Curling is Cool Day is not dedicated to those of us naturally or otherwise endowed with glistening spiralling locks of hair. Oh, no, no!
This is the day George Clooney and Bruce Springsteen get to play their all-time favourite sport and call it cool.
Most of us out there will probably wonder what the fuss is about, but if you’re a curling enthusiast, then by Jove do you owe the people who invented it a colossal thank you!
A Scottish game developed in the 1500’s that the Canadians seem to be exceedingly good at- if Winter Olympic Games are anything to go by- curling involves launching a stone on ice and sweeping the ice in its path as it attempts to land on a target and dislodge your competitors’ rocks.
But wait, there’s more. The sweepers wear special shoes, one that slides and one that doesn’t, and the stone is more like a 40 pound granite bomb that looks suspiciously too much like a macaroon.
The brooms are slightly more evolved now than the ordinary sweepers they used back in the 1900s. In fact, they’re hardly reminiscent of a witch’s broom, at all.
The floors are sheets of ice with vinyl markings underneath, for the target, rather than the frozen lake surfaces that were used back in the day. The concept, though, is very much the same. You launch, you sweep, and you score.
While the intricacies of the game will not keep you awake at night, they will certainly be sufficient to keep the children entertained, so what better reason to send them out into the blistering cold to play with a rock ?
But you’ll have to all join in, because two teams of four are needed to play.
So gather-round for a bonspiel and find out why everybody and his uncle played this game and said it’s cooler than bowls and shuffleboard.
Admittedly, the competition isn’t the stiffest you’d find in the world of sports.
So don’t waste any time. Go out there and find out why hammer-time in curling has nothing to do with MC Hammer !
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good Morning and Welcome to the XJO Tuesday Thread
The XJO closed higher on Monday
Spread increased a little and volume was again quite high for a Monday
This is the second week in a row with above average Monday Volume, and the third in the last four weeks (for one negative outcome and one positive outcome...so far ). Just looking at the recent bars themselves, Mondays bar with an increased spread, closed above last Friday's High (and last Thursday's high as well), which appears to be a positive response to last Friday's downbar with reduced volume (suggesting reduced selling pressure).
Now that said, this is still an important level where price has failed before, and respect still needs to be shown......however, if this thing has really turned bullish now, a decent widespread upbar, closing high (like last Tuesday & Thursday's bar) would really throw the cat amongst the pigeons.......and show some strength of character.
(20min delay)