Olympics Blog: Curling and Fireworks

Taylor Kennedy, who works with National Geographic Image Sales in Vancouver, offers a local’s perspective on the Games. For more Olympic blogs, click here.

The sleeper hit of the games appears to be the curling events. It also appears that no one knows the rules to this Scottish game–and that is part of the fun of it. While watching the sport, I’ve had several conversations that started spontaneously with the line: “So, do you know what is going on here?” It always was with someone who had never really watched it before but has become a brand new fan.

Seeing curling live makes you realize it’s one giant party. The noise of the crowds has been as high at this sport as it’s been in some of the more traditionally popular sports–everyone is rowdy and raucous and cheering on their team.

I personally think a lot of the popularity of curling has to do with how easy it is to joke about it, and the reputation the sport has given itself. Nevertheless everyone is talking about it–and as they say in the PR world, there is never bad press, just press. It really is a highly-skilled sport, albeit a very subtle one, so it doesn’t seem to be that hard to play…but the finesse is fun to watch.

The another unexpectedly popular aspect of the games, and one of the highlights in my opinion, is the nightly fireworks shows on the water. At 10:45 p.m. every evening, they kindly send up a warning shot to get everyone’s attention, then start the real show a few minutes later. Interspersed in the fireworks is an excellent water show where they project highlights from the various sporting events onto a mist screen like a movie theater for a few minutes, then resume the light show. It’s pretty amazing. I have to admit that I am a sucker for fireworks, and since my cousin Pete lives in a spot with an awesome view they are a priority and a fun way to end each night.

Photo: Taylor Kennedy