After taking heat for supposedly cheating and setting off a firestorm that’s impacted the entire Olympic curling tournament, the Canadian men’s Olympic team successfully caught a team making an infraction.
No, it wasn’t the “double touching” of the stone that has gripped both longtime and casual curling fans alike. During Canada’s eventual 8-3 win over Italy Wednesday, Canadian skip Brad Jacobs called out Italy for touching a stone and moving it slightly while they were sweeping, resulting in that stone getting removed from play.
“When you hit it, you probably moved it this much,” Jacobs said, pinching his thumb and index finger closely to one another.
Now, because there was no cursing involved in this particular dispute, it’s not going to go as viral as the incident that occurred between Canada and Sweden.
With that said, replies to that CBC tweet show a host of Canadian curling fans who are likely a little frustrated and annoyed with how the minor infraction of double touching has been blown out of proportion and has painted Canada – and vice skip Mark Kennedy, in particular – as a villain.
“Is there going to be a whole scandal now for Team Italy cheating? Or is that just reserved for us?,” @JakeLangford94 commented.
“Canadian Curlers they fight with everyone. But here there (sic) right 😉,” added @BleedOilBlue.
“gonna bring the rulebook out, better follow all the rules LOL,” said @Cryptos_Tales.
“Italian cheaters, disqualify them immediately!! What a disgrace!!!,” @oilersjayscan replied. “Am I doing this right, Swedish bots?😂”
Of course, there are still those who want to keep up the Canadian villain narrative.
“Team Canada Curling Team….The Creepiest and most ungentlemanly team there is!,” said @elzevirscott.
“The arrogance of @CurlingCanada and @TeamBradJacobs is shocking,” @BCR80 chimed in.
Regardless of peoples’ personal feeling, it’s undeniable that Jacobs and Canada’s men’s curling team has had a fantastic Olympic tournament so far.
They’ve only lost once and have already locked up a spot in the semifinal and get a chance to compete for a medal.
Sweden, the team that really was the agitator setting this controversy in motion in the first place by going after Kennedy, has had a tournament to forget, sitting with just a 2-6 record through eight games played.