Rock League ReCap

Today on Rock Stars, we take you inside our unfiltered breakdown of the very first Rock League event. We share what stood out most to us and why this feels like a meaningful step forward for the sport.

We also don’t shy away from what needs work, from in-venue attendance to rule experiments that didn’t quite land.  This episode is about more than the event, it's about where curling is headed and why trying something new matters. Before you go, we want to know: what was your first impression of Rock League and did it live up to the hype for you? Leave us a comment with your thoughts and questions and subscribe to the podcast for more. We’ll see you next time! 

Instagram: @Rockstarscurl // Jennifer: @‌jjonescurl // Brent: @‌brent.laing.99
Facebook: Jennifer Jones // Official Team Jennifer Jones
Twitter X: RockStarsCurl //Jennifer & @‌jjonescurl // Brent: @‌blaing99
Youtube: @‌RockStarsJonesLaing
LinkedIn: Brent Laing LinkedIn

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Rockstars, the podcast where high performance meets real life.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

I'm Brent Lang, joined by my wife, Jennifer Jones, and this is where we talk about rocks, rings, and everything in between.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

It's about chasing dreams and asking, why not me?

SPEAKER_01 0:14

And figuring out how to keep going when things get hard or hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Sometimes it's just us talking curling, business, family, and parenting.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Sometimes it's bigger conversations about success, pressure, and believing that anything is possible.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

We keep it honest, uplifting, and fun.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

We might even make you laugh.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Because this is about the wins, the losses, and real life in between. Rocks, rings, real life.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

This is Rockstars. Welcome back to Rockstars. Rocks, Rings, and Real Life. The podcast where a couple of dream chasers open up about chasing big goals, living in the moment, navigating life's highs and lows, and figuring out what comes next together. I'm Olympian and World Champion curler Brent Lang, and as always, I'm joined by my incredible wife, world champion, Olympic champion, best-selling author, lawyer, mom of the year, the one and only Jennifer Jones. Wow, you really upgraded your intro there, Jen, or or maybe that was me.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Yeah, I don't know. Are you feeling guilty about something?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

No, no, I just I you know I believe all of that. But uh, Jen, today what uh what are we talking about on today's podcast?

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Well, I think everyone in the curling world wants to know what are our thoughts on how the first ever professional curling league launch went. How was Rock League curling? Curling unleashed, how was it?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Well, I'd like to think everybody wants to know our opinion, but um we're gonna pretend like they do, so let's uh you know, let's give it a go.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yeah, but before we dive in and give our honest feedback on that, a quick shout out to our listeners. If you're loving the show, hit that subscribe button and leave us a review and follow us on our socials at Rockstars Curl on Insta and X and at B Lang99 on X and at J Jones Curl on Insta. We are really enjoying the put podcast and are loving hearing from people with questions and comments and suggestions, so please keep them coming. Please, please, please. Uh okay, now back to the topic of the day, Brent. What are your overall thoughts and feelings about Rock League? Was it great? Was it not? And maybe what missed the mark?

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Well, I think there was a lot of things that went on. I think overall, and uh, you know, some people are gonna maybe be critical. We we're a little bit biased because we do we're not as involved as people think, but we are a little bit involved. But overall, I thought it was the vast majority was great. I think you know the players were incredible. Uh that would be the the my number one thing for the week was that some people were like, well, if it's not competitive, you know, a a good friend of mine, Rich Hart, said, Hey, I'm interested. This is a great idea, but if the players go out and they mail it in, I'm I'm shutting it off. And that was not the case. You know, the players were super engaged, they played great, and you know, I I was really impressed with the level of play, but also the you know, the amount that they cared about what was going on, the way they came together, yeah, the way that the ups and downs and just the overall team atmosphere and and quality of play, I would say that the players get an A plus. That's that's my first thought.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

I would say that as well, and I really do believe that they loved it. Everyone we talked to, all the players said it was a dream come true, one for a professional curling league, but also just the atmosphere and the environment. They were all smiles, like they said it was like Christmas Eve for them. So this was a huge success for the players, uh, in terms of just the atmosphere, the league, everything about it. They loved it, and I think that's one of the biggest parts of creating this league is to ensure that the players are enjoying what it is and rave reviews from the players.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Yeah, I don't think Team Maple was always all smiles.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Maybe not.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Maybe not. Uh, but yeah, losing still sucks, and that was evident. Like people that were winning, the teams that were winning and the teams that were doing well, you know, they were having a great time. And then the teams that struggled a little bit or didn't do as well as they wanted were having less of a great time. But that that showed that they cared, and I think anybody that watched uh, you know, that must have come across. I haven't seen anything on any of the streaming or on CBC or anything because I couldn't leave the ice.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

No, you were like I didn't miss a shot.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

You were the well, I mean I missed shots, but I was on the ice for every single shot from start to finish. Were you cold? Not often. No, I mean Toronto that building Matamy Center is pretty warm. I also I'm a coach now, so I have the right gear. I had my heated vest from Grandma Carroll. I had my ski socks. I don't have do I have oh I do have a heads.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

I bought them for you for Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Oh, I didn't use those, but didn't need it.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Apparently, you wanted a huge gift.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Didn't want to make a successful gift. But uh yeah, anyway, and I I think yeah, again, overall big success. I love seeing the team chemistry. You know, it did turn out to be a huge factor as it can be, especially as the team gets bigger. I think it becomes maybe more important. Uh, but overall, yeah, huge success. And the teams that embrace the idea of I may not know you well, and some teams I may not even be able to talk to you very well because we don't speak the same language, but I think it was a big factor in the success, and I won't call it failure of teams because it was only a seven-day event. Some teams just kind of latched onto it really quickly. And you know, why do you think that was, Jen? And and who, if we're gonna name names, you know, franchise names. We're not gonna name individual players yet. It's early in the show, but franchise names. What was the first question?

SPEAKER_00 5:40

This is squirrel.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yeah, it happens.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

It's well, what was what did we miss the mark on? What we what did we do well and what did we do?

