Farewell salute to “Around The Horn”. After 23 years and nearly 5,000 episodes (actual, 4,953), ESPN’s “Around The Horn” takes its final bow today. Like MJ’s iconic #23, this show defined an era and changed the game forever
What started as a simple concept—four sportswriters debating the day’s hottest topics while Tony Reali (who took a handoff from the original host Max Kellerman on February 2, 2004) kept score—became the blueprint for modern sports television. ATH didn’t just cover sports; it created a new language for how we argue about them.
The Legacy: ✨ Launched careers and made household names out of newspaper columnists ✨ Proved that personality and passion could be just as compelling as highlights ✨ Made “muting” someone the ultimate power move in sports media ✨ Turned daily sports debates into appointment television
Nov 4, 2002 – Around the Horn debuted on ESPN with host Max Kellerman and a panel of sports writers representing all four U.S. time zones – Jay Mariotti (Chicago Sun-Times), Woody Paige (Denver Post), Bob Ryan (Boston Globe) and T.J. Simers (Los Angeles Times). From Woody Paige’s chalkboard wisdom to the legendary battles between coast-to-coast panelists, “Around The Horn” gave us 23 years of pure, unfiltered sports passion. It was messy, it was loud, and it was absolutely perfect.
Tony Reali didn’t just host a show—he conducted a symphony of sports opinions that somehow made beautiful music out of beautiful chaos.
ESPN Executive Vice President David Roberts highlighted the show’s “remarkable run” while acknowledging Reali and the work of the Rydholm Projects team that produces the show each day from the ABC News Bureau in Washington, D.C.
Thank you, ATH, for:
- Teaching us that the best sports conversations happen when smart people disagree
- Making us all better debaters (and arguers) about the games we love
- Proving that sports media could be both informative AND entertaining
- Giving us a daily dose of pure sports joy for over two decades
The Network will air SportsCenter in the time-slot until a permanent replacement for the cancelled show is determined. The final horn is about to sound, but the impact echoes forever.
#AroundTheHorn #ESPN #SportsMedia #ThankYouATH #GameRecognizeGame
Some shows entertain. Some inform. The great ones do both while changing everything that comes after. Around The Horn was one of the great ones.