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New York Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Confessions of ESPN's worst ‘Around the Horn' participant of all time
I own the distinction of being the least successful panelist to ever appear on 'Around the Horn,' ESPN's longtime roundtable debate show. There have been 60 'Around the Horn' panelists. Of the group, 53 won an episode at least once, including my The Athletic colleague Dianna Russini, Mark Cuban and Lil Wayne. Advertisement Seven of us were winless. But no one ever appeared more times without a win than I did. For those unfamiliar with 'Around the Horn,' its format is a group discussion of the day's top sports news, featuring a host — for the last 21 years, Tony Reali — and four sports pundit panelists. Reali awards points for good arguments, and the top point-earner of each episode earns that day's win. When 'Around the Horn' completes its final show Friday, after 23 years and 4,953 episodes, my legacy of futility will be secure. Confession: My unmatched winless record is a point of enormous pride. When new panelists appear on the show for the first time, they inevitably win (a fun tradition that I still managed to botch). I feel like the 1972 Dolphins when the last unbeaten team during the NFL season finally loses. I have a few other confessions to make about my erstwhile 'Around the Horn' career. The roundtable's original premise was to feature top newspaper sports columnists from different regions of the country. When it launched in November 2002, I was about to start a daily column for old 'Page 2' section, and I naively vowed to find my way onto the show. There was one glaring hurdle: I had zero on-air TV experience. When original host Max Kellerman (who left after a few years, making way for Reali) emailed me, a year or so into the show's run, to say that the production team had read and enjoyed my column, he also relayed the most loaded question I had ever received: 'Are you any good on TV?' My honest answer would have been, 'No, but I have always imagined I would be!' I didn't lie — I would say I more elided that truth in favor of an entirely honest enthusiasm to participate, hoping they wouldn't ask that question again. After a few fits and starts, I was scheduled to appear on June 14, 2003. During the lead-up to my first appearance, I tried to simulate on-air TV work to make up for the lack of actual on-air reps. I watched the show every day, transcribing all the topics and running through how I would have responded to them. I used a video camera and taped myself giving glib answers to the lens, rather than staring at notes or looking off to the side, which would instantly reveal that I was a TV noob. Advertisement When the week of the show arrived, my train ride down from NYC to D.C. for the taping triggered a thousand anxious words in a journal. And arriving at the studio the next day to tape the show was terrifying, largely manifesting as flop sweat. Having no experience doing TV means, of course, you have no experience doing TV. 'Fake it till you make it' can be terrible career advice. To this day, I wonder if the producers were in the control room going: 'Oh, god, what have we done?' This was not anything like sitting around the lunch table with my college buddies, debating sports. The content mattered, but there was the complication of creating a TV product: following guidance from producers and directors in your earpiece, not blanking on my overly rehearsed talking points, looking at the camera lens and not, say, compulsively off to the side. (Oops.) But then came the payoff: Being on the show was incredible. At least one self-congratulatory moment of 'I can't believe I pulled this off'; at least one cynical moment of 'Now I can say I have TV experience.' Tons of people emailed or called to say they'd seen me. I envisioned a future as a famous sports TV pundit. It would take nearly a year to get back on the show. If you strolled near Union Square in the spring of 2004, you might have seen a nebbishy 31-year-old fumbling with a cigarette, coughing, possibly muttering to himself. That was me. When I returned to the show in late May 2004, panelist Woody Paige made a joke on-air comparing me to 'Topo Gigio.' Admittedly, it was an impressive pull: Topo Gigio was a popular character in 1960s pop culture — a mouse puppet who appeared on the old 'Ed Sullivan Show.' And Topo Gigio had a very distinctive voice, high and reedy. So did I. ('Still do!' he trilled.) Being a lifelong 'high-talker,' it's not like I didn't know this was how I sounded. I took the gibe in stride — a little friendly hazing of the new kid. Advertisement But I also immediately committed to giving my TV voice more of an edge. And I decided the fastest path was to start smoking cigarettes. You know, rough up the windpipe a little bit, hopefully drop a half-octave or so. It