‘HE’S THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR GAME’
Bob Cole was never going to go out quietly. That wouldn’t be his way. But as the clock was ticking down on his 50 years as the voice of hockey in Canada, he thought the end was coming a week from Saturday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
But then Scott Moore was pushed out as boss of Rogers Sportsnet and Cole’s farewell tour, orchestrated by his employers, was suddenly extended by six games — with the perfect ending for the brilliant broadcaster being the last Saturday of the regular season, Hockey Night In Canada, Toronto at Montreal.
What could be better than that?
“Whenever it ends, it ends,” Cole said. “We had it finalized, then it wasn’t finalized.
“I never wanted to make a big deal of any of this. I never wanted a (farewell tour) of any kind. All this attention is kind of crazy to me. It’s not me . ... I just liked what I did and I loved the games.
“I still love them and love doing them. I never thought about how long I would do this job or when retirement was coming or counted the days to retirement. But I’ve been humbled the last while, the way people have reacted all across Canada.”
It has been a remarkable 50 years of national broadcasting for the iconic and melodic voice of hockey in Canada. The voice of our game.
“He’s the greatest voice in the history of the game,” said Chris Cuthbert, one of Canada’s finest play-by-play men. “I think the voice will be his legacy more than anything.
“He’s the soundtrack of our game.”
Cuthbert compares Cole to one of the 85-year-old Newfoundland native’s heroes: Frank Sinatra. “He’s our version of Sinatra ... a special voice, with special timing and longevity and tone and he just has this kind of aura about him.”
Last weekend, doing what he believes was his last broadcast in Edmonton, the Oilers chose to honour Cole.
He’s been walking on air since the ceremony, which included tributes from Connor McDavid and Wayne Gretzky, who referred to him as Mr. Cole. He received a framed jersey with Cole and the number 50 on the back.
All weekend he signed autographs, posed for more photographs than he has his entire life, took in all the adulation.
“I almost lost it (emotionally) a couple of times, it was kind of touching. It’s humbling to get this kind of reaction because all I did was go to work. Imagine having a job like this one? But only lately it’s been hitting me, when people come up to you and say they’ve been listening to you their whole lives, and how much you’ve meant to them. I never realized that people thought this way. Again, I was just doing my job.”
He’s almost at the finish line now, eight games to go in a career. Seven Saturday nights.
He doesn’t want any goodbye parties. In fact, he wishes he wasn’t going anywhere at all.
“All I do is go to work and I’ve enjoyed every day of it,” Cole said. “If I had my way I’d just keep on working.”