Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

Hello! I hope you’re doing your best to take care of yourself and preparing for the de facto start of summer this weekend.

Let’s jump right in.

The Most Curious Thing This Week

It’s Around the Horn! The show of competitive banter! 

The late-afternoon ESPN staple is taking its final bow Friday after 23 years on the air, pretty much every weekday at 5 pm Eastern time.

When I was seven years old, I had tennis lessons after school. They would run from 4 to 5 and then as we wrapped up, I would meet my mom in the waiting room and it would have a big-screen TV playing ESPN. Not even an HDTV or a flatscreen, a big-screen tube TV.

It was 2002 and seven-year-old me had rarely if ever seen a show like the new one ESPN would play at that time. It had vibrant colors, visual effects, scores and names surrounding people. It had people shouting and loud horns. It had a sense of humor, even about itself. I had never seen anything like Around the Horn.

In the years that followed, Around the Horn would follow me around.

The visuals of the show stayed largely the same, somehow getting a bit busier as time went on and technology evolved. But it would always be there.

It’d play at home as I did my homework and waited for dinner at home.

It would be on TV screens big and small at bars and restaurants we’d go to for an early meal after school, after work, after all sorts of extracurriculars. 

Whether it was the little 12-inch flatscreen at Nauvoo Grill Club across my house or the massive screen above the bar at Murray MacGregor’s down the road, early dinners through middle school and high school were never complete without host Tony Reali and his rotating cast of journalists. 

It didn’t hurt that Reali would reel me in by making it to seemingly a dream job out of the same neck of the woods where I was growing up (his hometown of Marlboro, New Jersey, is about 20 minutes from my hometown of Fair Haven. He went to Christian Brothers Academy, a school where several people I knew ended up going.) Knowing that he made it out of there to the coolest job on ESPN allowed me to dream.

But the content of the show itself is what hooked me. Instead of athletes, the stars were sports journalists. Each episode, at the dawn of the show, would have four sports reporters beaming in from four different newsrooms at four different newspapers in four different time zones.

Even for a little kid, the show presented all sorts of sports take artists. Some of them backed up their arguments with detailed reporting and a calm presentation (Kevin Blackistone or JA Adande, for example.)

Some of them were whiny hot take artists who you somehow liked (Bill Plaschke.)

Some of them were whiny hot take artists who you didn’t like (Jay Mariotti, who was banished from the show for good reason after a domestic violence arrest. He was last seen complaining that the show became “too woke.”)

And some of them were just funny (Woody Paige and his ever-changing chalkboard full of puns and wisecracks.)

But the show didn’t just present sports debate. Its mystifying, incomprehensible scoring system actually rewarded people who could present sports opinions backed up by stats! And facts! And reporting!

For someone like me and for a whole generation of sports fans, it created a permission structure for sports debate. It gave you ammo to argue your hot takes with friends. Or if you didn’t have many friends you could talk sports with, you could feel welcome in the middle of their crosstalk and banter.

And through the years, America met a whole new generation of elite sports journalists on the show, as it transitioned away from the newspaper focus to encompass an ever-widening sports media space.

Cerebral sports talkers like Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre, magazine writers like Mina Kimes and Joon Lee, all-around reporting dynamos like Jemele Hill and Sarah Spain—all of them made some of their earliest TV appearances on the show and built their reputations here, in this loud and colorful late-afternoon sports gabfest. And I should note, none of them were old white guys!

In the process, they helped the show evolve. The host spot changed (pretty early on – Max Kellerman hosted for two years before Reali took the role.) The cast became more diverse. The show slowed down a bit from its hyper-frenetic pace as the hot takes were gradually replaced by concise and well-thought-out opinions. Viewers saw the on-air cast change jobs, retire, and sometimes, even manage the worst tragedies imaginable.

In 2018, Reali revealed on Father’s Day that he had been expecting twins with his wife Samiya. One son, Enzo, was born early in an emergency delivery. But Amadeo, the other son, died shortly before childbirth.

He has worn some form of black on every episode since to mourn his son.

And just days after the birth, he opened up about it to viewers, and even made note of the political moment, when young children were being kept in cages under the Trump administration’s family separation policy.

As the show aged and made space for all of these moments, it became less of a fad and more of an institution.

