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Q&A with Mark Rosen: After 40 years, things still Rosey at WCCOFeb 08, 2013 (Pioneer Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- At a recent station-wide meeting, WCCO-TV, Channel 4, sports director Mark Rosen, photographer/satellite truck operator Arthur Phillips and engineer Mike Kraemer were honored for their decades of employment with the station. Rosen, who is 61 and started as a part-timer at WCCO in his late teens, says he was recognized for 40 years as a full-time Channel 4 employee. "It was a 'This Is Your Life' sort of thing," said Rosen, whose memoir "Best Seat in the House" was released last year. "It was unexpected -- really nice, really touching." We thought we'd ask the guy who was nicknamed "Rosey" by Kirby Puckett a few things about his lengthy career. Q Any thoughts about retiring A "Good lord, I don't even know what that word means. No. I feel like I'm better at what I do now than I was 20 years ago. It's a constant process and it takes a long time." Q What's the proudest moment of your career A "The proudest and biggest was covering the 1980 Olympics. In 1980, when no one knew what we were walking into, we didn't have the technology we have now, instead of doing a live shot I'm screaming into the telephone that the U.S. hockey team just beat the Russians. And having the opportunity to go back 25 years later -- unfortunately after Herb Brooks was killed in that car crash -- with all those players, many of them I knew quite well. I was on the bench when they were handing out those gold medals. It was the highlight of my career. Being a part of both those things was really special." Q What's your most embarrassing moment on air A "When Brad Johnson was quarterback for the Vikings, one day I was introducing him and I said, 'Brad's Johnson.' It was embarrassing, but it was so funny. Everybody was laughing. I remember looking at the camera and saying, 'I knew I was going to say that one of these times.' " Q What was the worst jacket you ever wore on air A "I've had a few of those, a couple times I'm sure it looked like I got dressed in the dark -- the tie and shirt didn't quite match. I just got an email from somebody saying, 'I really liked the tie you wore yesterday, who's your wardrobe person ' I just went, 'Ha, ha, ha -- we don't have a wardrobe person, we have to figure it out ourselves.' Remember those really colorful Australian Coogi sweaters I went through a period where I wore a lot of those sweaters and I think, oh my god those things were hideous, but at the time they were in." Q Do you ever get sick of talking about sports A "Sure. I love going to movies and I can't tell you how many times I've walked out of a movie and somebody goes, 'Hey how did the Gophers do tonight ' I don't know, I've been sitting in the same movie as you have for the last two hours -- I'm not checking my phone every 10 seconds." Q Who would play you in a movie about Mark Rosen A "That's really funny. The younger version of me, I would say Josh Duhamel. I just met him and he's a big sports fan. I don't look anything like him other than he's angular. He's a really good-looking guy." Amy Carlson Gustafson can be reached at 651-228-5561. Follow her at twitter.com/amygustafson. ___ (c)2013 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) Visit the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) at www.twincities.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |