Your choices are:

* J.A. Adande, Los Angeles Times

As a panelist for Around The Horn, Adande is sometimes known as "Top Cat Killer" for his numerous Showdown victories over Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas Morning News. (Cowlishaw is sometimes nicknamed "Top Cat" based off of his initials.) Adande is also known for the "J.A. Adande Lounge", which he mentions any time during his "Face Time", which is his 20 to 30 second speech after a victory on the show.

Adande left Around the Horn for a short time in June and July 2006 to cover the World Cup in Germany, amid concern from other sportswriters due to ongoing European racism and remaining Fascist sentiments in Germany.

* Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post

Jim Armstrong is a sportswriter for the Denver Post. Since joining the paper in 1994, he has covered the Colorado Rockies, Denver Broncos, and Denver Nuggets. He is currently a columnist. He also writes for America Online and has appeared on ESPN's Around the Horn. 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 two occasions.


* Kevin Blackistone, The Dallas Morning News

fter covering Nelson Mandela's U.S. tour in 1990, he moved to SportsDay to cover sports business and write columns. A year later, he became a full-time SportsDay columnist.

Blackistone's several honors include first- and second-place awards for sports column writing from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors (APME), a Chicago Newspaper Guild award for investigative reporting, and a National Association of Black Journalists award for enterprise reporting. He was also a member of a team that won a Texas APME award and, several times, a finalist for a Press Club of Dallas Katie Award.


* Tim Cowlishaw, The Dallas Morning News

In a column which appeared on June 11, 2006, Cowlishaw disparaged the Miami Heat as "unworthy opponents" of the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals. [1] After the Heat defeated Dallas in six games, Heat guard and series MVP Dwyane Wade claimed that the column had stunned him and his teammates, and that he "kept [that column] in mind." [2].

As a result of Cowlishaw's failed prediction that the Miami Heat would be easily defeated by the Dallas Mavericks, the sportswriter received a significant amount of correspondence from Miami Heat fans worldwide "wanting retractions" while "also [giving Cowlishaw] credit for lifting their team." [3] While Cowlishaw has admitted that he made a premature and unwarranted assumption, he has failed to give the Miami Heat credit for their defeat of the Mavericks. Instead, Cowlishaw attributes Dallas' failures to lack of execution, not the Heat's superiority. As he stated, "The Mavericks let Miami off the hook in Game 3, and the Heat responded. It's funny how we take the results, though, and dissect why Wade was so fantastic, why the Mavericks were so flawed, etc. The bottom line is that if Jason Terry went 9-for-25 in Game 6, we would have watched a Game 7 on Thursday (June 22, 2006)."


* Jay Mariotti, Chicago Sun-Times

Mariotti has been criticized by other sports writers for working from home and not interviewing the people he writes about.[1] [2] Mariotti contends that he won't go into the White Sox clubhouse because of "a history of threatening and unprofessional episodes" involving White Sox players.[3]

Many of Mariotti's columns about the White Sox during the team's championship season in 2005 were gloomy and pessimistic. On April 4, 2005 he wrote "The Sox will win 84 games and miss the playoffs." On September 20, 2005, he wrote, "Part of our lot in life is that the local baseball teams are destined to tease, crash and burn. The Sox are deluding themselves if they believe Bobby Jenks, a 270-pound rookie reliever, can stop a historic free-fall." On September 27, 2005, he asked "Do you honestly think this team can do the slightest damage in the playoffs? Just why are the Sox playing for October when they clearly don't belong there?" Mariotti's opinions about the team wavered dramatically, as witnessed in column excerpts from June 21, 2005 "I will state for the record today that the Sox are crash-proof in this regular season. They are not going to miss the playoffs. Hear me? They aren't choking. Got that?" and from September 18, 2005, "If there is any sense of mercy, the White Sox will be blacked out the rest of the season so a terminally cursed city needn't witness The Mother of All Collapses. I have been opining since the summer trade deadlines that the boys are vulnerable to a classic choke job."


* Jackie MacMullan, The Boston Globe

In 1999, MacMullan collaborated with Larry Bird on his autobiography Bird Watching: on Playing and Coaching the Game I Love. In 2003 she published Magic and Bird: Basketball's Awed Couple about Bird and rival Magic Johnson. In 2006 she will release Geno: In Pursuit of Perfection with Geno Auriemma and Diana Taurasi.