was a deeply flawed idea. I looked like a poser. I felt like a moron. Who starts smoking to advance their barely existent TV punditry career? I would have been better off shouting myself hoarse. My effort lasted maybe a week. Then I abandoned my nascent Camel Light habit and resigned myself to chirping on-air. The GOAT of 'Around the Horn'? Undisputed: It's Woody Paige. From meticulous stats maintained by ESPN's Caroline Willett of the 'Around the Horn' production team, Paige made 2,965 appearances (first all-time by 850 shows), with 689 wins (first all-time by nearly 140). I have a recollection that is part true, part hazy memory, part projection I would very much like to believe is accurate: Shortly after the debut of ESPN's happy-go-lucky morning show, 'Cold Pizza,' the network was figuring out how to bring a more contentious sports debate vibe into the show. The idea was to pair Paige with someone else to debate the big topics of the day in a special segment. Past the haze of two decades, I remember one of the 'Around the Horn' producers telling me — and he might have been idly gassing me up, it's all fossilized in my memory — that he either floated, or wanted to float, my name to ESPN's then-honcho of programming, Mark Shapiro, as a candidate to be Paige's partner. In my naivete, I saw the vision. This was it! Right around that time, Paige and I went to the old ESPN Zone restaurant in New York City for a meal together — obviously, no hard feelings about the 'Topo Gigio incident' — and I would like to think he was determining if we had any chemistry. On the other hand, he might have just been being nice to a younger colleague. My most vivid memory of that meal was that he was approached probably a half-dozen times by fans, and was warm and friendly to all of them, a true mensch. Advertisement This part is entirely speculative, but I like to imagine that Shapiro gave me about 1.7 seconds of consideration for the 'Cold Pizza' role before dismissing the idea. (More likely, it was a Don Draper-esque 'I don't think about you at all.') Fast-forward a few months: Shapiro went with Skip Bayless to pair with Woody, the 'Embrace Debate' era began, 'Cold Pizza' begat 'First Take,' Stephen A. Smith came on board, and I will take no responsibility for the era of sports discourse that emerged from there. My career lasted five episodes — not quite Moonlight Graham, but also not exactly Mina Kimes (304 appearances, 88 wins). After my appearance in August 2004, the panelist slots became harder to get. There were more promising on-air talents to put on air, and I finally realized that my window was shut. Mortifying side confession: For years after that, I couldn't watch the show. It was too painful a reminder of what I had and lost. I have all my episodes on VHS. (VHS!) I have thought about digitizing them, about editing some sort of humorous highlight reel of wrongness (2004 NBA Finals, to a national audience: 'Lakers over Pistons in 4!'), about showing my teenagers that, yes, your dorky dad was once on ESPN. The reality is entirely the opposite: I cannot bring myself to watch those old tapes, let alone share them with my kids or the internet. There is a lingering feeling that I wasn't good enough, a nagging validation of the original imposter syndrome. I like to tell myself that I was simply too early; a few years after my appearances, the original rotation of newspaper-based panelists made room for more ESPN-centric talent — less experienced, internet native. Over 23 years, 'Around the Horn' morphed from a lucrative, gate-kept career benefit for tenured newspaper sports columnists to what I would argue is the most impressive incubator of on-air talent in sports media history. Advertisement Alumni include Kimes of 'NFL Live,' Michael Smith and Jemele Hill of 'His And Hers' (then 'SportsCenter'), Bomani Jones of 'Highly Questionable,' Pablo Torre of 'Pardon the Interruption' (then paired with Jones on 'High Noon'), Kevin Clark of 'This Is Football,' Sarah Spain and Clinton Yates of ESPN Radio, Kate Fagan of 'E:60' and even Adam Schefter, from his pre-ESPN days at The Denver Post (five appearances, two wins). I would like to believe that I'm part of the show's unique legacy of platforming a massive range of voices. The original 'regional' model made way for a vastly more interesting variety of perspectives. Last confession: I snuck over to NYC's South Street Seaport on Tuesday to watch a taping of the show during its final week. They produce it out of D.C., but Reali hosts out of a New York studio, and I wanted to thank Reali, the soul of the show, in person. I found the closure of one last trip to the 'Around the Horn' set appealing. Despite it being 21 years since I last saw him, Reali greeted me like an old friend, and sitting in the studio watching him deftly host the show felt comfortable, not anxious. My 30-something's flop sweat was replaced with a 50-something's fond feelings. It was always my dream to be a national TV pundit. I got to do that. Instead of saying I 'only' got to do that a couple times, I finally learned to say 'at least' I got to do that a couple times. It's a memory I get to savor, and an alumni association I get to belong to as a losing contestant's parting gift. (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic)
