PORTLAND, Ore. — If you've ever watched the Trail Blazers play in the Moda Center, you've probably heard his voice. Since 1996, Mark Mason has been the PA announcer during almost every game. When he's not calling shots at the Moda Center, he's the host of his daily talk show, "The Mark Mason Show" on 1190 KEX.
KGW News sat down with the longtime radio host and PA announcer for the Portland Trail Blazers.
On sitting court-side for 23 years:
Mark: "It doesn't feel like 23 years. It's amazing if anything. Like someone, last night after the game said, "The voice from my childhood." which made me feel old. It's nice to hear that they associate good times with that."
On sitting courtside and seeing some exciting shots:
Mark: "When Dame makes a logo shot, I get excited just like they do."
How he came up with the "Letter O" for Damian Lillard:
Mark: "I asked Dame, I said would you be interested in being introduced as the letter O? I don't think he thought about it 5 seconds and he said yeah, that's a great idea, let's roll with it."
Why he makes the introductions unique:
Mark: "It's about doing something memorable for the player. That way the people remember the player and they remember the native language introduction for him. It was so much fun to do, it just became a part of what I did."
When Arvydas Sabonis came to the team, he started introducing international players in their native language.
On how hard learning the different languages has been:
Mark, jokingly: "It's gotten tougher. Bosnian isn't easy. Now we go into Turkish, holy cow, with Enes Kanter. Oh my goodness, my mouth doesn't move that way and some of the contortions you have to use to pronounce some of those words. Luckily there's 20 thousand screaming people covering up my imperfections."
What are his introductions for the starting 5:
Mark: For each and every one of them I have something for them. For Al-Farouq Aminu, "The Chief has arrived" For Maurice Harkless, I've got a special way to say his name. The Turkish introduction. For CJ, just Lehigh, number 3, C, the E's you know, the alliteration there and for Damian, the letter O.
On watching Damian sink the game-winner over Paul George in game 5 against Oklahoma City:
Mark: "There are few times when I stand up out of that chair. I can't just sit there and make a call. But when he hit that basket, I stood up, I literally just slammed the desk. I just could not believe it."
On how he would introduce himself if he were in the starting lineup:
Mark: "How would I introduce myself? Ha! Very subtly. Even though I'm loud and I take a real big presence in the arena sometimes, I really like to fly under the radar. Just subtle, I think that's what mine would be. Eh, that's the PA guy, Mark Mason."