Fans of televised sports were treated to a stellar Ron Burgundy performance in Idaho Thursday, as the sports director of a Boise news station put a charge into a Halloween newscast with a spot-on impersonation that included a visit to a high school football game while in character.
The fun started when KIVI TV's news program turned to sports director Paul Gerke -- only to find a man wearing a mustache and a burgundy tie and sport coat, doing arm curls with a dictionary.
"You may have heard me," he told the anchors. "I was at 1,000."
Gerke then launched into a rolling review of sports stories, quoting the famous character from Anchorman and adapting the persona created by comedian Will Ferrell to the local sporting scene.
"Football highlights are about to be on your TV," he told the audience. A return to a game recap was introduced with the phrase, "Meanwhile, the young'uns continued their game of chance."
He went on to deliver an extended forecast, which included the news that "Wednesday, Thursday -- 30 percent chance of those days happening."
When a mention of Ron Burgundy offered a chance to step out of character, Gerke declined.
"I believe that name is copyrighted," he said. "I am not Ron Burgundy."
Gerke' sign-off included the line, "Stay classy, Boise."
Despite many Halloween spoofs and jokes, "Gerke won the day yesterday," declared Awful Announcing, where we spotted the story.
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