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.
