The Long Goodbye: Tony Reali and the End of “Around The Horn”

Summary

Pablo Torre Finds Out

Episode: "The Long Goodbye: Tony Reali and the End of Around The Horn"

Date: May 20, 2025
Guest: Tony Reali

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Episode Overview

This episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out is an intimate, sometimes emotional retrospective and oral history on the end of ESPN's legendary panel show Around The Horn (ATH), featuring an in-depth conversation with its long-time host, Tony Reali. As ATH prepares to air its final episode after 23 years on May 23, 2025, Torre explores the emotional, professional, and cultural legacy of the show with Reali—reflecting on its origins, Reali's tenure, the family-like bonds it fostered, and what its ending means for sports television, its fans, and Tony himself.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power and Hardship of Goodbyes

• Being Allowed to Say Goodbye:

  • Tony reflects on how rare it is to get the chance to properly say farewell, especially "on air."
  • Quote [00:06]:

    "How do you say goodbye to something that is your heart outside of your body? I'm about to."
    (Tony Reali, 00:06)

• Life Advice Interlaced with Sports:

  • Tony notes how, through ATH, he gave viewers "homework assignments"—encouraging them to tell those they love what they mean, applying lessons from TV to real life.
  • The show becomes a vehicle for shared humanity.

2. ATH’s Unique Place in TV and Sports Culture

• Longevity and Format:

  • ATH’s 23-year run is extremely rare in TV. Its host personally scored arguments, muted panelists, and built a rabid following.
  • Quote [05:57]:

    "Very few television shows last for 23 years. And exactly one has asked its host to personally score the arguments... and literally muting four, often Hall of Fame journalists who are beaming in from newsrooms all across America."
    (Pablo Torre, 05:57)

• Community and Family Feel:

  • ATH isn’t just a show but a found family for journalists and fans alike, as Torre and Reali recount their intersecting histories and the intergenerational mentorship the show fostered.

3. Facing Cancellation After Decades On Air

• How the Team Learned ATH Was Ending:

  • ESPN decided to "do something different" with ATH's timeslot, with no specific cause beyond wanting to evolve.
  • Reali found out during vacation, felt the burden to support colleagues who had to address rumors on air.
  • Quote [07:11]:

    "So I've known we were going to be saying goodbye for now, eight months or so...That’s my weight that I should carry. So I felt bad about that."
    (Tony Reali, 07:11)

• Hope, Resistance, and Inevitable Acceptance:

  • Tony admits he kept trying to "change their mind" by delivering great shows, even as he knew the end was set.
  • The official press release yielded a tidal wave of love and nostalgia online.
  • Quote [09:36]:

    "I operated for months thinking... we'll change their mind. I'm a will change their mind type of guy."
    (Tony Reali, 08:28)

4. The Episode's Heart: Revisiting Tony’s First ATH Show (2004)

• Watching His First Episode with Pablo
  • A vulnerable, humorous, and sometimes cringey journey back to 2004—when Reali, fresh from New Jersey with an accent and imposter syndrome, nervously took the host chair after Max Kellerman.
  • The audio montage and Reali's reactions highlight how much both he and ATH have evolved.
  • Quote [18:02]:

    "You sound like you've been hosting this show for a long time."
    (Pablo Torre, 18:02)
    Tony:
    "It's funny you said that. I don't hear that...I'm hearing a little bit of this, you know, which is what a 25 year old is trying to do to sound like other people want someone in that position to sound. So this is the first window of imposter syndrome. I'll say."
    (Tony Reali, 18:06)

5. The DNA of 'Around The Horn'—Improvisation and Intention

• Tony recollects how his approach changed the show: less "abrasive", more about breathing and letting people "cook", always with an eye on collaborative, competitive joy.
• Mute button as love language:
  • "The mutes come with smiles, just like the murderers come with smiles.” (Tony Reali, 27:57)

6. Moments of Absurd and Human Connection

• The Community of Viewers and Superfans:

  • Stories of the famous ATH Wikipedia page editor, "Trekkie Elo" (Rick Vendel II), who dedicated years to updating stats—representing the show's passionate grassroots fandom.
  • Quote (from Rick's voicemail) [44:13]:

    "I've been watching ATH and PTI since 2003...I'm humbled by your words. After 35 years, I've been feeling like life has passed and left me behind. But whenever I get into something, especially if it's sports related, I always delve into their statistics and history. That's just one reason I'll miss Around the Horn."

• On-Audience & Panelists:

  • Anecdotes: man with celebratory sign outside the studio for Tony’s “birthday”; panelist Woody Paige’s mix-ups and running commentary; Pablo’s own first call from Reali (voicemail replayed).

7. Mentorship and “Passing It On”

• Reali describes his love for fostering young journalists—noting his own journey began with Bob Ryan at Fordham, and he’d later pay it forward to others like Clinton Yates and Pablo himself.
• Emphasizes the way ATH elevated sports debate as an art form, rooted in both respect and mutual admiration.

8. Show’s Ending and Tony’s Future

• Reali openly addresses his anxieties and mixed feelings about scripting the finale, job hunting, and performing vulnerability.
• “Dad’s gotta find a job…I want to go out on my terms on Horn, but…I’m spinning multiple plates at one time.” (32:34)
• Imagining his last moments on set: "I don't think I'm gonna be a mess, but my kids are going to be there, and I'm gonna be, you know, trying to. Trying to have the best moment possible. How do you say goodbye to something that is your heart outside of your body? I'm about to…" (Tony Reali, 41:42)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Goodbyes and the Show's Heart:

  • "How do you say goodbye to something that is your heart outside of your body? I'm about to." (Tony Reali, 00:06/41:42)

• Reflecting on ATH’s Unique Format:

  • "Exactly one [show] has asked its host to personally score the arguments that his panelists have on screen, handing out points and congratulating a winner and literally muting four, often hall of Fame journalists…"(Pablo Torre, 05:57)

• On Mentoring and Family:

  • "You’ve shown me this love. And I know you want to get it out of your body." (Tony Reali, 37:27)
  • "I love those special episodes, all of the special stuff...It's a reminder of something that I have taken and been inspired by, which is to take the show seriously, but not yourself." (Pablo Torre, 38:12)

