NFL tight end Vernon Davis said he expects to attend his third straight Winter Olympics next year, according to ESPN.com.
USA Curling has a standing offer that he can reprise his role as honorary team captain.
Davis, then with the San Francisco 49ers, learned about curling from a 49ers beat writer before the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, gave it a try and took to it.
Within weeks, USA Curling found out and extended the honorary captain offer.
“I’m open to try new things and different things,” Davis said in Sochi while watching the U.S. men play. “I find it fascinating.”
He began curling recreationally in the Bay Area, then moved to Denver in 2015 and Washington last year.
Hopefully, he has raised awareness for one of the cult-following sports of the Winter Games.
“The Winter Olympics, when everyone hears curling, they’re thinking … oh, Vernon does that,” Davis said in Sochi. “It makes people want to look at it. They want to get involved. They want to see what’s going on. They want to learn more about it. They’re on the Internet, Googling ‘curling,’ trying to find out about it. Which is a pretty good thing.”
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