* Woody Paige, Cold Pizza

One of the most famous brouhahas involving Paige came in the summer of 2001. On July 1, a Paige column in the Post reported that an employee at Invesco -- which has the naming rights to the Denver sports facility Invesco Field at Mile High -- had confessed that he and some colleagues referred to the stadium as The Diaphragm for its shape. The company threatened Paige with a lawsuit. A few days later, the executive apparently confessed to the company about his comment, forcing a grudging admission (and withdrawal of the lawsuit threat) from Invesco, which said that the employee's view does not reflect those of the company.


* Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times

n his career as a sportswriter, Plaschke has been named National Sports Columnist of the Year by the Associated Press and has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Plaschke is known for his heartwarming portraits of sports figures.



* Bob Ryan, The Boston Globe

Ryan faced controversy in May 2003 on Sports Final, a local sports talk show airing on WBZ-TV, when he said that Joumana Kidd, the wife of New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd needed someone to "smack" her for taking her son T.J., then 4 years old, to NBA play-off night games where they could be taunted. [1] He accused Joumana of being an exhibitionist and using the kid as a prop to get television face time. The show's host, Bob Lobel, tried to get him to retract his statement, but Ryan refused. The comments struck a cord because in 2001, Joumana Kidd had been the victim of domestic abuse by her husband Jason Kidd. Kidd was arrested and later agreed to undergo domestic violence and anger counseling and pay a fine of $200 in return for not being prosecuted.[2] He also sat out one game with his then team the Phoenix Suns. During the play-offs, Boston fans had taunted Kidd with chants of "wifebeater" and by flashing signs with Kidd's police mug shots.[3] Although Ryan later apologized, the Globe suspended him and barred him from television for one month. It wasn't harsh enough for many Nets players and coaches, who thought the paper should have fired Ryan.


* Michael Smith, ESPN.com columnist

Michael Smith(b. New Orleans, LA) is an NFL reporter for ESPN. He is a regular guest on the channel's Around the Horn. He has also written for the Boston Globe. He was educated at Loyola University in New Orleans. He is the cousin of Stephen A. Smith, host of Quite Frankly on ESPN.

[Edited on August 8, 2006 at 6:42 PM. Reason : let me fix the pics]

8/8/2006 6:42:00 PM

Woody


[Edited on August 8, 2006 at 6:46 PM. Reason : .]

8/8/2006 6:44:44 PM

Michael Smith is the best. Next best is Cowlishaw.

Mariotti is a faggot.

8/8/2006 7:09:00 PM

Woody of course, he usually has the best points and have to support a fellow UT alum

8/8/2006 7:14:30 PM

I like Woody the best because he is funny, but I agree with Cowlishaw the most. Smith is pretty good too.

I can't stand Plaschke.

8/8/2006 7:33:00 PM

how can the host be held in such high esteem on this show, be able to give out points, and mute people at will....

only to be the bitch and referred to as "stat boy" 30 minutes prior?

makes no fucking sense to me.

[Edited on August 8, 2006 at 7:38 PM. Reason : asdf]

8/8/2006 7:38:40 PM

ABW

anyone but woody

around the horn is pretty much trash these days anyway

pti rules

8/8/2006 7:39:32 PM

blackistone

cowlishaw

michael smith

adande

armstrong

jackie mac

woody

bob ryan

plaschke

mariotti

favorite to least favorite

8/8/2006 7:46:43 PM

anybody but Plaschke but i like Smith and Adande

8/8/2006 7:55:45 PM

Woody Paige is the man. Plus, him and Mariotti play off each other so well.

8/8/2006 7:59:29 PM

i like smith

8/8/2006 8:00:47 PM

woody is my favorite to watch...especially is chalk board in the background. i agree with top cat(for his approval of nascar) and michael smith the most. i absolutely HATE jay mariotti

8/8/2006 8:52:18 PM

Michael Smith by far..