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NFL rule changes 2025: Tush push survives, new onside-kick policy and every other new rule coming next season
The NFL has its new rules for the 2025 season. After months of debate, at least one key issue was resolved at Wednesday's owners meetings. While the NFL will look pretty much the same, there are a few key changes coming to the game for the 2025 season. Here's what fans can expect to see once regular-season games start up again in September. One of the biggest and most controversial rule changes on the docket this offseason was the tush push. The Green Bay Packers wanted to ban the play. The Philadelphia Eagles, as you might expect, were very opposed to the idea. In the end, the Eagles got their way. The proposal to ban the tush push — which needed 24 votes to pass — came up short Wednesday. NFL team owners voted 22-10 in favor of banning the play, coming in two votes under the required number for a ban. The Eagles and every other NFL team are free to run the tush push as much as they want in 2025. One issue that passed without controversy involved a change to the league's onside-kick policy. Under the previous policy, teams could declare an onside kick only in the fourth quarter of games. The new policy, which was adopted by the league Wednesday, allows teams to declare onside kicks at any point in the game. The NFL's owners have passed a rule change that would allow teams to declare onside kicks at any point during a game if they are will be kicked from the 34 instead of the 35, per source. — Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) May 21, 2025 The team that declares an onside kick needs to be trailing in the contest. That part of the rule is not changing. As part of the new policy, the onside kick will be kicked from the 34-yard line, and not the 35-yard line, per The Athletic. On Tuesday, NFL franchise owners voted unanimously to allow players to try out for flag football at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The 32 clubs will allow one of their players to play on each country's team. The NFL's international pathway players will also be allowed to participate without restrictions. The change could result in interest from multiple prominent NFL players. Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson was among the first to hype up the possibility after the proposal passed Tuesday, saying it was a dream to win a gold medal for the United States. The final issue on the docket for the May meetings was scrapped at the last minute. The Detroit Lions' proposal to alter how the NFL playoffs were seeded was taken off the table before a vote occurred. The team reportedly did not have enough support for the proposal, and opted to remove it from consideration. It's possible the proposal gets reintroduced in the future, but playoff seeding will remain unchanged for the 2025 NFL season. The tush-push ban, onside-kick change, Olympic eligibility and the Lions' reseeding proposal were the four main issues to be discussed by team owners in May. The league also adopted a handful of new rules and policies at its league meetings in March. Those changes are listed below. The NFL is changing its overtime rules in 2025, but they should look familiar. In 2025, both teams will receive a possession in overtime during regular-season games. It's the same overtime format the NFL used in the postseason in 2024. The league's overtime format became a popular topic of discussion following the Kansas City Chiefs' 42-36 win over the Buffalo Bills in 2022. After tying the game at the end of regulation, the Chiefs won the coin toss in overtime and scored on their first possession. The Bills were eliminated from the playoffs without touching the ball in overtime. Months later, the NFL altered its overtime policy for the postseason, allowing both teams to possess the ball in overtime. If the score is still tied after both teams have a possession, the next team to score will win the game. That policy will now also apply during regular-season games after it was approved in March. Replay review can be used to look at even more plays in 2025. Under the new policy, "hits on a defenseless player, grabbing the facemask, performing a horse-collar tackle, tripping and running into or roughing the kicker" can be reviewed, according to Pro Football Talk. In order for those penalties to be reviewed, officials need to first throw a flag on the play. A coach may challenge the