way impressed with the production that the Wine Country Curling Club put on. There were like what, eight people organizing the whole thing? They made the hospitality room look great. An amazing display of raffle prizes. Welcome gifts. (Crap, I left mine on the table. I hope someone picked it up for me.) They did a great job in a lot of areas.
The ice, unfortunately, still left something to be desired. It wasn't horrible, but I guess I was hoping for better.
Oh, you want to hear about actual curling?
We had an early draw. We were playing Dave Holt (president of the club), but he had two out-of-towners on his team. They won the hammer. I think the way the scoring went, they scored one, then we scored three, then we stole one in each of the next four ends.
So with two ends to play, we had a six point lead. They proceeded to score two, and that's not horrible since we had a four point lead and the hammer coming home.
We proceeded to have our worst end and missed practically every shot. With the hammer to play, our opponents were actually sitting five and could win the game if we missed. But Mike did not miss. Whew!
We have an early draw tomorrow, but I stayed through the next draw b/c I am a curling fiend. I just have so few opportunities to watch live curling. And lots of rooting interests too. I am not rooting against the visitors, but obviously I know a lot of people playing. I got to watch Todd Birr's rink play as well. Up close! Maybe I was annoyingly close since I went out on the ice and most people were watching from behind the glass.
Anyway, I'm at Andrew's place now and I should get to bed. We have an 8:00 draw. That's one thing they didn't get right. The winning teams should have the 10:30 draws. :-) |
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| Fixing curling delivery |
[Wednesday 2007.06.06|17:18] |
So a couple days ago I mentioned how I need to fix my curling delivery. The videos came from class last week. Last Thursday I took some practice slides after league and had a few ideas. Yesterday I worked some more on the extra sheet. Here's what I'm thinking.
It's clear that with my slide foot out front that clearly I'm not balanced with my weight over my foot. The question is: what is the cause and what is the effect? Is it that my foot is out front and therefore my weight is not centered? Or is it that my weight was too far back thus making my foot splay out front? Initially I was thinking the former, but now I'm thinking the latter.
What I noticed was that if I wasn't actually throwing a stone and was just trying to stay centered on my delivery, I could do so (most of the time). I also noticed that it seemed like I was leaning forward more than I was used to. Or maybe I wasn't leaning forward, but my weight *was* more forward. Maybe that's all there was to it.
So if I make more of an effort to keep my weight forward, then I'm really keeping my weight centered (that is, not back), and I think that's what I want. Hopefully I will then be more steady and more consistent with my delivery. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. |
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| San Jose bonspiel |
[Thursday 2007.05.24|12:16] |
Our curling club is having a bonspiel this Saturday. Some of you have expressed interest before about the sport of curling. I still insist that the open houses are a great opportunity to try out the sport at no cost and no commitment, but maybe that was still too intimidating or maybe you were unable to make the last one. If you would just like to watch, then come out this Saturday. We'll be playing from 8 o'clock in the morning till the evening.
The schedule looks like this:
Draw 1 8:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Draw 2 9:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Draw 3 10:45 a.m. - noon
Lunch noon - 1:00 p.m.
Turkey Shoot 12:50 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Draw 4 1:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Draw 5 3:00 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Draw 6 4:30 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Finals 6:00 p.m. - 7:15 p.m.
My team will be playing in draws 2, 4 and 6. So you can come then if you want to see me play, or if you're there during one of the off draws, then you can talk to me! I can explain the games going on, or we can just hang out. Logitech Ice (map) has a really nice bar upstairs (and when I say "bar", I mean a brightly lit place with lots of TVs showing sports and they also serve food).
So...I know you have other things to do on Memorial Day weekend, but if you'd like, come on down. :-) |
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| Rooting |
[Thursday 2007.04.05|15:05] |
After being 2-3 in the men's world championships, the Americans reeled off six wins in a row to reach 8-3 after round robin play and sole possession of second place. So they'll face the #1 seed Canada in the playoffs. (For those not familiar with the page playoff system, this is actually a good thing. Being the #1 or #2 seed allows you the luxury of one loss prior to the finals whereas the #3 and #4 seeds must win all of their games.)
