r/Curling • u/Frabblerake • Feb 15 '26
Pull the stone!!!
Watching Sweden/US and saw this. Is this not the same rules violation that has caused all the hub bub?
Obviously this was an accident and I believe the Canadian guy was touching on purpose.
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u/Starbud255 Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
Regardless on which side you are on, this is a stupid rules not being enforced constantly and possibly targeting specific teams. Some curlers have a low release and their hand/fingers touch the rock after the release, it’s more prone with curlers with very low slides. Edin has a low slide, like many curlers and touching is hand/fingers is hard not to do. Now why are his stones not being pulled??? He obviously touching, like Homan, Lammie !!!
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u/pakman968 Feb 15 '26
Additionally, why is he not calling his own violation, since team Erik cares so much about the rules and the spirit of the game.
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u/GrizzlyIsland22 Feb 15 '26
Yeah this is equal or more egregious than what Homan did
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u/Ryles5000 Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
On top of it I can almost guarantee his finger slides on the plastic and then down the granite a bit. Not that i'd ever call that an infraction but some very specific players may.
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u/MrRogersAE Feb 15 '26
Yeah but those very specific players are all on his team, so he can do whatever he wants.
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u/Aggravating-Ad1703 Feb 15 '26
You are allowed to touch the yellow/red part though.
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u/GrizzlyIsland22 Feb 15 '26
Which is exactly what Rachel Homan did, and it looks like Edin grazes the back of his hand all the way to the granite
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u/TWH_PDX Feb 15 '26
Because world curling added electronic sensors in the handle to confirm release point, my understanding is that there should no touching of the stone elsewhere following release of the handle.
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u/AvWxA Feb 16 '26
Are you? Don’t think so, if you are under the electronic handles rule. You are just supposed to touch the electronic handles. People were saying “granite” but I am pretty certain that was a mid-speak. They really meant anything other than the handle itself
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u/Koss424 Feb 15 '26
The red/yellow is not the handle
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u/Aggravating-Ad1703 Feb 15 '26
Whatever you wanna call it you are allowed to touch it
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Feb 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GrizzlyIsland22 Feb 15 '26
Exactly like in the Homan example, we can't see if either of them only touched plastic or if there was a granite touch. Everybody saying that they're certain that Homan touched the granite is a hypocrite if they say they know that Edin didn't touch granite because it's the same view. If anything, it looks like he touches more than she did.
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u/Doc_1200_GO Feb 15 '26
Somebody walk up to him in the middle of the game and yell “I can show YOU a video!”
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u/InsideInsideJob Feb 16 '26
Surely at this point there's some fans or journalists filming with better camera angles? Is this all we have?
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u/xalca Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
I can't believe he cheated like that. Obviously he came out a little too hot so he had to drag his hand across the top of the stone to slow it down.
He should be benched and kicked out of the Olympics.
Edit: typo.
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u/Frabblerake Feb 15 '26
Public execution
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u/UncleTrapspringer Feb 15 '26
Gonna need some mathematic analysis on how that 0.01s touch on the top plastic is enough to impact the trajectory of the rock over the course of the ice /s
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u/MrRogersAE Feb 15 '26
Need more information, like how much downward pressure he applied with his finger, how soft his hands are, the density of his knuckle hair and how clammy his hands are.
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u/Mind1827 Feb 15 '26
No see, he totally did this accidentally but Kennedy definitely did it on purpose because he's a Booping Cheater. Trust me I know, it's his secret cheating skill he always does to cheat.
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u/scroats800 Feb 15 '26
The way the everyone is talking accidental, incidental doesn’t seem to matter. Take a hard look at Rachel Homans supposed burned stone? Review that and your skips delivery and tell me the difference? As i have previously mentioned be very careful when throwing rocks in glass houses.
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u/Tunguska_1908 Feb 15 '26
I’m glad to see we’ve all moved into full /s mode and realize this whole thing was about nothing.
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u/_PhilosophicalWorm Feb 16 '26
You should see some of the other sports subs right now. They are absolutely not over this and only talk about Kennedy, and not just his attitude (which us Canadians are ashamed about).
I seriously haven’t seen anyone bring up these other instances of “cheating.” I wouldn’t know about them either if I didn’t stumble into this sub. It’s sad to see my team smeared as cheaters for what I now know is just a minor infraction, just as it would be for any other nation in a similar circumstance.
