i wouldn't mind so much if he tried to put in more effort. When I've watched him do other sports, like the olympic figureskating, he's much better. He gets names right, he's got better insight, and just generally seems much more prepared. When he does CFL games he makes a lot of basic errors. My favourite one is him saying 3-4 times there was still no word from the officials on a goalline play when on TV there were 2 officials on the play both signaling touchdown. I can tolerate him but he's the worst of the 3 they have and some games it seems like he just shows up and wings it. I would like to see Gord Miller do more games. He makes mistakes at times too but he's a bit greener calling CFL games compared to Black but I generally enjoy his calls more. Don Wittman we miss ya.
I only watch football and hockey on TSN, nothing about any other sports, or games. I pretty much watch only for the content and do not care who is speaking. Except for the CFL panel.
lancaster we miss ya :thup:
Ah, I see. Smith has been almost exclusively on Sportscentre (and Sports Desk) for as long as I can remember.
He was the studio anchor for CFL games before Randorf became the host of CFL on TSN.
Love to comment, but they always pair Black with Forde and as soon as Forde opens his mouth I hit the mute button. Get rid of Duanne Forde and maybe Rod Black doesn't look so bad anymore.
I'll take Black/Forde doing CFL over a Bob Cole/Harry Neale NHL game. Now there's the standard for horrible announcers in any sport. Made Forde sound like a Rhode Scholar.
when it comes to nhl, i really miss howie.
What would be shocking is if Cohen said “yeah those TSN announcers suck, but watch our games anyway” 
I do agree about Duane Ford though. Maybe they should get Milt Stegall and Matt Dunnigan to do a game together. It’d be bizzare if nothing else! :cowboy:
Gord Miller makes errors and Matt Dunigan makes errors. For instance the BC-Wpg game Dunigan did with Miller here after coach RH passed away, those 2 kept called the teams by the wrong name on a few occasions. But the difference to me is Dunigan seems to really love the game, anytime there’s a big play no matter which team you can literally hear him cheering as a football fan, he gets excited with any great play. And he can offer some insight. I think with Forde, he has some insight as well and has a passion for Canadian football, be it CFL or college, but he’s much more deadpanned and it doesn’t mesh well with Rod Black’s “enthusiasm”.
Considering there's no option to score Rod Black's commentating in the negatives, I gave him a 1. But this gets me to thinking about something I posed elsewhere a while back: Historically, who do you think is the worst announce team - Black and Forde or Mark Lee and Chris Walby?
While I don't particularly care for Black doing football play-by-play, I think he has gotten better over the years. When he first started he knew absolutely nothing about the CFL or the names of the players. He is more knowledgeable now, but is still pretty annoying.
I suspect TSN keeps him as he's already under contract with the parent company and probably works cheap...with the CFL giving him something to do between girl's volleyball and ice dancing telecasts. 
Black/Forde hands down. Those 2 are both as energetic as a beached jellyfish and Forde, although knowledgeable, has the ability to make himself look as dumb as a fence post. At least Walby had some life to him. Made his antics funny at times.
...damn, I was going to play the Rod Black Drinking Game tonight with the missus away on business...for any of you who aren't familiar with it, behold, courtesy of our friend disciplineandpunishment:
Hello, I’m TSN’s Rod Black. In my capacity as commentator, I cover a wide variety of sports for TSN, but the CFL occupies a special place in my heart. And to enhance your enjoyment of this wonderful Canadian football that we all love, I’ve come up with a drinking game. Why? Because the only thing better than watching a CFL game is watching a CFL game completely bombed out of your gourd. And if I’m calling the game you’re watching, you’d better have plenty of alcohol handy.
The Rules:
Take a shot every time I say something that is factually incorrect. For example, I may randomly add two years to Anthony Calvillo’s age for my own amusement.
Take a shot every time I jump to a conclusion that I have to retract a few seconds later. As a typical example, if a pass falls incomplete, I will always assume that the receiver dropped the ball, only revising my opinion when the replay clearly shows that the defensive back knocked the ball down before the receiver could catch it.
