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The Benny and Bo Show makes National appearance in Chestermere

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With 32 of the globe’s top curling teams huddled together at cozy Chestermere Recreation Centre, there’s plenty of people calling the shots there.

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Lots of leaders on the ice, and all world-class.

But one you might not have thought you’d see at the 2021 BOOST National is Bo Levi Mitchell, the superstar quarterback of the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders.

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“He’ll be out there,” said Ben Hebert, Team Koe’s lead and a good friend and neighbour of QB Mitchell. “I’ve converted him into a massive curling fan. He’s always engaged in our games — texting me about this and that.”

As fellow Chestermerians, they text about many things.

And the two high-profile athletes chat a lot about sports when they get the chance.

They’ve even taken that conversation public, by putting out a podcast together aired by UNINTERRUPTED Canada.

The Benny and Bo Show, offering interviews with other top-shelf athletes from all walks of sports, is drawing rave reviews.

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“It’s going amazing, man,” Hebert said. “We’ve had some incredible guests and some amazing feedback and tons of positivity. Our numbers have been through the roof. I couldn’t have imagined ever going as good as it’s gone.

“I’m a little surprised about how many people have been listening and watching, to be honest with ya,” Hebert continued. “We’ve had some crazy numbers — anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 listeners a show, so it’s obviously been gaining steam. And I guess I’ve been surprised at the great guests we’ve been able to get. We weren’t sure what guests or how we were going to get guests. But it’s worked. UNINTERRUPTED (founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter) took a chance on us.”

Season 1’s 12 episodes are in the books, with this week’s podcast wrapping up the inaugural year — just in time for Hebert to concentrate on the Olympic trials later this month and for Mitchell to gear up for a Grey Cup run.

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And Season 2 “is in negotiations, we’ll say,” Hebert said. “It sounds promising.”

But with their own sporting schedules entering serious junctures of their respective seasons, future podcasts are on the backburner for now.

Hebert and his Glencoe Club rinkmates are in hot pursuit of finding their ‘A’ game at the National, the second of six ‘major’ events on the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule.

After a first-day loss Tuesday, Kevin Koe’s crew rebounded to beat Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson 7-1 on Wednesday afternoon, setting them up for an all-important B-side clash against fellow Alberta juggernaut Brendan Bottcher early Thursday (8 a.m.).

The noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. draws follow on Sportsnet channels.

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And while it’s not imperative that the Calgary team pushes on to win this major in Chestermere, it would be oh-so cool for Hebert to triumph in his hometown.

Mitchell, who plans on making an appearance or two throughout the week at the curling major, wouldn’t mind it either for his podcast pal and men’s night partner at Lakeside Golf Club.

“I am going to get on the ice,” said Mitchell during last week’s show of attending the National. “I might even get in the broadcast booth and announce the game.”

That sounds about right.

After all, Mitchell’s now a media man — and not just a football talkie either.

“As much as Bo’s a football player and I’m a curling guy, we’re huge sports fans,” Hebert said. “I dial into hockey. I watch baseball, tennis, golf .. you name it. We definitely bring different strengths to the table. He knows nothing about hockey. I certainly know nothing about NCAA sports. What we try to bring to the podcast is an athlete’s perspective on all sports — not just the CFL and curling. We give our opinions on certain situations in sports, and we try to have a lot of fun with it. There’s a lot of serious stuff and negativity and maybe stuff that isn’t always exciting out there these days in the world of sports.

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“Me and Bo, we love sports. It’s been such a huge part of our lives that we try to bring the fun out of it. We try to tell some good positive stories and let the athletes tell their stories. As much as it’s a chat and a show, I’ve learned a lot from these athletes and hearing their stories.”

The roster of guests has been impressive.

They kicked it off with Olympic snowboarding star Mark McMorris joining them, followed by PGA star Max Homa and former Calgary Flames defenceman-turned-podcast specialist Mike Commodore in successive weeks.

They also talked with NFL and former Stampeders linebacker Alex Singleton, PGA big-shot Lee Westwood, NBA stud Kyle Lowry, football legend Doug Flutie and decorated Olympic swimmer Penny Oleksiak along the way.

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They got Calgarian Jordan Eberle and longtime Flames captain Mark Giordano when they were drafted by the NHL’s Seattle Kraken.

They scored big with Marie-Philip Poulin a week after she scored the gold-medal winning goal for Canada at the world women’s hockey championship.

And the week pulling in the highest rankings came when they chatted with Canada goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe a week after winning Olympic gold in Tokyo.

“I’ve met some wicked athletes that I never thought I’d have the opportunity to talk to and pick their brain on what makes them tick and what makes them so good at their sports,” Hebert said. “So that’s been really cool. The whole thing has just been something unique and cool. We thought we’d give it a whirl. It’s always nice to try new things.

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“When we first started doing it, we were pretty raw and we were learning and green,” Hebert added. “We were a bit nervous to start. But we found out we have good chemistry on air. And our last couple of shows, it almost sounds like we know what the hell we’re doing.”

EXTRA ENDS

The National’s defending men’s champion skipped by Ontario’s Brad Jacobs dropped from the A-side Wednesday, when it fell 7-2 to Switzerland’s Peter de Cruz. Other Day 2 men’s scores saw: Bottcher edge Scotland’s Ross Paterson 5-4; Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue top Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone 8-2; Manitoba’s Braden Calvert beat Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 7-3; Scotland’s Ross Whyte beat Ontario’s John Epping 7-5; Sweden’s Niklas Edin defeat Ontario’s Glenn Howard 6-5; and Scotland’s Bruce Mouat edge Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller 6-5 … On the women’s side Wednesday: Sweden’s Isabella Wrana upended Edmonton’s Laura Walker 7-3; Manitoba’s Tracy Fleury defeated Russia’s Alina Kovaleva 8-1; Kelowna’s Corryn Brown beat South Korea’s Un-chi Gim 9-5; and Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni topped Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson 8-5 … Defending women’s champ Anna Hasselborg of Sweden topped Ontario’s Hollie Duncan 7-5 in Wednesday’s late draw to stay on the A-side. The other late games saw Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones beat Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque 9-3 in A-side action, Switzerland’s Irene Schori lose 5-4 to Ottawa’s Rachel Homan in the B-bracket and South Korea’s Min-Ji Kim defeat Japan’s Satsuki Fujisawa 7-3, also in B-side play.

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

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