Whenever I see Mina Kimes on ESPN, I often stop and watch for a minute or two, before I realize that I’m always another minute or two from being bombarded by Stephen A. Smith and then regret my decision and walk away. The thing is, I’m intrigued by Mina Kimes and I guess it could be interpreted as like an innocuous celebrity crush. She is after all pretty, however she’s also really well-versed in sports, but where I know her the most from is her long-form writing for ESPN Magazine that’s one of the few things about the glorified NFL Ocho brand that I actually stop and enjoy.
I’ve actually met Mina Kimes briefly before; more like said a few words to her, while she was interviewing mythical gf back in 2015 when we were at the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational in Florida. I had no idea who she was then and I kind of didn’t believe her when she identified herself as an ESPN writer because it was a little unbelievable that they actually had female employees that weren’t Erin Andrews or Rachel Nichols since their own bro-culture is very well documented, but she claimed to be gathering interviews and information about SK Telecom fans and eSports in general, and mythical gf being dressed as SKT-skin Zyra was an easy target to interview.
Months later, the article dropped, primarily centered around SK Telecom’s superstar player, Faker. Although mythical gf’s contributions are merged into the context of the story, it’s abundantly clear that Mina Kimes was in fact a real ESPN writer, and the article itself was an enjoyable read, especially as someone who loves long-form storytelling.
As time progressed, it was apparent that Mina Kimes was definitely on the rise, at least from my limited perspective. Despite the fact that I don’t go out of my way to watch ESPN much less any television other than shit I can stream and watch at my own leisure, it’s pretty impossible to not see ESPN on a fairly regular basis. It’s always going to be on at least some televisions at any restaurant, or any public places that have televisions adorned to walls, it’s permanently on, on a series of televisions at my own gym, and it’s occasionally the channel that the breakroom television is left on.
Occasionally in these instances, I’d walk by and notice Mina Kimes as a guest contributor on the various shows on the network, and recognize her as the girl that interviewed mythical gf in Florida. And as I’d quickly learn, she wasn’t just a pretty face for the network to try and hook viewers with, she clearly knew her shit about sports, and could go to toe-to-toe with anyone on the network from Dan LeBetard, Bomani Jones, Tony Reali and Jalen Rose. Unfortunately, she seems to be a Seattle Seahawks fan, but then again it would be a little unnerving if she seemed a little too appealing.
It goes without saying that one of the most interesting things about her to me is her mixed heritage which seemed to me obviously had to be Korean given the subject matter of some of her stories like the aforementioned Faker article, and then another great read about bat flipping in Korean baseball. It’s not at all hard to confirm it through even the most cursory of Google inquiries. But ultimately, I guess the overall package of pretty girl, part-Korean, sports-buff, long-form writer is what intrigued me, and it doesn’t hurt that the work she produces is often times always good and enjoyable to read.
The thing is, I kind of wonder if Mina Kimes is like one of the girls that Korean moms all across America wish their sons could hook. I could say the things I find appealing about her, but from the Korean mom perspective, I can only theorize the things that they’d be wanting their sons to hitch onto: (part-)Korean, went to Yale, and although she’s not a doctor or lawyer, she still has a job with notable company. Probably wouldn’t give two shits about her sports knowledge or her general personality, as long as the other qualities were as such. Point is, I could see Mina Kimes being a fantasy daughter-in-law for Korean moms out there, and I occasionally wonder if that really is the case?
