Around the Horn

Around The Horn is a daily, half-hour sports talk program on ESPN. It airs at 5:00 ET, immediately preceding ESPN's most successful sports talk program, Pardon the Interruption. The show recently aired its 500th episode on March 29, 2005.

Around The Horn follows a standard format. The host (currently Tony Reali) moderates discussions of various sports topics among four different sports columnists and awards points for good arguments. He can also mute columnists, which also subtracts a point from their score. At the end of the second and third rounds of discussion, a columnist is eliminated, until only two are left for the final "Showdown" round. The winner of the showdown is given 30 uninterrupted seconds to opine on any topic.

Around The Horn premiered on November 4, 2002. Its official title is Around the Horn Presented by Nissan.

Contents

1 Rounds 2 Hosts 3 Regular panelists 4 Former panelists 5 Guest panelists 6 Miscellaneous 6.1 All Time Wins 6.2 All Time Appearances 6.3 All Time Win Percentages (minimum 10 appearances) 7 External links

Rounds

• The First Word The relevant sports headlines of the day are discussed.
• Buy or Sell Where the columnists are asked to buy or sell a certain concept, also drawn from the relevant sports headlines.
• Out of Bounds Where the remaining columnists discuss American popular culture (favorite movies, best pop divas, etc.), often including quasi-sports stories.
• Showdown Mentioned above, the two remaining columnists take sides on any sports stories left.

Hosts

• Max Kellerman (November 4, 2002- January 30, 2004)
• Tony Reali (February 2, 2004 - present)
• Zachariah Selwyn (guest host from June 8-11, 2004)

Regular panelists

• JA Adande, Los Angeles Times
• Jim Armstrong, Denver Post
• Kevin Blackistone, Dallas Morning News
• Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News
• Jay Mariotti, Chicago Sun-Times
• Woody Paige, Denver Post/Cold Pizza
• Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times
• Bob Ryan, Boston Globe
• Michael Smith, Boston Globe/ESPN.com columnist

Former panelists

• Michael Holley, Former Boston Globe/Fox Sports Net, WEEI Boston
• Charlie Pierce, Boston Globe/Esquire
• TJ Simers, Los Angeles Times

Guest panelists

• Ron Borges, Boston Globe
• Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks Owner
• Josh Elliott, SI.com columnist
• Mark Kiszla, Denver Post
• Jackie MacMullan, Boston Globe
• John Powers, Boston Globe
• Tony Reali, ESPN
• Adam Schefter, Denver Post
• Dan Shanoff, ESPN.com columnist
• Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com columnist

Miscellaneous

• As ESPN's schedule is made erratic to accommodate the irregular times of the various sports events that it covers, it is quite common for regular shows to be "bumped" by events. To let the audience know of these postponements. most ESPN talk show hosts end the program by telling the audience when their next show will air. Tony Reali idiosyncratically ends the show by saying how much time will elapse before the next show, for example: "We're on a twenty-three and a half hour break."

All Time Wins

1. Jay Mariotti - 113 wins
2. Woody Paige - 107 wins
3. Bill Plaschke - 64 wins
4. Tim Cowlishaw - 57 wins
5. Bob Ryan - 46 wins
6. J.A. Adande - 39 wins
7. Michael Smith - 39 wins
8. Michael Holley - 32 wins
9. Kevin Blackistone - 18 wins
10. T.J. Simers - 10 wins
11. Jackie MacMullan - 6 wins
12. Josh Elliott - 5 wins
13. Charlie Pierce - 5 wins
14. Jim Armstrong - 3 wins
15. Tony Reali - 2 wins
16. Adam Schefter - 2 wins
17. Mark Cuban - 1 win
18. Gene Wojciechowski - 1 win
19. Ron Borges - 0 wins
20. Mark Kiszla - 0 wins
21. John Powers - 0 wins
22. Dan Shanoff - 0 wins

All Time Appearances

Total number of shows: 550

1. Jay Mariotti - 532
2. Woody Paige - 463
3. Bill Plaschke - 226
4. Tim Cowlishaw - 197
5. J.A. Adande - 152
6. Michael Smith - 143
7. Michael Holley - 115
8. Bob Ryan - 109
9. Kevin Blackistone - 95
10. T.J. Simers - 65
11. Josh Elliott - 20
12. Jackie MacMullan - 18
13. Jim Armstrong - 15
14. Charlie Pierce - 13
15. Tony Reali - 6
16. Gene Wojciechowski - 6
17. Adam Schefter - 5
18. Dan Shanoff - 5
19. Ron Borges - 4
20. Mark Kiszla - 2
21. Mark Cuban - 1
22. John Powers - 1

All Time Win Percentages (minimum 10 appearances)

1. Bob Ryan - 42.2%
2. Charlie Pierce - 38.5%
3. Jackie MacMullan - 33.3%
4. Tim Cowlishaw - 28.9%
5. Bill Plaschke - 28.3%
6. Michael Holley - 27.8%
7. Michael Smith - 27.3%
8. J.A. Adande - 25.7%
9. Josh Elliott - 25.0%
10. Woody Paige - 23.1%
11. Jay Mariotti - 21.2%
12. Jim Armstrong - 20.0%
13. Kevin Blackistone - 18.9%
14. T.J. Simers - 15.4%

External links

• The Largest Around the Horn Group on the web (http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/ESPNsAroundTheHorn/)
• ESPN: Around the Horn (http://espn.go.com/eoe/around_the_horn.html)