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Well, we're starting on what we did well, but I think what what did we miss the mark on? And and we use a big broad term, but I wish there was more people in the stands.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Yeah, me too. But but having said that, uh I mean there was a bar on the ice, which I actually think is a great concept. I do believe it has to be moved because fans in the stands could not see all of the sheets from where the bar was.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, I love the idea. The the initial, like the the renderings of what it was going to look like were awesome. When I walked into the arena the first time, I was like, this is awesome. But then it was almost like the mixed doubles was in a different curling club.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Yeah, so that that I think just has to be an adjustment. Not moving or eliminating the bar from the ice, because I do believe that that added a lot of atmosphere and the fact that fans on the ice could could kind of get a front row seat from multiple sheets, so that was pretty cool. But just kind of the location of it to make sure that fans in the stands could still have a great viewing experience. Uh, so that was something that maybe needs a little bit of an adjustment. But a lot of those people that were in the bar would have normally been in the seats, so I think it would have looked even fuller in the seats. Sure. But there still wasn't as many fans as obviously everyone would like. But to me, if you're gonna grow the sport, you have to grow it with distribution, like have the stream and all the broadcasts and all of that.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Well, and they nailed that, and I'm not somebody asked me recently. I was in a conversation, I said, How did you guys get you know ESPN Plus? And I turned it on in the US and it was on Disney, and I'm like, I'm not the guy. I I don't I don't do a lot for this, and I I definitely don't do any of that, but yeah, the distribution was awesome. I mean, we had I'm in a lot of group chats with the curling group and different things that a lot of them I don't understand, especially you know when it comes to the broadcast and the streaming and everything, and I'm talking, and every day there was some kind of message about which sheet or which channel, or again, I'm showing my kind of idiocy here in terms of not understanding, but which one's in Mandarin? I'm like, we're broadcasting in Mandarin, like it's going out to you know to China, and there's it's going to you know, BBC's been around all year, and then it's going to ESPN. I know it's streaming, but let's be real here. The the numbers out of the US from Rock League in terms of viewership and engagements on social media was best we've ever seen in curling.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

And we've always said well, and we also had CBC covering it in Canada, which was incredible. So there's that was definitely I think that was really good. Some of the quality of the stream, there was some hiccups with some losing the the feed or some audio issues in week it was a pro early in the week, and and again, that's just trying to figure it all out, so it's about being patient. I do think that will get better in the future. So so that was a little bit of a hiccup. Anything else like great or or should we just go through some more things?

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Well, there's lots of stuff to talk about that great. I think there's way more. Let's be uh and and I know there's lots of people on social media that want to talk about everything was wrong, and that's just an that's an idiot take. Like it just that's not how it went. Did we were was it perfect? No, of course not. But it was the first try, and the amount of conversations and meetings that the group had, and I was involved in a lot, but I wasn't involved in 10% of them. I I know that, and it was a lot, like there was so much time and effort put into this. There was a handful of people that probably are still sleeping. It's uh you know, a few days after Rock League when we've shot this. I know this won't air right away, but you know, probably 10 days after Rock League. But there's some people who are superhuman in the in the effort that they put in, and yeah, no, everything wasn't perfect, but there was a lot, a lot of positives and not a not a ton of negatives. And we'll we'll get into some of the rules and the format and some hits and misses. I wouldn't even call them necessarily negatives, but certain things aren't gonna work out. And I think if you re-listen to our slamming into rock league episode, we're gonna say that some things aren't gonna work.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Right. And they didn't, but overall, I thought it was just it was a great atmosphere, it was so fun to watch, and it was one of the first times since I retired from curling that I really wished I was on the ice because it looked like an athlete dream come true, it looked like a great fan experience, it just looked like a great thing to be involved with, and that to me says a lot. I I yeah, that was when I was having a little bit of FOMO. I really thought I'd want to be out there.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

It looked like a lot of fun. I mean, again, depending winning or losing or certain certain events, or but everything looked like yeah, you want to be out there. If you're a competitor and you want to be a part of a team, we've had a little bit of a taste of it at the Continental Cup. There was some Continental Cup vibes.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

This felt different to me because there was a lot more on the line. There's a lot more on the line. It felt like this smaller team, even though it was a bigger team, but it felt like they were really a lot more united, a lot more feisty and competitive, more team-oriented. It felt to me much improved from the Continental Cup, but that takes you back me back to your chemistry question because we were talking about team chemistry and how big of a role that played. And I think it was huge. And we've always said, our teams have always said that team chemistry and team dynamics can put extra points in the scoreboard.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yeah, no, totally they can. It's it's evident. I saw that last week in a big way, and not only put points on the score, but maybe take them off.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah, and and bring out the best in your players, and you'll see, you know, a team like Team Typhoon who, when people looked at the lineup, and not to say that they're not great curlers, but they are a little bit of maybe a couple of unknowns were on that team. They were a little bit of an underdog, but they came together in a way that was so special, even though not all of them could even communicate with each other because of language barriers, but they came together in a way that was so special that they elevated their level of play. And I didn't see that as on all of the teams. So I think that's something for the GMs, for the captains, for the players to take a look at and go back and say, look, we gotta ensure moving forward, whatever that team may be, that team chemistry, team dynamics, that is actually is not actually, but that is a very key integral part of performance.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Yeah, I think there's no question. I've always believed in that, and you know, you can have the best players, and sometimes that works, but sometimes it doesn't. But you can have the players that, and again, we're talking about the 60, 60 of the best players in the world, so it's not like they're not the best already. But yeah, there was uh, you know, language barriers and from all around the world, and we didn't know each other very well. But for whatever reason, and maybe it was JD, maybe it was the GM, maybe it was, you know, I would give some credit to Nicholas and to Anna. Anna really embraced the role of hey, I'm the skip of this team, and I'm gonna do the best I can. And in communicating isn't gonna be the easiest, but you know what communicates really well, making a lot of shots. Everybody understands that.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

