T.J. Simers, who died Sunday at age 73, is best known for his work as a longtime Los Angeles Times sports columnist, but he played a prominent role in ESPN history.
Simers appeared on the network’s popular Around the Horn show’s very first episode in 2002 and held that position for a year.
ATH host Tony Reali paid tribute to Simers on Monday’s show.
“Our family here at Around the Horn would also like to remember T.J. Simers today,” Reali said. “News of his passing this weekend had us all recalling our shared time together.
“You could not tell the story of Around the Horn’s first season without T.J., you can’t tell the story of Around the Horn’s first show without T.J., as he won the ‘Face Time.’
“His unique voice and honesty to himself carried him through a long career, and we pass our condolences to the Simers family and his loved ones,” Reali concluded.
Reali’s tribute might seem perfunctory to some, given Simers’ bizarre departure from the show. In a 2003 interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Simers said he was embarrassed to be on ATH.
Simers claimed ESPN execs didn’t like his remarks and removed him from the show. He claimed they told him they’d consider bringing him back if he said nothing more about the matter.
But he wrote about the situation in his next column.
“Here is the part I never understood,” Simers told The New York Post in 2003. “They want us to go on the air and give a strong opinion. So I give a strong opinion, ‘The show is unwatchable.’ They didn’t like it.”
[Around the Horn; Photo Credit: ESPN]