An offhand mention of the presence of fantasy curling in a Seattle Times column got me curious: Was the columnist referring to a joke from a reader, or is fantasy curling real?

Turns out, it’s the latter.

That’s right, the iced game with big smooth stones, small rapidly sweeping brooms and players in kneepads and spiked shoes has a fantasy market. For most of us, the sport pretty much only exists every four years, when the Olympic competition makes for much more compelling TV than it seems like it should. (Or is that just me?)

The Curling Zone hosts fantasy games centered on the World Curling Tour and the Ontario (Canada) Curling Tour. The pick ‘em-style contests just got going for the season in September, and as of Thursday morning, the site had 94 registered entries for the World tour and 40 for Ontario.

Although statistics are available for individual athletes — points for, points against, hammer efficiency, force efficiency and steal efficiency, according to the Ontario tour’s site — I have yet to come across a league-hosting site for curling. Maybe today’s most involved fantasy curling players score by hand (or Excel spreadsheet), the way all fantasy participants once did.

A Google search for “fantasy curling” will return more links to camps and in-column jokes from writers for other fantasy sports, but the market for the game is out there.

A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

– Before you draft, make sure you have the 10 commandments down. (Well, at least the nine that don’t forbid razzing a fan of another NFL team.) Also, make sure you follow fantasy’s unwritten rules from the start.

– Lots of money and famous faces don’t mean your site will automatically succeed.

– CNBC’s Darren Rovell presents the 25 most marketable athletes from the Beijing Olympics, as well as his 10 most marketable athlete names of all time, sparked by aptly named Usain Bolt.

– MLB Advanced Media president and CEO Bob Bowman describes the direction of baseball’s industry-leading digital ventures.

– Chris Mortensen preaches fantasy football in the Lord’s house.

– Women are making their presence felt in the world of sports fandom.

– The Economist takes a look at the direction of sports in the times of globalization.

– A Buffalo News fantasy columnist, on the other hand, simply takes a look at us.

A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

• NBC is getting positive marks for its coverage of the Olympics so far.
• If you’re tracking your college fantasy team, you’ll find SEC contests in the same ol’ place for a while.
• Fantasy Baseball Dugout is planning to step outside of the lines by launching a fantasy college football site.
• MyFantasyLeague.com will add to its lineup of information sources this season.

A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

• Rotohog will offer two new styles of play for the 2008 season.
• FantasyJungle.com is adding a free salary-cap game for the coming football season.
• The FLW fantasy fishing prize gains mention in the mainstream media.
• BearDawg is bringing a survivor-pool setup to a fantasy football game.
• Sabermetrics are becoming so widely accepted that not only is there an article about it, but it appears on Forbes magazine’s website.
• Many fantasy players on the go can now sign up for CBS Sports’ new “Ultimate Sports Application” for mobile phones.
• For those fantasy football players too antsy to wait for the season to begin, Fantasy Sports Live is launching a fantasy game Thursday to track exhibition performances.
• Will NBC’s digital presentation of the Olympics forever alter the way online video streaming is treated?
• Open Sports has decided to get weekly takes this year from quite possibly the most annoying TV sports personality to come out of Bristol.