Woody Paige

Last updated

Woody Paige
Born (1946-06-27) 27 June 1946 (age 78)
Occupation Sports columnist
Years active1964–present
Website woodypaige.com

Woodrow Wilson Paige Jr. (born June 27, 1946) [1] is a sports columnist for The Gazette , [2] author, and a panelist on the ESPN talk show Around the Horn . He was a columnist for The Denver Post for 35 years, and co-host of Cold Pizza and its spin-off show 1st and 10 until November 2006, when it was announced that Paige would return to the Post. [3] Paige is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame committee and is a Baseball Hall of Fame voter.

Contents

Early life and education

Paige wrote for the Whitehaven Press in 1963 while still in high school. He later attended the University of Tennessee and joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity in 1964.

Career

After graduating from UT he went on to write for the Knoxville Journal, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, and the Rocky Mountain News of Denver. Paige was honored with an Accomplished Alumni award by University of Tennessee in 2012. [4]

The Denver Post

Paige joined The Denver Post in 1981. [5] In 2001, he reported that an employee at Invesco, which had the naming rights to the Denver Broncos stadium, Invesco Field at Mile High, claimed that the nickname for the stadium inside the company was "The Diaphragm", after its shape which slightly resembled a contraceptive device with the same name. The CEO of the company threatened Paige and the Post with legal action over the allegations but had to retract the lawsuit when it was discovered that the story was true. [6]

Around The Horn

Paige is a panelist on Around The Horn , an ESPN talk show. [7] He is both the winningest and losingest panelist on the show. Each segment, he displays a chalkboard with a humorous quote such as "I'm chalk-bored". He had a friendly rivalry with fellow panelist Jay Mariotti prior to the latter's dismissal from the show; the two currently host a sports podcast titled "Unmuted", which references the mute button employed on ATH.

Cold Pizza

In July 2004, Paige announced that he was taking a one-year leave from the Post to join ESPN2's then-debuting Cold Pizza (a daytime-TV "morning show"-style program that was only loosely grounded in sports, aimed also at female viewers). On the show, he was featured in a segment where he bantered with sports writer Skip Bayless. Paige continued to contribute to Around the Horn during this time. [8]

The Gazette

Paige left The Denver Post in 2016. He began writing a sports column for The Gazette the same year. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Around the Horn</i> US television program

Around the Horn (ATH) is an American sports roundtable discussion show, conducted in the style of a panel game, produced by ESPN. The show premiered on November 4, 2002, as a replacement for Unscripted with Chris Connelly, and has aired daily at 5:00 p.m. ET on ESPN ever since. The show has been recorded in New York City since September 8, 2014, and has had over 4,000 episodes aired as of 2020. The program emanated from Washington, D.C., where it was located in the same facility as Pardon the Interruption (PTI). Production still is based in Washington, D.C. The moderator for the show is Tony Reali, who has hosted the program since 2004, replacing Max Kellerman, and also served as the statistician on Pardon the Interruption until the show's relocation to New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Ryan</span> American sportswriter (born 1946)

Robert P. Ryan is an American sportswriter, formerly with The Boston Globe, and author. He has been described as "the quintessential American sportswriter" and a basketball guru, and is well known for his coverage of the sport including his famous stories covering the Boston Celtics in the 1970s. After graduating from Boston College, Ryan started as a sports intern for the Globe on the same day as Peter Gammons, and later worked with other notable Globe sportswriters Will McDonough and Leigh Montville. In early 2012, Ryan announced his retirement from sports writing after 44 years, effective at the conclusion of the 2012 Summer Olympics. His final column in the Globe was published August 12, 2012.

The second season of Dream Job, the ESPN American reality television show that searches for new on-air talent for the network, began on Tuesday, September 14, 2004. Like the show's first season, this edition was also looking for a new anchor for SportsCenter. A talent search for the show had begun in late June, 2004. ESPN anchor Stuart Scott returned to host the new season.

<i>Dream Job</i> 2004 American TV series or program

Dream Job is an American reality television show made by ESPN, which began on February 22, 2004. It was the network's second reality show, with two editions of Beg, Borrow & Deal having previously aired. However, this was the first reality show from a network to offer its winner an on-air place on one of its shows. The show was hosted by Stuart Scott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skip Bayless</span> American sports columnist and commentator (born 1951)

Skip Bayless is an American sports columnist, commentator, and television personality. He is well-known for his work as a commentator on the ESPN2 show First Take with Stephen A. Smith, a show which he left in June 2016. Bayless debuted his show Skip and Shannon: Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe on Fox Sports 1 on September 6, 2016, which he led for eight years until he left on August 2, 2024.

William Paul Plaschke is an American sports journalist who has written for the Los Angeles Times since 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Cowlishaw</span>

William Timothy Cowlishaw is an American sportswriter. He is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News and a regular panelist on the ESPN sports talk show Around the Horn.

