Thief makes off with Aussie curling rocks

This one is pretty hard to believe, but some person has stolen almost all the curling rocks in Australia. Here's the story from Garth Woolsey in the Toronto Star:

It might not have been the crime of the century, but in the annals of sport what happened this past week in Australia amounts to the granite gem of the week, Down Under division, at least.

Authorities are leaving no stone unturned after thieves made off with a refrigerated trailer containing 58 curling rocks, which amounts to more than a third of the supply in the entire country. (Imagine, by way of a very poor comparison, the trauma if a third of the genuine Aussie rules footballs in Canada went missing. Imagine.)

"They are useless to anyone else except for us, apart from as a doorstop or propping up a coffee table," curler Paul Meissner told The Associated Press of these rocky times. "They might be valuable ... but that won't do you any good. They could sell them to the Canadians, but they've got their own rocks."

Yes we do. Loads of them.

Curling is an afterthought on the Australian sporting scene, even though its best compete at the world level and are ranked in the top 12. The Age newspaper described it in stone-cold terms as "the obscure winter sport that involves sweeping ice."

Rock on, Oz. Rock on.