Mark Zona Is Not THAT Handsome

[This is our first guest post of the week, by Scotty ‘Bud’ Melvin, program director for 92.5 ZUU, Kalamazoo’s “Real Rock Station” – and it’s proof that there really is something in the water in Michigan. Scotty, get your DJ to play ‘Unchained’ when I (Jay) school Z on the water this summer.]

Some people think I look like Mark Zona. I always say that I believe he looks like me. I’m older, so I figure I’m right.

Some background: It all started in 1995 when I got a call at the radio station during my morning show. A woman who knew Z said he and I should meet, because he fished and I talk about fishing once in a while on my show. Oh, and we look “exactly alike.”

So one day he called me, and we went fishing. Before that, I was just a casual bass fisherman. I’d go out by myself in my little aluminum boat, kick back, drown some worms and get tan. After my first day on the boat with Z, I was transformed. The dude was a pro. Literally. He showed me how to catch fish. And he was geeked about it. It was like we were filming a TV show years before he actually did it.

Fast forward 15 years or so and we’re still friends, but we don’t get to fish together much anymore…mostly due to his schedule, and his inability to return a phone call. Plus, if you had some extra time to fish, who would you call, me or Jerry McKinnis? But we talk and text. I actually see his wife more than I see him.

The woman who called me 15 years ago was right. We do look alike. Now that he’s on national TV, I get mistaken for him all the time. I can’t remember every instance, but a couple still linger in my memory.

I went to the Bassmaster Classic at Lake Toho in 2006. Covered the event for a small newspaper. My family and the Zona family hung a little that week. I even spent time in KVD’s boat on Day 3 as a media member. I’ve known Kevin about as long as I’ve known Z, but I don’t look like Kevin so he’s not involved in this story. But we’re from the same city, and I interview Kevin once in a while on my radio show, promote things he’s doing.

After the Classic was over, I took the family to dinner at the Applebee’s near the convention center in Orlando. During dinner, I saw a couple of guys looking at me. I can tell when someone recognizes me in my hometown, but I was in Orlando, so I wasn’t ready.

After about 15 minutes, one of the guys came over, and said, “Excuse me, but we watch you all the time on ESPN.” I chuckled, and said “Thanks for watching, that’s awesome.” Then I called them fence donkeys or something and they went back to their nachos, thrilled to have shaken the hand of Mark Zona, Bassmaster host and all-around party guy. Those guys also think that Z is a bad tipper.

The most recent fake Zona sighting came while I was standing in line at my favorite chicken place ordering some dinner. An older gentleman was giving me the eye, and I could tell he was going to come over and say something. I figured he listened to me on the radio. He came over. “I love your show.” I said thanks. He continued, “How do you come up with all that funny stuff?” I told him it just comes to me, sometimes it’s spontaneous, sometimes I have it written ahead of time, and sometimes….wait a minute: I said, “What show are you talking about?”

“The fishing show.”

Ah-hah. I told him I wasn’t Mark Zona, but that I knew him, and I love the show too. The guy looked like I just took his four-piece chicken dinner and side order of gizzards, and threw ‘em out the drive thru window.

Another Zona fan, another dream shattered.

I’m in the public eye a lot. People recognize me. I’m a big fish in a small pond. But the Z Train is a 15-pounder in a really big pond. He wins.

I guess I DO look like Mark Zona.