Knapp Time: NBC’s Olympic curling announcer on why the sport is anything but a snoozer

Usually when people think of the Winter Olympics, they picture sports like figure skating, alpine skiing, hockey, and bobsled. These are staples of the quadrennial event and, for many Americans, the only time they’ll sit down to watch these sports.

Overlooked but building something of a cult following stateside is curling. The sport which, at its core is essentially shuffleboard on ice, has ascended at a modest pace. And those within the community likely acknowledge it’ll never reach mainstream status in the United States. But its complex strategy, akin to chess, and its tense moments, similar to a do-or-die putt on the last hole of a golf tournament, have endeared the sport for many who look forward to the rare opportunity to watch televised curling every four years.

The man tasked with calling the event for NBC is Jason Knapp, who spoke with Awful Announcing ahead of this year’s Olympic curling competition in Italy. In his eighth Olympics and fourth calling curling, Knapp has gone from a relative novice to someone who possesses a deep knowledge of the sport which, given its complexity, is no easy feat.

Before getting the tap to call curling for the first time in 2014, Knapp had already called a number of Olympic sports with high levels of nuance. Judo and wrestling, some of Knapp’s first Olympic assignments, are a far cry from sweeping rocks down a sheet of ice, but those sports prepared him to handle the intricacies of curling. And at the end of the day, no matter what sport you’re calling, as a play-by-play announcer, “it’s about telling stories,” Knapp said.

Curling, however, is quite unique from a broadcasting perspective, Knapp points out. In no other sport do the teams strategize right in front of each other, while mic’d up for the broadcast. “It’s like listening to Patrick Mahomes call plays in the huddle,” the NBC Sports broadcaster said.

So unlike other sports, where there’s a general rhythm of the play-by-play announcer calling game action, and the analyst jumping in during breaks in play, curling commentators operate around the players’ voices. There’s a lot more “laying out,” as broadcasters like to call sustained periods without talking during a telecast. And when the announcers do jump in, it’s with the added context of knowing exactly what the team was trying to execute. This can lead to analysis that might lean more critical than in other sports, with broadcasters able to question decision making in real-time because there aren’t any information gaps. For the viewer, it makes for compelling television.

There is a needle to thread, however. Most Americans tuning in to watch Olympic curling won’t be all that familiar with the sport. While it might be interesting for hardcore curling fans to hear the announcers dissect a team’s strategy, a lot of that could get lost in translation for more casual viewers. Knapp describes the effort to strike a balance between those newer viewers and the hardened curling fans as making the broadcast “not Curling 101, but Curling 201.” Explain some of the basic concepts, sure. But also don’t be afraid to sometimes discuss parts of the sport and its strategy that not everyone will understand at first.

And at the end of the day, Knapp reiterates, it’s still about telling stories.

And for the Americans, which start their curling journey on Thursday in the mixed doubles competition, there are plenty of incredible stories to go around. On the men’s side, it’s the first Olympics since 2006 not to feature John Shuster, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist whose team lost the U.S. curling trials back in November to Danny Casper’s team in a best-of-three series that went the distance. While a sixth consecutive Olympics for Shuster would’ve made for an incredible story itself, Casper’s story might be just as compelling, if not more.

In 2023, Casper was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder where the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system and causes severe pain and muscle weakness. The disease left Casper, a world-class curler, debilitated and unsure if he would ever compete in the sport again. Not even three years later, Casper is leading the U.S. team’s hopes in Italy. If curling ever makes it on NBC’s primetime telecast, it’ll be because of Casper’s incredible comeback.

Then there’s Tabitha Peterson, a three-time Olympian whose team Knapp admiringly describes as “a bunch of moms,” who have been able to balance motherhood with elite results on the ice. Her team earned bronze in 2018, the first medal the American women had won in World competition in 15 years. Now, Team Peterson is back trying to compete for another podium.

Outside of Team USA, Knapp names Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat, whose team is currently ranked first in the world, as another story to watch. Italy’s Stefania Constantini is participating in both the mixed doubles and women’s events and is led the host nation to its first-ever curling medal during the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, winning gold in mixed doubles. And the Canadian women are seeking their first Olympic medal under Rachel Homan, who has had about as successful a career as possible without reaching an Olympic podium.

As hinted at above, curling likely won’t get much run on NBC’s primetime coverage. But the network has certainly acknowledged the passionate fanbase the sport has in this country. CNBC will feature curling every single day of the Olympics beginning this Saturday, including live coverage of the men’s gold medal match on Feb. 21, which Knapp will call. A run at gold by Casper and the Americans would surely be a boon for that match, but the daily CNBC exposure throughout the Games should help introduce the sport to a number of new fans, regardless of how the U.S. team performs.