I was so impressed with Anna that you brought that up, just watching her, her energy, just the vibe and aura that she had was so full of positive energy, it was contagious. You could feel it, and I would say, and I'm not saying this any disrespect that Anna normally is a really feisty competitor, like somebody that wouldn't smile all the time. We've talked about her schwagger, swagger before, like heading into the Olympics and Yeah, and and but she was smiling constantly, super supportive of all of her teammates. When they made mistakes, when she made mistakes, they uplifted each other. And I really felt like she and Nicholas as well. Like, but uh when I was watching Anna, I really felt like she was a leader on that team. And Nicholas as well, like having I remember I just talking to Anton Hood and how instantly he felt like he's looking at all these superstars, and instantly he felt like he was a part of the team, like an equal, that he was this equal member on this incredible team of people that he's looked up to for a long time. And uh it was just really evident. And I can't say that for all the teams, and not in a bad way, but it just not all of the teams had that same kind of energy or look about them.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Well, it's not in a good way either. I mean, they just didn't, it took them a little longer. It's a week, it's seven days, so not every team's gonna you know gel right off the bat, and but that that's part of it. And just quickly back to the Continental Cup versus this, and I would agree with you that this was a completely different feeling, and to me it felt like part of the reason was because the players feel invested, they feel like, hey, this is not just for whoever, the curling group or for for for the investors or whoever, this is for curling in general, and I don't think we ever really felt that way, and maybe it was naive on our part as players, but we never really felt that way at the Continental Cup. It was almost it wasn't an obligation, but it was a bit of an obligation. And this one, I think everybody was on the same team, everybody's rowing in the same direction. And you know, when we went to the Continental Cup, it was a lot of time and it was very little money. You know, you paid a little bit to show up and a little bit more if you won. So it was it was a bit different, but this one there was a serious competitive fire from day one.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yeah, I would agree.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Which was awesome. But so let's dive into some of the rules, some of the format. You know, what was what was great? What do we s what do we want to see again? And and this is just when we say we now, it's just Jen and I. We haven't we haven't debriefed with anybody. You know, there's lots of conversations. I had a million conversations with Craig Salvo because we spent 10 hours a day on the ice together.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

And you guys did great, by the way. Well, we did we can talk about that in a book.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

We did great, and the reason I know we did great is because we didn't have to do anything.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Excellent. Well done.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

That's what a good official does. Very little, and just we got practice done on time, and players were not super they weren't unsupportive, but they weren't great listeners at times. It's amazing that some teams couldn't get the practice in in 15 minutes, but other teams it was no problem, and it was the same teams.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Which teams couldn't?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

I'm not gonna name names.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Darn.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

I'll tell you, Brad Jacobs apologized twice and kind of gave me like sorry, Langer, like this shouldn't be that hard. But yeah, so how about rules and format? What were some of the winners for you, Jen?

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Uh I would have to say the no-tick rule was my favorite, but we've been talking about this for a number of years, how it just needs to curling needs more offense. The players are becoming too good, the sweeping is too good, the tick is too easy, especially that corner guard kind of rubbing off, rolling into the rings. It just eliminates offense. And it, in my opinion, it eliminates interest, interesting ends, keeping fan engagement high because there's lots going on. So implementing this no touch rule, this no-tick rule really did create a ton of offense. It just seemed like every end was interesting. You put that together with the one blank rule, which didn't feel like a really a rule change in the sense that we've been doing it at the Grand Slams for the year. So it just kind of felt like continuing on what we had been doing. But you combine those two rules together, tons of scoring, tons of offense, lots of comebacks, very interesting to watch. So those would be my favorite, but I really only think there was really three rule changes, and that was the no-tick rule, the one blank rule, and then the the two-point button. And that added a lot of intrigue and interest and definitely did change some of the strategy heading into that last end. It kept every team in it, uh, and then I mean ties were broken with points scored, so people all the teams were really invested in scoring lots of points. So I found that whole offensive trying to increase offense really did help the game. We did do a couple of format changes with the timing. That's not really a rule change, in my opinion. Just less time.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Potato potato. It's different.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Yeah, it's yeah, it was just less time.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Well, and fewer ends. There's only seven ends, and it was 21 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

I didn't really notice the seven ends being a big difference. Did you?

SPEAKER_01 17:31

No, because it's not. And we talked about that on one of our previous episodes, and it's it's not, it's still curling and you still get after it. And with the other rules, with the no-tick roll, which I know Brad Jacobs, because he he told me in the middle of the game, he's like, I love it. And they're one of the best teams. Brett Gallant makes that tick the corner garden roll in as much as anybody, and it it it's part of their defensive strategy, and they're one of the best defensive teams. But Brad said, I've already sent an email to the WCF. This has got to stay. Like, we need this, and it's like, good for you, Brad. Curling. What do you mean in curling? And I I don't think I'm not convinced that it's in his team's best interest. I I think if they were just about winning, which I know Brad loves to win, but it deep down he wants to see curling succeed, and he's really embraced this from day one. He's been one of the biggest supporters, and what can I do next? And you know, you love to see that, but yeah, I I I just the no-tick rule was important, I think. And I and I think uh I I don't think it'll be much longer before it's part of the game, and where it really made a change, we play mixed doubles, and the power play rules that were created years ago. The idea was well, if I can start with a corner guard and one of my rocks buried behind the corner guard in front of the T line, that's offense. Like this is going to be used to get back in the game. And guess what? It was really only used for defense most of the time. Like you might use it if you're in a tight game and you want to score in six or something, and you know the the jury's out when to use it exactly, which is part of what makes it exciting. But it wasn't if you want to score a big end, I I still think that it's you're better off not to use it. It's a defensive tool, and most of the top mixed doubles teams, because we've played a lot of them, that's what they use it for. That's what they save it for. But now, because and the reason I say that is because when you're down a few, they can tick that corner guard tick into the rings. It's not that hard. Everybody makes it. I feel like I might even be able to make it.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

I think you could. Yeah, it's it's really not that hard, and you see you see teams we saw a lot more um points scored with the power play, which was really exciting for mixed doubles. And I've never really understood why the center guard had to be on the center line or biting the center line.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

I hated that from day one.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Me too. It was like, well, we want to make sure it's skilled for the for the leads. It's like, okay. I I don't really grasp that. And then we can have an official come out with like a level or whatever on the center line. The square it just seemed ridiculous to me. So I don't I never really fully comprehended.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

I thought it was always I thought it was always about more offense, more rocks in play, not hey, let's give the leads a test. And it's like, okay, that's fine. And you know, it worked. It did work in a lot of situations where it's made stealing in the last end more likely, but I want it to be as m as just as likely that a team with the hammer has the same kind of a not advantage but opportunity. And so I really hope that sticks.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

And then they were talking about because of the corner guard, everybody was saying we need to not have the corner guard be ticked, and they were talking about putting a box or a line or something. Or a line over by but then it's like, well, but you don't know, depending on what the ice is, where you actually want that corner guard. So it just seemed way too complicated and made our sport look silly, in my opinion. So I think the no-tick rule is way better.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

And you know I do think all the stats will change though for mixed doubles. All those stats that they've collected about when to use the power play and when not to, and how it scores.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Well, yeah, we're we're we're flipping the uh analytics uh apple card upside down for a number of reasons. One is the one blank, you know, if we're talking if we're talking about it, and then the no-tick changes things too. But I think that's a good thing. I I think it's a more exciting, more interesting. And I'm not saying that it leads to more crazy ends necessarily, but it what it leads to is way less I saw one end where they threw it up and down and and blanked it out, and that was because both teams with the two-point button weren't exactly sure what they wanted to be coming home. So that's something they'll figure out, and then that probably won't happen nearly as often.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

So But you know, on that note, one of the other things that I really did love is that it was a match. So if one game was boring, you still felt really invested.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

They all mattered, and there was three going on.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

And none of them were really boring, but like there was three going on, it was really interesting. You felt really invested in every single game. So I love that.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Yeah, and being a part of the big team, that's you know, as the players, that's what's exciting. That's what adds more pressure, too, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:56

But uh I don't want to let your teammates down.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

No, so let's let's talk about. About some of the things that we said were coming, and especially on our our podcast that we talked about, you know, slamming into Rock League. And one of the things I said was I was going to be asked, I wasn't going to sit on the hog line, but I was going to be asked to look at the camera, and I did, but I didn't pull any rocks. What happened, Jen? Do you know?