play if they believe that penalty was unwarranted. Coaches cannot use a challenge to try and coax a penalty from an official. If a flag wasn't thrown on a particular play, or if an official missed a penalty, a coach cannot challenge to try and change that. Sony's Hawk-Eye cameras will be used to measure first downs in 2025. The cameras will effectively replace on-field chain gang measurements on crucial plays. The league will use six 8K cameras to track the ball's position on the field. The league expects the change will save roughly 40 seconds compared to manual chain-gang measurements. Anyone concerned the change will eliminate the chain gang completely can rest easy. The NFL said in March it will utilize the chain gang "in a secondary capacity." The NFL is trying to encourage more kick returns. The league will move touchbacks to the 35-yard line in 2025. This is a change from the 2024 season, when touchbacks were brought out to the 30-yard line. The change is aimed at increasing the amount of returned kickoffs around the league. Teams returned kickoffs at a roughly 33 percent rate in 2024. Under the new policy, the league expects that number to jump to between 60-70 percent, per ESPN's Kevin Seifert. A proposal that would allow teams to speak directly to free agents passed during the league's March meetings. The Pittsburgh Steelers proposed the new rule, which will allow teams to speak directly to free agents and schedule travel for those players during negotiating windows. Under the old policy, teams were not allowed to schedule travel for players and could only speak to a player's agent during negotiating windows. The new policy will be adopted on a one-year trial basis and is subject to change after the 2025 season.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NFL rule changes 2025: Tush push survives, new onside-kick policy and every other new rule coming next season
The NFL has its new rules for the 2025 season. After months of debate, at least one key issue was resolved at Wednesday's owners' meeting. While NFL football will look pretty much the same, there are a few key changes coming to the game for the 2025 season. Here's what fans can expect to see once regular-season games start up again in September. One of the biggest and most controversial rule changes on the docket this offseason was the tush push. The Green Bay Packers wanted to ban the play. The Philadelphia Eagles, as you might expect, were very opposed to the idea. In the end, the Eagles got their way. The proposal to ban the tush push — which needed 24 votes to pass — came up short Wednesday. NFL owners voted 22-10 in favor of banning the play, coming in two votes under the required number for a ban. The Eagles and every other NFL team are free to run the tush push as much as they want in 2025. One issue that passed without controversy involved a change to the league's onside-kick policy. Under the previous policy, teams could only declare an onside kick in the fourth quarter of games. The new policy, which was adopted by the league Wednesday, allows teams to declare onside kicks at any point in the game. The NFL's owners have passed a rule change that would allow teams to declare onside kicks at any point during a game if they are will be kicked from the 34 instead of the 35, per source. — Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) May 21, 2025 The team that declares an onside kick needs to be trailing in the contest, however. That part of the rule is not changing. As part of the new policy, the onside kick will be kicked from the 34-yard line, and not the 35-yard line, per The Athletic. On Tuesday, NFL owners voted unanimously to allow players to try out for flag football at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The 32 clubs will allow one of their players to play on each country's team. The NFL's international pathway players will also be allowed to participate without restrictions. The change could result in interest from a number of prominent NFL players. Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson was among the first to hype up the possibility after the proposal passed Tuesday, saying it was a dream to win a gold medal for the United States. The final issue on the docket for the May meetings was scrapped at the last minute. The Detroit Lions' proposal to alter how the NFL playoffs were seeded was taken off the table before a vote occurred. The team reportedly did not have enough support for the proposal, and opted to remove it from consideration. It's possible the proposal gets reintroduced in the future, but playoff seeding will remain unchanged for the 2025 NFL season. The tush-push ban, onside-kick change, Olympic eligibility and the Lions' reseeding proposal were the four main issues to be discussed by team owners in May. The league also adopted a handful of new rules and policies at its league meetings