• Mute as Love Language:

  • "The mutes come with smiles, just like the murderers come with smiles." (Tony Reali, 27:57)

• On the Fandom:

  • “I've been watching ATH and PTI since 2003...I always delve into their statistics and history. That's just one reason I'll miss Around the Horn.” (Rick Vendel II aka Trekkie Elo, 44:13)

• On ATH’s Scale & Legacy:

  • "That number [4953 episodes] is more than the Oprah Winfrey Show. And that number is more than Late Night with Letterman...That means a lot to someone like myself." (Tony Reali, 34:01)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• 00:06 — Tony’s opening reflection on saying goodbye
• 05:57 — Pablo contextualizes ATH’s legacy
• 08:28 — Tony explains how he learned of the cancellation
• 15:43 — Pablo and Tony re-watch Tony's first ATH show (2004)
• 18:02 — Discussion of Tony’s early imposter syndrome and growth
• 27:52 — The “mute” as a unique signature of the show
• 34:01 — The meaning behind ATH’s episode count and cultural scale
• 41:42 — Tony on facing the final episode and public vulnerability
• 44:13 — Voicemail from “Trekkie Elo,” the show’s passionate Wikipedia editor

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Tone and Style

• Warmth and Earnestness: The episode is marked by Tony's transparency with his emotions, frequent expressions of gratitude, and a willingness—not always common among sports hosts—to show vulnerability.
• Self-deprecating Humor: Both Reali and Torre riff on the absurdities and quirks of ATH (from “mutes as love languages” to failed voice calls), keeping the tone accessible and relatable.
• A Sense of Ritual and Community: Running gags, rituals (the sign outside the studio, longstanding Wikipedia edits), and deep bonds between panelists and audience are recounted with awe.

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Conclusion

This episode is a moving, occasionally raucous, and always insightful send-off for one of sports television’s most idiosyncratic and beloved shows. It’s a testament to Tony Reali’s stewardship, the dedicated community around ATH, and the show's singular contribution to both sports media and pop culture. If you’ve never watched Around The Horn, this conversation chronicles the show's evolution, its quirks, and the rare, loving ecosystem it built—and why goodbyes in media, and in life, matter so deeply.

Final quote (Tony Reali, 46:24):

"We're gonna find out together."

ATH’s legacy? A spirited, humanizing, joyful—and soon, deeply missed—community.

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Transcript

[Pablo Torre]

Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre. And today we're going to find out what this sound is.

[Tony Reali]

How do you say goodbye to something that is your heart outside of your body? I'm about to. About to be showing people that in.

[Pablo Torre]

Real time right after this ad. We're listening to DraftKings Network.

[Tony Reali]

Encountered this. But your armrest hit this. Yeah. And turned your mic off. You are not the first person to say we've never encountered this before with something that I do.

[Pablo Torre]

If there's anybody whose voice could overcome the lack of active microphone technology, it would be you. So wait, hold on. Set the scene for me because you're you. You just finished.

[Tony Reali]

So we. We just finished. And we've got Kade on, who I haven't seen in five years. We got Jamel on, who I haven't seen in three years. And I want them to be able to have the experience that they want on this show. I want them to. I want to play remember when. I want them to feel the love. Because a big part of what the last couple of months have been for me is being able to say goodbye. You don't always get the chance to say goodbye. Life will not give everybody the chance to say goodbye. That's a very sad part of people's lives.

[Pablo Torre]

Certainly not on air.

[Tony Reali]

That too. So a big thing I'm feeling right now is tell the people in your life what they mean to you. Right. And apply this to everybody across the world. Do this at home. These are homework assignments I'm passing out in the middle of our little sports banter show. Right. So we had all this stuff going on and I've, you know, put in the work to make the show work for Kate and Jamel today. And then they show me this video of the guy outside hanging up, you know, doing the sign thing and Good Morning America today show type thing. It's got my name written all over it and hearts and all the these things. Thank you, Tony. Around the horn, we pay. That's my cousin. No, this literally happened today. I just left him this. His name is Eric Ingram. And I said to him, could you get a few more fantasy touchdowns for everybody but you? I don't know if that. That landed. And this was a day again. K Fagan and Jamel Hill are in the show. All my attention is making get to a place where they. Where they kind of.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, you're bringing back some of the old cast.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah. And they have to be in a position to win.

[Pablo Torre]

And by the way, with the scripted thing that is so well planned and sweetly thought out. And then what do you see?

[Tony Reali]

I see a guy holding that sign out there that they just dropped on me. I had no idea. And I said.

[Pablo Torre]

And the sign says.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, what does it say? Thank you, Tony. I love you. Around the horn. Ath.

[Pablo Torre]

H on white poster board.

[Tony Reali]

On white poster board. And the H, the O is a. A target for. For our logo, which is well thought out.

[Pablo Torre]

He's holding this like John Cusack.

[Tony Reali]

He is that. You're right.

[Pablo Torre]

So it's a say anything type feeling to it.

[Tony Reali]

My say anything. I said something. I said really want to get on. Can you give me five minutes? I'll run down there and get. And this is one minute before we were ostensibly about to go on air for a live. It's a tape show. I mean, we're not on any time now. I was not. I mean, maybe I pitched in a way that I was asking for permission. I wasn't asking for permission. I was going to leave no matter what. And I was going to go hug this guy and I was going to go invite him back to the show. Tony, I'm releasing you, but make it five. No more than five. Okay. All right. This is a great moment. All right. I'm coming down and I'm hugging that guy. Look at this guy.

[Pablo Torre]

That is the coolest thing that's happened in say you're going to get my three years doing the show. That is amazing.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, that was really cool. And it's his 40th birthday and he's from Birmingham, Alabama. Oh, my God. Florida before that. Let me introduce you here. This is the most special day. He already knew Jamel and Kate were on, so he's already prepared for this. Jamel Hill. We got some great pictures. I set him up with some good, good slice afterwards. And I think he had a good day. I think he had a good birthday. And if we can have a good birthday or we can have a good day, that's a good start. We thought you were a paid actor. We are thankful for that. We thought you were my cousin for the first few minutes. So we do have a couple drifters staying in the studio at the moment.

