HTDE: Curling Stones and Halfpipe Lines

0:00This message comes from Mattress Firm. If mornings hurt, your mattress might be why. Mattress Firm's sleep experts can match you with a Tempur-Pedic Adapt. Its unique material absorbs motion and delivers pressure-relieving support. Upgrade to a Tempur-Pedic and get next-day delivery. For the great sleep you deserve, visit Mattress Firm and learn how to get 3 % back with special financing. They make sleep easy. Restrictions apply. Next-day delivery available on select mattresses and subject to location. See store for details. Hey guys, it's Peter once again in your Wait Wait feed. I am so pleased to present to you another episode of How to Do Everything by Wait Wait producers Ian and Mike.

0:43Now remember, you can only get these episodes of How to Do Everything in our feed for a short while. So if you love the kind of mysteries that Mike and Ian are revealing, make sure you subscribe to How to Do Everything at their own feed.

0:56Peter Sagal:Thanks. If you have obsessively been watching the Olympics and Milan Cortina the way we have, you've probably seen a guy named Nick Monte. He's the one who skis out and paints the blue line in the snow in the halfpipe and big air competition. Nick is with us now. We have him on Zoom. And Nick, it looks like you just got off a mountain. Yeah, no, no. Just go down and ready to go up one more time for the big air. So all the blue lines that we see on the pipe or on the slope, you've painted that. And you're skiing while doing this. Yes. Well, you must be pretty steady with the spray gun then, huh?

1:40Well, it's not that difficult. It's not super easy. You need a little training. Of course, you ski, you have to go up and down the pipe with more or less 20 kilos on your shoulder. So it helps when you go backwards, when you go down, because more weight, more speed. But yeah, you have to pay attention and balance a bit. Wait, so these Olympic athletes who are skiing, they train their whole lives. But you're also out there skiing, and you're skiing at the Olympics. How much training do you do before the Games? Oh, well, not as I wanted. I wanted to train a little bit before coming here in Corvach, the mountain where we have in St.

2:19Moritz. But it was always snowing, so the pipe was not shaped, was not clean. So I could, and I just came here and remember how I did last year.

2:28Peter Sagal:So what is your title as the person who's doing this? What's your job title? Here it's chief of color, chief of dye crew, chief of color. That's an awesome title. Yeah. I love it. Do people call you chief? Yeah, you can. Nobody does it, but yeah, you can. Okay. Okay. so this is happening like the the lines need to be repainted whenever someone you know lands funny and chips the blue so you're going out during competition between skiers and snowboarders right it's possible yeah it's possible for example the last days during slope style we had to recolor the lines during the training or during the competition uh like yesterday was the TV.

3:14So I wait on the knuckle next to the jump, hiding from the cameras. I wait that the rider goes by, the camera finishes filming, and then when it's gone, I can go. I do maybe one landing or two if I'm really quick, and then I have to wait again for the next rider.

3:31Peter Sagal:Wow. And so when the crowd sees you come out, what is the reaction? Well, here in Livigno for the big era, it's big. Yeah, the crowd loves it. I just hear a little bit. I try to be concentrated on what I do, but I hear a bit, you know, oh, and when I finish the line, ah! Wow. Was that a surprise when you started getting a reaction from the crowd? Were you expecting that? No, no, no. It was a big surprise, yes. has anything changed about the way you do what you do knowing that the crowd is cheering for you yes and no i mean i hate when i don't do the jobs perfect or super nice that always here even more a little mistake the old crowd is down looking so i see it first i get angry with myself and then the crowd is not happy the people and everything so have you noticed that Nick, have you watched a ski competition afterwards and noticed like, oh, that line was crooked?

4:36Yeah. Yeah. Really? After I started this, you know, when I see videos on social media or whatever, I look both the riders and whatever. And then I look, oh, let's see how they did the blue lines. Oh, they're not nice. Okay. I can do better like this. I mean, I can learn something. Yeah. That's right. We got to keep growing. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Nick, you must be one of the first people out on that snow before the skiers hit it, right? Yes. Have you ever learned anything that you have to tell them? Like, oh, you guys, it's too slow or it's too fast. Does anyone come to you and ask what are the conditions?

5:13Not the athlete directly, but I always give the feedback to the, or the fees guys, or the chief of competition. Or anything. I tell them, look, the landing there, it's not nice. Maybe there is a hole. I remember last week one day, they didn't redo the landing really perfect. So after a rail where everybody was landing the day before, there was a little hole. And of course, like you say, I'm the first one that goes on the landing and the first one that touches them. So I called the shapers right away. I said, guys, look, there is a big hole. So if you can try to do something. Are you ever tempted, Nick, to make a target for somebody so they should know where to land?

5:56Like, go here. That helps them out? No. I did the opposite, for example, on the half pipe a couple of years ago. There was a place where a stone was coming out. So they told me to make the round like target so everybody sees it and avoids it. Oh, like a street with a pothole. Exactly. Oh, smart.

