FanNation | Around the Horn/PTI Fan Group's Blog

Name: Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Paige, Jr.

Born: June 27, 1946 in Memphis, Tennessee

Work: He is a sports columnist for The Denver Post, and a regular panelist on the ESPN sports talk program Around the Horn, also co-host of Cold Pizza and 1st and 10.

Schooling and Early Years: Woody attended the University of Tennessee, joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity in 1964, began career with Whitehaven Press in 1963, also wrote for the Knoxville Journal, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and the Rocky Mountain News befor joining the Denver Post in 1981.

Around the Horn: As an Around The Horn panelist, he has a friendly, entertaining relationship with Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times. They acctually had a real fued in the early 90's when Marrioti was working for the Rocky Mountain News, which is the Denver Post's main rival. Now that they are friends, both are the only panelists to reach 200 wins. (Paige was the first to reach 200). When he beat Marrioti, who to was also seeking # 200, during his Facetime, one of his co-workers smashed a pie in his face. He is know for his goofy opening statements and the humorous comments that appear on his blackboard. He is also know for his mispronunciations of various words on the show. For example, Zinedine Zidane as "Cezanne," Marco Materazzi as "Maserati," Leandro Barbosa as "Leandro Barbarossa", Trinidad and Tobago as "Trinidad and Toboggan", the Seibu Lions as Saboo, Bobby Abreu as "Bobby Abroo", Corey Maggette as "Corey Maggot", Troy Polamalu as "Troy Palamulu", Mariano Rivera as "Mario Rivera, and Rick Ankiel as "Rick Ankle".

Cold Pizza:

In July 2004, Paige announced that he was taking a one year leave from the Post to join ESPN2's Cold Pizza. On the show, he was featured in the 1st and 10 segment, where he lightheartedly debated Skip Bayless on 10 sports-related topics. Woody and Skip wear 2 very good debaters but when it came down to who was better, who could never go against Woody Paige. In his farewell appearance on Cold Pizza, which aired November 28, 2006, Paige cited declining health in his family as a reason for leaving the show and New York City to return to Denver. On June 28, 2007 it was reported that a former makeup artist for Cold Pizza was suing ESPN alleging incidents of sexual harassment against host Jay Crawford and panelist Woody Paige.

Miscellaneous information:

Paige made an appearance in the movie Rocky Balboa.
He and Jay Mariotti usually take jabs at each other in each episode they're in. Their discussions sometimes get heated, but they are still just talking about sports and they realize their playfulness is good for television.
Paige is regularly accused by Chicago, Illinois fans of not liking Chicago sports teams.
Paige is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee and is a Baseball Hall of Fame and ESPY Awards voter.
His work has appeared in numerous sports magazines and he is also the author of two books about sports.
On June 7, 2007 Paige nearly broke the record for most points scored before the facetime segment with 49. In actuality, Paige did break the record (he had 53 points) but Reali deducted him points after seeing Paige glorify himself on screen which cost Paige the record. Mariotti could be seen screaming yes when Reali deducted Paige points. However, Mariotti would lose the showdown to Paige.