Curling with "Shirley"

I am now an official 2010 Transplant Games athlete.  This is big for me.  I haven't competed in an athletic event since before many of you were born.  Unless otherwise assigned by the team captain, I am a Team Illinois bowler.

My main concern right now is not the competition, but how my teammates will feel when I have to rent shoes and find a bowling ball on the racks.  They won't know that one of my best games came with a scratched up alley ball with the name "Shirley" etched above the finger holes.  Shirley had perfect sized finger holes.

Unfortunately bowling was the only sport available with which I had any semblance of skill.  I really wish they had curling.

Anyone else unable to take their eyes of this strange sport in the Olympics?   It's like bowling, with crazy people holding brooms.  I'm transfixed.  It's like watching a car crashing in slow motion without anything really ever happening.  I can't turn away.

The best part about curling from what I can see, is if the person throwing the giant hockey puck with a handle messes up, the broom dudes can fix it.  That would be incredible in bowling - a guy halfway down the lane who can kick the ball in the right direction if you're going to miss the pocket.  Or maybe we could combine the two sports, and your opponent could throw a giant hockey puck with a handle down the lane first that you'd have to avoid with your bowling ball.  That's a sport!

I do seriously think I could curl, though...as long as I had good broom dudes.

Then again, I would probably be just as embarrassed looking for a scratched up, giant hockey puck with a handle on the racks with "Shirley" etched in it.

-the dad