I have few rules in life, but one of them is this: any time the United States is playing for the gold medal in Olympic curling, I have to keep a running diary. And I'm doing it live at a ridiculous hour. Four years ago, I did a running diary of the women's gold medal game on tape delay. But I don't want to take any risk of this being spoiled for me. I love curling. It’s my fourth favorite sport (by the way, soccer was way too high on that list, I apologize to myself, it's not in the top ten). I get to see a lot less of it than my three favorite sports. So I love the Winter Olympics. I’m shocked that the United States has made it this far. Beating Canada in the semifinal has to be the biggest upset the US has pulled off in the Winter Olympics in my lifetime, right? I was born in 1984, so I wasn’t around for the Miracle on Ice. US-Canada in curling didn’t have the historical geopolitical significance of the Miracle on Ice, but isn’t Canada in curling pretty much what those Soviet teams were in hockey?
Much like when we beat the Soviets in 1980, we still need to win another one for the gold medal. I’m really excited for this. How much do I want this? Here’s how I’d rank all the things I want to see happen in sports:
1. Notre Dame National Championship in football- Maybe when Jenkins, Swarbrick, and Kelly are gone I’ll get to see this.
2. Dodgers World Series championship- I haven’t blogged about it, but they were so close. Game 7 was never close, but it went seven. The Dodgers definitely could have won two of the games they lost. The final combined score for the series was 34-34 (I didn’t have to look that up). It hurt to be that close and not win. I don’t think I’ve fully appreciated how much it hurt. Hopefully they’ll get one (hopefully more than one) with Clayton Kershaw on the team. But if they don’t, it will really hurt. I think what I’m most upset about is that they never won one with Andre Ethier on the team.
3. Celtics championship- I got to see them beat their biggest rival in the NBA Finals in 2008. But they lost a heartbreaking seven game series to their biggest rival in the NBA Finals in 2010. I could really go for another championship. I have confidence that Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens, Kyrie Irving, and Gordon Hayward will get it done in the next few years.
4. Notre Dame National Championship in men’s basketball- We’ll see how everything shakes out with the FBI investigation, but it could be good for Notre Dame. I’m worried about Demetrius Jackson’s involvement, but if he (or his family) had lunch with an agent and/or got money from an agent after his last game at Notre Dame, then that’s nothing. I seriously doubt that Notre Dame is guilty of whatever Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Louisville, etc. is guilty of. I love Mike Brey and I’d love to see him win a championship. By the way, Notre Dame football was clearly number one on this list and the Dodgers were clearly number two. But it was pretty close between the Celtics and Notre Dame basketball.
5. Jets Super Bowl championship- At one point in my life, this might have been number one on this list. I guess if the Jets ever got to be good again, I’d get back into them (unless they draft Sam Darnold, I can’t go through caring too much about a team with a quarterback from USC again).
6. USA Curling Olympic gold medal- I could divide this into men and women. Women’s curling would be ahead of men’s, but I’ll take a men’s gold medal.
7. Rangers Stanley Cup- I saw it once, which is probably a lifetime’s worth of championships for a Ranger fan.
8. Notre Dame National Championship in women’s basketball- We’re probably the best team that hasn’t won a National Championship in the last ten years. Muffet McGraw is awesome and I can’t stand UConn. I’d love to see us beat them.
9. Notre Dame National Championship in hockey- I do watch some Notre Dame hockey games from time to time. I hate the fact that we’re in the Big Ten in hockey, but whatever.
10. USA Hockey Olympic gold medal- The United States is not a hockey country, but it’s pretty cool that one of the biggest moments in sports in the history of the country comes from hockey. I would have loved to have seen it in 1980. The women beating Canada was nice. Hopefully I’ll get to see the men do it someday.
11. Notre Dame National Championship in baseball- I’d be pretty excited if we ever made it to the College World Series. We’ve only been there twice: 1957 and 2002. Since I enrolled there, we’ve only made the NCAA Tournament three times: 2005, 2006, and 2015 (I was a student in 2005 and 2006 and I have no memory of this).
12. American male winning Wimbledon- This was a common occurrence when I was young. Wimbledon is the only tournament that I care much about.
13. USA Basketball Olympic gold medal- I love basketball, but we should always win the gold medal in basketball. If we don’t, it’s a complete failure. When we do win, I’m not going to get too excited about it.
14. USA World Baseball Classic championship- I almost forgot that this happened last year. I have this ahead of winning the Olympic gold medal in baseball for two reasons. First, the World Baseball Classic has players that I know. Second, the Olympics happen during baseball season, when I’m much more concerned about the Dodgers than about Olympic baseball.
