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He comes in with a silver medal. John Tucker thought it was going to be handed to him. Corey Dropkin joins us now US Olympic Curling silver medalist, working on a furtherance of curling, back away from the ten days where we all tune into it. Welcome to Bloomberg Surveillance.
Thank you very much, thanks for having me.
I've got to do this because it was inflicted upon me as a child. So in the ninety two nine region of Boston, if you fancy, there's the Wellesley Country Club, Brayburn, the Weston Golf Club, and they saw coalesced around a curling hunk of ice called Broomstone's. Yeah, did you go there as a little kid? Like? Were you part of that whole scene?
Absolutely?
That was Broomstone's Curling Club was like my second home. My whole family curled. I have an older brother that curled and I follow in his footsteps. My parents were so involved with a youth curling program there. You know, I was known to be running up and down the stairs playing pool. So many stones on the ice.
Did you ever stub your toe on that damn stone? I mean was a stone laying around at home and it ran over it.
Nope, nope, no, pretty much just grew up sliding down the sheet of ice.
Since you're five years old, you were curling five years old. I didn't think a five year old could curl.
I know. Well, they have these these smaller stones that way like half the half the size or their stones about forty four pounds. They have like these little rocks that they called them, that you know, are made for younger curlers, for kids that can't slide a forty pounds stone down the sheet of ice.
What changed with this Olympics in terms of a sport that we focus on every four years to hey, this is for real? What's the catalyst right now out of that wonderful Olympic coverage?
I think it's the energy that you see from the sport, from all the athletes. You know, we love a sport where you know, the crowd's going wild and cheering big, you know. I think traditional it used to be known as you know, a bit of a quiet you know, more of like a silent please type of sport where you know, it's all about etiquette, and this is the sport of etiquette and you know, instead of the you know, the respective cheers you know on made shots and then
be silent for the next opponent to throw. You know, we want to we want those those cheers to vibrate through the stadium. And that's what we saw in Italy, you know, the Italian crowd showing up, our American crowd. You know, every country's shown up for their own and the energy that the athletes were given off.
Alexis with Corey Dropkin. He has a silver medal in studios where there's that that's a hunk of metal.
It's around his neck in case you guys can't can't seek, May I feel it for I've never been this close to a Oh my gosh, that's heavy. All right, That's that's the real deal.
And hopefully less because there's stories like they go about three four, five years and they fall apart.
Yeah, or they've been falling off the ribbon or something.
By the way, the eighty six dollars right now up, so get that piece in there, please.
He's going to hang on to his silver. So I mean, undoubtedly, you know, curling is having its moment, but in what ways, like are you are you seeing and hearing from like young people here in the US, are they going like, yeah, I want to do that.
Yeah, absolutely, I mean I think every four years it's natural that. I mean, the world loves watching curling, you know, we just need to be able to give the world what they want to watch more often. And I would want to see, especially in the US, curling exposed a little bit more. We need it more on an annual basis. And and that's part of why Rock League is here
and starting in April. You know. But I've heard so many curling communities having you know, big open houses, new kids, adults trying to come in and learn how to p You're up in Duluth right now.
Yeah, it's still winter.
Okay, So you're up in Duluth and you want to do Rock League. Do you have any media into it? Is there a TV?
You know TV, so that's what you need to get it to the next level?
Yes? Yeah, And it says Apple TV.
I mean, you know, it says Dead TV.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
I know they've got a network for sure in Canada or I know they're working on the US. It sounds like there was there was talks about potentially securing something, you know, but hopefully, hopefully we're able to get that in that way that everyone around the US can watch. April six to twelveth in Toronto is where Rock League is happening. It's it's the inaugural first season. It's gonna be seven days games. There's six franchises and the beautiful
thing is that it's it's mixed gender. So on each franchise there's ten athletes, five male and five female, and so really you get the best in the world that are that are playing head head and head.
