THURSDAY COMMENTARY – WARREN WOODS

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary at 9:50 am and 5:20 pm on Cat Country 98 FM)

YOU’D THINK WE’D BE GETTING USED TO TRAGIC, GUT-PUNCHING NEWS BY NOW. BUT THAT’S NOT THE CASE.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON WE LEARNED THAT BELOVED SASKATCHEWAN TV SPORTSCASTER WARREN WOODS PASSED AT AGE 66 AFTER A BATTLE WITH CORONAVIRUS.

WHERE TO START WITH WOODSY?

LIKE MANY OF YOU, I GREW UP WATCHING WARREN ON STV AND LATER GLOBAL TV AND ALONG WITH RON RIMER ON SPORTSLINE AT 11:00, THEY SHAPED LOCAL SPORTS CULTURE.

THEY WERE SPORTSCENTRE BEFORE THERE WAS SPORTSCENTRE. AT LEAST, BEFORE IT BECAME POPULAR AROUND HERE.

90 SECONDS AREN’T LONG ENOUGH TO DISCUSS WOODSY’S IMPACT ON OUR LOCAL SPORTS WORLD.

HE WAS PROUDLY FROM SUDBURY, ONTARIO AND TALKED ABOUT IT OFTEN. HIS LOVE FOR THE MAPLE LEAFS MADE HIM A REGULAR PUNCHLINE AND HE LOVED IT. AND HE WAS THE RADIO AND TV VOICE OF THE REGINA RAMS OFF AND ON FOR MANY, MANY YEARS AND THAT MAY HAVE BEEN THE ROLE HE TOOK THE MOST PRIDE IN.

WHEN I LEARNED OF HIS PASSING, THE RAMS WERE THE FIRST PEOPLE I THOUGHT OF.

SO ICONIC WAS WOODS THAT IT WAS SIMPLY A THRILL FOR ME TO COVER THE SAME EVENT AS HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME AND THAT WAS THE 1992 TANKARD IN YORKTON. STORIES FROM THAT WEEK CAME UP EACH AND EVERY TIME WOODSY AND I RAN INTO EACH OTHER WHICH WAS GENERALLY AT RIDER PRACTICE OR, OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, AT PATS GAMES.

HE HAD NO ENEMIES. HE ALWAYS HAD A SMILE AND WAS MORE INTERESTED IN TALKING ABOUT YOU THAN HIMSELF.

AS A BIG-VOICED, BIGGER-THAN-LIFE SPORTSCASTER, HE CAME FROM THE OLD SCHOOL AND THEY DON’T MAKE EM LIKE THAT ANYMORE.

WE’VE HAD A LOT OF BAD NEWS OVER THE PAST YEAR. BUT THIS ONE HURTS DEEPER THAN MOST.

THAT’S TODAY’S ROD PEDERSEN COMMENTARY ON CAT COUNTRY 98.