Tramps like us, we were born to curl
This just in from the Sports Business Daily, via the Toronto Star:
NBC confirmed that it has an exclusive option to air a 10-episode sports reality show called "Rockstar Curling" that will give the winners a shot at competing in the U.S. championships and even going to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
OK, that's the first part. Who'll compete?
The newspaper says the show is trying to round up "closet curlers Bruce Springsteen or Jon Bon Jovi" as participants in a competition that would be a lot like Fox's "American Idol" to air on weekend afternoons.
Who knew curling was such the Jersey recreational activity?
So, with this celebrity team, the goal is to have it train eight hours a day with professional coaches and then go to regional qualifying tournaments that, if things fall into place, lands them in the U.S. trials and perhaps one of the spots at the Vancouver Winter Games representing those born in the USA.
The paper says, according to sources, Springsteen and Bon Jovi are among a group of entertainment types who rent arena time on occasion to pick up brooms instead of guitars.
We'll admit to being huge fans of the sport, based on what NBC has done with the last two Winter Games. It aired 24 matches live from Turin in 2004 with KNBC-Channel 4's Fred Roggin as the host. The Toronto paper points out that although curling seldom got more than 800,000 viewers on NBC, it once drew higher ratings than an NHL playoff game that aired at the same time the next day.
A curling team with Springsteen as the boss would definitely have to be tougher than the rest to get into the Olympics. Stranger things have happened.