'Best Seat in the House," a breezy, unassuming memoir by longtime WCCO-TV sportscaster Mark Rosen, will leave you convinced of two things. One is that after four decades at Channel 4 and on the airwaves of three local radio stations, Rosen -- now 60 -- is a Twin Cities media institution second only to You Know Who.

The other thing is that after all these years, Rosen still loves every minute of what he does. How can a grown man still be eager to hear the thoughts of the latest clueless phenom -- or, for that matter, those of a worn-down coach so used to speaking in clichés that the chances of getting a real answer to a real question are nil?

Turns out that it's all about listening -- about staying out of the way of events and instead paying close attention. Some people know how to play the game, and you have to be ready for them to tell you about it. It's a lesson Rosen began learning more than 40 years ago on the day when he first stepped into the cramped, smoke-filled subterranean newsroom that was WCCO-TV in its glory days.

Rosen was a 17-year-old high school student when he finagled that first visit to WCCO. There, amid the clattering typewriters and clouds of blue language -- those boys could drink and brawl with the best -- Rosen was smitten. The visit never ended.

"Best Seat in the House" is an extended thank-you -- to mentors like Hal Scott and Ralph Jon Fritz, and to media legends that include Dave Moore and Bob McNamara, but also to the men, boys, women and girls Rosen has covered. The book reads like a highlight film of the athletes and events that have defined Minnesota sports for the better part of a lifetime.

Everybody is present and accounted for lovingly: Harmon Killebrew, Bud Grant, Kirby Puckett, Lindsay Whalen, Brett Favre, Dave Winfield, Lou Nanne, Herb Brooks, Lou Holtz and Calvin Griffith. Also, Tom Barnard, Don Shelby and Dan "The Common Man" Cole. Recounted, too, are the games that thrilled, as well as those that made us weep. The Miracle on Ice, the Twins' two World Series victories, the Vikings' crushing NFC Championship defeats in 1999 and 2010.

Looking back, Rosen remembers a simpler time and a smaller media landscape. Nobody nowadays could start out as he did. Times change. But for Mark Rosen, watching the game from the front row never gets old.

William Souder's biography of Rachel Carson, "On a Farther Shore," will be published by Crown in the fall.

Events for Mark Rosen's new book: 1 p.m. April 15, Barnes & Noble Galleria; 7:30 p.m. April 19, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.; 11 a.m. April 28, Barnes & Noble Har-Mar Mall; 7 p.m. April 30, Fireside Writers' Series, 318 Cafe, Excelsior; 2 p.m. May 5, Barnes & Noble, St. Cloud; 1 p.m. May 12, Barnes & Noble Minnetonka; 11 a.m. May 19, Gerten's, Inver Grove Heights; 2 p.m. May 19, Barnes & Noble, Rochester; 2 p.m. May 26, Valley Bookseller, Stillwater; 2 p.m. June 16, Barnes & Noble, Mall of America.