It's kind of interesting when talking to the experienced members of my curling club. There are a lot of transplanted Canadians, obviously. For most of us casual fans, we're going to root for our country in whatever sport. This isn't always true, but as a general rule it holds. But this really breaks down when you know people involved. For example, if Tiger Woods attends the U.S. Open (of tennis), is he going to root for Roddick and Blake because they're Americans? No, he's going to root for Federer because that's his buddy.
Well, when talking to my fellow curling club members, those aforementioned veteran curlers are notably impartial. They largely like to see good curling. Objectively, the Canadian rink is a notch above everyone else. No question about it. But curling is a much "smaller" sport than tennis or basketball or baseball. The thing is, some of the people I've spoken to who have played against a lot of the skips (from many different countries) in the world championships. Not only have they played with them, but they've socialized with them as well. (A big part of curling.) They're friends. They talk on the phone. So do they root for the Canadians because they're Canadian? Do they root for the Americans because they're Americans? Or do they root for their friends? The people they like? Against the people they don't like? From what I can tell, they don't really root at all. They just enjoy the sport for what it is. I'm sure they're pulling for certain people, but it's not even obvious to me whom.
Just sort of a different dynamic. |
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| Hurry hard |
[Thursday 2007.04.05|13:12] |
Excerpt from Russ Howard in this article:
On 'hurry hard':
"I invented the phrase 'hurry hard' as far as I know, years ago when everybody yelled 'sweep.' The problem was, in the old days, we had these synthetic brooms and we were bashing them on the ice and it got very, very loud in some of these Quonset hut curling clubs. So if you were on the sheet beside me yelling sweep, my sweepers might think that was me, so it made sense to come up with a different set of signals.
"Why I picked 'hurry hard' I'll never know. But it's something you can yell a lot louder, like 'sweeeeep' is quiet but 'HAARRRD,' well, basically it caught on.
"I watched Korea the other day against my brother and they were yelling, 'HARD.' I should have maybe patented the word or something."
Regardless of whether Howard was the first to say "hurry hard", that is quite interesting. In any case, apparently he started using it to distinguish himself from the other skips.
Which I think is very necessary. Numerous times I have had that very problem as a sweeper. I can always hear Brent (whom I have not played for) no matter what sheet he's on. :-) But I *like* that. I need to be able to hear my skip and frankly, I think I have suffered hearing damage from all the concerts I used to go to. (Kids today!) I actually have trouble sometimes telling whether it's Lyle calling to us or a skip on an adjacent sheet. Not too long ago I said to Nikki, "I wouldn't mind if he shouted 'Banana split!' or something like that so I could tell it's him and not someone else."
I thought I was being silly, but I didn't realize that "hurry hard" originated for that very reason.
The next time I skip, I'm going to call, "Banana split!" :-) |
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| Championship game |
[Wednesday 2007.04.04|02:08] |
Wow.
Even though I always want to win, I haven't been getting *nervous* about the curling matches...until today. I was nervous and excited all day. Maybe that did distract me from work, but it's difficult to distinguish that from my usual difficulty in concentrating. :-)
( Championship game ) |
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| Semifinal game |
[Wednesday 2007.03.28|01:29] |
| [ | Tags | | | curling | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Gustav Mahler - Symph. no. 1 in AM, 4th mvt. | ] |
Today we played the our semifinal game for the Tuesday league. Our opponent was Candace's team. Candace was our skip's teammate at the U.S. Mixed Nationals. Her team was the top-seeded team. (After starting out the league strong, our team kind of barely squeaked in at the end.)
( Semifinal game ) |
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| Curling open house, class, and league |
[Wednesday 2007.03.21|16:34] |
Logitech Ice at San Jose and Sharks Ice at Fremont are happy to bring you the following Curling Events for the Spring 2007 Season:
Open House – Tuesday, 4/10, 7:30-9pm @ Logitech Ice: This Open House is a great opportunity for those interested in the sport to try it out for FREE. Logitech Ice and the SF Bay Curling Club will provide all necessary equipment and instructors, and the event is open to Adults and Kids (ages 14 & older). As a special benefit, participants in the Open House will be given the opportunity to sign up for our Adult Beginning Curling Class at a discounted rate! All interested participants are encouraged to sign up for the event beforehand by clicking HERE. Invite your friends!