[Pablo Torre]

And also people who are genuinely. In the case of the man who just texted me Woody Page, someone who psychology requires the padded wal you have provided for 20 years. Absolutely.

[Woody Paige]

I've been over there and watched them and they. There's a lot more intercourse during the game between the coaches and the.

[Tony Reali]

There's been. There's been more what? There's been more discourse yes. More discourse between. Well, I recognize what that is, too, because Woody is now viewing the last two weeks of around the Horn, I think, in a existential life sort of way. And I need to be there for somebody who I care about in that way.

[Pablo Torre]

And so I just need to jump in here to properly explain what exactly is happening right now. For all the people who are not already familiar with a television show called around the Horn, which is. I'm not naive. Is likely the reason a lot of you first discovered me, because I've been a part of this show and its family of panelists since October 2012. But the show itself has been airing at 5pm Eastern on ESPN and every single weekday since November 2002. Meaning I was watching this show for a decade before I ever spoke a single word to Tony Reali, AKA Statboy from Pardon the Eruption, who had taken over as host from Max Kellerman in 2004. And now around the Horn is ending this Friday, May 23rd, 2025. And so what I just need you to know here, in case you didn't know any of this, is that very, very few television shows last for 23 years. And exactly one of them actually has asked its host to personally score the arguments that his panelists have on screen, handing out points and congratulating a winner and literally muting four, often hall of Fame journalists who are beaming in from newsrooms all across America. I'm looking at the around the Horn Wikipedia page where the panelist statistics are updated by somebody every day by the day. Yeah, I don't think it's the same guy with the sign, but also can't rule it out. An investigation is ongoing. More on that later. But maybe the most surreal part of around the Horn's history, even more surreal than Woody Page's league leading 687 wins, is what happened on March 4 when ESPN announced publicly that the show was gonna get canceled. And it wasn't getting canceled for any explicit reason in particular, by the way. Our bosses in Bristol, Connecticut simply wanted to do something different with that time slot. They wanted to evolve it. And while this was breaking news that day in March to millions of sports fans, it wasn't to the people behind the scenes.

[Tony Reali]

So I've known we were going to be saying goodbye for now, eight months or so. And maybe the. The first report I didn't know was coming. So then I'm on vacation and yeah, I. I read it.

[Pablo Torre]

And then, you know, it's a fun. That's a fun vacation.

[Tony Reali]

And, you know, when it was Terrible because Courtney or Frank were hosting the show, Cronin and Isola, and that, you know, that's the job of the host, to be the one out there to say, I know there's stuff coming on about our show. We don't know anything, but we're happy to be here today. That's the job. That's my weight that I should carry. So I felt bad about that.

[Pablo Torre]

But to be clear, this wasn't just Tony's weight to carry, as much as he felt that way. All of this also fell on our coordinating producer, Aaron Solomon, and producers Josh Bard and Jeff Weiner and Caroline Willett and Tierney Corrigan, not to mention our directors, John Dersey and Miriam Lege, most of whom, incidentally, have been working quietly on around the Horn out of Washington alongside, Pardon the Interruption at Ride Home projects for two decades now, only to realize now that this clock was ticking and ticking and ticking down to one final goodbye.

[Tony Reali]

But even with that, I operated for months thinking, well, we'll do good shows. We're still on in 120 countries. We're going to perform and we'll change their mind. I'm a will change their mind type of guy.

[Pablo Torre]

The pace has not abated. It's. It's been, I think, undeniable how you've hosted.

[Tony Reali]

I mean, I'll tell you this. The day I got the meeting, the meeting now, and I'm being told to my face that, you know, the show is going away was an hour before I went on air. And. And then.

[Pablo Torre]

You think you could see it in that one? You could.

[Tony Reali]

No, absolutely not. And that's my point. And the next day was career day at Enzo's school. What is Enzo want to be? A sportscaster. Not just a sportscaster. The host of around the Horn. Okay. And then that night, I'm hosting an event for the network, big event conference, people paid, money, tickets, whatever. Super. Well, and this is the timing of it all, and this is life. This is what, I mean, mean to show everybody this is life. And you got to still do the job. You got to perform. So I think then I found out, and I still don't think the press release came out. So then you go back to another day when a press. So now I've known for months, and now, you know, we're still doing the show. We were doing good things, and there were a number of times when we went viral for certain things and the show was rating. There were days where our ratings were better than every show. But pti. Yes. You know, and as has been the case. As has been the case all but, but. So it was nothing new, but I just made him. Somebody's going to change their mind here. It's, you know. Right. I mean that would only stand to reason. We're doing good stuff. And then, you know, the press release comes out and now, you know, it's, it's really out there. But this is where it got me. Just inundated with just love and, and nostalgia and 6 million views on a ESPN PR release. You know, Timothy Chalamet is doing something amazing on college game day and it's getting a great number, six figures, whatever. And we're at 6 million because the show, which had already been out there rumored, but it is now official. And that made me think this is a long way to tell you that there is gas in the tank. There is a place even for old videos and old shows. People ask me about wherever I go next. And this is still tbd. Dad's gotta find the job.

[Pablo Torre]

But the larger thing that you're describing is one of the most profoundly impactful and truly weirdest families that has been assembled with you as the. Again, when you're here, your family like this has been only with real Italian food. Yeah, of course. Just the highest standard Italian food that I know that you definitely co sign when I make the reference. But just the idea of me being somewhere on a list in which there is some element.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, you. And I grew up with this too. Right. I talked about how we just feel for the elders in our life. But I interviewed Bob Bryan when I was at Fordham 20 years of age on a radio call in show that had no business being broadcast past the 5 meters of, of the studio. Yeah, but it was a 50,000 watt station in New York and Bob was magnanimous with his time and came out and did an interview with a, with a kid and, and I got to work with him thousands of times after that and pay it forward. I did that for Clinton Yates. I was on his radio show when he was at Miami of Ohio. And then I got to work with him thousands of times on television. You have been elbow to elbow in, in probably locker rooms and clubhouses or press boxes with some of the people. Then you got to, you know, you shared bylines, not maybe the same story, but in Sports illustrated with Jackie McMullen and then there you are, you're. You're on the show with her. It's an amazing part of this industry and it's something that I think this show more than any other show really put in the forefront. We, We, We. We celebrated what that was. I affirmed it. I was intentional about how I affirmed it. You know, Tony and Mike would have worked with their five good minutes guests on any occasion. But I. I was wanting to show how the thread of something we believe in sports journalism won't go away, even if newspapers are going away.

