Does curling belong in the Olympics?

That's the question asked by the Washington Post which also provided an answer: YES.

The Post's Marissa Payne dealt with that age-old question that Americans have about whether or not curling is athletic enough to stay in the Olympic family. She provided one rather interesting statistic about the roaring game: 

According to Harvard University, curling burns 149 calories per 30 minutes of play. Walking, on the other hand, burns… 149 calories per 30 minutes of activity.

I'm not sure that study was based on elite players, but thankfully, Payne followed up with some more information supporting curling. 

“Curling is one of the most highly rated anaerobic sports,” former Olympic curler John Benton told The Blaze, meaning the sport requires short bursts of extreme exertion. Another popular anerobic Olympic sport? Downhill skiing. 

You can read more of the interesting article here and see that there's good reason for curling to stay. Of course, the real reason it will remain as an Olympic sport? Television ratings.