In Advance of the Jokes on Sports Center

As a dedicated former curler and huge fan of the sport, I'm thrilled to hear that ESPN will show the world championships. Stop laughing. It seems to be true. Okay. That's enough now. Stop laughing. Really.

My passion for the game runs deep even though I live in a part of the country where I can't play the sport regularly. That said, I fully realize that to the uninitiated, curling looks like the most inane game ever invented. The sweeping, the shouting, the seemingly impossible to fathom rules. But trust me on this. It is a game that demands extraordinary athleticism to compete at the highest level and it is a sport filled with fabulous nuance and strategy. And at the fun, social level, there is really no better game.

Cut it some slack. Check out the coverage in April. Try it if you live near a curling club. Or be like me and start figuring out how to get a curling club built in your town.

– Dean Gemmell