After that, I would put Olympic gold medals in baseball, volleyball/beach volleyball, short track speed skating, swimming, track, and cross country skiing (just kidding, I definitely don’t care about cross country skiing, but that call of the American winning was pretty cool). Notre Dame championships I’d like to see would be volleyball, soccer, and lacrosse. Notice that the World Cup isn’t on here. I don’t care. Soccer is stupid (I mentioned Notre Dame soccer because I’ll watch Notre Dame playing soccer for a National Championship if I have nothing else to do and nothing else interesting is on TV).
Here we go:
1:24- They just went through John Shuster’s Olympic career. I had always said that Pete Fenson was the greatest American curler of all time for winning the bronze in 2006. I’ve joked about him before, but it’s got to be Shuster now, right? Shuster was on Fenson’s team in 2006. And he’s been the American skip in three straight Olympics since then. He’s going to add a gold or silver today.
1:28- Mr. T called the curling team to wish them good luck. I’m not making this up.
1:31- I just looked up hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics. The Soviet Union won silver even though we beat them in our second to last game. If we had lost to Finland in our last game, the Soviet Union would have won gold. It wasn’t really semifinals and finals. It was the top two teams from each group. Each team played the two teams from the other group and it was based on points. In fact, there was still a chance that we wouldn’t win any medal even after beating the Soviet Union. Weird.
1:35- First stone for the US. It’s in the house. The US has yellow and Sweden has red. I don’t like that because the American flag has red in it and the Swedish flag has yellow in it.
1:37- Sweden has the hammer because they were the one seed. It’s early, but I’m expecting a blank end. Matt Hamilton is from Wisconsin. I was telling my friend Dennis who lives in Minnesota that I was frustrated by Canada’s dominance in curling. But when you consider that American curling is pretty much Minnesota curling and Canada has ten times the population of Minnesota, it’s a little more understandable. But Hamilton is from Wisconsin.
1:41- First rock for John Shuster coming up. There’s only one rock in play. This should be a blank end.
1:43- And we have a blank first end. Sweden keeps the hammer.
1:45- South Korea is playing Sweden in the women’s gold medal game. I appreciate how women’s curling is the main event of curling at the Olympics. If John Shuster can get to the gold medal game, then someday the American women can win a medal.
1:48- Sweden just made an impressive double takeout. Sweden is lying one.
1:52- Tyler George just made two impressive shots. The US is lying one with five total rocks left in this end.
1:55- Shuster is only the third curler ever to be in four Olympics. And he’ll have two Olympic medals. He has to be the greatest American curler ever.
1:56- The two teams had been exchanging rocks in the house, but Sweden just ignored the American rock and played a draw to the four foot.
1:57- Shuster just missed a run back. We had a chance to force Sweden to take one. Now they should get two. Nuts.
1:58- 2-0 Sweden. Plenty of curling left to play. The US gets the hammer.
2:05- The US just bumped their own guard and ended up with two in the house, but Sweden is still lying two. This end could be trouble.
2:07- The US scored the most points in round robin play, but also gave up the second most. You get some high scoring games with the Americans.
2:09- Tyler George just made a nice double. The US lying two with skip rocks left. Apparently Ivanka Trump is at the game.
2:11- Niklas Edin just answered with a nice double. Sweden is lying two.
2:12- Shuster missed a double. Can Edin miss a shot here? That would be helpful.
2:13- Edin left Shuster with a chance for a double to score two.
2:14- Shuster just made the shot. We’re tied at 2! USA! chants from the crowd.
2:16- It’s time for a beer. I have a handful of Octoberfests left that are good until April. It’s my second favorite beer currently in my refrigerator (I have some Chocolate Bock in there). Maybe I’ll have a Chocolate Bock to celebrate if we win. I really enjoy watching curling and having a beer. I also enjoy watching baseball and having a beer. Part of that is being at a game in warm weather and enjoying an outdoor beer. I don’t feel the same way with other sports. With Notre Dame football, I prefer to watch the game without any alcohol and then drink to celebrate victory (the NCAA can’t vacate the victory beers I had in 2012). With basketball, I could go either way.
2:21- We have a lot of rocks in the house. Shuster and George are strategizing.
2:24- Tyler George just made a nice shot. Sweden is lying one, but there are a lot of rocks in the house. I love curling, but when you get to a spot like this and there are a lot of rocks in the house, I’m pretty much clueless about proper strategy. And I think it’s more exciting when I have no idea what the proper strategy is.
2:27- Skip rocks remain. Sweden is lying two after a nice shot.
2:28- Shuster just made a beautiful shot to give the US shot rock.
2:30- Edin just missed his first shot of the fourth end.
2:31- Shuster left Sweden with an opportunity for two, but if they miss, we can steal two. Huge shot coming up here for Edin.
2:33- We’re going to get a measurement. I think the US is getting a steal of one. This is exciting.
2:34- I was right. The US takes the lead for the first time!
2:42- We’re halfway through the fifth end and we have a lot of rocks in the house again. Sweden is lying one.