Level One (Beginning) Curling Class – Tuesdays, 8-10pm @ Logitech Ice: 11-week series runs April 17 – June 12, 2007. Cost: $200. Class will cover basic skills, etiquette, and game strategies, and will also include live games. All instructors are from the Bay Area Curling Club. You can register for this class in advance by clicking the Adult Beginning Curling Class link found HERE.
Fremont Curling League – Thursdays, 7:30-9:30pm @ Sharks Ice at Fremont: 11-week series runs April 19-June 28, 2007. Cost: $275 League includes 9 regular season games plus playoffs. Participants can register as individuals, or they can request to be placed on a team with other specific players. If registering as an individual, our drawmaster will place you on a team to insure parity as much as possible. $50 from the league fees will go towards 2007 membership dues in the SF Bay Area Curling Club. If you are already a member of the SFBACC, league dues are only $225. Please note this upon registration. Spare players are also accepted and will pay a per-game fee to the team that they sub for. To register for this league, please click HERE.
I urge anyone who is remotely interested to sign up for the open house. It's completely free and a great opportunity to try out the sport. And I will be there to help out so you'll have a familiar face. :-) If you like it, you can sign up for the class. Even if you know you can't do the class, come to the open house anyway. We do a lot of corporate events and the people who show up (none of who curl) all have a great time. |
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| Curling w00tness |
[Sunday 2007.03.11|05:35] |
| [ | Tags | | | curling | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Enya - One By One | ] |
Gabrielle and Barry were both still at club nationals, so Nikki and I were subbing for them at the Fremont league. Alice (the third member of the team) was not there, so there was just the two of us. Three people can make do for a team, but two doesn't really work. However, we really went casual and the other team was nice enough lend us a sweeper for our throws. Kind of ridiculous, but that's how we did it. Luckily, Alice arrived halfway through the second end, and then we could do the normal thing for three: lead throws three, vice throws three, skip throws two, and you just have one sweeper.
It being unorthodox day, Nikki and I decided to alternate skipping ends. So I did the first, third and fifth, and she did the second, fourth and sixth. We offered to Alice for her to skip as well (the three-headed monster!), but she declined. :-)
Brent (the opposing skip) was happy to give us advice during the game, so that certainly helped a lot. But for the most part we called our own shots and called our own ice. The previous two times that I've skipped, my team got utterly destroyed. Today seemed easier in terms of decision-making. Maybe it's because I wasn't really on my own. Nikki and I discussed the shots together for the last two rocks regardless of who was skipping that end, and we did have Brent's input too when we asked. But maybe it was also that the situations were more straightforward. The times I was most unsure was actually early in the end where the house wasn't very crowded and more options were available. Later in the end, it was more clear what shot should be called. Though I only see what I see and I don't see what I don't see. That is, if there was a better option that I missed, I probably don't know about it even now. That's why I'd love to be able to review a game after the fact, but I don't have a record of it as is the case in a chess game or an online poker hand. (Or a live poker hand where I am much better at recalling the details of the situation.)
Our team gave up three in the first end, but then we scored in the next two. After five ends it was 5-5 and we had the hammer for the final end. Ultimately, it came down to the last shot. The other team was sitting one, and we could either draw for one or take out our opponents' stone. It was almost the same shot either way. If we drew to the button, their rock would serve as backing. As it turned out, Nikki's shot was right on their stone and knocked it out leaving us sitting three! So that would be my first time (co)skipping to victory. :-) |
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| Whoops |
[Thursday 2007.03.01|12:27] |
On Tuesday, at curling league, early in the game, I took a spill. (What a poorly constructed sentence to open a post. :-) ) I was sweeping and there were some rocks out front. I stepped over them, and that was fine, but as I got closer there was some other rock I was trying to avoid, and at that point I slipped and fell backwards. People tell me that I hit my head. I guess I did; I don't remember. :-) It wasn't that hard, and it must have looked worse than it really was. I think some other part of my body must have taken most of the impact and my head hit at the end. Everyone kept asking me if I was okay. I said I was, and I meant it. I've hit my head hard before, and this was nothing like that. My glasses did somehow get messed up though. (I guess they flew off in the impact.)
