Some Canadians might know Rod Black for his work as a commentator for hockey, football, baseball or golf... but to many of us, he will always be best remembered as the voice of Canadian figure skating.
In figure skating's glory days in the 1990s, Black and Barbara Underhill narrated so many incredible moments in the sport that none of us will ever forget.
Black's upcoming memoir, "Cut to Black: A Legendary Life in Sports (and Maybe a Few Beers)" introduces us to the man behind the microphone.
Did you know that one of Rod Black's first gigs CTV Sports was hosting the Tournament of Roses Parade down in the States on New Year's Day with Tracy Wilson? In his youth, he was so captivated by sports broadcasts that he would imitate Johnny Esaw’s voice. He once played a round of golf with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Earlier in life, he worked as a “skate boy” and DJ at the Saints Regent Roller Skating Centre in Winnipeg, boogieing like Disco Stu on roller skates to "Staying Alive". At the roller rink, they called him "Hot Rod."
If you're a sports lover - and you really should be if you're reading this book - you'll recognize plenty of names mentioned, including Mark Tewksbury, Ben Johnson and Silken Laumann. Figure skating is not as heavily featured in the book as other sports, but fans will appreciate some of the tidbits featured throughout - like the revelation that it was Black’s hot mic that captured Nancy Kerrigan famously complaining about the delay before the women’s medal ceremony at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Black also sets the record straight about an interview with Kurt Browning at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. He received a great deal of hate mail for interviewing the Canadian favourite after a rough program and supposedly “making him cry.” In reality, the interview was filmed about 30 minutes after Browning skated and later edited to appear as though it happened immediately afterward. Speaking of the men’s event in Lillehammer, Black also shares some intriguing backstage chatter about the judging. If gossip's your bag, you might find it interesting.
Remember the toe-tapping judges that were caught on camera at the 1999 World Figure Skating Championships? It was Rod Black who told a CTV camera operator to film them. He showed the footage to someone very famous in the figure skating community, who shrugged it off and told him it "was nothing". The Russian and Ukrainian judges in question, Sviatoslav Babenko and Alfred Korytek, both ultimately received suspensions from the International Skating Union.
Rod Black proves to be as engaging a storyteller on the page as he was behind the microphone as a skating commentator. Again, figure skating isn’t the central focus of the memoir, but it’s an entertaining read nonetheless, peppered with just enough skating anecdotes to keep fans interested.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for the advance review copy of the book.
"Cut to Black: A Legendary Life in Sports (and Maybe a Few Beers)" is available for pre-order from Indigo.
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