Tuesday, 24 February 2026

Winter Olympics

 

I tend not to watch much sport on TV, other than The 6 Nations Rugby tournament.

Frankly, the Winter Olympics leaves me cold. I enjoyed a snippet of the Short Track Speed Skating, the Tobogganing, and some of the Snowboard jumping and swirling, but all the other snowy stuff really isn't my bag. Thank goodness it's over!

However, this year's Winter Olympics has been dominated by one 'sport':.... CURLING (a combination of Darts and Bowls, on Ice).

Over the past couple of weeks, every time I've consulted the TV schedule, it's been Curling, Curling, Curling, and yet more bloody Curling.

Well I don't know how you feel about it, but for me Curling is amongst the most uninteresting of sports since the 'Irish Paint Drying' competition of 1988.

Who on earth at the BBC thought that the British public would watch hour after hour, day after day, of Curling? No doubt the sport has a small audience in Auchtermuchty, but elsewhere I imagine that fans are extremely thin on the ground. 

Launch big lump of stone, brush at ice frantically, and hope that it end-up in the target. That's it.

I shall NOT be writing a letter to the Curling Department at the BBC Sports Centre, as this will only make matters worse. What I will say is that I would have much preferred to have watched a few children using tin trays as toboggans, or even some international snowball fighting; but NOT Curling. 

Curling should be restricted to Ladies' Hair Salons. 

24 comments:

Adrian Ward said...

The answer is: Because it's cheap to film like Darts and the News commentaries every day. I'm happy to live without a TV

Cro Magnon said...

You didn't miss much! I think most people probably watch the Winter Olympics because of the DANGER involved. Curling has no danger.

Sue in Suffolk said...

Well I watched the curling and loved it! It's very tactical and requires a lot of skill much more interesting than the kids leaping about in the half-pipe - you won't know what that is.
You are tending to get awfully rant-y just recently, must be a sign of old age

Cro Magnon said...

I knew someone would love it, otherwise they wouldn't show it. I do think just the finals and semi-finals would have been enough. Not every day for hours!
p.s. I've always been 'ranty'.

JayCee said...

I no longer watch TV, just the odd film or series on my tablet occasionally, so the whole Olympics fandango has passed me by.
I quite like you being ranty. You make me smile.

Frances said...

I couldn't agree more re the curling.......I had to watch some of it as P enjoyed it for some reason! Even more boring than the folk hurtling down on a tray!! Thank goodness TV is back to " normal" now and Osman is back on to watch while we eat our dinner!

Traveller said...

As Sue said there is a lot of strategy involved.

As to why it got so much coverage, I am glad it did. According to a Times article a few weeks back the curling team got £6.3 million in funding from taxpayer and lottery money.

Cro Magnon said...

It makes me smile too; that's the whole point! I do find most TV very tedious these days. I'm watching the weekly 'Landscape Artist of the Year' programmes, but I would, wouldn't I.

Cro Magnon said...

Yes, it was very disruptive; especially the Curling!

Cro Magnon said...

New brushes? New slippery shoes? Or just the new outfits?

Lamb chop said...

Seems extremely boring to watch. Perhaps others enjoy it

Yorkshire Pudding said...

It always puzzles me why they don't have snowball fighting at The Winter Olympics. I am sure that the GB snowballing team would beat the crap out of the French...maybe even the smug Norwegians. It would be far more exciting to watch than curdling

Deejohn said...

I absolutely avoided the whole of the Winter Olympics. None of it really interests me. And as we no longer have a current Torville and Dean, I didn't even tune in for the Figure Skating.
The BBC are slowly running out of Sports.
Wo betide if they ever lose Wimbledon Tennis. And much of their Golf is no longer Live.
And the latest one to go is The Boat Race.

Cro Magnon said...

I imagine so.... it was on for hours on end!

Cro Magnon said...

You and I could start the GB Snowballing Team. We could get £Millions of state funding, and become sporting 'Celebs'.

Cro Magnon said...

It's probably now called 'The Aldi Boat Race'. The BBC is no longer the National Broadcaster, who could be relied up to show all events of importance. Now it Eastenders and dozens of Celebrity Quiz shows. Awful.

Camille said...

My gripe was due to the six hour time difference, the winners were constantly being announced on the news feeds over here before you even got a chance to watch. I did finally get to watch our hockey team win over Canada without some blabber mouth news announcer spilling the beans ahead of time. Many of us like a little vinegar in our greens Cro. Keep ranting.

Travel said...

Curling is more fun to watch than biathlon, but not by much. A friend of mine took a curling lesson last Saturday with her ex-husband (the divorce is a long story.)

Cro Magnon said...

That can be very annoying; it spoils everything. I did see a tiny bit of the Hockey (I can't remember who); it's very fast, isn't it. And there didn't seem to be any rules! I liked that.

Cro Magnon said...

Curling lessons? That sounds even worse than the Curling itself.

local alien said...

Maybe it is cheap to show. There's been a bit of curling on our coverage too. It's been showing at the time of our favourite quiz show so I just changed channels.
Wish they'd show some rugby. Or tennis a. It's more or less soccer here . Much more than less.

Cro Magnon said...

We are at the start of the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament, so we're (I'm) enjoying that. Lady M has just gone to Thailand.

Susan said...

I watch less and less TV because of the repetition. How many times do broadcasters feel they need to say something. Are they just filling their time with no concern about content?
While you enjoy Rugby, other people will enjoy curling.
Like Lady M, I'd rather go to Thailand than watch rugby.

Cro Magnon said...

She loves the Rugby!!! With sports commentaries, silence can often be more pertinent that words.

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