I’ve even seen it play out in how I interact with it. Gone are the days it would be on after tennis and yoga classes, replaced instead by it playing in the background of first dates, work happy hours and car repair shop waiting rooms.

In the years since, I’ve intersected with some of the people responsible for it. I’ve chatted with the show’s longtime bosses Erik Rydholm and Aaron Solomon for career advice. And while the show’s creator Bill Wolff has long since left both shows, one of his later creations, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, is a show that I now help make today.

Even now, when some of the panelists are roughly my age, I’ve still tried to occasionally tune in for the age-old, familiar pitter-patter of points and mute buttons and horns as a way of making myself feel at home.

I have grieved the end of ESPN shows before. My old favorite Highly Questionable, a sister show to Around the Horn, lowered the final curtain in early 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as much as I loved it, it came in and out in under a decade. 

Around the Horn feels timeless, given how much of my life it’s been on the air and how much it has evolved with the times.

If you’re not a sports fan, imagine that classic show that has been near you for years just ending. Imagine “Jeopardy!” ending. Or “General Hospital.” Or “The Simpsons.” Or “Survivor.” Whatever show that wasn’t always your #1 all-time favorite but that you could turn on any time and you’d feel at home, or a sense of familiarity.

That’s what Around the Horn has been to me. There’s a case to be made that the show may have run its course. But in an era where sports content is so fragmented and where the dumbest and loudest takes get the most attention, a show like Around the Horn that grew to welcome the gray areas and well-thought-out opinions will be dearly missed.

My Reporting

NWSL

As the Washington Spirit have leaned into the “Rowdy Audi” nickname for their home of Audi Field, it’s largely applied to the large and enthusiastic crowds they bring in.

But while the Spirit pulled in more than 15,000 fans for this game, the most rowdy part of the night may have come on the pitch itself, with their second consecutive chaotic home match. 

Two weeks after losing at home on a very late goal to Angel City FC, the Spirit were on the other end of some last-minute heroics, erasing their deficit and snatching a draw and one point in the standings on a goal by defender Casey Krueger deep in stoppage time against the visiting Utah Royals.

The Spirit pestered the Royals with shot after shot, 29 in total and 11 on target, and per the inimitable André Carlisle, the folks at American Soccer Analysis calculated that the Spirit played to a total of 4.07 expected goals.

While Utah managed only 9 shots and 1.01 expected goals, sometimes high-value shots don’t go in and low-value ones do, which is how the game ended up 3-3.

The scoring came thick and fast in the first half, with Utah’s Brecken Mozingo nabbing the first goal in the 9^th minute. The Spirit brought things level when Ashley Hatch scored in the 17^th minute, followed quickly by another one in the 20^th minute that was the first professional goal for rookie Spirit midfielder Meg Boade. Hardly two minutes later and Utah’s Cece Kizer evened the score.

Utah added another goal in the 36^th minute, that was credited in-stadium as a second one for Kizer but officially counted as an own goal against Spirit defender Rebeca Bernal.

The Spirit have had some defensive struggles this season. Their 15 goals allowed is 4^th most among the NWSL’s 14 clubs. Through 9 games, they are more than halfway to their 2024 total of 28 goals allowed in 26 games.

The team has dealt with an array of injuries that have particularly gutted their depth on defense.

But to Spirit goalkeeper and captain Aubrey Kingsbury, it’s less an issue of a fundamental change or shortcoming than it is one about small but costly mistakes. 

“Easy fixes,” Kingsbury said. “It’s not like we have to look at our structure.”

“It’s not like you don’t know how to defend this year all of a sudden. Like, we have even better players and more talent,” she added.

Still, the veteran keeper was frustrated with the result, as the Spirit came a couple minutes short of losing to a team that sits in 13^th place in the standings and has been near the bottom of the table since they re-entered the league in 2024.

“Not something we’re proud of, not something to be happy about. Honestly one of the most disappointing games I’ve played for the Spirit, because of the first half performance,” Kingsbury said. “Again, conceding three goals at home in the first half, it’s just unacceptable.”

But as mentioned up top, defender Casey Krueger served as a bright spot. Krueger has been working her way back from an injury and played only the second half.