[Pablo Torre]

I marvel at a lot these days in retrospect, including the fact that somehow I have done the show 604 times.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

Just like, by the way, I. As a. As a side investigation on this episode, I'm looking at, like, who's been making these updates, just so you're aware.

[Tony Reali]

Okay.

[Pablo Torre]

Every day there's a guy whose username is Trekkie. Elo.

[Tony Reali]

That's. Elo is a band I kind of dig, though. I'm down with that. I didn't. I don't mind Star Trek. I like the Chris Pine ones more recently. But Elo I can get down with.

[Pablo Torre]

So if you look at this guy's log of just like edits he's made to pages.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

It is around the horn, overwhelmingly. Just like every day.

[Tony Reali]

Updating the panelist stats because one more, though, I need something else to show me a breadth of. Of expertise.

[Pablo Torre]

And he has made edits to the following pages in addition. Number one, El Dorado, the Electric Light Orchestra album. He made a change to the British musical film from 1974, Son of Dracula. So he's just very on top of it.

[Tony Reali]

This is art form. These are art forms he's working in right now.

[Pablo Torre]

And also the page for pork tenderloin sandwich.

[Tony Reali]

Hey, you know, recipes. Good. This conveys. This is. This works for me. That absolutely works for me. I think that's a wide breadth. Food, music, theater, and the art form of around the horn.

[Pablo Torre]

It's. It's really something that I say that.

[Tony Reali]

Because people laugh when I say that. This is how I've dealt with it in my head for 23 years, Pablo. I was. I elevated it to something that it clearly wasn't for some people. In my head, it was. It absolutely was. Every day was a movie. Every day was. Was something that I was trying to give. Turn it up to 11 on. And that's not my energy. I have to lower my energy to two.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. So you're naturally.

[Tony Reali]

This is one of the things I learned early. Yeah. But. But every show I was trying to have an imprint and elevate it to a. More than just what it was the day before. Whatever that was.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. So, like, right now we're talking in the Tense of the present. And we are looking ahead to the conclusion the, the series.

[Tony Reali]

The series finale. Around the horn.

[Pablo Torre]

I am not ready to think about that yet. We will in this episode. I think what that finale would, could, will be like. But I just need to ask you before I subject you to this, when was the last time you watched your first episode?

[Tony Reali]

I have not watched my first episode. I don't think I even allowed myself to stay in the room when it was taken in for the 10th anniversary.

[Pablo Torre]

Right.

[Tony Reali]

And then the 20th anniversary I was not in D.C. so no, I have not watched my first episode. You're gonna play it now and I'm gonna watch it with you. Let's do this together.

[Pablo Torre]

I am going to. I'm gonna make you do this because I need to find out what that was like. I need.

[Tony Reali]

Am I looking here?

[Pablo Torre]

We're, we're, we're. We're about to stare into that television together and look into what day. Can you give us a date line?

[Tony Reali]

Yes. February 1, 2004. Now this will be my first time hosting as full time host. I, I think that's what you have, not knowing what you have. But I had appeared seven times as a panelist.

[Pablo Torre]

Right.

[Tony Reali]

And won two shows. Good winning percentage. That's up in the high 20s. And you're.

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, you're on the Wikipedia page.

[Tony Reali]

And then I hosted it probably four times in those first 200 episodes as well. Season one, Max had a sty in his eye one day. I literally wore his clothes on tv. So that happened once. There may have been two or three other opportunities that I hosted the show. So this is not the first first, but this is definitely February 1st, 2004, the day after Patriots Panthers Super Bowl. Very good. Game one in. In the last minutes as the Patriots did for all their Super Bowls. Panthers scored a late score. John Casey, the kicker, left footed kicker for Carolina kicked the ball out of bounds which is a terrible thing to do in that instance. And then enabled Brady to have a short field and, and lead to a yet another game winning Patriots Super Bowl. So that happened. But of course it's also known for the halftime.

[Pablo Torre]

Well your, I mean statistical memory bank which is I believe underrated and undercovered when it comes to just stuff that you've retained. I'm curious if you retain the vibe of this.

[Tony Reali]

These four things I know are true. Make no mistake, Super Bowl 38 was the best super bowl ever. I know Joe Montana and Tom Brady is. Well, he's Joe Montana, The Super Bowl MVP might have been Justin Timberlake. And I'm Tony Realy. JT saved me 20 bucks on the lingerie bowl. How about that? It's around the horn, the show of competitive banter.

[Bill Plaschke]

Here's Tony Reali.

[Pablo Torre]

You sound like you've been hosting this show for a long time.

[Tony Reali]

It's funny you said that. I don't hear that.

[Jay Mariotti]

I hear.

[Tony Reali]

I hear a little bit of television talk that people try to drill into me to lose. What was my. My accent? Right. Okay. So I'm from Jersey and I had a Jersey accent. My parents are from Staten island in Brooklyn and I took on some of that accent. I've been thrown off radio in the Bronx, which is an incredible. I put that on my Wikipedia page. Wfuv. It wasn't necessarily. I just wasn't polished enough. And in the near future for this young man here, he's going to be working with a voice coach brought in by Bristol to work on his accent or delivery or just polish. But I'm hearing a little bit of this, you know, which is what a 25 year old is trying to do to sound like other people want someone in that position to sound. So this is the first window of imposter syndrome. I'll say. Second is I don't wear suits. I'll wear it at your wedding. Yeah, but I'm not going to wear suits. I mean the job dictated that dress for the job you like.