<i>Cold Pizza</i> American TV sports talk show

Cold Pizza was an American television sports morning talk show that aired weekdays on ESPN2 from 2003 to 2007. The show's style was more akin to Good Morning America than SportsCenter's straight news and highlights format. It included daily sports news, interviews with sports journalists, athletes, and personalities, and an assortment of other sports and non-sports topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Jackson (American football, born 1951)</span> American football player and broadcaster (born 1951)

Thomas Louie Jackson, also referred to as "TJ" or "Tommy", is an American sports commentator and former professional football player. He played as a linebacker for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1973 to 1986. He was a member of Denver's "Orange Crush Defense" and helped lead the Broncos to the AFC Championship in 1977 and 1986. After his playing career ended, he enjoyed a successful 29-year run as an NFL analyst for ESPN. He was given the Pete Rozelle Award for excellence in broadcasting by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange Crush Defense</span> 1970s Denver Broncos defense

The Orange Crush Defense was the 3–4 defense of the Denver Broncos during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The National Football League (NFL) team adopted the 3–4 defense during the 1976 season, and the nickname "Orange Crush" for the team's defense was popularized early in the 1977 season by sportswriter/broadcaster Woody Paige.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Blackistone</span> American sportswriter

Kevin Blackistone is an American sports journalist and professor for Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, as well as a frequent panelist for ESPN's Around the Horn. On radio, he appears as a frequent guest co-host on the Sports Reporters on DC's ESPN980. As of May 6, 2019, Blackistone has 301 wins on Around the Horn.

Jim Armstrong is a sportswriter who worked for the Denver Post. After joining the paper in 1994, he covered the Colorado Rockies, Denver Broncos, Denver Nuggets and was a columnist at his termination 2011-11-04 in a sports betting scandal. He also writes for America Online and has appeared on ESPN's Around the Horn in place of colleague Woody Paige. Previously he worked for the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the Racine Journal-Times. Armstrong has received numerous accolades including Colorado Sportswriter of the Year on three occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Finebaum</span> American sports journalist

Paul Finebaum is an American sports author, former columnist, and television-radio personality. His primary focus is sports, particularly those in the Southeast. After many years as a reporter, columnist, and sports talk radio host in the Birmingham area, Finebaum was hired by ESPN in 2013 for its new SEC Network. He produces a radio show out of the network's regional base in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1st and 10 was a sports talk and debate television program spun off from ESPN2's Cold Pizza morning show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Schefter</span> American sportswriter and reporter (born 1966)

Adam Schefter is an American sports writer and reporter. After graduating from University of Michigan and Northwestern University with degrees in journalism, Schefter wrote for several newspapers, including The Denver Post, before working at NFL Network. He has worked as an NFL insider for ESPN since 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Mariotti</span> American sports journalist and commentator

Jay Mariotti is an American sports journalist and commentator who currently hosts the sports-related podcast Unmuted. He previously spent 17 years as a Chicago Sun-Times columnist and eight years as a regular panelist on the ESPN sports-talk program Around the Horn.

Sportsjournalists.com is an Internet forum frequented by journalists who cover sports. In 2006, it was named one of the best non-corporate sports web sites by Sports Illustrated. The forum has been directly involved in several sports journalism controversies:

Matthew J. Berry is an American writer, columnist, fantasy sports analyst, and television personality. Berry started his career by writing for television and film and creating a few pilots and film scripts with his writing partner Eric Abrams. After writing for Rotoworld as a side-job, Berry launched his own fantasy sports websites "TalentedMr.Roto.com" in 2004 and "Rotopass.com". Berry worked for ESPN from 2007 to 2022 as their "Senior Fantasy Sports Analyst".

Israel Gutierrez is a sports reporter for ESPN. Before joining the staff at ESPN, he worked for the Miami Herald as well as The Palm Beach Post.

J.A. Adande is an American sportswriter, commentator and educator, who currently serves as the Director of Sports Journalism at Northwestern University.

References

  1. ↑ Around the Horn, June 26, 2015. On this episode, Paige himself revealed that he was celebrating his 69th birthday the following day, a Saturday.
  2. ↑ Vince Bzdek (July 30, 2016). "Renowned sports columnist Woody Paige joining The Gazette". The Gazette.
  3. ↑ Leitch, Will (November 3, 2006). "Woody Paige Refutes His Own Refutation" . Retrieved October 23, 2007.
  4. ↑ "UT Honors ESPN and Denver Post's Woody Paige". September 18, 2012.
  5. 1 2 Miller, Ben (May 26, 2016). "Longtime Denver Post sports columnist moving on after 35 years". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  6. ↑ Westergaard, Neil (March 1, 2002). "Greedy, Stupid, and Blind". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved March 18, 2007.
  7. ↑ "Woody Paige – The Denver Post – Around The Horn Panelist". ESPN . Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  8. ↑ Paige returned to First Take On May 13, 2009 Video of Paige's Cold Pizza farewell. Accessed December 5, 2006.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.