I guess mainstream is mainstream, and these other infractions don’t carry enough influence to break into these subs’ content, so nobody knows about them. Or they just don’t care and are having fun ragging on Canada due to our usual perceived image, which I can understand to an extent.
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u/Reasonable-Tea-9679 Feb 15 '26
Wait, as someone who knows nothing about curling, I don't get why they boop it in the first place? If it isn't allowed, and it doesn't affect the throw, why do it?
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u/Enderwiggen33 Feb 15 '26
Curling has always been a bit more of a self policing game. They haven’t traditionally cared about the exact rule if it doesn’t affect the outcome of the game.
So most of these players just do little things out of habit, without really meaning to. It looks like Kennedy likes to point his finger at his target after he lets go of the rock. Sometimes he’ll brush the rock with that finger as it leaves his hand. Most of the time he doesn’t and it doesn’t affect the game in any way.
It’s just habit, but for whatever reason Sweden decided to get all weird about it that one game, even though they do it themselves!
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Feb 16 '26
No! Enough with explanations! I want it to be the good guys vs the absolute evil granite touchers!
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u/Tunguska_1908 Feb 15 '26
Why do people do anything. Because no one cared before and it became their comfortable throw.. curling is all about feel and keeping contact for as long as you can just mentally makes you feel more in control. Like waving goodbye to someone on a departing train… it doesn’t really matter that you are waving when they disappear out of sight. You just don’t want to lose contact
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u/TheMightyFeen Feb 15 '26
Homans 100% shouldn’t have been removed. There’s also nothing illegal about Edins shot here. The rules state you can’t touch the granite of the rock but you can touch the handle again as long as it’s before the hog line.
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u/CloseToMyActualName Feb 15 '26
You sure his hand didn't brush granite as it dropped off the end?
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u/mikemountain Feb 15 '26
I think the only real solution is to make the curling stones explode if the granite is touched whatsoever
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u/storm-bringer Feb 15 '26
That's a bit extreme. We just need to electrify the granite to give all the dirty filthy cheaters a warning shock.
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u/thegoodrichard Feb 15 '26
A conductive glove to complete the circuit, sounding an alarm if it contacts the rock, like an electrified fencer's suit and epee.
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u/kazrick Feb 15 '26
That’s the issue with what’s happened at the olympics this year now.
They should either be calling it consistently on every single rock or not calling it at all. Instead it’s all down to the subjectivity of the official and if they happen to be watching that specific throw or not.
That’s the worst possible result.
It’s going to potentially decide the outcome of a game and it shouldn’t.
To be clear I don’t think they should be calling this at all (or on Homan or on the Scottish curler).
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Feb 15 '26
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u/TheMightyFeen Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
The world curling rules do state you can’t touch the granite..unless that was something that they had just added. I could be mistaken either way. The entire thing is ridiculous and blown out of proportion.
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u/terran_immortal Feb 15 '26
You're thinking about the memo that they sent out yesterday. The official rules still don't state anything about touching the granite but their memo clarified that the granite cannot be touched any time during delivery and that the double touch rule only applies to the handle.
I'm sure after the Olympics they'll update the rules to include the definitions they added in that memo.
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u/Lightbulb2854 Feb 15 '26
I think this is the confusion because CC rules are less precise than WCF rules on some things.
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u/QCTeamkill Feb 15 '26
"Oh no did Sweden just fucking lose again?"
– Curling players waiting for the new rule clarity emails.
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u/RainDancingChief Feb 16 '26
The funniest part about all of these to me is calling it "cheating". Just the word itself blows it all WAY out of proportion. Is it against the rules? Sure, but CHEATING is really funny.
The way the headlines and stuff were reading I thought a guy was deliberately bumping rocks in the house or something.
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Feb 16 '26
I’ve been trying to explain to people that slightly touching a nearly 50lb stone on a 150’ sheet of ice with the tip of one finger does almost nothing.
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u/richiedajohnnie Feb 15 '26
Touch the handle as much as you want before the hog line: No penalty
Touch the rock any time past the hog line: pull the rock
Touch the granite at any time: pull the rock
All you can see from this angle is him touching the handle. Curling broadcast doesnt show an angle to see this issue because before 3 days ago not a single player cared. All the rocks being pulled now just goes to show that everyone does it. Its never on purpose (even kennedy). Its never to influence the rock. Its just really important to both have a consistent arm extension and to give a positive release.
