This week marked the beginning of a long goodbye to the beloved ESPN debate show Around the Horn, which is another way of saying a long celebration of Woody Paige.
The former Denver Post columnist is the winningest panelist in the history of ATH, and also the personality most associated with the offbeat parody game show. Between his outlandish takes and self-deprecating blackboard jokes, Paige willfully accepted being the butt of the joke on ATH. In doing so, he showed his fellow panelists and the sports media world that the show would not take itself too seriously.
That’s the spirit that younger panelists try to capture, and on Thursday’s episode, college football reporter Harry Lyles Jr. gave a tribute to Paige in his “Face Time” after a victory.
“Whether you loved him or hated him, you always tuned into this show to see what that man was going to say,” Lyles said. “I have to say, you still see Woody’s influence all over sports media in terms of the shows that you watch, the styles that people have. And it gave me a path to know where I wanted to be in my career. Being on this show was one of those things, and Woody Paige, I would not be here without your influence.”
The show’s account on X posted the clip with some additional behind-the-scenes footage of Paige and host Tony Reali.
Paige was not only an original ATH panelist but also one of the first big sports debaters, co-hosting 1st & 10 with Skip Bayless, a show that would eventually become First Take. Mileage may vary on what became of Paige’s pocket of sports media (and his own professional history), but his impact is unmistakable. Paige helped change sports media.
Not only did he inspire young ATH panelists like Lyles, he also — as Lyles noted — developed a niche for a new kind of sports personality. From Jon “Stugotz” Weiner in Miami to Kevin Wildes on FS1 to many others, Paige’s influence is easy to see.
If Reali’s comments in the clip are any indication, the episodes from now through the finale on May 23 are going to be just as much of a celebration of Paige as the show itself.