A bit of a quandary

I was watching the Winter Olympics today and found myself in a bit of a quandary; the same sort of position I find myself in when the Ashes are on. Do I support Australia or England? Obviously, I grew up in Australia, playing and watching cricket in the country I call home. But, of course, I was born in England which Nicktor would assert meant I should support England.

However, I always went for Australia, regardless of the amount of banter I had to endure, particularly at Old Trafford.

Of course, I thought this sort of issue would only be in cricket because, generally I don’t watch any sport that pits the nations together. (I guess there’s a bit of support when Aussie Neil Robertson plays in the snooker, but it is a rare day when I see him play.)

Anyway, today I was watching the curling, an intriguing little sport that reminds me a bit of lawn bowls. Not so intriguing that it could hold my attention for any length of time. Unless, that is, England are playing Sweden, which is what happened today.

There is a lot of shouting in curling. From one end of the sheet to the other, instructions are hurled from one teammate to the other. It’s hard to make out what they are talking about except when they shout “CURL!“.

While I was struggling to decipher their instructions, it occurred to me that the Swedes were at a bit of an advantage.

I doubt that the two Scots, playing for the mixed Team GB, spoke Swedish whereas the Swedish team more than likely spoke fluent English. I’m not sure that it was much of an advantage though, given Team GB won the game, 7-4.

Of course, a big reason why they may have been shouting could be because the American fans at the game were yelling, “USA! USA!” every time their team did something mildly impressive on another sheet.

Actually, Lasse told me today, when he brought the dogs back after a visit, that he was heading home to watch the curling. I hope he wasn’t too disappointed.

Stalker report

We hit a new high today (or should that be low?). A massive 2,965 views. And Israel was in top position for the second day in a row.

North Bergen has been wiped off the leader board in spectacular fashion. I kind of miss it.