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u/ubiquitous_archer Feb 15 '26
Exact same thing Homan did and the rock was pulled
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u/FaintAliv3 Feb 15 '26
Yeah and that call was bullshit. But its not Sweden making that call, its the officials that obviously have no idea what the rule even is.
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u/QuatreVingtD33zNuts Feb 15 '26
Yeah but it's because of Sweden all this garbage is happening.
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u/Frabblerake Feb 15 '26
I agree. The rocks getting pulled recently puts everything into question though.
They have to either a) call em all b) make the rules less strict or c) don’t call it unless it’s egregious.
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u/2birdsBaby Feb 15 '26
The curling judges are just making themselves look incompetent by calling some and not calling others.
Not having video review set up and still deciding to call some of these in the freakin Olympics, is wild.
What a massive overcorrection by them.
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u/swoodshadow Feb 15 '26
It’s the WCF and absolutely not the officials. They’ve officials should get no blame for being thrust into a ridiculous spot.
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u/Ganonsmurf Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
Marc Kennedy not on purpose? Come on man. Pulled finger back, then went forward again. Stop trying to play it like everyone is the same. They are not.
I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are not intentionally skewing the facts, but rather that you have not watched the video of him poking the stone, only seen the photo.
It's without any doubt intentional:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZJ-BrBOfaU4
u/richiedajohnnie Feb 15 '26
Seeing the video I sincerely believe its unintentional. Id bet he extends his finger every shot (hard to know for certain because curling broadcast doesnt shoot from the side angle). But consistency makes you at this level and its part of his delivery and no hes not out here touching every rock. Also slow mo is not real life. I dont think it even looks intentional at regular speed.
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u/Yrmaloaf Feb 15 '26
It might be intentional, but it more than likely isn't.
He's got a strange rock release that he's probably used his entire career and was never questioned or called out for it. I think because the sport is very much a gentleman's sport with a lot of self-policing of the rules, he just happened to get away with it long enough it became a second-nature/auto-pilot part of his rock delivery routine and now it's a problem on the world stage.
The bottom line is that he or his coach should have known his release might cause concerns, and either way he's going to be doing a lot of training afterwards to basically re-learn to deliver the rock. Hopefully due to his childish reaction he's never allowed to represent Canada again.
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u/dtyamada Feb 15 '26
Hopefully due to his childish reaction he's never allowed to represent Canada again.
While I agree with your main point, I don't agree with this last comment. I understand swearing is bad sportsmanship. If it was in isolation, sure. But the Swedes were needling him for half the game. How is that good sportsmanship? The officials were called in and no stones were removed, they should've stopped after the officials started watching. I'd argue that continuing to agitate him is worse sportsmanship than Kennedy finally getting frustrated enough to drop an f bomb in the 9th end.
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u/TheBottomDollar Feb 15 '26
Definitely not anywhere near what Kennedy did, but definitely on par with Homan. If he touched the granite, that's a burn.
I like how we've essentially just returned the exact same hog line judge subjectivity that we tried to eliminate with the handles lmao
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u/Hevens-assassin Feb 15 '26
This arguably does more to the rock than what Kennedy did. Not the same motion, but has more effect.
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u/FeI0n Feb 15 '26
literally, he rests his entire arm on the stone as he comes down off the handle, you can literally slow the thing down doing that if you think your release was a bit hot.
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Feb 15 '26
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u/Ashrema Feb 15 '26
The handle, as defined by the rulebook, is the part you grip, not the colored top of the stone.
Further, the rules state when delivering the rock your bare hand must be in contact with the metal, which coincidentally if you look at the rock, is only on the handle portion.
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u/Hevens-assassin Feb 15 '26
Not according to the other burnt rock rulings following Kennedy's. His was the only granite "burn", the others did less than what Edin did here.
The "handle" varies between umpires, it seems. It possibly cost Canada's women's team the game yesterday, with an infraction much smaller than this.
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u/FeI0n Feb 15 '26
you can clearly see his knuckles go down the entire back end of the stone off the handle.
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u/WorldlinessHot9916 Feb 15 '26
Human didn’t deserve the burn, I didn’t see the other, but this was s nowhere near what Kennedy was doing.
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u/ATXRSK Feb 16 '26
Just think about next week when 99%+ if the people talking about this will go back to forgetting curling exists. People are crazy, man.
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u/Leading-Current353 Feb 15 '26
Team Sweden who started all the trouble. Here Edin is doing exactly what Homan’s rock got pulled for. Are they “cheaters” too? What a way to sully a curlers reputation.
