Curlers welcome Homer Simpson to the ice

Curlers,once touchy about their sport being lampooned,say they are delighted,having learned to laugh at themselves,and will celebrate their place in the television spotlight with beer-and-doughnut parties across the United States.

It brings attention to the sport, Rick Patzke,the chief operating officer for USA Curling,told Reuters. I think it is a great thing.

We tend to take things more good-naturedly now. In fact were encouraging clubs to hold beer-and-doughnut parties.

We dont take it personal. Really,Homer and Marge are the quintessential curlers. They are able to laugh at themselves,drink beer and eat doughnuts. Curling,first played in medieval times on Scotlands frozen lochs,is an ancient game struggling to find its place in a modern sporting world.

Since becoming part of the Olympic program at the 1998 Nagano Games,the sport has worked hard to shed its reputation as a game played at weekends by unfit men and women.

BIG AUDIENCES While top curlers compete with the same intensity as Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps,their good-natured approach to competition is another hallmark of a sport mocked for its image.

I would say attitudes have changed since 1998, said Patzke. Back then the attitude was: Hey,they are making fun of our sport,dont even bother talking to the media. Theres been a lot of education done on both sides and now both have embraced it. Though it is still very much a niche sport,the world has become increasingly intrigued by curling.

It attracted significant audiences during the past two Winter Games,topping television ratings for all Winter Olympic sports,according to USA Curling,while cultivating a surprisingly hip following.

American country singer Toby Keith is a confirmed fan and Patzke says he has it on good authority that rockers Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi have on occasion rented ice time and picked up the brooms.

Plans have been developed for a curling-based reality show called Rockstars with the winner getting a chance to represent the United States at a future Olympics.

The U.S. curling teams even have their own Hurry Hard condoms,a brand name inspired by the screams that can be heard at any curling rink as skips urge sweepers to clean the ice in front of the rock with shouts of: Hurry,hurry,hard. Canada has had a long love affair with the sport and,with nearly one million registered curlers,has more people playing the game than the rest of the world combined.

Among Canadians,curling enjoys mainstream status with events attracting sold-out crowds and top television ratings.

PROFESSIONAL CIRCUIT Record low temperatures of minus 46 degrees Celsius failed to deter 16,000 curling fans from nearly filling Rexall Place in Edmonton last month to watch Kevin Martin defeat Glenn Howard for the right to represent Canada at the Vancouver Games.

In Canada,the best curlers compete on a professional circuit,their sweaters covered with as many sponsors logos as a Formula One car.

In Vancouver,only the Canadian mens and womens ice hockey teams will be under greater pressure than the curlers to win gold and tickets to the finals are hard to find.

The CCA would have liked a larger venue,especially being in Canada, Canadian Curling Association CEO Greg Stremlaw told Reuters. We certainly could have filled a larger building if it had been built.

We try to leverage the Games,use it as a catapult to attract people to the sport. We just happen to have it as part of our culture here and we have been quite successful. Names such as Eddie The Wrench Werenich and Schmirler The Curler are as familiar to Canadians as hockey players.

When Brad Gushues rink took gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics the Newfoundland foursome returned home to a heroes welcome and the new Team Gushue Highway.

Werenich was one of Canadas greatest curlers but in 1988 found himself at the center of national controversy when he was told he was too fat and had to lose weight if he wanted to represent the country at the Calgary Olympics.

No other curler touched Canadians as much as Sandra Schmirler,who won the 1996 world championship while six months pregnant then two years later skipped Canada to a first Olympic gold medal in Nagano.

When Schmirler died of cancer in 2000,all Canada mourned. Flags in her native Saskatchewan were flown at half-mast and Prime Minister Jean Chretien expressed the countrys loss.