Around Many Horns
Around the Horn debuted on November 4, 2002, which happened to be two days after my 21st birthday. It's probably a pretty good bet that I was hungover after my first weekend being legally able to drink. Also, I was in college. In Ann Arbor, Michigan.1 And it was so long ago that it pre-dates things like Google Calendar. I mean, it almost pre-dates Google! All of that is to say that I'm not entirely sure if I was watching that very first episode. But I was definitely watching some of those first episodes, as I vividly recall watching many episodes hosted by Max Kellerman.2 And he was gone by early 2004, just as I was getting ready to graduate.
Tony Reali, who I, like so many, had mainly known as "Stat Boy" on Pardon the Interruption,3 stepped in and took over the hosting role. And a little over a week ago, he stepped away, as did the show after 22 years and change.
Honestly, I almost didn't watch the last show because I didn't want it to be over. I've been known to stubbornly do this with shows that I never want to end but have for one reason or another. But most such shows are just a few seasons long. And those seasons usually just have ten or maybe a dozen episodes. Around the Horn was on for over two decades nearly every single day over that time span. It's not an exaggeration to say that I didn't just watch the show, I aged with it.
I never got into a habit of watching other long-running programming like late-night talk shows or game shows, but I watched Around the Horn for a massive percentage of my days over these past two decades. And while, yes, I watched a lot of PTI as well, which always came right after it, ATH was the show I loved the most. I watched it more than any other show I've ever seen. And I selfishly don't want it to go away.
To me, it was just the perfect way to unwind while quickly catching up on the major sports news of the day. It was less about the (famously and comically) arbitrary scoring and more about the banter between the various players. It was the ultimate "hang" podcast before those existed. I mean, ATH predated podcasting!
And I'm annoyed because ESPN is ending it just as they're gearing up to launch their new streaming service – also called ESPN, imagine that – which will undoubtedly need as much content as they can get, because unlike a linear television channel, there are no limits on content you can showcase. And actually, more is better. Around the Horn is missing the launch of that service by just a few months.
That seems silly and perhaps shortsighted. Especially since all the players involved – namely Reali – clearly want to continue.
I'm sure there are reasons why ESPN thought it couldn't work as a streaming-only show. And you have to imagine those reasons are financial. But this is also the network paying Stephen A. Smith $20M a year. And Pat McAfee something like $17M a year – for a show he fully owns. Again, they need content for the upcoming ESPN flagship streamer and relative to say, actual sports league rights, ATH has to be insanely cheap to produce. And it has a built-in fanbase built up over 20+ years.
It was also just a weird move to cancel it in the middle of the NBA (and NHL) playoffs. Maybe wait for a week with no major sporting events, like in the doldrums of the summer? I mean they were 47 shows away from 5,000. That's like two months of programming. Maybe call it a day after that?
Anyway, I did end up watching the final show tonight, and I'm glad I did because it was nice. A fine tribute and call back to the history of the program. And it triggered some of my own memories of watching it over the past 20+ years. Because I did go from a kid in college watching it, to a young person who had driven to Los Angeles alone without knowing anyone there watching it, to a web developer in San Diego watching it, to a tech reporter in San Francisco watching it, to an investor with a wife and two kids traveling all around the world watching it. And now I can't watch it any longer and I'm sad about it.
A creature of habit had one of his core habits taken from him.
Still, what a wild run for that show. It pre-dated the iPhone by about five years. I remember what a big deal it was when it got "upgraded" to HD – that was 15 years ago. I mean, it started as a program to highlight sports reporters at newspapers around the country. By the end, almost none of the panelists worked for newspapers – some of those newspapers no longer exist!
One thing that still exists, my very first tweet sent on January 17, 2007: Watching Around the Horn. And the next day. And the next week. And so on. Until now.
1 The night of my birthday – again, my 21st birthday – the Michigan Wolverines beat their rival Michigan State Spartans at Michigan Stadium. I'm sorry, did I say beat? We won that game 49-3 -- Michigan scored 49 unanswered. I was there alongside 111,541 others. That was a great birthday.
2 I was a bit surprised not to see Kellerman back on the final show. I would guess that Reali would have wanted that too -- that just seems like the kind of guy he is -- but Kellerman probably would not, especially after his most recent parting with ESPN. I was less surprised not to see Jay Mariotti return for obvious reasons -- which again, Reali undoubtedly would have pushed to make happen.
3 A show which, incidentally, started about a year earlier than ATH -- just about a month after 9/11. That's wild to think about/back to.