The brooms affect the ice in front of the rock, which changes the rock’s behaviour as it moves over the swept patch. You have to exert quite a bit of force to push the rock directly.

And if it had no effect why do they do it?

Sometimes by accident, I’m sure. And probably more relevant, sometimes out of sheer laziness.

I trust whatever committee they have at the Olympics to make the judgement on this, but if our team is cheating, fuck those guys.

Yes, there’s some redactionist arguments about how it “doesn’t actually impact the rock,” but fuck that. We have a codified rule that specifically says you can’t do it, and these athletes are playing at literally the highest level that exists. They know better and have had time to practice better. If they’re cheating at the Olympics, I hope it follows them forever.

If it doesn’t impact the rock, then why do they risk breaking the rules to do it?

Ah let’s be honest here… That was neither laziness nor accidental.

If it doesn’t impact the rock, then why do they risk breaking the rules to do it?

…if said billiard ball weighed 40 lbs.

A little finger poke ain’t gonna do shit.

But, the rules are the rules.

A little finger poke ain’t gonna do shit.

a slight drag will prevent over -rotation of the stone.

Regardless, it’s a fucking rule.

Having curled myself, I can assure you it does not…and if it did make a difference, it would almost certainly be negative, since you’re giving up any semblance of control that you had on the actual throw. There’s not going to be some “precision poke” that magically steers it where it needs to go. But don’t take my word for it.

Does it make any difference?

“No. The double-touching that I’ve seen has been incidental contact, and that’s fingers brushing or hand brushing on a 40-pound piece of granite,” said Eugene Hritzuk, a Canadian curler based in Saskatoon who has been involved in competitive curling and coaching for more than 60 years.

“What can fingers brushing against a 40-pound piece of granite do in any event? You need the palm on your hand against that stone to do anything.”

Delivering a stone entails acute skills to slide on line and on pace, he said.

Once sliding on target and at the right speed, releasing the stone and then touching it with any force would cause it to veer off its intended line and speed, Hritzuk said. “That would not be advantageous to good execution.”

Canadian curling commentator John Cullen, who hosted the CBC podcast Broomgate: A Curling Scandal, said most top curlers will say that double-touching has no effect on the stone.

As well, most top curlers will double-touch at times and don’t think it’s a foul, he said.

“The idea that a top curler would let a rock go and then want to try to adjust it with their finger —it doesn’t seem like there’s any way you could get an advantage from that. It feels like it would be worse.”

But as I said, the rules are the rules, and I don’t think it’s wrong to enforce them.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7671573

Sweden knew Canada’s Marc Kennedy was a notorious cheater.

So they set up a camera at the ‘hog line’ to record it.

And caught him doing it at the Olympics.

tweto

Having curled myself,

dude…people do this when they over-rotate the stone after letting go of the handle. It’s not about steering or momentum forward. a slight drag will reduce the rotation.

There is no reason to be pointing a finger on release.

It’s strange then how this is a common strategy among cheaters in curling, and that it is exactly what the Canadian team is known for, and it is illegal to do for precisely that reason.

Of fuck that’s a war crime.

Send them on an all expenses paid trip to America as punishment!

Even worse not just to America but specifically New Jersey, undeniably the worst part of America

Yes I am a violent drug addicted criminal, I don’t know maybe you’re a nice kid in school and wear shirts and stuff but around my hood we don’t.

Look, I find extending a finger to give the stone a boop after release completely baffling…but there’s no chance at all that it affected the trajectory of the thing. You might as well “cheat” by blowing on it.

Having curled myself, I can assure you it does not…and if it did make a difference, it would almost certainly be negative, since you’re giving up any semblance of control that you had on the actual throw. There’s not going to be some “precision poke” that magically steers it where it needs to go. But don’t take my word for it.

Does it make any difference?

“No. The double-touching that I’ve seen has been incidental contact, and that’s fingers brushing or hand brushing on a 40-pound piece of granite,” said Eugene Hritzuk, a Canadian curler based in Saskatoon who has been involved in competitive curling and coaching for more than 60 years.

“What can fingers brushing against a 40-pound piece of granite do in any event? You need the palm on your hand against that stone to do anything.”

Delivering a stone entails acute skills to slide on line and on pace, he said.

Once sliding on target and at the right speed, releasing the stone and then touching it with any force would cause it to veer off its intended line and speed, Hritzuk said. “That would not be advantageous to good execution.”

Canadian curling commentator John Cullen, who hosted the CBC podcast Broomgate: A Curling Scandal, said most top curlers will say that double-touching has no effect on the stone.

As well, most top curlers will double-touch at times and don’t think it’s a foul, he said.

“The idea that a top curler would let a rock go and then want to try to adjust it with their finger —it doesn’t seem like there’s any way you could get an advantage from that. It feels like it would be worse.”

But as I said, the rules are the rules, and I don’t think it’s wrong to enforce them.

Because extreme cases can impact the rock. Barely touching the rock in the way caught on film realistically isn’t impacting the rock, but the rule needs to exist to prevent someone from actively pushing the rock after letting go.

But again, these guys know better and have had the time and resources to train better.

…if said billiard ball weighed 40 lbs.

A little finger poke ain’t gonna do shit.

But, the rules are the rules.

Look, I find extending a finger to give the stone a boop after release completely baffling…but there’s no chance at all that it affected the trajectory of the thing. You might as well “cheat” by blowing on it.