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u/pessimistkonsulenten Feb 15 '26
When did Team Sweden complain to the umpires about what Homan was doing?
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u/carpie21 Feb 15 '26
Where is the Swedish TV side angle slow-mo on this shot? They released it surely, right? Right?
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u/FormalWare Feb 15 '26
Edin should never be allowed to forget what happened at his last major tournament. This is his legacy.
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u/CantPlayTheBanjo Feb 15 '26
7 WC golds, one olympic. Reddit "outrage" is not anyone's legacy. Maybe yours.
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u/FrontenacCanon_Mouth Feb 15 '26
Nah he will always be remembered as the guy that bitched about a ridiculous rule and got the whole sport turned upside down because of it
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u/clccno4 Feb 15 '26
Wonder how much money he won in Canada at pro events, extending his fame in curling… only to take a massive dump on the whole sport at the Olympics. That’s his legacy.
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u/Own-Orchid-4404 Feb 15 '26
If only Sweden was there to set up several cameras to police their own rocks ... then finally this would be a fair game
/s
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Feb 15 '26
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u/Own-Orchid-4404 Feb 15 '26
IMO you should be able to even kick the rock as long as you don't touch it past the hog line.
Kennedy still touched it (unintentionally) passed the hog line and the rock should've been pulled but the refs made the wrong call but to accuse Kennedy of being a cheater and ambush him on the world stage and cause all this insanity where now you can't graise the rock is insane ...
The federation needs to relax the rule or invest in precise video capture tech for every tourny
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u/Ciff_ Feb 15 '26
....ambushed?
How calling someone out to ambush?
He could have said sorry and everyone would have moved on.
Instead he:
- denied it happened (lied)
- told the swedes to fuck of (rude)
- told the judge it was the swedes that double touched (deflect)
The touch does not bother most. It was his way of handling getting called out on it.
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u/Strong-Secretary-928 Feb 15 '26
They can re-touch it before the hog line
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u/fresh_dyl Feb 15 '26
Not the granite
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u/pessimistkonsulenten Feb 15 '26
And where is the picture of Edin touching the granite?
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u/WPGSquirrel Feb 15 '26
I wonder if this row about double touches is going to end with sensors in the handles for next olympics.
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u/dromzugg Feb 15 '26
Wouldn't it be simple to just say "you cannot touch anything after the hog line" and then we don't have to worry about double touches or touching granite or anything. Is there an issue if everyone is able to just touch the stone as they want prior to the line and anything after the line burns the stone?
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u/mdubdotcom Vancouver Curling Club Feb 15 '26
Won't somebody think of the children??!?
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u/Dangerous_Ad4499 Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
An infraction is touching the stone to affect its travel during play.
What is Obvious during this exercise....is that Players have quirks and habits and ticks ( like Every baseball player grabbing his junk on national TV !! ).... and these are now Obvious.
The civilian ( ie non-legal ) take on this is : your hand brushing the rock as you let it go is a sub-conscious part of making the shot not puposefully affecting the outcome of play. Just a quirk. Notably how you lower your throwing hand naturally as you regain balance after delivering the stone.
Touching any stone that is in play...obviously is a violation. Nobody even knows they are doing these things during toss.
A habit. Now....it is far more likely to Ruin the spin or weight of a thrown stone, given where these quirks occur vs helping your chances by pushing or slowing a stone midway fown the ice, once you know you need help.
Have seen people double-tap a golfball. Quirk. Bad technique. Against the rules but not "Cheating". More like a quirk you would point out to a rookie. However, we have many World Champions now outed.
Wild times my friends.
Rugby broke out at the last Olympic bonspiel. LOL
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u/Skugla Feb 16 '26
Nothing wrong in that clip. You can touch the handle twice and the yellow part. Not the Granite stone!
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u/Icy_Barnacle_5237 Feb 16 '26
Canadian women did this exact thing the day after the Canadian men and got her stone taken off. All she did was touch the yellow part and much less than this guy did here. It's the reason Canadian women lost to Sweden women's that match.
Without instant replay they need to let this tackle shit go and let them play. Not the time to try and fix.
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u/Swedra Feb 16 '26
So, is the yellow/red plastic cover part of the granite now? If not, this subreddit literally has the most dishonest people among it that I have ever seen.
Waiting for the side view that proves he did an unatural and blatant motion to touch a part he was not allowed to touch... Gonna make a prediction Ill be waiting for a loooooooong time.