So I really felt fine. Very slight bump on the head. No ringing. No headache. No blurry vision. (Other than when my glasses came off. :-) ) But late yesterday and more so this morning, I felt like I had a stiff neck, and my ribs were a little sore. That's annoying. So it looks like I took a bit more of a hit than I thought, but at least it's not a head injury.
Curling isn't *supposed* to be a dangerous sport, but stuff like that this certainly happens. Especially among novices. I should have let the rock go, but it's been so long since I've taken a fall like that that I guess it had to happen in order to remind me to put reasonable constraints on what I should and should not try to do. :-) |
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| In over my head |
[Sunday 2007.01.28|03:03] |
This week in the Fremont league I was sparing on a team where they were missing every original member save one. So the team was Margie and a team of three spares. And who skipped? I did.
I was completely over my head. I've been reading and learning more about shot calling, but I don't know if you can read any books on reading the ice. That's lots of experience and maybe talking to people. Anyway, I was off, off, off. I had a *lot* of help from my vice, but we were just very overmatched.
Oh yeah, and we were playing the same team as last week (the reason being that I was playing for a different team), and as I said then, I think the opposing skip is quite good. And it wasn't just him, of course. His team played well. They made many more of their shots than we did. (And I take responsibility for that as well, because a good skip calls shots that still contribute even when they're not perfect. That's a concept that I'm aware of, but which I don't know how to execute well. Their skip did.)
Anyway, the short story is that they scored double digits, and we scored a single point. And that one point came on a missed shot. Of course, like I just said, good calls have benefits even when the primary shot is missed. I would take credit for that if I actually had planned that raise as a contingency. :-)
One of the experienced curlers mentioned how many people rush to the glory positions of skip and vice skip, but there's a lot to learn in every position. Well, he certainly knows better than I do, but I wouldn't say that I'm trying to rush to being skip. Far from it. However, I agree that there's something to learn in every position, and I feel that by at least experiencing the different jobs you can get a better appreciation for the different aspects of the game. For example, I have a much greater appreciation now for how important reading the ice is. And that's something I can pay attention to no matter what position I'm playing, or even if I'm just observing. And I can try to understand better the shots that my skip is calling instead of just following directions blindly. I know for sure that I'm not prepared to skip a team. And I sure was embarrassed today, but that can be a good thing too. But of course as it should be in curling, my teammates were very supportive and the opposing team was very gracious as well.
And hey, winner buys first round. :-) |
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| Woulda, coulda, shoulda |
[Sunday 2007.01.21|11:42] |
In a previous post, I talked about not appreciating how much a stone can curl at the end of its trajectory:
Something I didn't have proper appreciation for before skipping (as you have a different perspective when sweeping) is how much a stone can curl at the end of its trajectory. You need to anticipate this and can't wait too long to bring the sweepers on if you need to straighten the stone. There was more than one occasion where what would have been a perfect shot clipped a guard because I didn't realize how much the shot was going to curl until it was too late.
( What could have been ) |
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| Curling strategy |
[Thursday 2007.01.18|00:52] |
| [ | Tags | | | curling | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Sixpence None the Richer - Kiss Me (radio mix) | ] |
I've been searching high and low for more information about curling strategy. There doesn't even seem to be any good books on the subject. When I ask the more experienced curlers, they say that there should be (and maybe there are one or two), but it is a complicated topic because there are so many possible scenarios. But heck, if you can write books on chess, surely you can at least talk about things to think about when deciding on what shot to play in curling.
I've found quite a few web pages with very rudimentary guidelines. But earlier today I found the best article yet.
