Curling became everyone’s new favorite sport during the 2018 Winter Olympics. But is anyone actually going to keep watching it?
The U.S. in particular watched with delight as everyone’s new favorite team, USA curling, won its first gold medal at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
John Shuster, the new face of American curling, and his teammates Tyler George, Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner and Joe Polo (their alternate) endeared themselves to the world as they furiously swept their way to victory over Sweden Saturday night.
And swept they did, quite literally: to get to this point, the Americans won five straight matches.
Americans love an underdog, and they found an especially lovable one in the U.S. curling team. Literally calling themselves “Team Reject,” to say Shuster and his fellow curlers were a long shot to win gold is an understatement.
But they did it in thrilling fashion, with their gold medal match over Sweden culminating in a rare five-ender, wherein Shuster’s last throw of the eighth end sent both red-handled Swedish stones out of scoring range.
It was a wild and crazy journey, and we got to experience it right there with these athletes.
We laughed when the Internet compared Hamilton to Super Mario.
We were starstruck when NFL player J.J. Watt and Hamilton became best friends.
We decided that Shuster was the GOAT of curling:
On Feb. 10, we didn’t even know the rules of curling. By the final weekend of the Olympics, we were cheering as USA Curling curled their stones down the sheet into the house and got closest to the button.
We were experts. And we were winners.
So, what’s the deal? Is curling really your new favorite sport? Are you now a card-carrying member of the #HamFam? Or did you just like it because everyone else did?
Believe it or not, there’s plenty more curling going on after the Olympics end, with bonspiels, or tournaments, throughout the year.
Vote in the poll below and tell us if you plan to continue watching curling now that the Olympics have ended:
Next: USA Curling’s spectacular comeback path to gold medal match
Poll data provided exclusively for FanSided by The Tylt.
To relive the Winter Olympics, check out the FanSided Olympics hub for all the results and reactions from the Games. Check out the final Olympics medal count here.