Around the Horn host Tony Reali opened the show’s 4,953rd and final episode Friday with a nod to GoodFellas and closed it with an invitation to viewers to find him on his new YouTube channel.
“As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a sportscaster,” he began, tweaking the immortal Henry Hill kickoff to Martin Scorsese’s gangster classic. A handheld camera then followed him around the control room and backstage area of the show’s set at ESPN‘s studios at New York City’s South Street Seaport. To the sounds of The Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me” (best known from Scorsese’s single-take Copacobana sequence), family and crew members got a chance to wave goodbye.
“I grew up on this show,” Reali mused in the final segment (watch it above), noting he came aboard at age 24 following a run as “Stat Boy” on older-sibling ESPN talker Pardon the Interruption. “This show helped me grow up. Maybe some of you feel the same way too.”
The series, which has been a forum for 61 sports journalists over the years, went out with eight highly accomplished voices who made their reputations as newspaper columnists. Guests on the finale included Bill Plaschke, Woody Paige, J.A. Adande, Bob Ryan, Tim Cowlishaw, Kevin Blackistone, Frank Isola and Jackie MacMullan, current and former writers for the L.A. Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post and New York Daily News. Apart from a brief “GOAT debate” about which athlete was the greatest during the show’s 23-year run (LeBron James was the consensus pick), sports took a backseat to sentimental wishes from panelists to Reali and then from Reali to viewers.
“That’s what made this show go: It’s the connection,” he said. “Sports is a connection. We watch it from our youngest days. We laugh and we cry.” Conceding that many viewers might deem the gesture “corny,” the host extended a hand toward the camera and urged them to take it. “Come with me where it’s real,” he said. “More smiles to come.” He then plugged his website, tonyreali.com, and his new YouTube page, Team Reali. “The debate goes on now without us,” he said. “But you pick up where we left off.”
ESPN announced in March that the show would be ending, but has never provided a reason for the cancellation either publicly or behind-the-scenes to Reali or his staff, the host has said. Its ratings have remained steady, though economic pressures continue to assert themselves across the Disney sports division. ESPN recently did away with L.A.-based SportsCenter production in a cost-saving move revealed this week. The company also this year exercised an option to exit its multi-year rights deal with Major League Baseball, citing diminishing returns on its $550 million annual investment.
As far as Reali’s next move, he is under contract with ESPN through August. Beyond that, his YouTube channel will likely be a focus, though Reali has said in recent interview that he has been taking meetings and considering a range of options.
On ESPN, the 5 p.m. hour will still feature PTI, hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, preceded (at least on an interim basis) by a 30-minute edition of SportsCenter.