What do you like in a bar with the games, like a pool table or some of those games US you just go in and get some idiot to bet.
This is not this is not a sport you can do with what beer in one hand.
These guys.
League Night is known to have some beer involved. For sure.
On an average Tuesday evening, you're definitely gonna see curlers with the beer on the back of the boards.
But I love pool.
When I grew up and I wanted to be good at curling, my dad told me that if you want to be good at curling, you got to learn your angles.
If you want to learn, you start.
Playing bills or you doing pocket Absolutely pocket.
So see you can try the curling skills translate to other things.
I'm a size in my ears size are curling experts here, I got I got out to turn your I'm gonna have to go here in a couple of minutes because of a random ah that I mean, Corey. It's as simple as that. Were the Canadians cheating?
You know, they weren't cheating, no, you know, but there was there was you know, basically touching the ground is technically in fracture where you know, it's similar to like traveling in basketball.
Okay, were they cheating?
They weren't cheating, but they were. They were definitely.
Did somebody call them out on it? Is that really what happened?
I mean the Swedish curler Oscar Erickson, you know, call them out on it, and I'd say, you know, they probably reacted a.
Little bit over the board, which is why.
Going on in curling, which doesn't happen often.
Yeah, you don't see it very often. You know, it's it's also a big stage. You know, if we're talking about the the emotions are high. You know, you had a you know, essentially a legend of the sport who's being called out and you know he overreacted for sure. He was in a fracture that as you know, traveling in basketball, some people get called on it, some people don't, and he got called on it.
Where do you keep the metal when you're not wearing it?
Either close by to me or or a pie on a on a shelf at home.
Now that there's a pillow not under the mattress.
Yeah, okay. When you get the clorox free and clear out on the kitchen floor, you're like demanding you do the scrub it in the kitchen floor.
You know, if you were my son, this would be I'd be asking you to do it. I really would, Corey.
Yeah, you know I'm very good at cleaning the kitchen floor.
You can ask.
Well, thank you so much. This has been just a joy. It is a real entrepreneurial spirit. Folks Rock League. You're going to see it, as Corey mentions, out of Toronto here as they develop our interest in curling after our complete addictive fixture. How come the games are so long?
Well, that's a good question.
Right now, the men's and women's four person games are ten ends and that takes about two and a half hours.
Are you going to get a pitch clock.
I know they should. We need to see is the game shortened a little bit? And you're going to see that in Rock League too, where the games will be shortened. The mixed doubles games are about an hour and a half, where my mind is perfect.
People love watching mixed doubles.
Corey, thank you so much. Out of Whalem, Massachusetts, out of Southboro as well, and of course now up into luth Minnesota. Mister Dropkin is an Olympic silver medalist. The dow right now negative six on here. We've got to get back to these markets and all the news flow changing are literally by the fifteen minutes is how I would put it. Right now, I'm going to go to the major Bloomberg feed here which you have in Iran.
That's actually a little bit stable right now. And alexis if I bring it over to top Live where they're working feverishly. Yes, out of Dubai, out of London, out of Dublin today is well, uh right now, this is this is just a general statement from our Matthew Griffin on the stock market as well, and again as a way to the tape negative six point thirty.
Yeah, and Iran's new leader coming out with these statements that are moving the market for the first time since the war.
Here's what I want. This is Patrick Sykes. He's out of Cambridge and is an Istanbul. We've had him on the show. He's absolutely brilliant, no other way to put it in. Patrick Sykes making clear that the message itself was defiant. Iran will continue to attack the golf and keep the straight of our moves closed. So we'll have to see that as well. What do you did you steal?
Maybe you'd want to hold the metal.
I want to hold the metal.
Yeah, isn't it heavier than you'd expect?
Yeah? Silver, I don't think you got that through TSA.
Okay here right right now here, or you can have your metal back.
Thank you.
You're silver medal
Right, Corey Dopkins silver medalists with us today is he begins ROC League and curling