‘Around the Horn’ ends 23-year-old ESPN-Run with sincere characters
For a long time ESPN -Gastheer Tony Reali took his last round ‘Around the Horn’ on Friday and concludes the sports debate series after 23 years and more than 4,900 episodes.
ESPN determined the end date months ago for the series of half an hour that was a main component of the early evening setup of the Sports Cabler. Reali has not been shy in recent interviews about “around the horn” that have been canceled despite the long term of office.
“Around the Horn” contained a “Hollywood squares” style assembly of prominent sports journalists talking about teams, athletes and sports issues of the day. The scribes competed to score points, as assessed by Reali, by supporting their positions with powerful arguments. Reali came to organize the show as a researcher and statistician for ‘Pardon the Interruption’, the long-term ESPN series organized by respected sports veterans Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon.
“The absence of explanation and the silence said enough for me. And then I might come from a school of thinking that everything is going away in TV,” Reali said in one Interview with Sports Illustrated Published Earlier this week.
Reali used its last minutes to pitch its TonyReali.com -website and YouTube channel. But he closed a predominantly uplifting note, with reference to the impact that the show had on his life. He also weighed the influence that sport can play in popular culture, at his best moments.
Reali opened his last five minutes with a discussion of the rules and statistics that he followed over the years for scoring writers. Then he moved to more personal territory.
“Life scores us all differently every day, with a line book that changes every day. You have to roll well and badly with it,” he said. “Because what works one day may not work the following, but you will work through it, and you will work through it with the good people around you, because we endure this together.”
Reali’s voice became more emotional when he said goodbye.
“I was 24 when I started this show. I grew up in this show. This show helped me grow up. Maybe some of you feel the same too,” he said. “Life came quickly, then slowly as it does, gradually, then suddenly, I shared all the highlights and lows, because I believe that life is best if it is fully shared, and fullness has highlights and lows.”
Reali paid tribute to the fans who have viewed the show appointment for more than two decades. In a play on his last name, the host often emphasized how he was looking for “The Real” in every debate.
“When looking for the real one, I found something that was realistic then real. You shared again because for me that is what this show is going to go. It’s the connection. Sport is a connection. We look from our last days. We laugh and we cry,” he said. “Sport connects people. People connect sports and when it is real, this is the best in the world. But this was even better than that. The notes about your families and your notes about yourself, where you opened for me, that means the most to me.”
Reali closed by admitting: “You are going to call me cheesy” and then he put his hand out of the camera and asked the viewers to “go with me, where it really is.”
In its last 20 seconds, the camera pledged to a monitor that showed the Lifetime Score for some of the most regular “around the Hoorn” guests. Woody Paige, sports columnist for the Denver Gazette, was at the top of the rankings with 700.
“I came up with a statjongen in this world, I’m going to leave it as Stat Boy,” Reali explained. “Thank you very much.”
