| Woody Paige | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 27 1946 Memphis, Tennessee |
| Occupation | Sports columnist The Denver Post |
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Paige, Jr. (born June 27, 1946 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a sports columnist for The Denver Post, author,[1] and a regular panelist on the ESPN sports-talk program Around the Horn. He was also a co-host of Cold Pizza and its spin-off show 1st and 10 until Nov. 4, 2006, when it was announced that Paige would return to the Post.[2] Paige was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee and is a Baseball Hall of Fame and ESPY Awards voter.
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Schooling and Early Career
Paige attended the University of Tennessee. He joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity in 1964. After leaving UT, he began his career with the Whitehaven Press in 1963, and went on to write for the Knoxville Journal, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and the Rocky Mountain News.
Denver Post
Paige joined the Denver Post in 1981. As of 2007, he writes four columns per week. A brouhaha occurred in July 2001 over one of Paige's columns. 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. 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. [3]
Around The Horn
As a panelist on Around The Horn, Paige is well-known for his goofy opening jokes, including a blackboard behind him on which he writes various, intentionally silly comments. He has a friendly, bantering relationship and friendly rivalry with Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times. The two have appeared in and "won" the most episodes of Around The Horn (in which host Tony Reali arbitrarily awards or deducts points for the commentaries that strike him as the most intelligent or appealing). On August 31, 2007, Paige became the first panelist to reach 200 "wins."
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 (originally conceptualized as a daytime-TV "morning show"-style program that was only loosely grounded in sports, intended to attract female viewers alienated by SportsCenter's heavy sports- and "guy"-centered focus). On the show, he was featured in the 1st and 10 segment, where he lightheartedly debated sports writer Skip Bayless on 10 sports-related topics. 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.[4]
Sexual harassment allegations
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 Paige. Both Crawford and Paige have denied these allegations. [5]
References
- ^ Search results (matching titles). Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
- ^ Leitch, Will, Woody Paige Refutes His Own Refutation, <http://www.deadspin.com/sports/espn/woody-paige-refutes-his-own-refutation-212194.php>. Retrieved on 2007-10-23
- ^ Greedy, Stupid, and Blind (2002-03-01). Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
- ^ Video of Paige's Cold Pizza farewell. Accessed December 5, 2006.
- ^ Makeup artist sues ESPN, claiming she was sexually harassed. USA Today (2007-06-28). Retrieved on 2007-10-26.
