Curling Cut Short

Yes, the U.S. curling team had a rough week. They finished their “Olympic experience” with two wins and seven losses, a far cry from the bronze medal the U.S. earned in the 2006 games. In the first three games, skip John Shuster had a chance to win with the last rock in two games and two chances to win with a last rock in the third game. He missed them all.

When criticizing, do consider that they are not paid. They work full time jobs. Jason Smith is "retiring" to go back to construction work because he can't take more time off. When they go to tournaments on weekends, they’re using vacation time on Friday and are back at work Monday morning. Not quite the rockstar lifestyle many of the other athletes at the Olympic games. If you would like to be on the next Olympic curling team, by all means, go for it. Just don’t quit your day job.

In fact, the team at one point would play all comers for something like $30 just to raise money. Can you imagine Lindsey Vonn, Apolo Ohno, Shani Davis or Lindsey Jacobellis saying "I'll race anyone who wants for $5” just to raise money? Actually, given that a curling match takes about two hours and the skiing and skating races take about two minutes, racing for $0.50 might be a better comparison. Heck, Davis even called Colbert “a jerk” after Colbert raised money for the speed skating team (Colbert probably deserved it, but that’s a different story).

When Shuster was benched, there aren't too many athletes who have handled it with more class. No whining, no pouting, no questioning the decision to the media. All he said was he was here to support the team. Oh, and he joked that at least people were talking about curling. That’s not taking one for the team, that’s taking repeated kicks where it hurts for the sport (we can debate my word choice of “sport” later, but only after ice dancing gets it’s “sport” title revoked).

I now interrupt my own blog to bring you some quotes from Shuster’s closing interview:

“That Martin skip from Canada? Do you see the guys he plays with? If I had been on teams with a good first, second and third do you have any idea who many gold medals I’d be bringing home? Are you kidding me?”

Sorry. That was my expectation given how a certain millionaire football player would respond.

On tonight’s game:
“I made a mistake on a call in the fourth end. …When we had a chance to get within one, I missed.”

When asked, almost sarcastically, if there were any positives he could take from the tournament:
“Any positives? That’s harsh. We had plenty of opportunities. I underperformed. The guys played fairly well. I didn’t finish a few.”

Wow. That might be one of the most impressive performances of the entire Olympics. Someone who takes the blame but praises his teammates. Not a single negative word about his teammates. Yes, Shuster missed some key shots, but curling is a team sport. Though I doubt Visa will be making an epic commercial about the class he showed, his reaction is a highlight reel I’d show my future kids about how to handle being benched.

Just watch: now that I've said this one of them will be found to have been cheating on his wife with some European curling chicks...