[Pablo Torre]

You did wear black leather pants for the record.

[Tony Reali]

I will. For your wedding, your weddings and other weddings.

[Pablo Torre]

No, but I see a level of confidence.

[Tony Reali]

I wanted to be on air for a living. Pablo, I've said this.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes.

[Tony Reali]

Far back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a sportscaster.

[Pablo Torre]

But you're going.

[Tony Reali]

I'm going for it.

[Pablo Torre]

This is a 24 year old going for it.

[Tony Reali]

Yes.

[Pablo Torre]

Knowing that this at bat in which, by the way, the rules of this insane television show must be explained to people who perhaps are tuning in for a post super bowl analysis and are getting.

[Tony Reali]

I think it's the highest rated show we'll do all year. They're getting a new host who they will know from the show after because I really nail 15 seconds a day. So I'm about to do 30 minutes of the highest rated show that we're going to have at five o' clock in a network with. I could go through the list now, but you know the list. Why isn't Stu Scott sitting there? Why isn't Linda Cohen sitting there? Why isn't Kenny Main sitting there? They would have been phenomenal hosts because it was the super bowl and everybody was either in Miami or in Connecticut. And it came very quickly that somebody needed to be in D.C. and couldn't get there. And now I'm hosting Around the Horn. That's how it happened. This is sneaking in through the fire escape. But you're telling me I sound like somebody who at least was faking it. Then, then I'll make it.

[Pablo Torre]

If I'm watching this show, my first thought is, okay, yeah, what's, what's all right.

[Tony Reali]

I grew very late and you know this about me, Pablo, but I was five ninety pounds well into junior to senior year.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, you were, you were young, 25 there. School yearbook photos.

[Tony Reali]

Right, that I hope some people post those. And big glasses. But the whole, you know, still having acne and that sort of thing, you know, that was, that was me at 25. I'm at 28 inch waist. I, I, I barely was filling out, you know, the, those shoulders in that suit.

[Pablo Torre]

I'm sure it's, it's a time machine. Back to 04 also in which I'm like, oh my God. By the way, the topics.

[Tony Reali]

After 24 minutes of painfully scoreless football, the Pats and Cats turned it on. Jake de Lome and Tom Brady led two supposedly vanilla offenses back and forth like Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson. Out toughing, out gunning, and out cooling each other until Brady and the Pats were the conquering heroes and Deloitte Carolina the valiant but beaten runners up. Guys, was Super Bowl 38 the greatest super bowl of all time. Around the horn, we go to Woody Page.

[Woody Paige]

After celebrating all night with my friends from New England, I have given this careful deliberation on the trip back to Denver, and my answer is an unqualified no. It's not even in the top five.

[Jay Mariotti]

It's 2004. It's for the masses. The super bowl is for everybody. It's about an entertainment extravaganza starting with halftime, like it or not. And then you build up to this great rush at the end. What more could anybody want?

[Bill Plaschke]

Jay, Jay, you're right. It's about Entertainment. The first 27 minutes of the game were the most boring Super bowl ever. 27 minutes without a point, 20 penalties, bad special teams.

[Tony Reali]

I think it was the greatest Super bowl ever. Three 80 yard drives by the Panthers in the fourth quarter. You can't beat that. Next topic.

[Pablo Torre]

So just to get a sense of like what the show is. Yeah, it's fast.

[Tony Reali]

Oh, that's high octane.

[Pablo Torre]

It's a lot of voices. And if you're not already versed in the rhythm.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

And just, like, how to sort all that in your head a lot. It's scary. To 99.9.

[Tony Reali]

I want to run through a wall right now. I know about you. I mean, I feel. Yeah. That. That. So these are maybe things that fits me. That feels natural to me. What we just. Wit.

[Pablo Torre]

Absolutely.

[Tony Reali]

That is probably close, except for the reality. I'm gonna make my ruling at the end. Based on my opinion, this was the greatest super bowl ever, which I can't imagine I felt at that time. And I was probably thinking, make tv. Or I was probably thinking, it needs a extra, you know, an exclamation point at the end of it. But take. Put that to the side. That's my pace. That's my energy at that stage in my life. That was enough conflict for me. That's something I would be craving. Because if you went back and I've done interviews for the last month, if I went back and thought about it, I would have said I needed to evolve the show to fit me a little bit better because I didn't want to be as abrasive or I didn't want the show to be around. These four things I know are true, which is how we started. I want it to be about these four sports raiders. And I believe that. I believe that in my heart. But in this first show, I'm definitely selling the show that we got.

[Pablo Torre]

And also everybody on screen, you can hear it, let alone see it. If you're just watching or listening, it feels like this is very important to them.

[Tony Reali]

It was important. It is important. We're on in 120 countries. This is a pep talk I give everybody. We're on in 120 countries right now. I could have said at any point. I don't really ever focus on ratings.

[Pablo Torre]

The ratings, by the way, have been great for 20.

[Tony Reali]

For 23 years. But. Yeah, but I never made it about that. But I just made it about. This is a. Somebody said six months ago, they told you the show's getting canceled. You know, are you gonna, you know, walk away or something? I got a chance to do international television for the next hundred episodes. I'm still gonna do that. I mean, I like that.

[Pablo Torre]

But also, the energy is fundamentally contagious. If you, the host, are setting the pace at a certain level, and everybody is trying to fit in. The natural human instinct is a bit of, like, the sympathetic nervous system is man. We are after it right now.

[Tony Reali]

Right.

[Pablo Torre]

And. And by the way, it proceeds out.

[Tony Reali]

Of bounds where it's all inbounds and today, all nude. Easy, Woody. Janet Jackson made every jaw in America drop when she allowed Justin Timberlake to unbear her right breast as the halftime show ended. Yowza. The NFL and CBS were quick to run from the incident. Timberlake called it a wardrobe malfunction. Guys, besides your animal instinct, what was your reaction to 2004's leading TiVo moment? Jay?

