Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page B7

The East Side also was a school of hard knocks that Brooks treasured. Herbie had the East Side in his blood. One of his favorite stories was about the day in 1960 that he and his dad watched TV as the U.S. hockey team won gold at Squaw Valley. Brooks thought he was going to be on that team.

But he was the last player cut by coach Jack Riley. It was a bitter disappointment, but as he would tell the story, Brooks set up the audience to think his father was about to give him a kind, encouraging word. Not hardly. As Herb told it, he sat there, feeling sorry for himself, when his dad said: like coach cut the right That was the East Side Herbie loved. He could never leave it behind.

Because if he ever even thought about trying to shake the East Side dust off his shoes, people like Moo-Cow Mudzinski were there to make sure Herb get too high and mighty. like me, we gave him just enough crap to keep him in line so that he get the big says Mudzinski, a retired firefighter who graduated with Brooks from Johnson High School in 1955. the time he showed up to play golf and said he had just come from a celebrity round, one of those deals where average guys pay to play with celebrities. So he says he just came from a celebrity deal and I says, What celebrity did you play was grinning from ear to ear. He knew nobody was going to bow down to him on the East first name is Joe, but the kids in grade school thought the Mu- in Mudzinski sounded like Moo-Cow stuck.

He took Herb under his wing in high school, when Herb was a little too small and a little too good-looking for his own good, when bigger guys thought they could rough him up. Mud- zinski, who once leaned over the boards at a hockey game to grab a guy who was punching Herb, looked out for him. was a baby-faced says. wanted to push him Later, Brooks grew to a size where he could defend himself, going on to play hockey at the of (and to make the Olympic teams in two non-gold years, 1964 and 1968). He and Moo- Cow shared a bachelor pad for a while, and they stayed close, part of a tight-knit group of 20 or so guys who have remained friends for 50 years, hanging out, playing golf, telling lies and ribbing one another in a way that is familiar to anyone who grew up in St.

Paul, but which may have been perfected along Payne Avenue and Arcade Street and other East Side haunts, where Herb Brooks and company came up. Fame and fortune came way, but he never forgot his old friends. His car trunk was often full of new golf balls, shoes, windbreakers the free swag he got playing in those celebrity tournaments. When golf with his pals, open the trunk looked like a flea market in Mudzinski says and start handing out the swag. size shoe do you Herbie would ask.

11? Here! These should Once, after Herbie was paid for a public appearance with 50 cases of Bud Light, he showed up for golf with his car crammed to the roof with jangling beer cases. Everybody got at least one, or maybe two. always said rather be with the guys than with the big said Moo-Cow Mudzinski. Mudzinski, Jack Swedahl, Jerry Duffy, Jerry Bushinski and many more in the gang took a charter bus to funeral in August, meeting at a favorite watering hole and riding to the Cathedral of St. Paul, which was packed with hockey heroes and famous names.

It still had a strong East Side flavor. They were hit hard when Herb died. I met them for coffee on Payne Avenue the other day and, six months later, they are still dealing with the loss. still believe says Swedahl, who also roomed with Brooks and Mudzinski in college. think I can go see that says Mudzinski, referring to the film about Herbie and the 1980 Olympics that opens Friday.

be like going to the funeral, all over cry if you go and see it, says Duffy, a concrete finisher, who saw a sneak preview of the film. what scared says Mudzinski. if you cry, something says Duffy. A photo of Herb is on the wall in the St. Paul Grill in the St.

Paul Hotel. They put it up when he died, in the spot where they used to have Eugene Ormandy, the famous conductor who brought world acclaim to the old Minneapolis Symphony. The maestro had to make way for Herbie. It mention the gold medal beneath picture. It have to.

Instead (his family wanted it this way), it says: just a guy from the East That sentence speaks volumes in St. Paul. And if you understand its depth, then you will understand that Herb Brooks will not only live on in hockey lore, or in the statue they unveil today. He also will live on in the heart of the city that gave him to history. Nick Coleman is at THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5 2004STARTRIBUNE PAGE B7 COLEMAN fromB1 Brooks always treasured the East Side of St.

