Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Team GB -- does a five-man rotation work?

Here’s a cool video from CurlingZone.com’s Far From Home series looking at the Great Britain team at the Olympics and the controversial tactic of having five players.

I’ve never known a five-player team that’s worked all that well although it’s been done a number of times in major competitions including the Brier and world championships. Of course, having a boatload of money behind it -- reportedly $8.4 million over the four-year Olympic cycle -- and the way GB picks its teams -- a selection rather than a playdown, makes is a bit more understandable. It's the way to the Olympics for the five players.

So far, GB has made it through to the playoffs, today knocking off The Pants from Norway in a tiebreaker to reach the semi.

How much farther will it go? We’ll know on Wednesday

Meanwhile, enjoy the video (note: the piano music gets a bit annoying after a while).





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