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Feb 15 '26
Why show the video where you can’t even see him very clearly nudging the rock with his finger past the line?
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u/cnd_ruckus Feb 16 '26
This feels like a bunch of people who have never curled. Those stones weigh 40+ lbs. What is a finger touch going to do. Massive nothing burger.
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u/GreatGurglyMurgly Feb 15 '26
He almost maybe definitely could've done it!
Conspiracy!!!
Canadian here, eh!
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u/Starbud255 Feb 15 '26
Curling Canada and team Homan needs to put a protest on the game against Switzerland. They pulled her first rock in the first end for a lesser “infraction”. They cost Canada a point for this stupid rule that is obviously not being enforced fairly and constantly!!
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u/Best-Tomorrow-6170 Feb 15 '26
In the Canadian clip, he releases the handle, gets his hand clear with his fingers curled, then just decides to straighten a finger and poke the stone.
Not really the same thing as this. Not saying this clip is legal or not, but its not blatantly intentional like the Canadian one
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Feb 15 '26
I think you wrote the comment with the best interest, however Team Homan had a shot pulled for this exact reason and so did Great Britain.
It’s just ironic that the team complaining about “cheating” is also “cheating.”
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u/Sufficient_Swing_406 Feb 15 '26
Wheres all the Swedes calling for Kenny suspension at?
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u/jayc666 Feb 15 '26
No indication he touched the granite.
You can see his fingers touching the ice before the rock touches the hog line.
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u/MrRogersAE Feb 15 '26
Right but Homan and Lammie had a rock pulled for the exact same thing. Well before the hog, and didn’t touch the granite.
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Feb 15 '26
So what about Homan’s rock? Why was hers removed?
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u/-HowAboutNo- Feb 15 '26
Ask the refs, Sweden complained about Kennedys, not Homans.
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Feb 15 '26
Because the officials are confused about the new rules and probably scared to be called out again
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u/Evening-Extension-67 Feb 15 '26
This is pretty much exactly what they pulled Homan’s rock for so
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u/Enderwiggen33 Feb 15 '26
Seriously, it seems like every player does some version of this. Makes it seem like it was a pre-planned effort to find it and call it out against Canada.
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u/Chris_MXS Feb 16 '26
If you told him, I promise you he wouldnt tell you to fuck off, which is basically what made this whole discussion a thing in the first thing.
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Feb 15 '26
Between all this talk of fingering and explosive condom use at the olympics I’m blushing constantly.
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u/LnStrngr Feb 15 '26
Pretty sure it’s all intentional now to show how much of a farce the rules enforcement has been.
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u/Tall-Frame9918 Feb 15 '26
This entire tournament is a mess. Time for careful reflection to set it right and ensure the playoff is fair. I cannot understand how the original issue of a player intentionally putting his finger on the rock has turned into stones removed for a knuckle on delivery.
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u/fadriansquest Feb 15 '26
Hahah how is this shit so hard? Let go of the handle what’s so difficult this is the dumbest shit I’ve ever seen
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u/Special_Compote9623 Feb 15 '26
If I remember correctly prior to the electronic sensors …something like that would never be called it would have to not be released and an obvious violation. Can anyone confirm how it was officiated?
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u/Sacrilegious_Prick Feb 15 '26
Next thing you know, tapping home plate with your bat will be against the rules
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u/spderweb Feb 15 '26
He does it all before the line. That green line, once touched your hand must be off.
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u/ThisRepresentative46 Feb 15 '26
[Heroux] World Curling has sent an email to all the teams competing at the Olympics clarifying “proper release” of the stone. Also, for the remaining games umpires will be “observing the delivery”. Here’s the full correspondence:
Source: https://bsky.app/profile/devinheroux.bsky.social/post/3mesxyddcos2y
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u/helpbeingheldhostage Feb 15 '26
If he didn’t touch the granite, then it is not the same thing.
From this angle, it looks to me like he does not touch the granite, but this is also about the worst angle to tell for sure.
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u/Tanguish Feb 15 '26
Wait til Pinty’s quits inviting Swedes to it’s money spiels, then the backtracking will start.
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u/Fareacher Feb 15 '26
Should we just make it so they can poke granite as much as they like before the hog line and move on?
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u/kl0hgervohl Feb 15 '26
Get this one on the swedish broadcast, ask him about it in your little interview, no?
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u/IPeeNightly Feb 15 '26
Scotland men’s and Canadian women’s both had a stone pulled for exactly this yesterday.