Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wrestling out, Mixed Doubles In?


Oh those bitter, bitter wrestlers.

In the wake of wrestling getting dumped as an Olympic sport, it seems that there are some sour grapes coming out, with a few shots being taken at curling.

Paul Wiecek relates the story of a University of Minnesota wrestling coach whining about his sport getting dumped and curling being in.
“We are so far away from what the Olympic Games were, and we keep diluting it with other sports that are not Olympic sports," University of Minnesota Gophers wrestling coach J (yes, that's his first name) Robinson protested to reporters in Minneapolis last week."Curling is not an Olympic sport. Beach volleyball is not an Olympic sport."
But, as anyone who has ever been to an Olympics or even watched an Olympics can attest, the games these days are about cold, hard, cash, as the CCA’s Warren Hansen (the man being parodied in the @fakeCCA Twitter account – you have to follow it!) pointed out.

"The Olympics is not about what's a sport -- it's about money," Hansen says matter-of-factly. "And it's not like the Olympics and IOC is unique that way. Is the NFL about sport? Is the NHL about sport? Of course not. They're about the money -- the sport's a sideshow."

He forgot to mention that curling is about money too! That’s why there’s so much crap frozen in the ice at the K-Roc Centre this week and why we have to continue to deal with Carl and his lack of points that prevent him from getting to his daughter’s wedding. However, I digress.

Hansen added that curling is one of the top TV draws at the Winter Games, and that it could mean more rock-tossing at the Olympics. He predicted that mixed curling will be included in the near future and also – Argh!!!!! – Mixed Doubles.

"I think there's an excellent chance," says Hansen, "that there will be three medals for curling in 2018 and the third one will be mixed doubles. The likelihood that it will be approved is very good."


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