If you listen to this show you know how much I’m into curling these days. It went from a campy fun sport in the Olympics that you’ll watch because it’s the only thing on, to something we all really seemed to care about, learn about and embrace. The man heading the television coverage — calling every match on the NBC family of networks — was Andrew Catalon, and I am very happy to have him on the show.
If you haven’t heard of Catalon, you’re not alone. In fact, this is part of his bio from WNYT, NewsChannel 13 in Albany:
Andrew Catalon is the weekend sports anchor at NewsChannel 13. He joined WNYT in November 2003. Andrew hosts “Big Board Sports with Andrew Catalon,” the Capital Region’s only Sunday night sports wrap-up show. When he is not on the anchor desk, you can usually find Andrew at a local high school. Each and every Tuesday, Andrew honors the top student-athletes in the area for the “Dunkin’ Donuts High School Player of the Week” segment.
In other words, he was plucked from the middle of nowhere (no disrespect to Albany). So how did he go from his local NBC affiliate to covering the cult-favorite sport of the Olympics? We discuss his affiliation with the network, from doing a few local productions on the sport to calling a promotional event on the ice at Rockafeller Center for NBC, eventually leading to a gig calling Handball during the Beijing Games, which carried over to Vancouver.
We talk about his knowledge and background in the sport and I come to find that he’s only played a few times, but he’s hooked on Playcurling.com like the rest of us. We discuss how difficult the sports actually is once you try and do it, from the balance it takes to shoot the rock to the precision it takes to land it where you want some 90 feet away. It looks easy, and surely it’s easier than aerial ski jumps or the giant slalom, but it’s not as easy as we think it is…especially at the Olympic Level.
We talk a lot about the two-week gig, working with Don Duguid and Colleen Jones and how the telecasts evolved over time. It seemed that Catalon became more confident in his knowledge of the sport, and the theory of each shot, as the tournament went along. This attitude really echoed that of the viewer, so we discuss if it was a concerted effort on the part of the crew to spend the first few days of the tournament introducing the sport to us on a basic level — something you’d never do in figure skating or hockey — and as the tournament progressed, focus more on theory and strategy with the assumption that the viewer has come along for the ride since the start.
We talk about Catalon’s time in Vancouver. Was he in a curling bubble? Did he get to some of the other events? Did he really not know that Tracy McGrady and Nate Robinson were traded? And did he know how popular the sport of curling had become, mostly due to social media? Was he aware that hockey fans hated the sport, and by proxy him (most likely) for the pre-emptions? Did he know about the vitriol toward NBC at all?
When Catalon called Handball, he was in a studio in New York, not in Beijing. We talk about how different it was being at an event, especially when he could talk to the athletes before and after matches for more background information. But what about the raucous crowds? Viewers loved it as it added excitement, but the athletes did not. How big of an issue did it become?
We get into some pretty interesting curling theory, especially about when to blank and end and when to chip away at a deficit late in a match. I never understood trying to keep the hammer when you’re down 2 or 3 points to a better team. It’s like running the ball when you’re down 21 because you have a good back. At some point you need to start passing. Why isn’t it the same in curling? Or is it, and am I just an idiot? Probably that.
Last, what are his plans for the future. Is he set up for London? Is there a big national gig waiting for him? Can we get curling on TV more?
Eh, at least we online games.
Thanks to Andrew for taking the time, and thanks to you for listening.
Tags: Andrew Catalon, Curling
