Posted on 01/28/2026 4:45:28 PM PST by nickcarraway
With support from George Kittle, T.J. Hockenson and Hall of Famer Jared Allen, a new pro league for the winter pastime is working to engage fans beyond the Olympics.
Just a few miles from the buzz of Nashville’s Broadway strip, past the honky-tonks and pedal taverns, sit four curling sheets inside a warehouse-like building called Tee Line. There, current and former NFL players George Kittle, T.J. Hockenson and Jared Allen are pushing the roaring game of curling into a new era.
Through the NFL offseason, and more often for the retired Allen, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, they swap the pigskin for brooms and hit the pebbled sheets. On those rinks and others across the U.S., the NFL stars are fixated.
“In football, you’re constantly having to learn, but just from being an athlete, like physically learning how to slide, sweep, the technique was a no-brainer,” says Allen.
Allen picked up the sport after making a bet in 2018 to see if he could make the Olympics in a sport he'd never played. What began as a harmless idea with his friends brought the former defensive end onto the pebbled sheets for good, but it didn’t come without its growing pains.
“The tough thing was trying to beat the learning curve of 30-plus years of these guys curling,” Allen says. “[...] I just had this mindset that if I’m gonna try to compete and be the best at something, at the end of the day, I just don’t want to be the worst, that’s for sure.”
(Excerpt) Read more at si.com ...
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Knitting would be more enjoyable—take Rosy Grier’s word for it.
What’s the next fad, shuffleboard?
During the COVID lockdown, ESPN had to resort to airing Cornhole championships. This sounds about as exciting.
I am numb with anticipation.
Yet another thing for people to gamble about? No thanks.
Just marbles...on ice...and more yelling.
This should attract the Canadian crowd.
Anything is better than soccer or ice dancing. I’ll take this.
Curling is definitely a sport I could get into.
I see you are a fellow Man Of Culture.
I’m looking forward to watching the curling competitions. I enjoy watching the men and women compete. Now, THERE’S one Olympic sport where men and women could actually compete against each other.
I watched a womens curling match on Canadian TV last Sunday while trying not to watch the NFL. Young healthy women in winter clothing pushing a modified “stone” down an ice rink while two ladies with squeegie mops were bent over in front of it and scrubbing furiously. At home, they would complain this was “work” but, for sport, they were all high-fiving each other and having a fun time. I wouldn’t watch jocks doing this though.
With all the immature idiots they’ve got at the Olympics these days, I would kind of like to see a snowman building event and a team snowball fight.
Northern Onterio Curling League, Krista-McCarville Thunder Bay
I’d rather watch paint dry.
“Will it catch on here?“
I’ve curled maybe twice and it was more about the beer that accompanied the experience.
Curler meets Mephistopheles: The Black Bonspiel of Willie MacCrimmon.
https://www.abebooks.com/9780771060816/Black-Bonspiel-Willie-MacCrimmon-Mitchell-0771060815/plp
Get ready for shot clocks and ghost rocks for the extra ends.
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