in March. Those changes are listed below. The NFL is changing its overtime rules in 2025, but they should look familiar. In 2025, both teams will receive a possession in overtime during regular-season games. It's the same overtime format the NFL used in the postseason in 2024. The league's overtime format became a popular topic of discussion following the Kansas City Chiefs' 42-36 win over the Buffalo Bills in 2022. After tying the game at the end of regulation, the Chiefs won the coin toss in overtime and scored on their first possession. The Bills were eliminated from the playoffs without touching the ball in overtime. Months later, the NFL altered its overtime policy for the postseason, allowing both teams to possess the ball in overtime. If the score is still tied after both teams have a possession, the next team to score will win the game. That policy will now also apply during regular-season games after it was approved in March. Replay review can be used to look at even more plays in 2025. Under the new policy, "hits on a defenseless player, grabbing the facemask, performing a horse-collar tackle, tripping, and running into or roughing the kicker" can be reviewed, according to Pro Football Talk. In order for those penalties to be reviewed, officials need to first throw a flag on the play. A coach may challenge the play if they believe that penalty was unwarranted. Coaches cannot use a challenge to try and coax a penalty from an official. If a flag wasn't thrown on a particular play, or if an official missed a penalty, a coach cannot challenge to try and change that. Sony's Hawk-Eye cameras will be used to measure first downs in 2025. The cameras will effectively replace on-field chain gang measurements on crucial plays. The league will use six 8K cameras to track the ball's position on the field. The league expects the change will save roughly 40 seconds compared to manual chain-gang measurements. Anyone concerned the change will eliminate the chain gang completely can rest easy. The NFL said in March it will utilize the chain gang "in a secondary capacity." The NFL is trying to encourage more kick returns. The league will move touchbacks to the 35-yard line in 2025. This is a change from the 2024 season, when touchbacks were brought out to the 30-yard line. The change is aimed at increasing the amount of returned kickoffs around the league. Teams returned kickoffs at a roughly 33 percent rate in 2024. Under the new policy, the league expects that number to jump to between 60-70 percent, per ESPN's Kevin Seifert. A proposal that would allow teams to speak directly to free agents passed during the league's March meetings. The Pittsburgh Steelers proposed the new rule, which will allow teams to speak directly to free agents and schedule travel for those players during negotiating windows. Under the old policy, teams were not allowed to schedule travel for players and could only speak to a player's agent during negotiating windows. The new policy will be adopted on a one-year trial basis and is subject to change after the 2025 season.
USA Today
21-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Packers' proposal to ban 'Tush Push' fails to pass during league meetings
Packers' proposal to ban 'Tush Push' fails to pass during league meetings The Green Bay Packers' modified proposal attempting to ban the "Tush Push" play popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles did not receive enough votes from league owners and failed to pass on Wednesday in Minneapolis. According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, 10 teams voted against the proposal. To pass the rule change, the proposal needed "yes" votes from 24 teams, or 75 percent. The final vote was 22 for "yes" and 10 for "no." The Packers' proposal sought to prohibit "an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receivers the snap, immediately at the snap," citing player safety and pace of play concerns. The rule change would have created a 10-yard penalty for attempting the play. Instead, the "Tush Push" lives on. The Eagles, who petitioned hard for the play to remain legal, were clearly happy with the result of the vote: According to ESPN, the Eagles have run the play 108 times since 2022, far and away the most in the NFL. And no team has been more successful running the play, which involves having several players lined up behind quarterback Jalen Hurts and "pushing" the quarterback on a sneak attempt. Shortly after, the Eagles posted a highlight reel on YouTube of over 26 minutes of "Tush Push" plays. Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy has long been in favor of banning the play. He is retiring from his position this summer, so this rule proposal was his final chance to get the play out of the game. The Eagles win again.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tush Push remains alive after owners vote comes up short
