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| Charlie Rose wannabe (left) interviews the state Division 2 champions. |
Recently, I had the opportunity to do something I've always wanted to do. And fortunately, it was right in my wheelhouse, topic-wise, so there were few opportunities for me to screw it up.
I sat down inside the downtown studio of Foxboro Cable Access at the beginning of the month to interview Foxboro High girls' basketball coach Lisa Downs and four of her athletes in the wake of their state Division 2 championship, won last month at the Tsongas Center in Lowell by way of a 73-53 victory over Dracut High. It was for FCA's long-running local talk show, "Around Foxborough," and they asked me to be the guest host because I did the announcing chores for the title game and a few others, I'm known to have some interviewing skills, and I have a a long-standing friendship with Lisa, dating back to her playing days at Foxboro High in the mid-1980s when she was Lisa Garland.
Like I said, that was almost a no-fail situation for me. All I asked in return was that they try to keep the camera off me because Lisa and her athletes were a lot nicer to look at than the elderly whale sitting at one end of the table. Indeed, I was likely to make Brendan Fraser look skinny in his Oscar-winning role by comparison.
But this was also a chance for me to emulate one of my interviewing heroes from back in the day.
Before he got into a lot of trouble at CBS for being too randy with the female employees, Charlie Rose had a long-running interview show at PBS that was really one of the best such shows ever. Rose's laid-back style and thoughtful questions got the best out of his thousands of interview subjects, who hailed from all walks of life.
With a dark background behind him and nothing more than a simple oak roundtable (which Rose himself purchased) between him and the guest, the environment of Rose's shows encouraged an intimate connection between him and his subject. It was very good television -- and a great example to follow for anyone that aspired to be an interviewer of merit.
Unfortunately, while he was hosting CBS This Morning with Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King back in 2017, Rose suddenly faced a host of sexual harassment allegations from almost a 20-year span at the network and other affiliations. It was apparently a shock to Rose's co-hosts, especially future CBS Evening News anchor O'Donnell, who had great chemistry with the veteran interviewer and displayed deep personal disappointment while delivering a statement upon Rose's suspension from the show once the allegations came to light.
That effectively ended Rose's long career. But in my opinion, it does not diminish the quality of the many interviews he conducted over so many years, nor does it lessen one's desire to emulate his skill.
So imagine my inner joy when I walked into the FCA studio and found a black cloth backdrop behind where I was sitting. It was my chance to channel my inner Charlie Rose -- just without the sexual harassment part.
I think I did a pretty good job with the interview, but it helps to know the subject matter as well as I did. The real stars, however, were Coach Downs and her athletes -- Cam Collins, Maddie Maher, Erin Foley and Izzy Chamberlin -- as they recapped the joys of the season-long quest for the title and the happy by-play that took place along the way. You may particularly enjoy the story, recapped by Erin Foley, of why they chose to buy a hot pink suit for their coach to wear during one of their tournament games.
Here's a link to the interview, thanks to Foxboro Cable Access. And please, pay no attention to the big fellow seated to the left of the table. The coach and her athletes were the real stars of the day.
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