Pablo Torre Finds Out
The Long Goodbye: Tony Reali and the End of “Around The Horn”
Tue, 20 May 2025
He has hosted the same television show nearly 5,000 times — every weekday, at 5 p.m. Eastern, for more than two decades. (More than Oprah or Letterman ever did.) But now, counting down to Friday's series finale, Tony Reali is feeling the love... and revving up with all the gas left in his tank. Pablo says thank you, with a celebration of an endlessly likeable, familial and deeply weird pipeline of sports journalism — plus a special look back at when Stat Boy first took control of the mute button. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the significance of saying goodbye?
How do you say goodbye to something that is your heart outside of your body? I'm about to be showing people that in real time. Right after this ad.
You're listening to DraftKings Network.
We've never encountered this, but your armrest hit this and turned your mic off.
You are not the first person to say we've never encountered this before with something that I do.
And yet, if there's anybody whose voice could overcome the lack of active microphone technology, it would be you. So wait, hold on.
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Chapter 2: What memories does Tony Reali share about his time on Around The Horn?
Set the scene for me because you just finished. So we just finished and we've got Cade 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. Certainly not on air. 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 these things. Thank you, Tony, around the horn. That's my cousin. No. This literally happened today. I just left him. His name is Eric Ingram.
And I said to him, could you get a few more fantasy touchdowns for everybody? But I don't know if that landed. And this was a day, again, Kay Fagan and Jamel Hill are on the show. All my attention is making. Get to a place where they kind of... Yeah, you're bringing back some of the old cast members. Yeah, and they have to be in a position to win.
And by the way, again, a scripted thing that is so well planned and sweetly thought out. And then what do you see? I see a guy holding that sign out there that they just dropped on me. I had no idea. And I said... And the sign says... Yeah, what does it say? Thank you, Tony. I love you. Around the horn, A-T-H. So... On white poster board. On white poster board.
And the O is a target for our logo, which is well thought out. He's holding this like John Cusack. He is. You're right. So it's a say anything type feeling to it. My say anything, I said something. I said, can you give me five minutes? I'll run down there and get it. And this is one minute before we were ostensibly about to go on air for a live to tape show. I mean, we're not on any time.
Now, I was not Maybe I pitched it 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. Ew.
Look at this guy.
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Chapter 3: How did the announcement of cancellation affect Tony Reali?
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.
So I've known we were going to be saying goodbye for now eight months or so. And maybe the first report I didn't know was coming. So then I'm on vacation and I read it. And then, you know. That's a fun vacation. And, you know, and it was terrible because Courtney or Frank were hosting the show, Cronin and Isolan.
And, you know, that's the job of the host to be the one out there to say, I know there's stuff coming out 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.
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 Dursey and Miriam Leger. 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.
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, we'll change their mind type of guy. The pace has not abated. It's been, I think, undeniable how you've hosted. 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. It was an hour before I went on air. You think you could see it in that one? No, absolutely not. And that's my point. And the next day was career day at Enzo's school. What does 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-coordinated by everybody involved. And this is the timing of it all. And this is life. This is what I 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 rated, by the way. There were days where our ratings were better than every show but PTI. Yes.
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Chapter 4: What does Tony Reali reflect on regarding his hosting journey?
So if you look at this guy's log of just like edits he's made to pages, it is around the horn overwhelmingly. Just like every day, updating the panelist stats because… I need one more though. I need something else to show me a breadth of expertise. 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 this. This is art form. These are art forms he's working in right now. And also the page for Pork Tenderloin Sandwich. Hey.
you know, recipes. Good. This conveys. 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. It's really something that... I say that 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 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 do TV. This is one of the things I learned early on. Yeah. But every show I was trying to have an imprint and
elevated to more than just what it was the day before, whatever that was.
Yeah. So like right now we're talking in the tense of the present and we are looking ahead to the conclusion, the series. The series finale of Around the Horn. 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?
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Chapter 5: How did the show evolve over its 23-year run?
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. Right. And then the 20th anniversary, I was not in D.C. So, no, I have not watched my first episode. You're going to play it now, and I'm going to watch it with you. Let's do this together.
I am going to... I'm going to make you do this because I need to find out what that was like. Where am I looking here? We're about to stare into that television together and look into what day?
Can you give us a dateline? Yes, February 1, 2004. Now, this will be my first time hosting as full-time host. I think that's what you have, not knowing what you have. But I had appeared seven times as a panelist. and won two shows. Good winning percentage. It's up in the high 20s. Oh, you're on the Wikipedia page. 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 1, 2004, the day after a Patriots-Panthers Super Bowl. Very good game. Won 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 play. and lead to yet another game-winning Patriots Super Bowl. So that happened, but of course, it's also known for the halftime.
Well, your, I mean, statistical memory bank, which is, I believe, underrated and undercover when it comes to just stuff that you've retained. I'm curious if you retain the vibe of this.
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 Reale. JT saved me 20 bucks on the lingerie bowl. How about that?
It's Around the Horn, the show of competitive banter. Here's Tony Reale.
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Chapter 6: What was the audience's reaction to the show's cancellation?
You sound like you've been hosting this show for a long time.
It's funny you say that. I don't hear that. I hear a little bit of television talk that people try to drill into me to lose what was my accent, right? Okay, so I'm from Jersey, and I had a Jersey accent. My parents are from Staten Island and Brooklyn, and I took on some of that accent. I've been thrown off radio in the Bronx recently. 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. You did wear black leather pants for the record. I will wear your wedding. Your wedding specifically and other weddings.
No, but I see a level of confidence.
I wanted to be on air for a living, Pablo. I've said this as far back as I can remember. I always wanted to be a sportscaster.
But you're going for it. I'm going for it. This is a 24-year-old going for it, 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.
Yeah, yeah. And are getting, 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 5 o'clock on 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 Mayne sitting there? They would have been phenomenal hosts because it was the Super Bowl. 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.
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Chapter 7: What are Tony's thoughts on the legacy of Around The Horn?
Right. I hope some people post those in big glasses. But the whole, you know, still having acne and that sort of thing, you know, that was me at 25. I'm at 28-inch waist. I barely was filling out, you know, those shoulders in that suit, I'm sure.
It's a time machine back to 04 also in which I'm like, oh my god. By the way, the topics…
After 24 minutes of painfully scoreless football, the Pats and Cats turned it on. Jake DeLome 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 DeLome and 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.
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.
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?
Jay, Jay, you're right. It's about entertainment. The first 27 minutes of the game were the most boring Super Bowl ever. Good point. Good point. 27 minutes without a point. 20 penalties. Bad special teams. 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.
So just to get a sense of what the show is, it's fast. Oh, that's high octane. It's a lot of voices. And if you're not already versed in the rhythm and just how to sort all that in your head, it's scary to 99.9%.
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Chapter 8: What does the future hold for Tony Reali after the series finale?
I want to run through a wall right now. I know about you. I mean, I feel... Yeah, so these are maybe things... That fits me. That feels natural to me, what we just witnessed. Absolutely. That is probably close, except for the reality. I'm going to 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 an exclamation point at the end of it. But 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 writers. And I believe that.
I believe that in my heart. But in this first show, I'm definitely selling the show that we got.
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.
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. And I could have said at any point, I don't really ever focus on ratings.
The ratings, by the way, have been great for 20 years.
For 23 years. But yeah, but I never made it about that. But I just made it about this. Somebody said six months ago, they told you the show's getting canceled. You know, are you going to, you know, walk away or something? I got a chance to do international television for the next 100 episodes. I'm still going to do that. I mean, I like that.
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. And by the way, It proceeds.
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