Best Hunt Down Ever? (And really, we can’t believe we were able to find that picture). Stu, take it away, you magnificent [redacted].

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The Huntdown
Name: Russell Shimooka
Claim to Fame, Minnesota: sportscaster for KARE in the mid-‘90s. Notable for his over-the-top delivery of the day’s highlights and hilarious mangling of the names of random Minnesota cities. I recall him having a bear of a time with Wanamingo. Of course, as C.J. amply noted at the time, some of the criticism was of the non-hilarious racial variety (Shimooka’s Asian-American), with bonus death threats as well.

Claim to Fame, Everywhere Else: I’m relating this from my attorney JB, who was an undergrad at Miami when Shimooka was working for Miami’s WFOR. Apparently, there was another sportscaster at the station with a surname of Shwartz, and he and Shimooka were advertised as “The Shports Guys.” No, really. They would also do Good Sports-esque live shots where they would attempt inline skating, parasailing, etc. JB swears that on one of the bits, Shimooka managed to break his arm on live TV. I couldn’t find video of it, but I think this is a close approximation. Your move, Rosen.

Where He Is Now: back in his native Hawaii. If this comment thread on a random right-wing political blog is to be believed, things have been a little rocky for Russell of late. This being anonymous internet chatter, standard grain of salt rates apply.

Glorious Randomness: for all the criticism directed his way, Russell Shimooka has been on Magnum, P.I. You have not. Advantage: Shimooka.

For Discussion: “Darren” Doogie Wolfson recently gave us his take on the best and worst local television sports personalities for the Strib. Leave your thoughts in comments, but know that nobody holds a candle to Ed Karow.

[Proprietor note: The best/worst was tackled in radio version by Rocket a year ago, though it was deemed TOO HOT TO PRINT by us. Shows what we know. Also: Enough about Shimooka … lead us straight to those skateboards with pizazz!].

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Hunt Down, Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.