I was active in a local curling club in Michigan for a few years, including around the 2022 Olympics, and the general trend is that clubs see an uptick in interest following every Winter Olympics (not sure if it’s a “significant surge” or not). This is what happens: every four years, curling is on TV as part of the Olympics, and Americans are reminded that it exists. It seems to intrigue people for a few reasons. For one thing, it looks like a quirky sport — sliding rocks up and down the ice while sweeping with a broom? It seems kind of random to people, but that is intriguing. For some reason, this makes many people think “I’d be curious to try this.” Beyond that, it’s one Olympic sport that the average American and look at and think, “Well, I could at least try this.” The average person can’t go out an navigate a luge run or do a huge ski jump or execute a triple-axel — they probably can’t even conceive of what is involved in doing some of those things. But you can look at some curlers — one guy on the U.S. team this year is 54 years old — and it looks like something you could at least manage. And there is some truth to that. Our curling club did “learn to curl” sessions where, in just two hours, you could learn the basics of throwing a rock and sweeping and the general rules. Of course, it takes a lot of effort to get actually decent at curling, and the Olympians are putting in the same thousands of hours of work that Olympians are in any sport. But it’s kind of like bowling — you can have a six-year-old’s birthday at a bowling alley because even young children can roll U.S. Air Force Veteran Aim High Fly Fight Win Eagle & Jet Fighter Shirt at some pins. But it would take a huge amount of work to become a successful professional bowler. In like manner, any random Joe or Jane can get started with curling in a matter of hours.
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To this observer the finals tournament of 2026 is too big. Everyone being invited to the party because it’s ‘fair’ does nothing for quality and I predict a tournament largely of dross no better than a European tier three league game, interspersed with the odd diamond sparkle. The WC finals are supposed to be for the elite and whilst the logistical organisation will be as good as we would expect from the US, the concept and structure are an example of how to U.S. Air Force Veteran Aim High Fly Fight Win Eagle & Jet Fighter Shirt beyond being reasonable. I fear in answer to the original ambiguous question I’m more likely to state, “Any other,” than the 2026 example. In terms of my own favourite finals tournament I would have to go for the one which gave me the most pleasure, our win of 1966 apart. I’d vote for the 1990 tournament. It was just so full of passion. The bulk of the additional 16 places to go to Africa and Asia. Europe could get an additional three.
()The US not co-hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup is extremely unlikely, mostly because it is impossible to really make major changes so late in the game (i.e. when the tournament is fully scheduled)! That obviously doesn’t mean that the US breaking their commitments to allow free access to the fans from all participating countries will not turn into a major distraction to the tournament, and an enormous loss in reputation and revenue for the country (and even worst, for FIFA). The free access is one of the main issues for a tournament to be awarded to one or several countries. And so far even the most repressive countries had honored that commitment. With the absolute exclusion of fans from at least four participating countries (Iran, Haiti, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal), and the difficulties to be expected for the fans of many other participating countries, the current regime has done the country and U.S. Air Force Veteran Aim High Fly Fight Win Eagle & Jet Fighter Shirt about the worst service it could have done. I hope that the administration will be smart enough to not show up to any of the games, certainly not the final.
