Around the Horn - Definition and Overview

Around The Horn is a daily, half-hour sports talk program on ESPN. It airs at 5:00 EST, immediately preceding ESPN's most successful sports talk program, Pardon the Interruption.

Around The Horn follows a standard format. The host (currently Tony Reali) moderates discussions of various sports topics among sports columnists from four different newspapers 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 28 October 2002. Its official title is Around the Horn Presented by Nissan.

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 remain columnists discusses 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 (October 2002 - February 2004)
• Tony Reali (February 2004 - present)
• Zachariah Selwyn from Dream Job (guest host from June 8 - 11, 2004)

Regular panelists

• J. A. Adande (the Los Angeles Times)
• Kevin Blackistone (the Dallas Morning News)
• Tim Cowlishaw (the Dallas Morning News)
• Jay Mariotti (the Chicago Sun-Times) - Has "won" the show 98 times as of February 2nd, 2005.
• Woody Paige (the Denver Post) - Has "won" the show 89 times as of February 2nd, 2005.
• Bill Plaschke (the Los Angeles Times)
• Bob Ryan (the Boston Globe)
• Michael A. Smith (the Boston Globe)

Former panelists

• T. J. Simers (the Los Angeles Times)
• Michael Holley (the Boston Globe)

Guest panelists

• Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks
• Tony Reali, the current host, was a guest panelist while Max Kellerman was the host.
• Dan Shanoff, ESPN.com columnist
• Jim Armstrong, Denver Post

External links

• ESPN: Around the Horn (http://espn.go.com/eoe/around_the_horn.html)