SOCHI, Russia – Princess Anne of Britain, Prince Hakan of Norway and Prince Albert of Monaco have been among the VIPs at the Olympic curling tournament this week.
On Saturday, the Ice Cube Curling Center welcomed some royalty from the NFL.
Vernon Davis, the Pro Bowl tight end from the San Francisco 49ers, dropped in to watch the U.S. women's team play Sweden. Flanked by his agent and a representative of one of Team USA's sponsors, he watched the final five ends of the Americans' 7-6 loss.
Davis gave curling a try for the first time in 2009, two months before the Vancouver Games, and loved it. He is USA Curling's honorary captain for the 2014 Games — he had the same role four years ago — and gets on the ice when he can.
A tough-guy American footballer and curling seems an unlikely match, but Davis can't get enough of stones and brooms.
"The thing that intrigues me about curling is that it's so competitive from a thinking standpoint," Davis told The Associated Press after the match. "You really have to use your mind, really come up with a good strategy to defeat your opponent. There's just something about it that I love. And curling helps me when it comes to the game of football."
— By Steve Douglas — Twitter http://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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Associated Press reporters are filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu
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