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Well, I think I know, but you're more in the loop on this because you were the official.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

I was the co-official.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

I know. And well, you don't like being called an official.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

No.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

What was your title?

SPEAKER_01 22:25

It didn't. It's Supreme Ice Commander. Nobody picked up on that. It was weird. Nobody would call me that. But no, we were play coordinators. We were just out there to make sure that if people had questions that we were there to answer them about rules, about anything going on, and then Craig became the guy that would go out and measure the rocks, or if it was covering the pin or not. We needed something to say whether it's covering. And so you had to more than cover the pin because it was if we could get the measuring device in, it wasn't two points in the last end. But we tried to show teams and people like, well, we won't know. And it's like, well, you don't know if it's a biter either. And you don't say that's not fair. So let's play the game. But yeah, what happened with the hog line? Camera was awesome. It was in the right place. You know, we we had a link on our iPad, we clicked on and we could see it, it was great, but it happens in real time. Two things that didn't work out, and I don't know if I should be sharing this, but I'm gonna share it anyway. One was there was a 25-second delay. So if you threw a rock gen and somebody we had flags and everything, which would have been awesome. You raise the red flag. I think she was over, and most of the time, what kind of shots are gonna be the hog line violations? Mostly peel shots, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Or board. I find it's board or peel.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Yeah. So anyway, with the peels, which we had, you know, Cory Dropkin tried to appeal and we said, sorry, Corey, we're not really set up. He's like, I know we're just down 6-1. I need I need something here. And I'm like, hey, I don't blame you, but we're not set up yet. But so when it happens at peel weight, you know, those rocks are going down the ice pretty quick. It happens really fast. So we needed the ability. If somebody threw appeal weight and I and and you got, you know, uh an appeal, then it was going to take six seconds to go down the ice, so we had to wait another 19 seconds before I could even access the footage.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

And we're trying to get the games in in two hours.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Right. So then I can access it, but I couldn't slow it down frame by frame accurately enough to really get it. It was like a play stop, play stop, play stop to get it, and then we couldn't quite get it perfect, so we just decided we're not trying to ruin the game. We're trying to have something that's cool, enforce the rules, but it needed to be workable so that we were certain.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

So it needed to be enhanced a little bit, which can come in the future. It just wasn't quite ready.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Yeah, it's the closest we've ever been.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Yeah, I know. And I watched a few of the hog lines with you as we were trying to practice, and I loved it. I think it's got lots of legs, and it can be really interesting, great, interesting for fans. It'll be fun to see the challenges.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

It's going to happen.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

There's no question it's going to happen. I'm not going to say it's going to happen at Curling Canada or WCF events, but it's going to happen either at Grand Slams or Rock League next year or both. I would suspect it's going to happen at both. And I think it's going to be a great addition. I think that the flags, we had like flags on a stick where you wave them. I think it should be a flag like that you throw at the player that you want to and just land on the ace? No, you hit the player.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Oh, well, have you seen people throw?

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Well, I'm not saying everybody's going to hit Mark, but but yeah, so anyway, and then what else was kind of interesting going in that some thought was going to be awesome but didn't pan out?

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Well, we we thought there was going to be substitution in Mix Fours. We had like uh we had people on the bench.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

We you and I didn't think that's what happened, but just in general, that was the idea.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

The thought. We actually, you and I didn't believe that that was gonna happen, that it was likely not gonna be used, but that was something that was gonna be interesting, something where the GMs could potentially substitute in a player in the middle of a game, whether it was you needed a different sweeper. I think that rule needs to be adjusted. It seemed complicated that you had to wait till the end of an end. I thought you should be able to substitute at any point during the game, just yeah, like hockey, a change on the fly.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

So give me an example where you would take somebody cold off the bench and think that they're better than somebody in the game.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Well, if you have Almos Mozanor sitting on the bench and you have a really important hack weight shot, get them in their sweep.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

To replace Flash?

SPEAKER_00 26:17

I don't know. Or I No, I and I'm maybe to replace John Schuster, who was sweeping during seven years.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

So no, and and I mean, and that's the point. I mean, it's hard to come off the bench. It is in in any sport, but especially in curling where and then the other idea was we'll take them from one sheet and put them on the next. Well, I got news for you, the sheets aren't the same. So if it's shooting, you know, uh the draw weight might be a little different. It's like, how much does this spot curl? I got a run back here on my sheet, it's dead straight. It's like, oh no, ours is curling four or five inches or three inches, and it's like, well, I'm not throwing this shot then. So I get the sweeper thing, but there are so many top sweepers, and every team had so many skilled players that it's like what I and I'm not this isn't a hey, I told you so, but what we anticipated was going to happen happened. It wasn't. And some people's like, well, mention well, maybe we have to mandate subs, and it's like, let's not make this a total goat and pony show. What what is the upside of that?

