"The curling ice at the Winter Olympics is often full of shouting-but not like this. Last Friday, in a match that Canada won 8-6, a verbal altercation broke out between the third throwers from each team. Near the end of the match, after a debate over minor rules reached its crescendo, Sweden's Oskar Eriksson passively aggressively accused Canadian vice-skip Marc Kennedy of cheating. Kennedy promptly declared that he "didn't give a shit," twice telling Eriksson to "fuck off.""
"Within hours, the dustup had been covered by nearly every major news outlet and blown up on social media, inspiring scores of people to suddenly become experts on a 500-year-old Scottish sport. By the end of the weekend, they all had a fully-formed opinion on whether or not Kennedy touched the curling stone after releasing it, in violation of the rules. (If they didn't have an opinion, they definitely had a meme.)"
"However, from watching the tape and reading analysis by other curlers, it seems clear Kennedy violated the rules by touching the back of the rock after the nose had touched the hog line. However, it's also likely that this had no impact on the result-the violation involves a fraction of an inch, and the hog line is 93 feet from the center of the target on the other side."
A verbal altercation occurred between Sweden's Oskar Eriksson and Canadian vice-skip Marc Kennedy after a debate over minor rules in an 8-6 match. The incident drew widespread media coverage and social media debate, with many viewers forming definitive opinions about whether Kennedy touched the stone after release. Analysis by experienced curlers indicates Kennedy likely touched the back of the rock after the nose crossed the hog line. The infraction involved a fraction of an inch and probably had no impact on the final result. Light double-tapping before the hog line appears fairly common, with video edits showing other teams doing the same. Curling has thousands of rules and customs, many relatively obscure.
Read at WIRED
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