[Jay Mariotti]

Well, the NFL was punked. I mean, this is Janet getting attention. It's the oldest trick in the book. But you don't do this in front of all these people. And I thought about something Plasky would as a moralist. I thought about kids for a minute there, but I also realized kids watch MTV. They're more accustomed to this than we think. The NFL's at a crossroads. They got to figure out what they want to do in future halftime shows.

[Woody Paige]

Jabroni, you and Reverend Bill used to sneak around with Sears catalogs in national geograph magazines.

[Tony Reali]

Sears catalogs, National Geographic, a long time ago.

[Woody Paige]

We're talking about a country that needs to catch up with the rest of the world and stop being so prudish.

[Tony Reali]

So that's the biggest story in the world at that moment.

[Pablo Torre]

The day after a thing that, by the way, like for to fast forward to the present tense for a second, like that story and who's responsible and Justin Timber, like finally owning up to any amount of it.

[Tony Reali]

It took decades, decades. But I was there as a 25 year old in my first show parroting things that, you know, maybe I would not want to say right now.

[Pablo Torre]

Sure. But the point being that there is something closer to a representative conventional wisdom in what it was like to react to that at the time. I remember it at the time.

[Tony Reali]

It's impossible for me to kind of not winset that. I'm okay with it. Of course, because I said it on national tv. I think it was such a big story and there would be no way to avoid it. I mean, that is the dawn of YouTube. The dawn of YouTube came about because on the super bowl, on international television, we had that moment. And then the next day people were like, how can we see it? How can we see it? And they literally invented YouTube out of it for that one clip. So now I'm on TV in my first show talking about it. I was happy to say we evolved out of that.

[Pablo Torre]

So it's the time capsule dynamic.

[Tony Reali]

It's a time capsule. You got to live with it. You did it. I hear my voice doing a little bit of this and a little bit.

[Pablo Torre]

Of That I did hear and see some Seinfeld in that.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, what's the deal with that? I also can't believe how mean I was to Plaschke over and over again. The mutes were firing in fast and furious.

[Jay Mariotti]

The whole country.

[Tony Reali]

I don't really care. Exactly. Okay. 37 points in the fourth quarter. What a finish on a kick. Oh, outstanding game. I think it was. Wait, hold on. Hold on. You wait. You hold on. You know, there's a lot of Traffic cop. I'm. I'm proud of that. I can bring that back for the last episode if we want. I can go like that. I mean, why did I evolve as a host who. Who went a different way? The scoring changed to not be as high scoring. People got more time to cook instead of less time. I don't know.

[Jay Mariotti]

I.

[Tony Reali]

A lot of it was intentional. I wanted more space to breathe. You know, I always say it's not just having an opinion, it's proving why your opinion is the right opinion in that moment. That's the actual way I think of the show and what I would tell somebody if they were going to appear for one day.

[Pablo Torre]

Well, look, I always considered the mute button to be a love language.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, me too. The mutes come with smiles, just like the murderers come with smiles. You know, there's a man who walks around.

[Pablo Torre]

Phone case.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, yeah. I got this after he died. Felt very sad. You know, people's lives touch you. I got hats, T shirts and. And cell phone covers of Ray Liotta.

[Pablo Torre]

Man, I. I want to go to showdown because I want to see what that was like.

[Tony Reali]

Okay. Yeah, this was. I think. Do we still do trivia?

[Jay Mariotti]

I'm not sure.

[Tony Reali]

Let's see. Next topic. David's turn. Wonder why the league is losing money. That's why people pay good money to.

[Woody Paige]

Come watch these athletes play. They try to take over the game.

[Pablo Torre]

Shaq, we're on live.

[Tony Reali]

Even after scoring 36 points on Sunday, evidently Shaq was not happy with the way officiating was. And the Lakers win over the Raptors. Meanwhile, LeBron James went for a career high 38 points Sunday against the Wizards. What was the most overlooked performance this weekend? 15 seconds each, Bill. Go.

[Bill Plaschke]

As a man in LA with children. I think Shaquille Neal needs to apologize to the city of LA for those profanities. That aside, his was the base performance because it's the best game of the year and it shows. He's back. He's surly, he's nasty again. He's yelling about the referees again. All good for the Lakers. A huge thing this week.

[Jay Mariotti]

It was one big weekend of indecent exposure. I don't want to talk about Shaq and his foul mouth. Give him soap. Janet Jackson, the rest of it. How about appreciating he said you like Janet Jackson. We haven't talked about. He has a great game and not a soul in America has it on the radars.

[Tony Reali]

A great game against the Wizards. All right, come on. Point to Platsky. It's a sweep. Shaq is back. And the winner is Bill Plasky. Fifteen seconds of yours. Go.

[Bill Plaschke]

I'm going to mention one person we haven't even mentioned on the show so far. Adam Vinatieri. How come he's forgotten here? He may be the greatest pressure athlete of any sport of our era. I don't care. I want to see Tiger woods win the Masters with a putt. 40 foot putt, with everybody yelling at his face, doing it twice in three years. I want to see Michael Jordan do it. Very great athlete.

[Tony Reali]

Folks, we're on a 23 and a half hour break. See you Tuesday. Around the Horn.

[Jay Mariotti]

I told you that last week.

[Tony Reali]

Around the Horn is a presentation of espn, the worldwide leader in sports. No paper toss. Oh, that's fine. I grew into that one a little bit. I am stunned that that, that's watchable. I would put that on a YouTube page right now. I want to go to a, a place where, where there's a community reach as well. Where I'm talking to the people who saw this show for 23 years and have always told me I want to do around the Horn with you. Well, I want to do it with you. Couldn't do it on ESPN because I could understand why they would want professional sportscasters. But wherever I'm going next, there'll be a community forum where I'll go around the home with you guys. I love that. I would love that opportunity.

[Pablo Torre]

You know, I hadn't heard you say all of that and of course you would. Yeah, of course. Because you give more time to sports fans strangers than any person I've ever met.

[Tony Reali]

That was the job all along. Honestly. I've worked for ESPN for 25 years and I feel in my bones even despite. Or maybe they've tweaked the company line now meet sports fans anytime, anywhere or something like that.

[Pablo Torre]

Used to be on like the business cards.