2:43- Tyler George just made a nice shot and the US is lying four. We get a reaction shot from Duluth, Minnesota. They’re excited.
2:45- The Americans are strategizing again. There are lots of gesticulations with the brooms and I don’t know what’s going on again.
2:46- They’re taking a lot of time to think about this shot, but the US has more time left on their clock than Sweden does.
2:48- Big miss for Sweden. They got rid of one yellow, but they definitely wanted to get rid of more than that.
2:51- Shuster throws a guard. I’m hoping for another steal. Three rocks left in the end.
2:53- Shuster just missed badly. Sweden is lying one with the last shot of the end coming up. Sweden has a chance for two.
2:55- Sweden gets two. 4-3 Sweden after five. We get the hammer down one in the sixth. Not a terrible situation.
3:02- We’re in the sixth. If the US had given up one in the fourth instead of getting the steal, they would have been down 3-2 and you probably would have wanted to blank the fifth to keep the hammer in the even ends. So being down 4-3 with the hammer in even ends is fine. Let’s see if we can take advantage.
3:05- Sweden just missed a chance for a double.
3:08- Sweden just made a double. I’m not optimistic about our chances for multiple points in this end.
3:09- Sweden just missed on a run back. We might have a chance for two.
3:12- Sweden took out a yellow rock on their last shot, but they left a pretty easy shot for two.
3:13- The US scores two to retake the lead. This is a great game. I’m hoping for a force of one to get the hammer back in the even ends with the game tied.
3:16- I just got a text from Sean. It’s a reasonable hour on the west coast. He used an American flag emoji so you know he’s excited. I’ve never used an emoji in my life.
3:18- Bad shot by Matt Hamilton. He jammed a red onto a yellow and Sweden is lying one.
3:20- Hamilton just redeemed himself. The Swedes are shooting a higher percentage than the US, but the US is winning. It made me think of the “lies, damned lies, and statistics” quote that apparently comes from Mark Twain or Benjamin Disraeli.
3:22- The Swedes are strategizing. That’s some language they got there. And they talk like that 24/7, huh? I assume they probably speak English also. The Americans don’t speak Swedish. Is there any advantage there for the Swedes?
3:28- Edin just had a big miss. One rock left for each team. The US has shot rock right now. I’ll take a steal if we can get it. But as long as Sweden doesn’t score two, this is a good end.
3:32- Edin just made a nice shot to get one. We can live with that. We’re tied and the US has the hammer in the eighth.
3:39- John Shuster just did some impressive sweeping to get a yellow rock into the house. I thought it had no chance. Sweden is lying one.
3:42- Tyler George has a chance for a huge double here.
3:43- He couldn’t get rid of both reds, but he got rid of one and the US is lying three with skip rocks left.
3:46- Shuster got rid of the Swedish shot rock and Sweden calls their timeout.
3:49- Sweden didn’t get the roll they wanted. The US has a chance for a big end on Shuster’s last rock.
3:50- Shuster just made the biggest shot of his life. He makes the double and the US scores five! I let out an audible “Yeah!” Two ends to go.
3:51- Reaction shot from the Duluth Curling Club. They’re excited.
3:52- The US put their first two rocks through the house intentionally. We want as few rocks in play as possible.
3:53- It’s time to start peeling off some Swedish rocks. Sean just reminded me of Shuster sweeping that rock into the house in the last end. I thought it had no chance to get there. It got us an extra point.
3:55- The most Sweden could possible score in this end is four. The US is in great shape.
3:56- And we just swept a Swedish rock out of the house.
4:00- Sweden just scored two. We’re up 10-7 going to the tenth with the hammer. Let’s finish this off. I want it to end with Shuster making his first shot to clinch it. I don’t even know if it will get to that point.
4:01- Sweden starts with a guard.
4:02- John Landsteiner tried to tick the guard for the US, but he ended up removing it, so it gets replaced because of the free guard zone rule. That sentence made absolutely no sense to people who don’t understand curling. Not what the US wanted, but it shouldn’t be a big deal.
4:03- The second US rock gets thrown right through the house.
4:04- Matt Hamilton gets a double peel of the two guards.
4:05- Matt Hamilton’s last rock of the Olympics is a successful peel.
4:06- Tyler George peels a guard.
4:07- Sweden puts up a guard. They have one in the house. They need their last two rocks to score. George’s last shot is a successful peel. Shuster is going to get to shoot for the gold.
4:09- Sweden has conceded before Shuster even gets to shoot. I really wanted to see him shoot for the gold. But the USA has done what I thought was impossible. This is the greatest victory in US curling history. The Americans are celebrating.
4:10- Sweden still has better statistics. But who has the gold medal?
4:11- I’m playing the Star Spangled Banner.
4:17- The only thing that could have ruined the Star Spangled Banner that I just listened to was Fergie singing it. The United States has won a gold medal in curling. I’m going to bed. God Bless America.
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