Tony Reali says he never wanted the panelists on Around The Horn to feel like they were on TV.
“Tony makes you feel at home,” frequent guest Pablo Torre said standing next to Reali outside the studio where they tape the infamous and now canceled program. “When you’re here, you’re family,” he says, a nod to the famous Olive Garden slogan.
“Only with better Italian food,” Reali quips.
After more than 4,900 episodes and 23 seasons on ESPN, it’s understandable Reali feels like family to his coworkers. He’s been to their weddings, life milestones, and is known for knowing the names of everyone from the security desk to the floor production crew.
Front Office Sports followed Reali at the penultimate taping of his show at ESPN’s Seaport Studios in lower Manhattan on Thursday, less than 24 hours before the show says goodbye for good. On this episode, Torre will be joined by Clinton Yates, Courtney Cronin, and Israel Gutierrez as panelists who are stationed in studio booths all over the country.
Reali shows off the booth where Torre will be working from, a walled-atoff area in the back of the office with a green screen behind a chair, just feet away from the desk area where producers are working. When looking into the camera on air, panelists see a custom video feed of the other panelists along with their scores.
As we enter the main studio, Reali tells us panelists choose the music to be played before the show to set the mood. On this particular day, the control room chose the band Wolfmother, but Reali says there were days when panelists like Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke would select “Dancing Queen” by ABBA.
Next to a giant electronic screen that is used as the set, Reali shows us his infamous podium where he scores and mutes panelists.
Reali says he will write some of his script for the show while on the subway to the studio and speaks with floor crew members to go over shot selection and where he will stand during certain parts of the show.
Producers will go through topic questions and confirm panelist facts with them before they are aired to confirm accuracy.
During the commercial break, Reali would ask if the panelists can name someone who has appeared only once on the show. Someone mentions Mark Cuban. Another says Josh Elliott. Other one-time panelists include rapper Lil Wayne and ESPN NBA reporter Malika Andrews.
As the final moments wind down, Reali announces that none of the panelists will be eliminated and each will get a 30 second goodbye at the end. A producer informs Torre during the break that he will finish with the lowest points per show average in ATH history, beating out Plaschke who has appeared in over 1,750 episodes. (That’s according to the show’s Wikipedia page, which has been updated daily for the last decade by one person.)
Producers ask which panelists would like to have the last word on today’s show. Gutierrez mentions today would be his sister’s 44th birthday; she died last month. It’s decided just minutes before air that he indeed will be the last panelist to speak to honor her memory. Gutierrez will finish with 228 wins, good for eighth in show history, a few ahead of Boston Globe legend Bob Ryan.
After Gutierrez’s tribute and the episode ends, there is not a dry eye left in the room.
Reali tells the panelists for the final time the show has been an honor of a lifetime and the gratitude he has for them.
With just one more episode left, Reali won’t tip his hand about how he’ll handle the final show. Social media posts suggested that Bob Ryan, Bill Plaschke, J.A. Adande, Woody Paige, Jackie MacMullan, Frank Isola, Tim Colishaw, and Kevin Blackistone were among the final panelists. “You will just have to tune in and see,” Reali says.