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Yeah, no, I don't think so. And I I think it's just something you try. And then there was also whether we could do lineup changes during the men's and ladies games. We did that happened early. We did see a few of those. We saw John Schuster move to lead and lead and sweep.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

I didn't think I'd ever Well, he was one he's or he was a judger, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yeah, no, he swept a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

But I mean, Colin sweeps all the time both sides, doesn't matter who he's sweeping with, so no offense to John.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

But I found that really interesting and how John was great about it. He just whatever worked best for the team, they were losing, they were trying to mix it up, and I just thought that was quite interesting. But that was one of the few changes we uh during in the middle of a game.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

We did see the only one, I think.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Changes um before the start of the next game. We saw people play different positions and whether you were going to mix doubles or staying in the four. So there was changes, but not as many as I think um some people may have wanted or thought was gonna happen. And I I I I can't pred I don't believe that substitutions will be a big thing going forward, but it's just something it's interesting to have because all the players are so talented, you could have anybody playing and still have a great chance to s to to succeed.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Putting the lineups together was really interesting, and it was always, you know, when I was on all the group chats, so got to see them, and of course, when somebody, when a GM submits their lineups, it was only to a couple of people, it wasn't to everybody, it wasn't like okay, Glenn, you know, Maple United submitted their lineup first, now we get to react because we know we're playing them. It was done in private, and then once we knew them, we would share them once we knew the matchups. So that was interesting, but yeah, I just don't see a place in curling where it's advantageous to take somebody off the bench and put them into a game where it makes your team better. It's just and maybe I'm missing something, so I don't know what's gonna happen next year. But that was one that was you know, we were excited to see how it was gonna work, and it worked, you know, the way some people had it had anticipated. And I talked to the GMs obviously lots, and they're like, I just don't I don't see it making us better, and we're here to win, and so didn't really didn't really pan out. But talk to me, Jen, about some of the best overall like game formats, right? Like there was a couple different ones. We had the the main format was men's game, ladies' game, mixed doubles game, men's four, ladies four, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:35

And yeah, yeah. Well, right. No, that's yeah, and then mixed doubles.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Yeah, there was that, and then the only day that was different was Saturday, where it was mixed fours, two teams per franchise. That's where we had people on the bench because there's ten players and only you know eight on the ice. And each one of those, it wasn't a match collectively, it was an individual match. So it was there was a lot of points on the line. Like we'd played for four or five days for three or four points each franchise, and then we played for two each franchise on Saturday. But I think it was the Mixed Fours, people loved it, and the games were maybe the most exciting. Am I offside saying that?

SPEAKER_00 30:12

No, I don't think so. I thought the Mixed Fours was my the most interesting for me. Part of me is not sure if I have a bias because it's not something I wouldn't we'd normally have, and so it was new and it was interesting and it was fun to watch what all the the how the players interacted. I love that they were with more points, so teams that were trailing had a chance to win a couple of points, maybe put themselves in contention. So I I liked how the points were heavily weighted on that Saturday. I think it added intrigue to the playoffs that were coming on Sunday. I really enjoyed the mixed fours. Having said that, I I liked the combination of having different styles with men's fours. I really like that, seeing the different interactions there, showcasing mixed doubles, which is a great game, and bringing it to be a part of this. And uh so overall I thought the format was fabulous.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

Yeah, and the players loved it, and I think it was exciting, and I don't know if we were just lucky, but other than there was one draw where all three games at one time were six to one, and it wasn't for all the same franchise. But other than that, every draw was you know, it really came down to one key shot, one key game, and we had a ton of close, close games, which was again, maybe we were lucky.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Did you like the format of the like franchise versus franchise and the matches?

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Yeah, I think that's awesome. I I think that's the whole idea of the bigger team. I think you have to find a way to make it that way, where it's hey, we might not have any, and it's strange, and uh again, and I keep using Brad Jacobs, but Brad and the guys were in the semifinal, and he's like, you know what? I was just talking to the guys at the other end, and Brad's notorious for turning around and talking, whoever's behind the bench, and Craig and I happen to be there. He's like, I was just talking to the guys, and he's like, We're kind of getting our asses kicked here because they were in the semifinal, but we might have to play again in an hour in the final. He's like, That's really weird where you lose and you move on because our mixed doubles and our ladies' team are doing so well, and it's looking like we're gonna win two out of three, but we're kind of feeling strange, like we should be out, but we're not. So, no, I I do. I love that idea, and I think that's a a huge win. I think for the players, it's different being a part of a big team. I think there's added pressure, but added excitement, and it's just so different from your week in week out where it's one game, one team, you know, everybody else is your enemy kind of thing, and this this week, and especially when it's some of your rivals, I think that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Yeah, and and that's where you go back to the franchise versus franchise. And I I so I don't think it was lucky that we had great matches because maybe one game wasn't as great as you wanted it to be, but you had these other two that were part of this match and the each franchise, so you really felt invested in all of the games, and and so it it you kind of I I didn't even notice if one game wasn't close. It felt like they were all close. I do think that the the no-tick allowed those comebacks and that two-point pin made the ends exciting. So I don't think it was luck. I think it was a really with the rules and the format and the way the matches were set up, I think it was very strategically planned and it and that was executed very well.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

Yeah, and w what I said on on our podcast leading in was the one I was most interested in or even most nervous about was the two-point pin. And for the most part, it did exactly what it was supposed to do. There was some comebacks. There was a you know, there was a time when somebody scored four in the last ten. There was a couple times. Yeah, and that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

And didn't they win in the the draw-off too?

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Yeah, and one didn't go to a draw-off because it didn't end up mattering, but what I was really concerned about was we play a great game, it's a close game, and we've earned a one-point lead coming home, and we don't have the hammer. It's really uncomfortable to be up one without coming home, but uh it turned out to be yeah, I was right, it's uncomfortable, but I don't think it ruined the game at all. So I think it made the game better, it made it more interesting. I on the ice as a player, it's like we've grinded the whole game, we've both played extremely well. Maybe we even started without the hammer and we got it to tide without playing seven, and they gave us a point because it's so much worse to be up one without than down one with when it's draw to the button and there's a two-point button. But I think it led to a lot of excitement, and this is an entertainment first league, so I think it hit the mark.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

I agree. Is that accurate?

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Yeah, you agree with me.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Well, I I I think it added a lot of excitement at the end, the two-point pin. I think it was very it really added to the drama, we'll say. Right at the at the end.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

You had said you were interested about the GMs and having more impact. Did they?

