It’s a sport that has brooms, and it’s not quidditch. It’s also not played by wizards (as far as we know). Nope, curling has big stones, ice and people sweeping like the Queen of England is coming to tea. Ever wanted it broken down for you? Here you go.

How to Watch Olympic Curling on TV: the ultimate guide to what you will see and hear byJack Miller. Amazon for $3.99. If you watched the Olympic Curling Trials on TV, you would have heard Allison Pottinger say, “Give me a nice nine, a little normal up” when she called a shot. What was she talking about? You would have heard a lot of other strange things like “runback,” “jam,“ and “hack weight.”

If you watch curling during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia beginning in February, this book will help you understand everything you are seeing and hearing.

Curling, the curious game played on ice with stones and brooms, was hot during the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. There was extensive coverage on TV, and we can expect the same at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. During the Olympic Trials the players were mic’d, and you could hear the communications among the members of the team. It would be great to understand what they are talking about.

This book will give you the basic rules and the basics of strategy. It will explain those strange terms like “hack weight” and “hurry hard.” And, with 26 diagrams, it will take you through all sixteen shots in the first end in the first game of the best-of-three playoffs between Allison Pottinger and Erika Brown for the U.S. Women’s spot in the Sochi Olympics, explaining what they did and why, and give you highlights from the balance of the game, and show how the game was on the line again and again, coming down to the last shot.

Finally, it will give you two reference chapters so you don’t have to remember everything you read in the book. Keep them handy while you watch the games. The chapter, Numerology, will give you a recap that explains all those numbers you’ll be hearing, and the Glossary will summarize and explain all those strange curling terms you’re likely to hear. Like runback, jam, hack weight, and control. The terms that are explained in the Glossary will be in bold italics the first time they appear in the text.

Total of 33 diagrams and pictures.