Her fellow backliner Tara McKeown said, though, that having Krueger in made a big difference.

“I’m glad that she’s back from injury. It’s been a long road for her so I’m just happy that she’s able to be on the field, get minutes. I love playing beside her,” McKeown said.

And Krueger proved to be the difference between a loss and a draw, as 13 minutes into an extraordinarily long stoppage time, McKeown lobbed a ball into the 18-yard-box that found Krueger’s head for a spectacular and dramatic equalizing goal. 

Krueger put the goal and the result in the broader context of the team’s eventful recent matches. 

“I think it showed the character of the group to fight back over and over, but it’s getting frustrating having to do that,” Krueger said.

“It’s a lot of fighting back,” McKeown chimed in, sparking a bit of laughter from both defenders.

While health has been an issue for the Spirit so far this season, the club showed signs of moving closer to full strength. In addition to Krueger playing the whole second half, star second-year midfielder Croix Bethune played more minutes in Friday’s game than she had combined all season as she works her way back from an achilles injury.

And fellow second-year midfielder Hal Hershfelt made her first appearance since injuring her ankle in March, playing limited minutes. Earlier last week, I went to the team’s training session and had the chance to chat with Hershfelt about her recovery and more, including her latest of many tattoos. Check that out here:

On the other side of the chaotic affair, Utah goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn had herself a night. She tied a career high by making 9 saves, including a key save in the 90^th minute of an Ashley Hatch penalty kick attempt.

Hatch was 11-for-11 in NWSL league play entering Friday’s match and only missed one penalty kick for her club as a professional, in a non-league game in 2021.

McGlynn saved her shot and was mobbed by her teammates when play stopped shortly after her save.

The Utah keeper chalked the save up to the work she’s done to prepare for penalty kicks with her goalkeeping coach—"doing all my strategies and remembering where she likes to go, and I was really just, I felt it. I felt it before it even happened,” McGlynn said. 

McGlynn, who has been a regular lately on the US Women’s National Team roster, including the latest one picked this week, told me postgame that she felt a particular need to perform to neutralize Washington’s excited home crowd.

“I just felt like I was in my zone. But at the end of the day when you’re up, you kind of turn into a performer out there, so, yeah, just trying to mute the crowd against their home team and keep the momentum for us and give the team energy. And I think just having that confidence really helps the players in front of me to play with confidence as well,” McGlynn said.

Utah returns home for a Friday showdown vs. the defending champion Orlando Pride.

Washington heads to Washington state for a Friday night game vs. the Seattle Reign.

MSNBC

We wrapped up Friday’s edition of The Briefing with an inspiring story. It’s not every day that Maine high school track race results get mentioned on national cable news, but freshman runner Anelise Feldman finished second to junior Soren Stark-Chessa in a 1600-meter race at a local meet.

The results and actual times were fairly unremarkable but the race prompted Maine State Rep. Laurel Libby, a Republican who does not represent either student’s district, targeted Stark-Chessa for winning the race. Why? Because Stark-Chessa is transgender and Libby is a zealous opponent of transgender women and girls competing in women’s and girls’ sports.

Libby, who has been censured in the legislature for repeatedly making comments about transgender children in sports that a majority of her colleagues deemed offensive, parlayed the race into an appearance on Fox News. Libby made references to a transgender athlete winning races and taking opportunities away from non-transgender girls. Fox anchor Bill Hemmer had Libby confirm that she was talking about Stark-Chessa.

Now, keep in mind, we’re not talking about some elite competition with a massive monetary prize involved or anything like that. This wasn’t a professional event, or even an amateur college event. This was a high school track meet. And Rep. Libby, age 44, used her prominent post as a legislator to repeatedly target a child.

Regardless of how you feel about transgender athletes competing at the highest levels of sports, it’s easy to recognize bullying when you see it. It’s so easy that a child could see it.

Anelise Feldman saw it for what it was. Despite being just a freshman in high school, she followed the race by showing more guts than most adults would and being a true ally.

After finishing second to Stark-Chessa in the race, Feldman wrote a letter to the state’s largest paper, the Portland Press-Herald where she defended her opponent.