SPEAKER_00 34:50

I think some did and some may not have. I I do believe that going forward the GMs will have a bigger role. I look at somebody like a JD Lind, I really think he took control of that team, decided what made most sense from a language perspective, from a talent perspective. He kept his lineup and he moved things around, but he he was really focused on doing that. And not to say that all the GMs weren't. I do believe that some captains had a bigger role than maybe they will going forward. Like it it's just kind of more typical curling where the skip has more say and input. Um so I I that's something that I I feel could increase going forward is just the role of the GMs, maybe less consulting with with the players and the team and making decisions based on the stats or what they see on the ice and and uh trying to create that winning team and that winning team culture. What do you what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 35:44

No, I I agree, and I think well, I know a lot of the GMs went in with the idea of we're gonna make decisions by committee. And it's a big committee. There are ten players on each team, and I if anybody sat on a board ever, dealt with a board or a bigger, the more people that are in the room making decisions, the harder it is to make a decision, and harder it is to make everybody happy. So, but in curling, that's the traditional way. It's not, and you know, I'll let me pick on Glenn Howard because I know I'm the best of all the GMs. Glenn was always a guy that on our curling team said four brains are better than one. I if you guys have something to say, let me know. And I'm sure I don't know this, I shouldn't say shouldn't say I'm sure, but I'm quite certain that that's how he probably ran the team, and I'm gonna pick on them because they didn't do as well as they wanted to do. If it weren't for the two Mix Fours games, they would have finished DFL, they would have finished last. But they had a great mixed and uh and and got a couple of points, but I'm sure, knowing Glenn, that he would have gone in and asked everybody's opinion, and I bet that everybody's opinion wasn't the same, and that some people were stronger opinion than others, but even though they weren't the same, it just it's difficult. And Glenn's been a coach for years and a great one, but he's come into teams that are already set and tried to make them better. This one he was coming into teams that aren't set and trying to make them successful, and I think it's tough, and I think you're right. I think moving forward, I'm sure the GMs learned a lot, but overall, I thought they added a lot to the whole idea and having them be able to talk to the players during the games. I think that's cool. And even when it when a game is up and in the final Benoit Schwartz or whoever, and I don't know that might have been the semi, but you know, you have somebody that knows the next team that's still playing, and maybe Benoit's talking to Carol or whoever from Switzerland, and they're standing beside the sheet and so. Or looking at an angle.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

I heard them yell, do you think that do you think it goes? Like, do you think this shot will work? And right, and even when the other team was still playing and they get in there, and and I so I love that. I love the interaction, I love the the team camaraderie, I love the fact that the GMs could be on the ice and give their input on a regular basis, and then the speed of play. The speed of play was awesome. It didn't feel fast, it didn't feel rushed, but it felt perfect. Like it just felt like it had a really nice flow.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

I didn't hear any complaints about the timing, and there were teams that were tight, but I would suggest, and I would argue with anybody who disagrees, the number of games that were played, if you played them under slam time, the same amount of teams would have been tight at the end. Whatever we and everybody a lot of players joked with me, whatever you give us, we're gonna use, and it's like, yeah. But I had a few people come up and say, How much time do we waste during the slams? It's like, well, come sit with me in the commentating booth and you'll figure it out real quick that it's way too long. It's way too much time.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

There was way less, and not I don't want to say because I know discussions some fans really like. There was less discussions when they weren't necessary because there wasn't time for that. And it saved time for those discussions when it got complicated. So I I really liked the less time. I think it added to the entertainment value of the game, and it actually helped the players, I think, even play better because they were just they they could just get into a flow. Uh so that should, I think, remain going forward.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Yeah, I'd like to see that kind of spill into the regular game because I do think there's too much time, but hey, I'm not I'm not in charge. And uh there was there was one media personality, we can name him, Greg Strong. He sent out a message, I'm not sure if you saw it. I know you're not on social media as much as maybe I am, but he said, you know, the curling podcasters, and I don't know if he was talking to us, or maybe he doesn't consider us nice.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

We're general podcasters, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

Right now it's not curling because there's a lot going on in the summer, there's not gonna be as much. But long story short, he's saying basically he implied or asked the question, are they gonna be honest? Are they gonna talk about X, Y, and Z? And the biggest thing he he talks about was attendance. So we mentioned it earlier. It wasn't what we had hoped, but it wasn't also the main focus of the thing. You know, distribution, like you said, is the main focus. But let's touch on a little bit of attendance in curling in general. Where is it headed?

SPEAKER_00 39:59

I do feel it's on a little bit, well, I was gonna say on a little bit of on a decline, but I do feel it the Grand Slams over the past few years has been on a definitely on an incline, I guess, getting it. That's the opposite of decline. So I think in general, people with streaming with all the ability to do things at home, even COVID-changed culture where people are just more comfortable watching things online, that you really do need to cater to that audience as well, and then create a really great in-venue experience so that it feels like you're at something more than a curling event. And even you would look at um the Scotties, the Briar, all of those. Uh you know, maybe maybe we just have to really make sure that we make that in-venue experience great so that the the people come to watch. And and that is what Rock League was trying to do. There was lots of like the festival feeling, festival stuff. There was stuff going on for kids and all of that. So it's just getting word of mouth. So people are aware. There was a like a band v there was a band, a live band.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

On the ice, basically, in between the semi and the final, which was super cool. And yeah, it didn't catch fire, but now it's like, well, I've never seen that before. So those types of of things. And I I don't think it's a secret that curling in general, you know, we're not selling out saddledome anymore. So we're going to smaller venues for everything, and it's well, what's happening? Is it are we still just saying, well, those same old fans, I don't know if you know anything about demographics in North America, but guess what? The baby boomers are getting older. There's a lot of them, and they they have really carried the curling, you know, stadiums for years, and they're just not showing up the way they used to. And you know, pick your poison why it is, but we need to appeal to a different audience, and I think that's the beauty of what's going on with Rock League. Love it or hate it, we're appealing to a different demographic. And I saw some comments on social media that were positive and negative. Some of them were I didn't want to watch this, but it turns out I saw one, it turns out when curling's on, I'm just gonna watch it because I did watch it even though I didn't want to, and it was like I actually enjoyed it because I just love curling.

unknown 42:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

So, but it there was also some people who were new to curling, never watched curling outside of the Olympics. There was one American guy in particular, Nick Sulski, kind of pointed him out, and he came to Toronto to watch it. So, yeah, there's a lot of good things. Curling in general has an attendance challenge right now, it's not going in the right direction. Well, we can keep doing what we're doing, and we'll keep getting the same results, we'll keep getting that decline, or we can try something different and make it a sporting event and bring a band on the ice and have you know that festival kind of idea where there was interaction with the players. There was uh basically street curling or whatever you call it, you know, rocks and rings, uh were floor curling. There's a million with different different names for it, but where some of the athletes went up and had contests and had you know shootouts with with some of the fans. That's pretty cool. And word's gonna get around that you can meet the athletes and compete against them for short amounts of time during the event. And you know, the Between the Sheets pub, was the location perfect? Was the design perfect? No. But the idea is.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

Yeah, it was pretty, it was it was a great time in there. And I you know, once once you get the vibe and the feel, I I think more people will come and and check it out and and see what it's all about. And you know, if you keep doing the same old thing every year, it's it's just not gonna grow. So trying something new and trying to see what it can become.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Exciting, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:30

