Tuesday’s edition of ESPN’s Around the Horn marks the last show of the final full year of the longstanding program before it ends in the summer of 2025.
Perhaps fittingly, longtime panelist Woody Paige reigned victorious in the annual “Tournament of Champions” of 2024.
The Christmas Eve edition of Around the Horn featured four panelists, Paige (highest win percentage), David Dennis Jr. (most appearances), Kevin Clark (most wins), and Courtney Cronin (automatic qualifier by winning the Halloween edition of ATH) who all held a claim to being named the champion of Around the Horn in 2024.
But considering Paige has been a panelist on the show since its inception in 2002, it was only right that Paige would be the winner of the final show of its final year.
Since it was the final show of the year, the panelists were judged by Tony Reali on their picks on a number of “Best of” categories for the year of 2024, including Athlete of the Year, Team of the Year, and many more.
It came down to Paige and Cronin in the final showdown round. And thanks to his take that the Yankees’ fifth inning collapse in Game 5 of the World Series was the “Biggest Oof” of 2024, Paige ultimately secured his 681st career victory on the show.
After the win, Paige got 30 seconds to send a message to fans listening at home, which he largely used to thank those still supporting the show with kind messages in light of the show’s imminent end in 2025.
“Thank you very much, Tony,” said Paige. “2024 has been a great year in sports. From the WNBA to the Super Bowl to the World Series. But 2025 is going to be even better for all of us. Especially for Around the Horn. We appreciate all those people who have reached out to us and said how much they like this show. We appreciate that. And we are gonna go on bigger and better this year.”
Someone like Paige who has been a mainstay at ESPN for over two decades certainly deserves this kind of a moment where he got to speak about all of the great times spent on the show in 2024.
Even though the show will be coming to an end in 2025, he sure seems ready to enjoy the time he has on Around the Horn at the start of 2025.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.