8/8/2006 8:53:59 PM

Quote :

"especially is chalk board in the background"

sounds like most of you like gimmicky douchebags and not intelligent sports discussion

8/8/2006 9:08:39 PM

Woody

8/8/2006 9:15:01 PM

^^ no i like the sports discussion but i just like to see what they come up with

8/8/2006 9:17:24 PM

Michael Smith.


New Orleans represent

8/8/2006 9:17:52 PM

Woody, no doubt

8/8/2006 9:19:03 PM

Michael Smith, ESPN.com columnist

8/8/2006 9:22:26 PM

Michael Smith most definitely. Least favorite is Plaschke hands down. He's a total douche bag.

8/8/2006 9:32:22 PM

Woody, then Smith. Mariotti is a dick.

8/8/2006 10:58:16 PM

remember michael holly

motherfucker had braces

8/8/2006 11:05:06 PM

woody paige

8/8/2006 11:06:13 PM

^^ yeah, he left with kellerman a few years back for fox sports net.

8/8/2006 11:13:14 PM

Anyone but Cowlishaw.... Tim Cowlishaw is the biggest douche ever to be shown on TV,

8/8/2006 11:13:45 PM

michael smith seems to be pro-any NC team, so for that alone he is awesome. that aside, he is a really good sports writer and i would be a fan even if he wasnt a big panthers AND mario williams guy

8/8/2006 11:29:54 PM

woody paige, hands down.

8/8/2006 11:34:51 PM

smith is my favorite.. woody is annoying

8/9/2006 3:15:55 AM

* Michael Smith, ESPN.com columnist

8/9/2006 7:41:28 AM

adande and woody paige

8/9/2006 7:51:08 AM

Do people actually watch this show? I've always thought it was horrible.

8/9/2006 8:22:28 AM

Smith, unless Mariotti and Paige are on together. The Pariaiggi is my favorite.

8/9/2006 8:31:33 AM

adande
smith
woody
colishaw

then after that i don't like any, especially plaschke, mariotti, and bob ryan

8/9/2006 8:34:31 AM

to me Jim Armstrong and Bill Plaschke are the worst on the show
my favorite is a tie between Bob Ryan and Smith
followed close by JA Adande...big fan of the lounge

8/9/2006 8:34:34 AM

Quote :

"Mariotti is a faggot."

Quote :

"Mariotti is a faggot."

Quote :

"Mariotti is a faggot."

Quote :

"Mariotti is a faggot."

Quote :

"Mariotti is a faggot."

Quote :

"Mariotti is a faggot."

Quote :

"Mariotti is a faggot."

Quote :

"Mariotti is a faggot."

Quote :

"Mariotti is a faggot."

8/9/2006 8:37:15 AM

bob ryan is a faggot

8/9/2006 8:41:58 AM

woody's the only reason i find the show watchable. but i do wish he'd learn to be a bit more concise, he'll ramble on for 5 minutes about something

8/9/2006 8:44:13 AM

michael smith for sure.

jackie macmullan is good too.. even if she is a woman.

8/9/2006 11:09:54 AM

8/9/2006 11:15:04 AM

i wish they had JackieMac on the show more often and leave BillP off

8/9/2006 12:12:29 PM

Woody and Michael Smith are the two best.

8/9/2006 2:58:54 PM

there was a week or two long stretch a couple months ago where michael smith would start out his comments with some random movie quotes...that shit cracked me up

my personal favorites are Woody, Smith, Cowlishaw, and Adande

8/9/2006 3:37:09 PM

happy 9k drod

8/9/2006 4:47:03 PM

definitely michael smith... however finding out he is related to steven a is a real letdown.

8/9/2006 4:53:48 PM

Smith and Cowlishaw

8/9/2006 5:09:41 PM

Woody

Mariotti takes it in the butt.

8/9/2006 5:26:05 PM

Woody, Cowlishaw, Smith

8/9/2006 9:45:03 PM

Definitely Woody

8/9/2006 9:49:16 PM

Woody
Mariotti
Michael Smith
Bob Ryan
J.A. Adande
Jackie Mac
Armstrong
Plaschke
Cowlishaw
Blackistone

8/9/2006 10:16:28 PM

Quote :

"definitely michael smith... however finding out he is related to steven a is a real letdown."

AGREE

8/10/2006 9:37:18 AM