LOS ANGELES _ Mina Kimes thinks. Then she counts.
Two TV show appearances, one Madden special, two podcasts for six episodes as the host, three podcasts as the guest. It's all in a week's work for Kimes.
The ESPN analyst seems like the busiest woman in sports media as she films in her impromptu quarantine studio. Kimes shoots pandemic-era TV segments with books behind her, a bright ring light in front of her and a Seahawks helmet perched over her shoulder. The blue dome of plastic represents Kimes' greatest passion as she talks, laughs and shouts about sports on national television multiple times a week.
"I (expletive) love football," Kimes said, sitting on a sunny patio in Glendale this summer. "If I didn't work at ESPN, which I didn't until 2014, I would still be watching a psychotic amount of football for someone that doesn't do this for a living. I hope that never changes."
Kimes turned her love of football into a budding commentary empire in the sport. Along with regular appearances on ESPN's "Around the Horn" and "Highly Questionable," the 35-year-old Kimes hosts a weekly football podcast, is a daily analyst on ESPN's newly cast "NFL Live" and is the Rams color commentator for preseason games.
Kimes, a petite half-Korean woman who unabashedly loves Seattle sports teams and completes the hardest New York Times crossword puzzles in less than nine minutes, seems like an unconventional candidate to be the face of NFL analysis. She knows this. Kimes earns her place in the booth, behind the mic or in front of the camera with passion that bleeds through the screen and fuels a tireless work ethic.
"Mina is not only a very intelligent, creative, enterprising person, she is also somebody who wants to master things," said Pablo Torre, a longtime friend and fellow ESPN commentator. "What she has done in sports, it's astonishing, really."
