'Around The Horn' - ESPN's DEI Show - Forgot What Diversity Actually Means | Zaksheske

ESPN premiered "Around the Horn" back in 2002 and the concept was quite strong. They took writers from around the country and had them weigh-in on topics that created national headlines. 

This, in and of itself, was brilliant. Sports fans in Denver had different views of stories that involved, say, the Kansas City Chiefs, than fans in Detroit might have. 

That led to a robust discussion between the panelists, who each had a sense of what the fanbase in their home city thought about certain issues, since they interacted with them on a daily basis. 

One of the problems that ESPN had was that it was filled with mostly coastal elites. This is something true of most major news networks, quite frankly. 

When ESPN first debuted "Around the Horn," the show featured a diversity of thought from panelists like Woody Paige (left), Michael Holley (center) and Jay Mariotti (right).

(Getty Images)

That's why you'd often hear fans complain that ESPN over-covered stories that affected the northeast – like the Red Sox and Yankees – and for years under-covered college football. 

But the explosion of College GameDay showed that there were sports fans all across the country that previously felt underserved by the "Worldwide Leader in Sports." 

To me, that helped birth "Around the Horn." ESPN leadership, which was not the same then as it is now, recognized that the idea of trying to make all fans across America feel like their team mattered was a winning strategy. 

So, they gathered people like Tom Cowlishaw in Dallas, Woody Paige in Denver, Jay Mariotti in Chicago, Michael Holley in Boston, Kevin Blackistone in Washington D.C. and Bill Plaschke in Los Angeles. 

And the show worked. It worked really well. The format was fun and the perspectives were varied. It became the perfect lead-in for "Pardon the Interruption," and it thrived in that spot for years. 

But, at some point, everything changed. 

"Around the Horn," which was arguably ESPN's most diverse show, at least in terms of viewpoints, underwent a transformation

What was that transformation? Well, the modern hijacking of the word "diversity." 

See, diversity used to mean "diversity of thought." Now, it simply means "diversity of skin color, gender and sexuality." 

The problem with "Around the Horn" is that it decided to focus on the latter, which completely destroyed the former. 

If you turn on "Around the Horn" on any given day on ESPN, you'll see a bunch of people who look and sound different. 

There are white men, black men, white women, black women, gay men, straight men, gay women, straight women, etc. 

Here's the problem: while they all look and sound different, they all think the same way. 

Eventually, ESPN replaced diversity of thought on "Around the Horn" with a bunch of people like Sarah Spain (left), Israel Gutierrez (center) and Clinton Yates (right) who look different from one another, but think the same way. 

(Getty Images)

There is absolutely zero diversity of thought on "Around the Horn." There's almost zero diversity of thought at ESPN, in general these days, but "ATH" is perhaps the biggest offender. 

It's sad, too, since that show was once a bastion of diversity of thought. 

Plus, there's no better time for diversity of thought than now. Back when the show had it, it mostly stuck to sports. Which is why it was fine when people on the show disagreed – which happened on virtually every topic. 

But now that the topics are more "serious," ESPN doesn't have a single person with an opposing viewpoint on the show. Ever. 

ESPN has allowed left-wing crusaders to make ridiculous claims on "Around the Horn," while going completely unchallenged

No one pushed back when J.A. Adande compared voter I.D. in America to genocide in China. 

Not a peep from the other panelists when Sarah Spain labeled Tampa Bay Rays players as "bigots" who were using "BS religion" to avoid being forced to wear rainbow patches on their jerseys. 

No opposing thoughts when some guy named David Dennis said that people only root for Caitlin Clark as a way to express hatred for black women. 

Look at the "diversity" when Dennis makes that case. Two black men, one Filipino man, one white man and one white woman. 

Yet, they ALL agree with Dennis. 

Outward diversity abounds; inward diversity is nowhere to be found. 

Even if ESPN wanted to add someone who thought differently to the panel, I'm not sure anyone would sign up for that. 

Who wants to be called a racist, misogynist, sexist, homophobic bigot on a daily basis just for having a differing opinion? 

Instead, ESPN is reportedly looking to pull the plug on "Around the Horn" entirely. 

At this point, good riddance. 

"ATH" has simply become a place for ESPN to stick its DEI hires that haven't had any media success

They can't fire these people, though, because they fear discrimination lawsuits and calls of "racism" from like-minded media companies. 

I'm very familiar with the process of ESPN finding places for people collecting paychecks that they don't deserve because I worked at ESPN Radio for 10 years. 

I can't tell you how many talent-bereft nobodies I had to work with in a decade simply because the company had nowhere else to put them. 

That's not to say that everyone was terrible (I worked with some tremendous people and some highly talented ones), but there was far more bad than good. 

"Around the Horn" is the TV version of ESPN Radio. It's the perfect place to stick the DEI hire because they can't do anything else, but the company doesn't count on "ATH" or radio to make money. 

Both have become "box-checkers" much like the majority of the people who appear on them. 

Much like "Around the Horn," ESPN Radio has become a place where the company can stick its DEI hires that it doesn't trust on programs that make money.

(Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Take a look at many of the past and present "Around the Horn" panelists if you don't believe me. How many also had ESPN Radio shows but have almost no real success in the sports media business? 

Sarah Spain, Israel Gutierrez, Clinton Yates, Kate Fagan, Jemele Hill, Bomani Jones, Domonique Foxworth… the list goes on and on. 

Left-wing "sports media" site Awful Announcing tried to make the case that "Around the Horn" provides a platform for voices that need to be heard. 

I'd argue the exact opposite. A spot on "Around the Horn" simply means you have no original thoughts and just parrot the same talking points as everyone else, while perhaps having a different skin color or gender. 

It means ESPN has nothing else for you to do, but doesn't want to risk a lawsuit or claims of "racism" or "homophobia" or anything else. 

But don't expect me to be sad that it's going away.

It might still be on the air, for now, but the spirit of "Around the Horn" died a long time ago.