Sam Rosen - Biography

Sam Rosen (born August 12, 1947 in Ulm, Germany) is an American sportscaster, best known as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Rangers (NHL) games on MSG. On June 8, 2008, Rosen was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Rosen's current responsibilities include Rangers telecasts, Chicago Bears preseason football for WFLD, and Sunday NFL games for Fox. He is paired with Joe Micheletti on Rangers broadcasts, Erik Kramer on Bears broadcasts, and Chad Pennington on national Fox broadcasts.

Broadcasting career

New York Rangers

From 1982–84, he was the studio host on Ranger broadcasts, but was promoted to play-by-play in 1984, succeeding Jim Gordon, who had been the Rangers' TV voice since 1973. Rosen's first partner was ex-Bruin and Ranger star Phil Esposito. Starting in 1986–87, when Esposito left to become Rangers General Manager, Rosen was paired with former Rangers goaltender John Davidson (nicknamed J.D.). The team would last 20 years together until Davidson left for a management position with the St. Louis Blues. Together, Sam and J.D. would be the longest-serving NHL broadcast team.

Beginning with the 2006–07 NHL season, Sam partnered with Joe Micheletti, who was New York Islanders TV color analyst with former Rangers radio announcer Howie Rose on Fox Sports Net New York.

His trademark, "It's a power play goal!!!" started in 1984, when he was known for rather subdued commentary. J.D., following Phil Esposito as color commentator, is quoted as saying, "Sam, make it colorful, really colorful!" When the Rangers scored on a power play in November 1984, Sam jumped out of his announcer's seat and joyfully exclaimed, "It's a power play goal!" Davidson erupted into laughter and Sam said, "Is that good enough for you?" From then on, it became a sarcastic trademark of Rosen's.

Other broadcasting areas

Prior to taking the Rangers play-by-play job in 1984, Rosen also served as a studio host for New York Knicks basketball telecasts on MSG.

Rosen was employed by ESPN from 1979–1988, calling a variety of sports for the network including hockey, boxing, table tennis, Australian rules football, college baseball, collegiate wrestling, and table tennis.

He handled play-by-play for NHL Radio, a partnership between the NHL and Westwood One. He has called the Stanley Cup playoffs on radio for many years, as well as the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympic Men's Hockey Tournaments.

Rosen has also been a play-by-play announcer for The NFL on Fox since 1996. Currently, he broadcasts with Tim Ryan. Sam also calls preseason NFL games for the Chicago Bears and previously did this for the New York Giants for several seasons.

Rosen was also the lead boxing announcer for the MSG Network until 1993. In 1989, he won the Sam Taub Award for excellence in boxing broadcasting journalism.

Rosen has most recently joined the NHL crew at Versus, calling games in the first round of the playoffs for the past two years.

Rosen was the public address announcer for the New York Cosmos during their run at Giants Stadium in the late '70s and '80s. His call "It's a Cosmos Goal" pre dated and could be considered as the basis for his trademark power play call.

Memorable calls

Rosen has called many memorable games. During the Rangers run to the Stanley Cup in 1994, the NHL allowed local coverage of all four rounds of the playoffs in the United States. Thus, Rosen made two of his most memorable calls.

Perhaps most famous is Rosen's call which he uses every time the Rangers score a goal on the powerplay. The call is simply, "It's a power play goal," but Sam Rosen uses a unique inflection which has been widely popular among Rangers fans and a staple of any Rangers broadcast.

External links

• Sam Rosen Official Bio
• Sam Rosen's Blog