6:17Peter Sagal:Or like draw a heart for somebody. That would be very romantic. Oh. You could send a message. Yeah, you know, I was waiting Snoop Dogg to come here, and we wanted to write Snoopy on the snow, but then he didn't come up to where we have the warehouse. He just came for the half pipe, but yeah, we had the idea. Yeah, you could find him near a pipe. Well, Nick, thank you so much for talking to us about this. Thank you, guys. It's been a pleasure.

6:48This is How to Do Everything. I'm Mike.

6:50Peter Sagal:And I'm Ian. We're going to stay at the Olympics. We, of course, are not actually at the Olympics. We're on the phone with people who are. One of those people is Rich Ruinan. He is an American curling legend. Rich is a two-time national champion, but he never made it to an Olympic team. Now, this year he's an alternate. We have him on the phone. Rich, where are you right now? I am standing outside the curling arena in Cortina looking at mountains and an old, beautiful arena from 1956. And when do you guys, when do you hit the ice today? Well, we hit the ice in about an hour and a half. Oh, boy.

7:32Peter Sagal:At 7.05 here. Okay. That's our first game. Yeah, I saw, I think somebody said you have the potential to become, you, Rich, have the potential to become the oldest American athlete in Winter Olympics history. That's true. How does that feel? It's awesome. You know, I played my first trial to go to the Olympics was in 1988 when it was a demonstration sport. I played with my dad and my brother. we missed the final 24 or whatever it was in the country by one game and then in 22 I played and made the final 20 some teams but we didn't win and then I'd take a few years off because I went to law school and you know I played but not super competitively but basically since about 2002 I've been uh playing to go to the Olympics and I've had some heartbreaks you know a few I think three or four second places.

8:28So just missing the Olympics and then a couple of thirds and fourths.

8:33Peter Sagal:So it's been a whirlwind and it's fun playing with the young guys. They're keeping me young again and working my butt off, you know? So Rich, you went to law school. Are you a lawyer now? Yes, I am. I'm a personal injury lawyer at TSR Injury Law in Minneapolis. As a personal injury lawyer, do you work with people who slip and fall on the ice? Yeah, we do. That's, you know, one of the jokes is the main way I can get in is if someone slips and falls on ice and hurts themselves on my team, then I can get in. So kind of weird that that's what I do for a living, although those are very few of our cases.

9:14Peter Sagal:But, you know, but yeah, it's kind of funny. So you help your teammate up and give him your business card and take his place? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But no, yeah, all I got to do is throw one rock, and I will become the oldest U.S. Winter Olympian ever. Wait, so. I'm hoping we get in there. Just so we all know, like, how old are you? I'm 54. I'll be 55 at the end of March. Okay. You know, it's been a long, hard road, and just to make it after the heartbreaks and how hard we've had to work has been awesome. the athlete village has been great and uh the people from other countries are just fantastic of course we know a lot of them because we we curl against the same guys all the time around the world sure so we're having a good time and hanging out and it's been great what's that i know most of their coaches because i played i played against most of the coaches here back in the day because they're all in their 50s and 60s they're like i played you in 2002 too.

10:16Peter Sagal:So anyway, it's kind of funny. Anyway, I got to go. I got to go, though, guys, because I got to get into. Oh, yeah, of course you do. Okay. Can I ask you just one hour? All right. Can I ask you one quick question before you go? Sure. Just when you were talking about sweeping, I just wondered when you're when you're at home sweeping in your kitchen, you know, just to clean up. Are you are you thinking about curling? Oh, yeah. Anytime you had to sweep the garage or something, you're kind of laughing like, hey, this is, you know, this is how I do it in curling, you know. But I got to go. Okay. Run.

10:48Good luck. Take care. Bye-bye. Thanks talking to you. Bye-bye.

10:54Peter Sagal:Well, shortly after, really right after we got off the phone with Rich, he went into the curling arena and this happened. And here is Rich Ruiden, 54 years of age, stepping in and able to make his Olympic debut. And Kevin, he was so emotional at the Olympic trials.

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13:20Peter Sagal:Really, we're about to run out of Olympics. So we need your questions. Yeah. We need you to need us. These don't have to be sports related or winter related. They can be about anything. So, Mike, something happened earlier in the show. Yeah. That just kind of went by. Okay. And do you know what I'm thinking about? I have no idea what you're thinking about. Okay. I really don't. Let me see if I can. I'll bring up the tape plate for you. Remember when we talked to Nick Monty? Yeah. The chief of color. Yeah. You know, I was waiting Snoop Dogg to come here and we wanted to write Snoopy on the snow, but then he didn't come up to where we have the warehouse.

14:01He just came for the half pipe. But yeah, we had the idea. Yeah. You could find him near a pipe.

14:07Peter Sagal:When you heard that earlier in the show, were you surprised I left it in or did you think? What did you? I want you to know I only did that for you. I only did that for you. I know it's the kind of thing that if we heard someone else do that, we would both punch ourselves in the face. But I wanted to do it just for you. Yeah, you know, I was waiting Snoop Dogg to come here and we wanted to write Snoopy on the snow, but then he didn't come up to where we have the warehouse. He just came for the half pipe, but yeah, we had the idea. Yeah, you could find him near a pipe. Do you feel like, okay, so by including it and then now bringing it up, because I didn't know where to do this.

14:50Do you feel like you're giving me a chance to apologize? I just, if you want a chance to apologize. You know what? We've talked about this before when it comes to downhill skiing, right? We've talked about this in this, maybe not in this episode. We didn't talk about this episode, previous episodes. In order to get gold, you have to take risks when you're going down the mountain, right? And I feel like same thing applies here. In order for us to get gold, we have to take risks. And in that moment, I took a risk. I knew what I was doing. You know what, Ian? Let's hear it one more time.

15:32If you're like us, you probably can't get enough curling. But right now, we're going to test that. We're going to try and give you enough curling. The stones they use, the curling stones they use, all come from Kays of Scotland. And Rick English is the operation manager at Kay's.

15:51Peter Sagal:Rick, do we have it right that every curling stone that we see at the Olympics, you all made it? Yeah, so all the stones you see at the Olympics comes from one uninhabited island, 10 miles off the west coast. And on that island, you've got two different parts of the island. You've got the south side and the north side. And on the south side, you've got your Ails of Craig common green, which makes the body of the stone. on the north side. You've got the Elza Craig Blue Hone. And when you put the two bits of granite together, it makes a perfect curling stone. Wow. And then, so, do you get an order like, the Milan Olympics needs this many curling stones, and then you deliver them, and then they're just for that games?

16:31Peter Sagal:Or how does it work? No, no, no. Not just necessarily that. No, selling stones to clubs all over the world. So, just now, we've just done two orders for Canada. Then another order in Alabama. but there's curling all over we've sold to some there's an obscure place last year that you would never guess that I sent curling stones to yeah where'd you send them Antarctica

16:59I guess they can do it outside

17:01Peter Sagal:they can just go outside they can do it outside the person who took the stones actually phoned me to tell me that the stones were working oh that's great so it's probably the most southerly game of curling there's ever been yeah I think so 100 % yeah I'm curious about this island have you been to the island where you get the yeah I've been so the island itself as I say it's about 10 miles off the coast and to be honest if you've actually got Google Ails of Craig it's kind of shaped like a curling stone which is really strange the island itself as I say is uninhabited it's effectively a nature reserve we go out there with ecologists one of us has to be a certified rat catcher because there used to be rats on the island many years ago so we have to set rat traps in the landing craft before we go out, rat traps round about the island so there's a whole planning and it's not just as simple as jump on a boat go and get some granite and bring it back so Rick, when you're watching the Olympics are you looking at those stones with a critical eye and thinking like, oh, that's not a good rock or that's one of ours?

18:14No, it's because you know how tough and durable the material is. We're watching it fully pride. That's what we're watching. We're knowing that this stone's been made in a small factory in Scotland and we make it with hand. And there's no many places like us left in the world and it's 175 years old.

18:31Peter Sagal:So like when I'm watching, I'm like, wow, that was incredible aim or incredible sweeping. you might be thinking that stone looks amazing yeah that's what we do do to be honest my partner she's kind of get fed up at watching it to be honest but because it's always on the telly she's like i've never seen so much in all my life and it's can you and then try to get the kids involved in it to just have a look at the stones are they impressed when they watch it like i'd made that impressed for two seconds and then way back in their playstations of their iPads these kids they don't get it no let me ask you this you're watching the Olympics now you're paying attention to curling do you think Canada was cheating when they touched extra against Sweden to be honest I'm not going to get involved with that kind of chat because but I'm not sure it's the same as anything isn't it it's kind of if you're chucking a stone or you're throwing a stone I don't think it would be intentional it's probably more like a most of my I mean that's the way I throw and that's the way I release I don't think I don't think there's any malice or any intentional cheating behind it, to be brutally honest.

19:37Peter Sagal:Good. Maybe a way to think about it is the stone is so nice. Who could blame him for wanting to touch it again? For wanting to touch it. I think it was more a reaction that got most of the views, to be honest. Yeah, yeah. Well, Rick, thank you so much for telling us about this stuff. No problem at all. That's absolutely fine.

19:57Well, that does it for this week's show. What'd you learn, Ian?

20:00Peter Sagal:I learned that there is a job called chief of color. Yeah, right. Which I think probably if you were, you know, if you were a kid and somebody said that's a job, you would imagine that person is in charge of filling the world with color. Like choosing all the colors that we experience just going outside. Yeah. I declare the trees green. Oh, yeah. And really, it's just the one color. It's just the one blue. He's the chief of blue. He's just drawing blue lines. It's a lot of power, though. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. He could write anything. Oh, that's actually a really good point. If he wanted all the skiers to come over to his house, he could do that.

20:42Yep. It's the end. He's got the big air final, and he's got his lines that go perpendicular across the hill. And then he has two parallel lines at the end. And they're probably like, oh, this is the way. And it just takes him right into his house. and he's prepared a meal for them, I thought, uh, maybe you guys would like to try some Italian cuisine. How to Do Everything is produced by Skylar Swenson with technical direction from Lorna White. Some of our music this week came from Moby Gratis. Please send us your questions. Send them to us at howto at npr.org. I'm Ian. And I'm Mike. Thanks.

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