This is the page and here is a direct link to the PDF. |
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| Skipping for the first time |
[Tuesday 2007.01.16|01:22] |
I signed up for the curling league in San Jose, but there's also one that runs on Saturdays in Fremont. The last two weeks I've been playing in that one too as a spare. Since they didn't have full teams in the first place, and since people are often busy on Saturdays, it appears that there's always room. :-)
Last Saturday there was the possibility that both Barry and Gabrielle were not going to be there, so I asked if I could skip, and they said sure. It turns out that Barry made it after all, but he let me skip anyway.
( No experience? No problem! ) |
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| Curl with Math |
[Monday 2007.01.08|23:04] |
What's that?
Curl with Math
C'mon, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) gopackgo, you know you're loving this.
I know I am. There are certain situations in sports that lend themselves to this sort of analysis more than others. End game situations with one or two plays remaining work particularly well. Do you kick a PAT to tie or go for the two-point conversion to win? Do you drive to the hole and maybe get fouled to tie, or do you shoot the trey for the win? Foul your opponent when you're up three or just play solid D? Sacrifice the runner to second in the bottom of the ninth when you're down one and nobody out, or play it straight up?
The thing is, most coaches don't care to look at the analysis. Maybe their eyes glaze over with the numbers. Maybe they think they know better. Maybe they think their years of experience tells them what they need to know. (In some cases this is justified, like how successful steal attempts in the Major Leagues settled right around the point where it needs to be in order to be worthwhile.) In some cases it's pride. No self-respecting coach wants to be told by some numbers geek how he should run his team.
Things are changing of course. Moneyball brought the blending of analysis and athletics to public awareness. Many people in professional sports were aware of this for many years. Success of some forced others to become more aware.
I don't know why everyone wouldn't want to use every competitive advantage available.
In many ways, curling does lend itself to statistical analysis. How often does a team win up one coming home? How often does a team win after scoring two in the first end?
Of course, every team is different too. Not all players are equally likely to hit a home run down three with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth. Not everyone is equally likely to execute a perfect shot in the tenth end with the hammer. You need to know the characteristics of your team (and your opponent) in order adjust the factors correctly. In any case, it's unlikely you can properly run the numbers in a game time situation. But just like in poker, you can do the analysis between games and be better prepared for when you are in the game.
I haven't read through the Curl with Math columns in detail, but I'm going to. It ought to be interesting.
ETA (23:29): Near the end of the article is this excerpt:
Some readers have mentioned that, though interesting, these studies are not practical for game situations. I disagree, and here's why:
1. Many game situations are similar and occur often enough that "off-ice" analysis can prepare a team better for these game situations. The article here is one example. This is similar to how poker players practice decisions away from the table.
...
Yeah, that's right. :-) |
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| Vacaville bonspiel |
[Sunday 2006.12.31|12:35] |
For the last two days, I played in the bonspiel in Vacaville. Yes, there is a curling club in Vacaville! They only formed about six months ago. They have very enthusiastic members, but they don't have too many, so some of them come to the Bay Area to curl and vice versa.
They hosted a two-day event on Friday and Saturday, and it was a blast. Nikki, Hilary and I decided to play together, and we were matched with a very experienced skip (the captain of the team and the one who calls the shots) from the Vacaville club named Jerome. He's been curling for a long time and has been involved in the sport for years. He's actually come by the moniker of "The Johnny Appleseed of Curling" because he's gotten curling started up in so many locations. He was a statistician at Torino and numerous other world-level curling competitions. Jerome was a terrific mentor.
I suspect we were one of the two least-experienced teams playing (Nikki and Hilary have been playing only slightly longer than I), and yet we came in third! (If that page is a bit confusing, know that in curling terms, "rink" is a name for "team" and teams generally take on the skip's name.)
One of the players there (that we got to play against and talk with later) was Edith Loudon, vacationing from Scotland. She played in the Olympics at Nagano and numerous European and world championships. (Won gold at one worlds and silver at three European championships.) She was very nice and incredibly modest.