Take two shots every time I refer to my broadcast partner by his full name (Duane Forde) for no particular reason. It’s a sexy name, kind of like Carl Weathers. I enjoy saying it in almost any context.
Take three shots every time I repeat information verbatim from the stadium announcer because I can't actually follow the action myself. For example, if you watched Thursday's Hamilton-Toronto game, you could clearly hear the announcer giving credit to a player ("Cornelius Anthony ... with the sack!") and me repeating the same thing a few seconds later, with the same pause between player and action. Why do all that tedious work when the guy on the stadium PA can do it for me?
Take a shot every time a play ends without me mentioning who was involved on the tackle, knockdown, or reception. I don’t bother with that kind of detail, and neither should you.
Take two shots every time I confuse one player with another. Reasons for this confusion may vary: the players both have jersey numbers in the same range, play for the same team, or are both bipedal humanoids who need food, sleep, and oxygen to survive.
Take three shots every time I offer an opinion so egregiously embarrassing that Duane Forde immediately has to off-set it with a statement that doesn't sound like it came from a paranoid crack addict. For example, during last night’s Bombers-Alouettes game, at one point I opined that regardless of what play the Bombers ran, it almost seemed like the Alouettes knew it was coming. Did I have evidence for this laughable assertion, that accidentally implied that Montreal had instituted some sort of Patriots-style spying system? Not a shred! Fortunately, my broadcast partner has my back and will always be ready with a more commonplace but not cracked-out rejoinder about how preparation and scouting are key components to a successful defense.
Take a shot every time a penalty is called and I talk about something completely unrelated instead of mentioning who took the penalty and what impact it has on the play or series. I have a free-associating spirit and a wide-ranging mind, which you may find difficult to follow.
Take three shots every time I display my unfamiliarity with basic football terminology. For example, I might comment that Winnipeg’s only point thus far has come on a punt that went into the end zone that the Als chose not to return. Joyless pedants who detest the English language might choose to refer to the above point as a ‘single’. I prefer to paint a vivid descriptive portrait for the viewer, a picture striking in its narrative complexity and Germanic in its syntactical insistence on ending sentences with verbs. Besides, it fills up airtime that my broadcast partner could potentially use to supply analytic insight on the game in progress, which of course holds no interest for our viewers.
Take a shot every time I disguise a boiler-plate assertion that's been circulated through all the CFL wires for days and weeks as my own opinion. On an unrelated note, the Als haven’t had a kick returner as dynamic as this Larry Taylor guy since the days of Ezra Landry!
Take two shots every time I turn a simple play-by-play call into a stuttering, Shatner-esque beat poetry lyric. Take this fragment from last night’s Montreal-Winnipeg game, which I have since incorporated into a book of found poetry I published under the nom de plume Dominant Performance(c):
Defensive Blues #5 -or- The Ballad of Kerry Carter
Calvillo
In trouble
Dances out of the pocket
Gives it to Kerry Carter
(And he could go a long way here)
CARTER!
To the 20
To the 10
Foot...
Down to the 2!
In closing, I hope that my drinking game provides you with entertainment as you enjoy an exciting game of Canadian football. Please use responsibly.
Sincerely Yours,
Rod Black
He's one bad dude.
Hey mods, can we just have a generic anti-Rod Black thread like with expansion? Both have been long since beat to death so why not treat both topics the same?
Not really related but the wife says Matt Dunnigan is hot. Dunno if that helps him commentate…
sometimes i feel like Dunnigan needs to take a play off. his over talking tends to give me a bit of a brain ache. let Miller talk a little bit more. but im not in the booth.
Black seems to be ok for the fans that arnt so hardk0re like us on the forums. For the average or casual fan, he might have some more attraction.
what amazes me is that there were probably people who didnt like lancaster in the booth......go figure.
I loved Lancaster. One of the best. As for the drinking game I only see one flaw in the rules…
one would be too drunk by the mid point of the 1st quarter to remember the rest of the game. :lol:
im not going to lie to you guys. im just on the top side of 30, so as far as Ron L. goes as a broadcaster, i dont remember it from my youth, and i only catch it occasionally on espn classic.
Now I feel old. I not only remember Lancaster, I remember Pat Marsden and Don Chevrier.