USA Men’s Curlers Reach Gold Medal Game

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Did you watch the men’s curling? It’s a simple question, did you watch the men’s curling? Probably not. That is your loss. But you can earn a measure of redemption by watching the finals this Saturday morning. The USA Men’s Curling team has already made history by qualifying for the gold medal game against Sweden. The victory over team Canada could be called “The Miracle on Ice II.”

Not only do we never beat the Canadians in curling, we never have beat them in Olympic competition. But we did on Thursday. It was a shock as the John Shuster-led American team broke Canada’s 20-year stranglehold on the Olympic gold in curling. The cheering, the excitement, the unbridled joy of beating Canada in the semi-finals was so fun to watch. The Canadians have a right to be cocky  – they’ve won gold in three straight Olympics and have never taken worse than a silver medal in curling. Friday they will play for the bronze.

Even their fans are cocky, one showed up at the Gangneung Curling Centre with a sign that said, “I’ve swept with your wife.” Now that is next level curling humor. However, he went home with his tail and his sign tucked between his legs because the U.S. beat the Canadian contingent 5-3. It was the second time the these two teams had played in four days. The US won both.

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The final match against Sweden will start at 2am our time on NBCSN. It will be worth your while to stay up. The four competitors for the US look like you and me and our beer drinking buddy from bowling leagues past. I am telling you John Shuster looks like a cross between Roy from The Office and Cliff Clavin from Cheers.  I mean I love watching Lindsey Vonn ski, but she does not look like anyone I have ever known or skiied with. Shuster does. He looks like everyone (and no one) and the fact that he has a chance at Gold gives all of us hope.

Shuster leads Team USA into the Finals Saturday morning.

The Shuster-led curlers finished 9th and 10th in the last two Olympiads. They started this tournament with a 2-4 record in round robin play. Shuster made a decision after that awful start in Korea. “I think I just decided that fifty years from now, when my grandkids are showing video from the Olympics, I didn’t want all my videos to be me failing,” Shuster said.

“This is just changing things. Rewriting things,” he added with a smile.

I recognize that I am one of very few Texans who has ever been to a bonspiel. That is a curling tournament typically contested on a fresh-water loch over the course of a weekend. And I know there are times during a curling match where the action is limited to a couple of guys who look like they have a beer in one hand and a broom in the other. But I am telling you it is worth your while to stay up late into tomorrow morning and watch the action from Korea.

Beating the Canadians was the equivalent of the 1980 hockey team beating the Russians. Of course that team still had to beat Finland to win Gold. This US team still has a date with Sweden. Watch it, wave the flag and chant U-S-A! Even if we lose you can sleep well knowing that at least we shut up that cocky Canadian who swept with your wife.