NEWSWEEK: Cable outlets–MSNBC, CNBC–will broadcast more than 120 hours of curling, plus repeats. When was the last time even an hour of curling was broadcast in the United States?

Chevrier: I would say, ‘Never.’ In fact, I’d guarantee you never.

A curler I talked to, Don Barcome Jr., said he remembered a match in 1977, a PBS special. Remember that one?

Uh, no, I don’t.

Well, then this is curling’s opportunity to make its mark, isn’t it?

It’s a huge opportunity. Though I don’t think anybody is going to run out and start curling clubs in Arizona. But I do think it’ll increase interest in towns and cities where they have curling clubs, and maybe encourage people to say, ‘Hey, I might just go down to the curling club and see what this game’s all about.’

Will the TV coverage solidify curling’s ‘cult status’? Or could the game transcend that and become a sport that we take seriously?

I don’t ever think it’ll be as popular as any of the big sports, despite this opportunity. But it’s a team game and it really isn’t that difficult to understand how the scoring works. It’s our job to illustrate and educate as best we can, without turning off the six or eight people across the country who already know what it’s all about.

I’m not sure Americans have the foggiest notion of what it’s all about.

Well, there are ten ’ends.’ If a game is one-sided, you can concede earlier, shake hands and say, ‘Tough luck’–and walk away.

That’s not frowned upon?

No, no. If you’re down 10-1 and you’ve only got two ends left, what are your chances, right?

Uh …

The idea is that if two of my rocks are closer to the center of the ‘house’ [the scoring area that looks like a bull’s-eye], I have two points. The very center of the house is called ’the button.’ That’s where the expression ‘right on the button’ came from. If I have one rock that’s closer, yours is second closest and mine is third, I only get one point.

But what does all this sound like? I can’t hear it like I can hear ‘Bottom of the ninth, two outs …’

As a shot is about to be thrown, the curlers say, ‘Okay, give me this much ice. No, a little bit more. Give me a few inches more. Alright, not too heavy now. Watch your weight.’ The guy sweeps off the bottom of the rock and gets ready. I’d say … Um, what would I say?

Uh …

I’d say to Dugie [co-announcer and Canadian curling legend Don Duguid], ‘Dugie, does he want this uptight or does he want to move the other rock back a little bit?’ [Dugie:] ‘No, he just wants to freeze it, get as close as he can to it.’

Sounds a little complicated.

It’ll all work out. We’ve worked together before.

What medal shot does the U.S. team have?

Women’s, we have a good shot at at least a bronze. The men, if they start as slowly as they did in the U.S. trials–they lost their first two and came back to win eight straight–well, I don’t think they’ll have the luxury of doing that against this level of competition. The men open up real tough. If they can clear that hurdle, they could be in the running.

Who are some of the legends of curling?

Dugie is one. He won back-to-back championships in the early ’70s without losing a single game. He was the skip [the manager] of the Canadian team, out of Manitoba.

Any others?

I would say a guy named Ron Northcott. A guy named Ernie Richardson. They won four Canadian titles.

Is there anyone in the United States who has any sort of international stature?

The coach of the U.S. team, Bud Somerville, won an Olympic demonstration sport medal in Albertville in ‘92, won a bronze, and he’s won two world championships. He’s the best-known curler by far in the United States.

You guys don’t like this, but curling is often compared to shuffleboard.

Shuffleboard is for old people in Florida. Totally unathletic. They stand there with a stick and a ring and just push. This thing is a very athletic game, you come sliding out, dead aim to the broom–that’s your target–and turn the rock in the direction you’re supposed to go. The sweepers, believe me, when they’ve swept two or three games a day, they’ll sleep well at night. It’s very, very physical.

In “The Complete Book of the Winter Olymics,” author David Wallechinsky writes: “Although some people may snicker at curling’s inclusion in the Olympics, it does further the International Olympic Committee’s movement towards democracy by allowing non-athletes to take part in the Winter Olympics.”

[laughing] That’s totally wrong and it’s a misperception.

Why is that the perception in the first place?

It’s because they think it’s like shuffleboard. That’s probably written by people who have never really seen the game or watched the game on television or in person and don’t know what the curlers are trying to accomplish. The strategy is incredible. It’s not unfair to say it’s like chess on ice, because of the moves you have to make at the right time. Chess is not physical, and, so, in that sense, curling isn’t. But once they execute the shots, you’re throwing a 42-pound stone made of granite down a sheet of ice with deadly accuracy. They certainly got it wrong when they say it’s not a sport.

You use the word ‘deadly.’ Can you be injured? Could the stone hit you and break your foot?

It could happen, sure. You could pull a hamstring delivering the stone, you could pull a tendon sweeping, you could slip and fall on the ice and hit your head. That’s why they have a fifth player as an alternate, in case someone goes down. The Swedish team, they sort of bend the rule a bit. If someone didn’t play well on Wednesday night, on Thursday morning, there may be a new fourth player in there and the other guy sits out who wasn’t playing so well.

I notice that a bunch of guys on the team have mustaches; one had slightly longer hair in back. Is there any required style element to curling?

No, it’s kind of come as you are, throw on the curling sweater, and put on the shoe with the teflon slider on the foot opposite your throwing hand.

Are curlers a casual people? A jeans-and-golf shirt crew?

In Canada, a lot of clubs are combined with golf clubs. Golf in the summer, curling in the winter.

A lot of curlers are scratch golfers, right?

Many. One thing about a draw shot–that’s when you’re not trying to take out the other person’s rock, you’re just trying to place one in the rings–it’s the same kind of touch that you have for putting.

In hockey, obviously, there’s a lot of fighting. That ever break out in curling?

A couple of guys got into a disagreement after a few drinks after a game. They punched it up in the parking lot outside a curling club in Windsor, Ontario.

There’s drinking after the games.

In western Canada, in small towns of a thousand or less, they all have a curling club. Apart from the movie theater, it’s the only social outlet for six months in a long winter. They’ll have a drink or two before the game. They do something called ‘stacking the brooms,’ which means they stack ’em up after four ends–they play eight end games–and they’ll have a couple of drinks, go back out and finish the game. The custom is that when the game’s over, the winner has to buy the other team the first round.

What do you drink?

Oh, they drink anything. Beer, rye, rye whiskey is very big in western Canada still. I’m not insinuating they’re a bunch of drunks, but it’s highly social. Now, on this level, it’s a different story.