But of course, curlers have a strong reputation for being very friendly and a great group of people to hang out with. (Socializing after curling is a time-honored tradition.) Of course there are exceptions too, but the stories about those people are very entertaining as well. :-)
I do feel like I'm improving each time I play, and I'm quite enthusiastic about getting to play more. I really need to order my equipment, and I'm looking forward to playing in the league in January. |
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| Statistics and curling |
[Wednesday 2006.12.27|14:47] |
I just added ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) inthehack as an syndicated feed on LJ, and this article caught my eye:
Bringing a little Bill James to the rink
For those who don't know, Bill James is a giant in the field of sabermetrics (the study of baseball statistics). Sabermetrics has come a long ways, especially recently. Nowadays, you'll occasionally hear commentators talk about on-base percentage and other important values of measurement, but for many years sabermetrics languished in obscurity. (At least the advances in the field. Of course statistics has always been a large part of baseball, but all we ever heard about were batting average, HRs, RBIs and a few other numbers which only told a fraction of the story.)
The above article talks about how Dallas Bittle and Gerry Geurts are furthering the field of curling statistics. Curling also has its statistics which have been around for a while (draw percentage, takeout percentage), but I guess these fellows are trying to develop more efficient (and perhaps less subjective?) measures.
I've been fascinated by some of the new ideas that people have come up with in sabermetrics. And it's not all theoretical either. With new studies comes new ways of looking at things. But I rather doubt that I could come up with new ideas in sabermetrics. Some really smart people have been working on that stuff for a pretty long time. I've only read this one article, so I don't know what's going on in the field really, but if serious analysis of curling statistics is a more recent phenomenon, perhaps there are many more breakthroughs to be made. Maybe even by an amateur. |
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| Curling kicked my ass |
[Wednesday 2006.11.15|00:03] |
| [ | Tags | | | curling | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  frustrated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Charlotte Church - Plaisir D'Amour | ] |
Curling kicked my ass.
After the first class, I felt like I was way ahead of the curve. Now, not so much.
Today we did a lot of sweeping. Something that I did not know before taking this class and reading the curling book is that the sweepers have the primary responsibility of judging the weight of the throw (i.e. how far the stone is going to travel). From watching curling on TV, I thought that this was the skip's call, but the skip is responsible for calling the line (i.e. how much the stone is going to curve). Since sweeping both causes the stone to curve less and travel farther, sometimes there is a conflict between the two. Thus the need for constant communication (and all the shouting).
Well, as a beginner, one of the toughest things is being able to judge weight. The old hands all have a pretty good idea. But as a novice, I'm flying blind. You're supposed to call weight almost as soon as the stone leaves the thrower's hand, but hell if I know. I always think the stone is going to be light, but I'm often wrong. I basically have no clue. I know this comes with experience, but I don't know if I will ever be gifted in this area.
Aside from judgement, sweeping is effing hard. I'm not kidding. Technique is important, and it's more difficult than it looks. It's physically exerting, and while you're trying to brush hard (and come within a couple inches of the stone without hitting it), you're also supposed to be looking down the ice to judge the weight. (And get this: you also judge from the sound of the stone on the ice.) I often get so caught up in brushing that I forget to judge weight and end up brushing the stone right through the house. (The skip can call us off too, but I guess they're letting us learn.)
People who watch curling for the first time laugh at the sweeping. But I can't stress how important it is. Good sweepers can pull the stone an extra 12-14 feet down the ice. If you think it's difficult to place a stone accurately 100 feet down the ice, you're right. Hence the importance of sweeping. And now that I know that the sweepers are responsible for judging the weight (and sweeping appropriately), I have even more respect for them. And here's something else to keep in mind: you might sweep up to six times per end. You only throw twice per end.
I'm actually a bit sore right now from the brushing.
And I even bombed in the one area where I excelled before: throwing. I know I still have the best technique of all the beginners, but basically I screwed up consistently today. The ice was particularly sticky today (and the ice is normally bad at Logitech already), and all my throws were consistently light. So I tried to push harder out of the hack and I was all out-of-balance. A few times I fell over during delivery. My throws were just horrible.
All in all, a very frustrating day of curling. |
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