Paul Third-ranked KSTP, which shifted last year to a format, slipped to fifth place in the 18-34 group, falling behind KMSP, Channel 9, and WFTC, Channel 29. Rash pointed to WCCO as the station to watch in the coming month: wind is at back with a solid and stable news organization and anchor team and improvement in CBS prime-time Last year at this time, the station was faltering in the ratings, the result of a shift in management and newscast format that sent newsroom morale tumbling. That management team is gone, as is the hard-news format (which has moved across town to KSTP). New general manager Ed Piette was pragmatically optimistic. nail it all on the Feb sweeps; this is a said Piette, formerly of KSTP.

long as moving in the right direction from a strategic standpoint, all we care WCCO is hyping its anchors now the most stable team in the market in a series of ads showing Don Shelby, Randi Kaye, Paul Douglas and Mark Rosen schmoozing over lunch. In another series that feels almost Felliniesque, they goof around with balloons, card tricks, unicycles and ukeleles, all in an attempt to our connection with our said creative services director Wendy McMahon. Not to establish a KARE-like warm and fuzzy feel? said Piette firmly. started before announced he was WCCO the only station seeking to connect with the community. ads feature folksy commentary from anchor Jeff Passolt about growing up in the Twin Cities, meteorologist Janie Peterson talking about being a working mother, and Robyne Robinson sitting barefoot in an oversized chair reflecting on community involvement.

The Fox affiliate goes into sweeps month with strong programming support, said gener- al manager Carol Rueppel: was at a record high in January with shows like and O.C.’ providing strong lead-ins to the 9 p.m. KARE news director Tom Lindner considers his campaigns to be sincerest form of In the new promos, new anchor team Frank Vascellaro and Julie Nelson and others talk about how they came to live in the Twin Cities, how they are same in as they are on TV and how news to the heart of KARE remains a hard act to beat, said Rash, it faces the challenge of eroding audience as CBS bumps the network out of the top spot with programs such as and Lindner disagreed, saying NBC not delivering as big a number, but demographics and content-wise, still a very strong KSTP may face the most difficult challenge. Unlike its competitors, KSTP airing any ads that could be considered remotely warm or fuzzy, choosing to promote news instead of news personalities. The new format, new managers, new anchor team and numerous staff departures have not produced positive ratings movement yet. numbers were the worst in the history.

A new ad campaign featuring actor Ed Asner will premiere at the end of the ratings period and is not expected to have much impact. change anything we general manager Rob Hubbard said of the coming month. biggest issue is how is going to Hubbard said the February sweeps change how stations rank, and he numbers moving in any particular direction. been wrong Deborah Caulfield Rybak is at SWEEPS fromB1 wind is at says one observer Herb Brooks statue dedication is today The city of Saint Paul will dedicate a bronze statue of the hockey legend Herb Brooks at 7 p.m. today, just outside RiverCentre across from Rich Park, at 4th and Washington between the Ordway and the old Minnesota Club, now home to the Minnesota Wild office.

family and friends, along with celebrity guests, are expected to attend. The dedication will follow a 5 p.m. benefit screening of the new film about the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, which will open in theaters Friday. screening will be at the Grandview Theater, 1830 Grand Av.

Profits will go to the Herb Brooks Foundation. Tickets ($25) must be bought at St. Paul City Hall, 15 W. Kellogg Room 170. Call 651-266-8694 for more ticket information.

High court hears open-records case in leader search By Steve Brandt Star Tribune Staff Writer The job of selecting a new University of Minnesota president is so crucial to running the school that its governing board be saddled with general state openness requirements, its lawyer told the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday. That would represent an intrusion on the constitutional autonomy of the university, argued University General Counsel Mark Rotenberg. The university is appealing lower court rulings that state open records and meetings laws applied to the 2002 presidential search. Five news organizations, including the Star Tribune, sued for release of the names and other information about job finalists. The Board of Regents closed the interview process, declaring that job seekers participate if the process was open.

Attorney John Borger, speaking for the news organi- zations, said court decisions in 16 states that have constitutional recognition of their universities have also ruled that open records or open meetings laws apply to the state schools. Many universities operate with as much disclosure in their presidential searches as the university wants to avoid, he suggested. Rotenberg said that in its limited number of rulings dealing with university autonomy, the Supreme Court has been reluctant to allow the Legislature to intrude on the ability of regents to manage the school. Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz suggested that the constitutional autonomy of the school is intended to prevent legislative meddling with the university, but that laws requiring openness in records and meetings meddling because they are generally applied to Minnesota government. Steve Brandt is at 612-673-4438 or 0205.DY.BNEWS.DME.007.A Wed Feb 4 18:10:55 2004.