For roughly six years now, commenter @RandBallsStu (branding!) has written a weekly feature on this site called "The Hunt Down" in which he tracks down a former Minnesota sports figure about whom you might have forgotten. This regular feature, in its own way, helped introduce the Internet to the genius of Stu, who went on to write regularly for Twinkie Town and to create a defined persona on Twitter, among other things. He lost his non-writing job in late March; that's bad. But when that door closed, he busted through and created a window, landing a writing job at American Public Media/MPR. That's good! He starts Monday, and really this could not make us happier. If his reward for all his Internet work here, in some small way, was a path that led to that job, his risk now is that he has exposed himself as a real human being. Stu's real name is Steve Neuman, something we have known for years but something only started sharing publicly in the past few weeks. As such, it is possible to do what was previously impossible: A Hunt Down of Stu.
We enlisted the help of longtime commenters and Sportive Podcast co-hosts Clarence Swamptown and Jon Marthaler, as well as his wife, Mandy, for this Hunt Down. We've also added a few words. We won't tell you who wrote what, but it might be obvious as you read!
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The Hunt Down
Name: Steve Neuman
Claim to Fame, Minnesota: Proprietor of popular RandBall-branded Twitter account, @RandballsStu, who also writes hilarious fake news for Twinkie Town, makes fun of both former Minnesota athletes and the Green Bay Packers for this here blog, and occasionally chimes in on a terrible podcast.
Claim to Fame, Everywhere Else: His Hunt Down posts at RandBall have regularly caused minor internet kerfuffles, like the time he got Rashad McCants to go off on him on Twitter, or the time that his post on Jeff Brady caused Brady to call up Rand to yell at him. ... Confused his wife's aunt in Colorado when she talked about her (then) boyfriend Stu and then introduced her to Steve.
Where He Is Now: He has a new job in St. Paul. If you work in St. Paul you should probably head over to say hi.
Top 3 Ways Jon and Clarence Helped Stu Get His Job At MPR
3. Little-known Current membership level that allows you to hire your own MPR staffer.
2. Helped transform Stu's resume to a list of skills and accomplishments instead of a five-page screed about the drum production on The Old 97's split EP with Funland.
1. Repeatedly hit the light rail train with our car.
Is He on Twitter: And how!
Has He Ever Been in a Twitter Feud with Patrick Reusse: Probably not. He likes Reusse an awful lot, and besides, he's not the type to Twitter-feud -- except with Richard Greico, with whom he has apparently feuded.
Glorious Randomness: Three of Stu's former basketball coaches have reportedly suggested he seek psychological counseling. Wait, no, that was Rashad McCants again. Sorry about that... Was physically removed from two different churches for repeatedly shouting GO VIKINGS during services... Can tell you your hometown just by gazing into your eyes and knowing your last name. ... Is a noted pineapple-smashing enthusiast. ... Stearns County denied his application to rename his youngest daughter "Piper from the RandBall blog"... Borders on being "that dad" at his daughter's basket ball games. He's a little more calm at his other daughter's dance competitions. .... Hit the Minneapolis Trending Report by trolling Packers fans. ... Once wrote a post about Scott Erickson that prompted Erickson's wife, Lisa Guerrero, to call the Star Tribune newsroom unprompted to offer more details... Always choose "Science" as his final category in Trivial Pursuit. He once completely butchered the word epinephrine while reading a question. ... Allowed lies to conquer the minds of the weak.