It is exciting.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

And we've talked, you and I have talked, and there's been a lot of backroom talks from the curling group this year about what about an in-venue MC? Now, curling has had that, and his name is Stu Brown. Let's be honest. He's been the voice of Curling in the arena since 2002.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

Yeah, which his first was my first.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

And my first. My first Briar, your first Scotties, Stu Brown's first Scotties and Briar. So, and he happens to live in Barrie, same place we live. Stu's a fantastic. Guy. He's worked with you know we've worked with him at the Everest events, and he's the voice of curling, and he's been a great in-venue host. But I don't think we've utilized him to the full you know, full capacity of what he's capable of. And I think if he if it was him for the excitement and say you or I for the in-venue almost commentary, like he calls the attention. Look, there's a big shot on sheet A because I've been to curling and I understand curling, I'm gonna say better better than most, I hope, by this point. But I go to watch curling in a venue where there's four sheets, and if I if there's not one game that I'm just specifically specifically there to watch, I'll watch curling for two and a half hours and I'll almost see nothing. I won't really have a great You won't remember much. Well it depends what time it is, and if the bar is open, but no, but seriously, I'll watch a little over here, I'll watch a little over there, watch the four sheets, and it's like you know, you hear a roar and it's like ah shit, what happened? I missed it. So having that in venue MC, which Robbie Doherty did it, and he would call your attention to, you know, the Toonie Pot too, which he loved, but call your attention to big shot on sheet C for three points to take a big lead. I think that's important. I think that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

I think it's a great idea, and it just really creates a again an atmosphere within the within the building. So maybe you want to watch on TV because curling can get complicated and you can hear what the analysts are saying on TV. But if you can kind of have something in the building where people are focusing your attention or explaining what's going on, that may be the best of both worlds. And talking about attendance, I would actually be very curious to see what the streaming numbers would would were and the TV numbers were because you have to add that. Again, I think distribution globally is really the key to grow the sport.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

Well, for sure it is, for sure it is. But you know, there was also for the first time, you know, an official Rock League panel.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Yeah, what do you think about that?

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Well, I didn't get to watch it. I was pissed off I wasn't on it. I feel like I should be on it.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

But I was agreeing on that because you would you would be actually you'd be not actually you would be fabulous on that because you're honest? Yeah, you're honest.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

Yeah, that's fair.

SPEAKER_00 46:09

You're not afraid to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

But no, I I I thought it was a great idea. And I and I think it's it's cool to have that kind of preamble and set up the game and then the comments after. And so yeah, I I think that was a great idea. I was on the ice literally the entire week, so I didn't get to watch anything. I don't know if I mentioned, but I was on the ice the entire week.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

Yeah, you you have, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

Yeah, the chairs aren't super comfortable. Craig and I have some demands if we're gonna do that again, which we may, we may not, but if we are, we need lifeguard chairs that are like three stories high, so that everybody that wants to talk to us has to look up to us, show us the proper respect proper respect. No, you just need to be padded.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Padding would be nice, but you don't need the lifeguard chair.

SPEAKER_01 46:48

No, no, it was Chris still thought it was great. It wasn't a joke. People liked it.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

So we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

But like tennis, too. They're at pie. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 46:56

Yeah. So anyway, but no, uh, the rock the the panel seems like an awesome idea. Again, rock channels uh, you know, I've been pretty open that I think that's a great idea for broadcasting curling and also curling chat or curling conversations.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

Yeah. And you know what I unfortunately didn't get a what get to watch the panel either. I do hope, and I'm I'm gonna watch it because I'm really interested to see because I do think it's a fabulous idea. I really do hope that they were honest, that they were really critiquing what was going on, what was going well, what wasn't going well, trying to explain some situational plays so that the fans at home could could follow along. Like that to me is really an interesting part of the f of the panel, and not just reiterating kind of what happened. So I think they did that. I'm excited to see, and and I know it's gonna keep growing and growing and growing. One last question for you is did you like being a non non-official or what were you again on ICE coordinator? No.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Whatever, man. I was in charge of the rules with Craig and making sure that everybody knew what was going on, and really we were just there to make sure things ran on time. Did I like it? I mean, it went well. The players and the GMs were super cooperative, uh working with you know Jordan and his team, you know, and um that's the TV team. TV team, sorry, Jordan Fontaine, and met a guy Eddie, he was the floor manager for Dome when Dome rolled into town, and he once once Eddie rolled into town, Craig and I went to sleep. All we did was really run practice, but no, it was it was good. And I, you know, it was nice, especially for the first event, to have somebody there, and we did have a few questions here and there, but nothing too serious.

SPEAKER_00 48:36

And the players did their own measurements except for the draw the button, right?

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Yeah, absolutely. And there was there was no incidents where we had to be called out for any did it tick or didn't it tick or anything.

SPEAKER_00 48:48

Did you penalize the players if they took an extra slide before practice?

SPEAKER_01 48:53

No, I made it very clear early that we're not gonna tell them when to cool their sliders, that if they're out there and they want to slide for four minutes, that's okay. Really? Yeah, that's okay. Practice starts. Some at some of them didn't understand, didn't catch on that practice starts at the same time every time. 11 40 for the noon draw. So, and then we would announce one minute before Robbie would say one minute to practice, and there was some people that still didn't catch on. And it's like, well, it starts at the same time every time, and it's announced one minute before that, so you should slide before that if you need some slides.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

And you could you could even start sliding, let's just say at 11 30.

unknown 49:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:34

If the ice is ready. If the ice was ready and you wanted to constantly 10 minutes, that was cool with me.

SPEAKER_00 49:39

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

I'm not gonna determine how many balls you can hit before you head to the first T. If you need to loosen up a little longer, hey, I'm here to support the old fellas.

SPEAKER_00 49:47

It's never it's been one thing I've never understood. It doesn't concurrently that you cannot slide until they tell you to slide and you have one minute to slide and then practice starts, and sometimes that minute is a minute, sometimes that minute is twenty-eight seconds.

SPEAKER_01 50:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:07

It changes all the time. If you can it's just who cares if they have an extra slide? I don't care if my opposition has an extra slide.

SPEAKER_01 50:15

Well, no, and you can go out and get them yourself if you want. No, no. So we didn't say that.

