The Simpsons writers were once again vindicated on Friday, when the plot from an eight-year-old episode came true, and the U.S. Olympic Team beat Sweden in men’s curling.
The victory was a shock to curling fans, Olympics fans and Simpsons fans, as the U.S. team took the gold medal in a sport Americans love to mock. It was the first time Team USA has won gold in the event, but the oracles in the Simpsons writers’ room seemingly predicted in a 2010 episode titled “Boy Meets Curl.”
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.@TheSimpsons Congratulations to us men’s gold medal curling team! Good predictions can come true too! pic.twitter.com/GhbngpzMUv
— Al Jean (@AlJean) February 24, 2018
The episode features Homer and Marge Simpson wandering into a skating rink on curling night, and finding they have an innate talent at the niche sport. In a characteristically odd turn of events, their Springfield team qualifies for the Winter Olympics as a demonstration sport, and the whole family travels to Vancouver for the games.
A classic sports drama story unfolds, as Homer is instilled with doubts about his performance and Marge injures herself just before their most high-stakes match. In another moment of spectacular prediction, the show features the Americans facing down the Swedish team for the gold medal. At the climactic moment, Marge reveals that she’s actually left-handed. She and Homer return to the ice to win the gold.
The dramatic scene on Fox’s longest running cartoon was not unlike the actual performance of Team USA on Friday night. The men’s curling team doubled their score at the last minute, leading to one of the most dramatic and exciting victories in curling history.
AND THAT’S HOW IT’S DONE!@TeamShuster doubles their score on one throw in End 8! 😱 https://t.co/crSmtNeRXW pic.twitter.com/D6s4z1cMAl
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 24, 2018
Unfortunately, the late-night event drew notably low ratings for NBC’s Olympic coverage, even considering how poorly the 2018 Winter Olympics have performed for the network overall. Despite the appearance of Ivanka Trump and the inspiring underdog story, the curling finale managed a rating of just 9.2/16 in metered market results, according to a report by Deadline.
Still, the Simpsons crossover may increase interest in the sport and the events going forward. Simpsons writer Josh Weinstein also claimed the show predicted the rogue squirrel incident that occurred during the Winter Games.
The has predicted a number of headlines as satire over the years, including the presidency of Donald Trump, the merger between Disney and Fox, and the outbreak of Ebola to name a few.
