Olympic Number Plates Special

It used to be that when Gwen Krailo drove around with her New Hampshire license plate proclaiming “LV2CRL” people would ask her where her beauty salon was.

That is, until the winter Olympics were televised from Salt Lake City.

“After that, people actually understand what my license plate was all about,” she said. “I love to curl.”

Yep, that kind of curling — the kind that has garnered hours and hours of television coverage during this year’s Olympics as well.

The appeal of curling for many is immediate. After all, what other winter sport is as risk free. No hurtling down a steep mountainside on skis, doing backside flips strapped to a snowboard or triple axels on skates.

Curling is simply a matter of sliding a stone, or rock, down a long icy, playing surface toward a set of concentric circles.

Even the United States Curling Association touts this as a sport for all ages and abilities.