I am obsessed with Curling.  I don't even know what I'm watching half the time, but to me it's like ocean waves.  Three hours of Curling and I am in my happy place, totally relaxed and tranquil.  

To that end (pardon the pun), I was really disappointed in the effort of USA Curling teams at the Olympics.  I'm no expert, but the Canadians that NBC hired to do the analysis are, and according to them (both highly decorated Curlers) the USA makes a lot of bad shot choices.  That, and when it comes down to crunch time, they can't get it done.

USA Skip John Shuster had several chances to win early matches and missed all four times.  He was so far off the mark, he was benched for one of the matches, which doesn't happen very often.  USA Women's Skip Debbie McCormick also missed a big shot against the Chinese yesterday that would have resulted in a huge upset.

Like I said, I don't know what I'm watching, but I get the impression that our teams aren't very good.  Just watching Kevin Martin and the Canadian men's team would confirm that.  So, you wonder what it would take to make the USA more competitive in this sport.

From what I understand, the USA takes the best team and not the best players.  In other words, it's like we send the Chicago Blackhawks to the Olympics instead of a collection of all-stars.  Now there is talk that the USA is going to change the selection process to find the best Curlers, not the best team. This makes sense to me.

In an Olympics where the USA won a silver in Nordic Combined and could win Gold in hockey, getting Curling shaped up would probably be a good thing.  For some odd reason, people really enjoy watching this sport and it would add to the excitement in this country if we could win an occasional game.

By the way, I've never Curled before and have no idea what those athletes go through, so I hate to be critical.   I have nothing against the current members of Team USA.  John Shuster looks like a great guy to go have a cold one with.  Like most Americans, I am selfish and want the USA to do well in all sports, especially those I invest my time in.  You know the old saying: Let he who is without Curling satisfaction throw the first stone.