2014 Film Olympics: It's a clean sweep!

Posted Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at 5:27 PM Central

by John Couture

Wow, it's not every day that you get to witness an Olympic record being set. OK fine, for the next couple of weeks, it probably will be an every day occurrence. Long live technology!

But, it's really rare when said Olympic record is set against the United States. Ah, but then there is curling. It's a sport (much like my beloved team handball from the Summer Olympics) that appears out of thin air every four years to rock my world only to slink back into the abyss when they finally extinguish that mighty Olympic torch.

Like team handball, curling is a sport in which the United States, well, sucks at. There's really no explanation, other than culturally we tend to drink at bowling alleys instead of curling rinks. And yet, there it is, a sport that we consistently struggle to conquer despite all of our resources and determination. Hmm, maybe I should go out the US curling team. As far as athletes go, they do tend to be the most rotund individuals at the Winter games.

But I digress, the Olympic record was set today when the women's curling team from Great Britain scored a 7 against the United States in the fourth end (think of it like an inning in baseball). To give you an idea how improbable this score is, the scoring is similar to what you'd find in horseshoes or bag toss/cornhole: you get a point for each one of your stones that is in the bullseye and closer to the center than your opponent's closest stone.

Put simply, an 8 would be a perfect score in an end because each team only throws 8 stones per end. To add some perspective, most of the Olympic matches end with teams getting 7 points, IN THE ENTIRE MATCH.

Yeah, that was definitely a performance that deserves to be recognized. And so Team GB, in light of your utter domination of the United States, here are the best uses of brooms in film.

BRONZE

While sure, you could have picked any of the Harry Potter films for their display of brooms, but it was this one that I am most fond of. The Quidditch Cup is played in Goblet of Fire and there are numerous amazing brooms on display.

SILVER

It would be near impossible to keep a classic such as Fantasia off the list. I remember this film fondly from my childhood and to this day, I get chills if I see a broom like the ones from the movie. An army of brooms, well done Disney.

GOLD

Finally, how could you have a list of the top broom movies without including The Wizard of Oz and the Wicked Witch of the West? Her broom was iconic and set the stage for so many wonderful broom performances to follow.

Well, I should point out one honorable mention, Men with Brooms, which is, to my knowledge, the only curling film ever made. That sort of distinction needs to be recognized even if it falls just short of earning a medal.

Speaking of medals, you can see that the counts have tightened up as Warner adds a gold and a bronze to their total today.

Check back tomorrow when we take a closer look at the eye.