[Tony Reali]

It's on the business cards. And then every five years you get a new company slogan. I was doing that before. That's in my heart. That's who I am. That's the only way I want to do whatever it is I do. Meet people absolutely where they are. And when you find me there, I'm going to be exactly who I was on tv.

[Pablo Torre]

I want to actually ask about that, about looking ahead to the last show. How vividly you are trying to imagine it. Are you trying to imagine what it's like?

[Tony Reali]

I have. I've thought about it. I've written scripts starting five months ago. There's a possible. I'm going to bring a call back to one of my favorite things I've ever done on television. It's a surreal feeling. So how do you say goodbye to a show I've watched how shows have said goodbye. This is talk about.

[Pablo Torre]

You're studying game Frazier.

[Tony Reali]

For 11 years you've heard me say I'm listening. Well, you were listening too. And for that I am eternally grateful. Good night, Seattle. And. And cheers. You know, we're closed. Lights turn out.

[Pablo Torre]

Sorry, we're closed.

[Tony Reali]

I think there's beauty in finale. I'm almost too actively thinking about it, but I've been a little bit strapped because I've said this before. Dad's got to find a job and I'm. I'm taking. I'm taking all the opportunities now to imagine what the future is and not. You know, I want to go out on my terms on horn, but I have. I'm red Panda right now. I'm spinning plates. I am spinning multiple plates at one time. And I'm recognizing. And people in my life are also worried about that. Are you burning it too much right now?

[Pablo Torre]

I am one of those people. Just because I know your approach is going to be with the energy level that was established on. On that show that we relived. And it's also. It's also, of course, something that if I had ever faced what you are dealing with, which is basically saying goodbye for months to something.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah. Yeah. That's an odd feeling, isn't it?

[Pablo Torre]

Everybody who does this show is blown away most by the people who come up and talk to you about it still.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

That's their point of reference on you. Because one of the things you can't recreate at this time in human history is the scale, the accumulated tonnage of people who got truly welcomed into a community.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

That was every weekday for.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah. And I. And I felt that more than anything, I valued going to work every day and putting in the number. I love that number. 4953 is where we sign off that that number is more than the Oprah Winfrey Show. And that number is more than Late Night with Letterman. And that number is more than Jerry Springer. That means a lot to someone like myself.

[Pablo Torre]

What I want us to recognize is that what you oversaw is something that is so massive in ways that cannot be replicated today by anything that replaces it. A and that we need to acknowledge that as much as you can measure it online in ratings, it's the human of, like, this person who devotes their life to editing the Wikipedia page. The people that stop you on the street still today, that will stop you on the street without knowing that the show is gone.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

And you know that's coming.

[Tony Reali]

Oh, yeah, I know that's coming too. Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

Right. And this is the collected audience that can only come around. We hosted anything 4953.

[Tony Reali]

Yes. Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

And so the thing on my phone that has survived.

[Tony Reali]

Yes.

[Pablo Torre]

Since I'm gonna just make sure I get my own dates. Right. God. October 23, 2012. Right. This is 6:37pm running.

[Tony Reali]

I'm walking out of the set of PTI. I am just at Kornizer and Wilbond, probably complaining about something. And then I'm like, oh, let me call Pablo.

[Pablo Torre]

I am somebody who has done some television but is terrified by the call.

[Tony Reali]

That you send me. Straight to voicemail. You've admitted this. Let's say it again. You didn't pick up the phone.

[Pablo Torre]

I was. I was on a block in Williams.

[Tony Reali]

There were other people. That goes a different way. I didn't answer the call. You didn't literally didn't answer the call.

[Pablo Torre]

I didn't answer the call, but I. I did listen to what you left immediately. And I heard this.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, Pablo, this is Tony Reali from espn. Got your number from my producer Harry, and I just wanted to call you and tell you how excited I am to have you on the show this week. And I was going to give you the rundown of how we do things and how much fun we have and how much you can enjoy working with some of the guys we have. So we can talk. We cannot talk till Thursday. It's no big deal. All right, buddy. Take care.

[Pablo Torre]

It was the voice that I think of when I think about earnestly, like, the thing that absolutely changed my life.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah. We all have those calls in our life. It's amazing that you have it saved. I don't have.

[Pablo Torre]

There's a reason I.

[Tony Reali]

During the super bowl, you know, that I got.

[Pablo Torre]

Kept it and that.

[Tony Reali]

And that's. It's a wonderful thing that you do have that time capsule. I think, you know, one thing I always want to be aware of is that that's, that was going to be a moment for you. Right? You were going to be on tv, you're going to be on ESPN and your mom was going to be watching, your pop was going to be watching.

[Pablo Torre]

I was going to, I was, I was imagining superimposing myself onto, you know, what felt like the fighter pilot cockpit. That is Woody Page in Denver or Tim Kalashaw in Dallas, or Jay Marioti in Chicago, or Bill Plaschke in this case, from the remote set of the Super Bowl. It was terrifying. And it ended up being one of the single greatest things that ever happened to me that prove to me you.

[Tony Reali]

Have shown me this love. And I know, I know you want to get it out of your body.

[Pablo Torre]

And this is great.

[Tony Reali]

You don't have to tell me. I need.

[Pablo Torre]

I didn't save this voicemail because I was like, one day, 13 years from now, this would be a good podcast. But it is the thing that everybody. I know who I am now friends with, who came to my wedding, who. I still, I mean, you're right. The, the underrated line in that voicemail is you're really gonna like the people that you're gonna work with. And it's, it's. Yeah, maybe that it's a family. Yeah, they remind me of that. But the thing that comes through, that has always come through every time you do an April Fool's episode, every time I am being muted to minus. I love those special episodes, all of the special stuff.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

It's a reminder of something that I have, I have taken and been inspired by, which is to take the show seriously, but not yourself.

[Tony Reali]

I think every show likes to, like to feel that it does that. Right. It was a big part for me. Self deprecating, you know, in some ways. But that was also built into the PTI fabric as well. Wonderfully. You know, Tony's getting dressed up, so we, we didn't invent any of that. But I, I definitely pushed it. I wanted to push it, you know, again, so. So that's part of it. And that will also be evident in the next place.

