In case you haven’t noticed (and if you haven’t, check your pulse…I think you might be dead!), the World Men’s Curling Championships are about to sweep the Mill City off it’s feet.

The event kicks off April fool’s Day at the Tsongas Arena, but it’s no joke. Running through April 9th, the championships are expected to bring up to 60,000 people through Lowell and pump millions into the local economy.

As a proud sponsor, The Lowell Sun has been all over the festivities, running daily features since the beginning of March and devoting scores of articles all this week. Anything and everything you wanted to know about Curling and the sport’s world championships has appeared on the Sun’s pages in recent days. Among the “must read‿ articles:

The Fan Guide touches on everything from the schedule of events and the competitors to the rules, lingo and social aspects of the game. Dave Pevear introduces us to Bob Fenson, coach of the U.S. team. Carmine Frongillo followed the Americans to the Daley School as they taught students how to play the sport. David Perry profiles Hans Wuthrich, the man entrusted with creating and maintaining the ice. And Kirk Boutselis highlights the volunteers, without whom staging an event of this magnitude would not be possible.

The coverage will only intensify once competition begins. The Sun has 29 media credentials for the event, meaning almost the entire staff will contribute one way or another. Be sure to follow all the goings on in the print and online editions over the coming week.

In addition, I’ll be heading over to the Tsongas for a few of the sessions. Look for some “live blogging‿ with a minute by minute account of the festivities, including some behind the scenes stuff you probably won’t get anywhere else.

Now then, how many of you have tickets to at least one day of competition? If not, do you plan on attending at some point? Do you enjoy Curling? Do you understand it? Is this 10-day event going to be as big a boon to the area as we’re being told, or is it more of a headache than anything else?