SPEAKER_00 50:20

I'm glad to hear that. There you go. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

We tried to get out of the way. We tried to be invisible. I mean, other than the jokes and stuff. I mean, we're we are who we are. So there was there was a little more trash talk from the officials bench than maybe you're used to, but it was all in fun.

SPEAKER_00 50:34

That's fine.

SPEAKER_01 50:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:36

I guess we're I think that kind of wraps up. I think that kind of wraps up everything that happened at Rockley from our perspective. Uh obviously some learnings and some things to do better, but a great kind of step forward for curling. The players loved it, and that's I think what I love the most is seeing the joy in their faces. And you know, people can have criti criticisms and they can look at it, but at the end of the day, those that love curling and want to see the sport grow, this is the way for the sport to grow, and the players love it, and the players want it, so hopefully we can find ways to help it succeed.

SPEAKER_01 51:11

Yeah, no doubt.

SPEAKER_00 51:11

So let's uh Rockstar Rapid Fire. I got one for you.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

Okay, good. Okay. I don't have anything.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

Oh so uh one was just Brent, you mentioned that you were wondering how Oscar was going to be received by the fans after the controversy of the Olympics. The what is it called?

SPEAKER_01 51:30

Boop Gate, but uh just call it a debacle. Like the boot gate, that's stupid.

SPEAKER_00 51:33

I don't even understand boot gate.

SPEAKER_01 51:35

Well, it doesn't matter. It's just a dumb curling thing that makes curling sound like a loser sport. It's not. So let's stop using stupid terms.

SPEAKER_00 51:42

Okay, so then the debacle between Sweden and Canada. Was it a thing in Toronto? Was he made to feel uncomfortable? Was he booed? Was there anything?

SPEAKER_01 51:51

No, not that I saw. I mean, the crowd, no, not nothing from the crowd. It was he did do a Swedish interview and like some some videos of him showing how you could manipulate a rock after by poking it, and I'm like, I don't know why you're not letting this go, bud, but all you're doing is pissing off a team that you don't want to piss off when you play them next. And so no, the it wasn't a thing. Uh with it was in social media, but social media is not the real world. So no, in the in with the fans and everybody, nobody cared.

SPEAKER_00 52:21

It really wasn't on issue. I didn't see anything either. I kind of almost actually didn't even think about it. So can you now pick a favorite franchise after seeing the launch?

SPEAKER_01 52:29

Somebody asked that, and we because on our lead-in, you can?

SPEAKER_00 52:33

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

Okay, I mean I think the best story was probably Typhoon, just because of the personalities on the team. Like when you see Shunami out there after a sweeper making a double, flexing her muscles, like it's hard not to love that. And just how many different countries and cultures they were from, that was really cool to see. Uh, I mean, I'm a homer, and I it was cool to see a Canadian team win, Shield win. I mean, I have a few friends on that team, so that was we have friends on all the teams, though.

SPEAKER_00 53:01

Really?

SPEAKER_01 53:02

I don't. I don't have very many friends. Oh, no, I'm kidding. No, yeah, but I would say if I had to, and uh, but I still love uh hey, Frontier didn't do great, but they did have a good team camaraderie going and and good thing going, and they were close, but unfortunately there was one shot, and uh you know I don't know if Danny listens or not, but the ghost man had a draw to win, and he played an unbelievable game at skip to win the game, and he had a draw to the forefoot, and it was just a shade heavy, and that would have got them in, and then it could be a completely different story. So I think they performed well, and that's still my favorite logo.

SPEAKER_00 53:36

Yeah, and I would have to agree with you on all of that. So I don't know if I have a favorite franchise. I was really impressed with with well a lot of the franchise. I was really impressed with Typhoon, their attitude, just their performance. We obviously know Anton Hood from New Zealand, and great to see him in that lineup. But I also was very impressed with French with uh Frontier. They kind of got down, they never gave up, they fought till the very end, and my heart did break for Danny Casper when that draw just slid just a little bit too far because he played outstanding. But all of them, you saw them all come together from axe throwing to just the smiles on the ice to the effort, Alpine, all of them. It just really seemed to have uh a great vibe. But I I really did. It was hard not to fall in love with Typhoon and what they did out there and just the joy they seem to have in every game. Tori Kowana.

SPEAKER_01 54:25

Oh, yeah, superstar mixed doubles. We've been telling people, hey, we're not totally shitty at mixed doubles, but they beat us all the time really easily, and she's really good at it. And I mean Anna Hasselberg mentioned how great she was the whole week and that she had voted for her for kind of the one of the awards MVP, and you know, they they played great, but so if we're picking the best and we're talking about everything that went well, do we need an intervention with our good friend Glenn Howard, the GM of Maple United?

SPEAKER_00 54:54

A team with a lot of great players that ended up They seemed a little bit flat out there, so there needs to be something needs to change going forward. Uh they seemed a little bit flat.

SPEAKER_01 55:05

I don't know, an intervention seems a little extreme, but well, I'm gonna next time I see him on the golf course, I'm gonna have an intervention with him. I'm gonna tell him it was mostly his fault.

SPEAKER_00 55:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 55:13

Probably wasn't, but I'm gonna tell him it was.

SPEAKER_00 55:16

So after all this, do you think Rock League's gonna be successful?

SPEAKER_01 55:19

I I do. I really do, and I know we're biased and we're gonna get some you know feedback. Oh yeah, of course, you know, you're we don't own it. It's not our thing. But yes, I think that watching what I saw, the hardest thing to do, well not the hardest, one of the harder things to do was going to get the players to buy in and and have it be competitive and have it be serious and have them really, really invested in it. And that happened times 10.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:44

So next is distribution, which I thought they did a great job. And again, I'm not involved in that, but to me, it seems like as a lay person when it comes to streaming and everything, it seems like they did a fantastic job of that. Do I wish there was more fans in the stands? Absolutely, I do. You know, it and it's an excuse, but it was a tough week to be in Toronto, folks. You know, the Jays were playing the Dodgers. You've heard of the Dodgers, you know, World Series rematch. That little golf tournament was on, it was called the Masters. We did watch a little bit of that on the bench, Craig and I. That helped pass the time. But yeah, I do think it's going to be successful. I think there was a ton of great things, too many great things to not work out.

SPEAKER_00 56:24

Yeah, no, and I agree. And I think that kind of brings us to the end. So hopefully there will be lots more Rock League stories in the future. Um, it was very exciting to be a part of and to watch. So thank you everyone for tuning in to listen to our perspective. Make sure you keep rocking that chaos, chasing adventures, loving the ride, and never stop dreaming. We will see you next time on Rock Stars.