[Pablo Torre]

I'm gonna briefly bring it back to Ricky Vendel ii, AKA the man who seems to be behind, as I have been doing my investigation, Trekkie Elo. He is followed by one person in common with me or you, I must imagine, and that is Woody Page. And I asked Woody, are you the.

[Tony Reali]

Are you the mole?

[Pablo Torre]

Hi, Woody, it's Pablo. Do you have any idea who Trekkie Elo is? And he responds, no idea, Pablo, but we've all met 50,000 people. Yeah, I will see and get back to you. I've got three birthday parties and a Shriners parade schedule. And I don't, as always, I have no idea if any of that is a joke.

[Tony Reali]

Well, that stuff is the other part of it. Right. Kalashaw had the great line where he said, I'm still not familiar what show he's doing, but we're doing around the horn. And that's. And that's. That's great. You know, and I always appreciated that we had, you know, somebody who wanted to be a little performative in a cartoon character and somebody who wanted to be a professor of journalism or, you know, is now like Blackstone and somebody who was as dry and hilarious as Kalish. I loved him. I know I loved him.

[Pablo Torre]

It's remarkable, the bonds I will have for the rest of my life. It's the most obvious thing to say that I brought you on the show to say thank you for changing my life, for being my friend, for being somebody.

[Tony Reali]

You've said this so many different, different.

[Pablo Torre]

Ways that has been unrivaled in sports television, that has not simply diversified national sports television, but also, like, found just, I don't know, ways. Ways to do this in a. In. In a way that feels humane, which is all underrated at the moment in which we live. But mostly. Mostly, I. I just wanted to find out how you.

[Tony Reali]

How I was doing. I know people. People are just checking in, being like, how are you? I mean, it's so. So I know I put myself out there in ways, and I've shown, you know, you know, the ability to be vulnerable on camera, which, you know, it's. I don't even mean to say on camera, just vulnerable in life. Right. And people, you know, are just like, yeah, how you doing? You know, I. You know, I. I am. I'm gonna be surprised about how I. How I am on TV that day. I think I am, because I have no idea. I don't think I'm gonna be a mess, but my kids are going to be there, and I'm gonna be, you know, trying to. Trying to have the best moment possible. How do you say goodbye to something that is your heart outside of your body? I'm about to. About to be showing people that in. In real time.

[Pablo Torre]

So at this point in the episode, you might be noticing, in case you are a longtime fan of around the Horn, exactly how much we haven't even gotten to yet. I mean, there's an entire section we could have done about just the times we all got to learn from hall of Famer Bob Ryan in between segments, by the way, not even on air, including earlier this year. And you know what other word is misused? Dynasty.

[Tony Reali]

Oh yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

The point is there's only been one dynasty in American sports, true dynasty, and that's the Yankees from 1923 to 1964.

[Bill Plaschke]

And the other one, the Celtics don't even call Celtics.

[Pablo Torre]

No, because the point being you have to have a handover of power. It's not the same people involved the Celtics were Russell was there for. We also could have talked about the time that Lil Wayne was a Panelist back in 2009.

[Tony Reali]

Here I am. For all my years and days I've been afraid of one player. This player is Mr. LT but now Mr. LT Lawrence Taylor has agreed to be on Dancing with the Stars. Today I announce I am no longer afraid of Mr. LTT little twinkle toes.

[Pablo Torre]

And then there's also the time that Woody Page mounted a last second horn beating comeback to knock out J A Adande in a debate about Tiger woods back in 2011. With Michael Smith and Bomani Jones both cheering this on, I'd like to make.

[Woody Paige]

Six points here, starting with number one. That was a better field than people would think of at the end of the year. The fact that he finished strong on 17 and 18, the fact that he's got his confidence back after the President got the way he played, the way that he could go into next season.

[Tony Reali]

Got him. That's a 95 yard drive right there.

[Pablo Torre]

All of which brings me to one more final bit of tape. One more voicemail actually, that I did need to play for you today as we sound the horn on this investigation that I told Reali was still ongoing when he was visiting me in our studio. Because I'd like you to meet Trekkie Elo.

[Tony Reali]

Hi Pablo.

[Rick Vendel II (Trekkie Elo)]

My name is Rick Vandal ii, AKA Trekkie Elo, whose family is from Northern Indiana, Chicago, and I used to live in SoCal and I'm the one who's been updating the Irano on Wikipedia page for the last 8 to 12 years. I've been watching ATH and PTI since 2003. Thanks producers Tony Reali. We page Bob Ryan along with all the other panelists. I'm humbled by your words. After 35 years, I've been feeling like life has passed and left me behind. But whenever I get into something, especially if it's sports related, I always delve into their statistics and history. That's just one reason I'll miss Around the Horn.

[Pablo Torre]

And make no mistake, Rick Vendel ii, AKA Trekkie Yellow, is not alone in this sentiment. He is an avatar for it, not unlike Eric from Alabama and his sign that he brought to the seaport. These are the people who help comprise this enormous and unusually devoted community of people that around the Horn has built mute by mute over 23 years. And it's really hard not to think about them at the end here, because when people ask me what it is that I find most confusing about around the Horn going away like this, what I find myself most mystified by is the fact that you would take a show, a brand that lots and lots of people know about, and discard it. Particularly because we do live in this insanely fragmented era when it is so hard to ever achieve anything like that level of scale again, let alone favorability, let alone family. Which brings me back to my conversation with Tony Reali and what it's going to be like to say goodbye. So what this is telling me then, because I will be there whether you want me there or not. And we're gonna find out together.

[Tony Reali]

We're gonna find out together. So that if that is the overarching Pablotore finds out, we're gonna have to have to say if he finds out that day, May 23, which is a.

[Pablo Torre]

Hell of a tease. A hell. A hell of a promo.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

For 4,953. My God, Tony. I'll see you. I'll see you there.

[Tony Reali]

I'll see you there, man.

[Pablo Torre]

This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out a Meadowlark Media production and I'll talk to you next time.