Tush Push remains alive after owners vote comes up short originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia The Tush Push is still alive. The Eagles' signature play is staying after the Packers' proposal failed to get the 24 votes required to ban it at the owners meetings in Minneapolis, Dianna Russini of The Athletic first reported. It was close — 22-10, according to multiple reports. Advertisement The Eagles spent their offseason lobbying to keep the play and continued that on Wednesday morning in Minneapolis. Eagles legend Jason Kelce joined Jeffrey Lurie in an effort to keep the play legal. It worked. The Packers first proposed a rule change that would ban the Tush Push earlier this offseason but it didn't get enough support at the owners meetings in Palm Beach, Florida. The proposal didn't get to an official vote in Florida. Opinions were reportedly split 16-16 among the 32 owners and it was clear the proposal wouldn't reach the 24 necessary votes, so it was tabled until this week. The Eagles were aware of the vote coming down this week but they weren't focused on it as they continue their offseason workouts. Advertisement 'We can't control that so we don't even worry about that,' left tackle Jordan Mailata said on Tuesday. 'Right now, we're just installing our schemes. Whatever [offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo] is installing that day, that's what we're focused on. Because worrying about whether they're going to ban the Tush Push or not ain't going to win us another championship. What we do every day here matters.' Just ahead of this week's meetings, the Packers tweaked their proposal to broaden the language and basically reintroduce the rule from before the 2004 season when pushing or pulling of any runner was prohibited. This alteration seemed likely based on comments from Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay a couple months ago. McKay has said that the Competition Committee doesn't like to make rules that affect just one or two teams and it seems like the broadening of the language sufficed for that goal in their minds. Although, if you're the Eagles, this obviously feels like an attack on a play simply because it has been successful. Because of all that, it seemed likely the play would be banned. But the Eagles successfully lobbied to keep it. Advertisement While other teams have attempted the Tush Push, no other team has been nearly as good at it as the Eagles since they began running it frequently in 2022. 'All I know is everything we're doing is legal and it works,' Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said way back in March of 2023. 'And just because people do something that's really good, doesn't mean it should be outlawed.' In their proposal, the Packers cited player safety but NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent is on record saying there were zero injuries on the play in 2024. Some detractors of the play — like Bills head coach Sean McDermott — have spoken about being proactive to prevent future injuries. That was a hard sell for the Eagles. Advertisement 'We've been very open to whatever data exists on the Tush Push and there's just been no data that shows that it isn't a very, very safe play,' Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said in early April. 'If it weren't, we wouldn't be pushing the Tush Push. 'But I think, first of all, it's a precision play. It's very practiced. We devote a lot of resources to the Tush Push. We think we have an unusual use of personnel because we have a quarterback (Jalen Hurts) that can squat over 600 pounds and an offensive line that's filled with All-Pro players. That combination with incredible, detailed coaching with Coach (Jeff) Stoutland, has created a play we can be very successful at. There's other ways of gaining that half yard, that yard. There's quarterback sneaks, other types, but we've been very, very good at it.' It's worth noting that after the proposal was tabled in early April, McKay said the 30-40 minute discussion went beyond player safety and into the realm of aesthetics. When asked about that argument a couple months ago, Lurie scoffed. 'You know what?' Lurie said. 'I remember reading about the forward pass and they said it really was an odd play that is no part of American football. It was controversial when the forward pass came out.' Advertisement Head coach Nick Sirianni has pushed back against the notion that the play is automatic because he knows how hard the Eagles have worked to perfect it. He has also worked tirelessly to protect the play by adding different wrinkles. The Eagles would have likely been very good at traditional quarterback sneaks had this proposal passed. They have a tremendous offensive line and a really strong quarterback in Jalen Hurts. But they don't have to worry about that. Their signature play is sticking around.