“I am extremely proud of the effort I put into the race and the time that I achieved,” Feldman wrote. “The fact that someone else finished in front of me didn’t diminish the happiness I felt after finishing that race. I don’t feel like first place was taken from me. Instead, I feel like a happy day was turned ugly by a bully who is using children to make political points.”

“We are all just kids trying to make our way through high school. Participating in sports is the highlight of high school for some kids. No one was harmed by Soren’s participation in the girls’ track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are.” 

Despite the many demands of making TV news these days and all sorts of time constraints, we made the time to tell the story of Anelise and Soren and both congratulate Soren on a major achievement and commend Anelise for her bravery.

There’s a big difference between setting rules governing transgender participation at the professional or even collegiate level and bullying kids for their identity by excluding them from one of the most important community outlets kids have in school.

Anelise and Soren reminded us all of that.

Other Sports Takes and Things of Note

The Knicks and the Pacers: On Wednesday night, New York and Indiana will open a new chapter in one of basketball’s greatest rivalries. The Knicks-Pacers rivalry doesn’t have as many generational eras as, say the Celtics and the Lakers, but it burned extremely bright in the 1990s.

From 1993 to 2000, the Knicks and Pacers met in the playoffs six times in an eight-season span. And in that brief window, these two franchises generated lifelong hatred.

Pacers fans hated John Starks after he headbutted Reggie Miller during a first-round playoff matchup in 1993. The Knicks added insult to injury by winning the series.

In 1994, the two teams fought in a grueling seven-game series for a spot in the NBA Finals. Both teams saw a window of opportunity, as it was the first year after Michael Jordan retired for the first time. The Knicks had not made the finals in over two decades. The Pacers never had. 

Miller became the ultimate hate figure in New York, talking trash to director Spike Lee, who sat courtside during game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Miller made a “choke” gesture toward Lee while catching fire, scoring 25 of his 39 points to lead the Pacers to the brink of the NBA Finals.

It took back-to-back wins by the Knicks to win the series, including a huge Patrick Ewing putback dunk with 30 seconds left and a massive stop that forced a Reggie Miller airball for the Knicks to win game 7 in a battle that came down to the final seconds.

Yes, that Madison Square Garden organ could wake the dead with how electric the Garden was in that era. And yes, Reggie Miller is a goon for that dirty cheap shot on John Starks.

Miller got his revenge a year later, carrying the Pacers to a win in the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals driven in part by his heroic performance in game 1 where he scored a ridiculous 8 points in just under 9 seconds.

He also fouled Greg Anthony and it wasn’t called, which he admitted in his Basketball Hall of Fame induction speech in 2012. But hey, I’m not bitter.

Fast forward to 1999 and the Knicks made an improbable run as the 8^th and bottom seed to the Eastern Conference Finals. They faced Indiana yet again and won in a hard-fought series full of dramatic moments, like Knicks co-captain Larry Johnson’s 4-point play to win game 3 for the Knicks in a series they would later win.

In 2025, the memory of those epic clashes looms large.

A new generation of Knicks and Pacers will match up for a berth in the NBA Finals. The two teams already have some tension after the Pacers edged the Knicks in seven games in last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals. 

Knicks star Jalen Brunson and Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton even took the idea of “clashing” literally, as they had a staredown last June during an episode of WWE Smackdown.

Little did they know that they would have an even bigger battle coming up this season. For the first time in a quarter-century, the NBA’s Eastern Conference comes down to the Knicks and Pacers. A much older Spike Lee will almost certainly be courtside, as will heroes of the last generation like Patrick Ewing and John Starks. Reggie Miller will almost certainly be there in some form since he works for broadcaster TNT.

But this time, the likes of Brunson and Haliburton will be writing the next chapter.

As for me? The former Knicks fan who found NBA love elsewhere a few years back after too many years of misery?

I still love Knicks fans. Seriously, there’s a reason people still say “Bing Bong” and it’s them. (Don’t play this video below at work or in a sensitive space because there is a lot of profanity.)

(That was after the first game of the regular season. Knicks fans are the best.)

Also this team is so likeable. And I still have many unprintable things to say about Reggie Miller.

So play the damn music, but first, I’ve got seven words for you: Go New York, Go New York, Go!

Something Good I Ate

I guess it counts as eating if there’s a spoon? I made a stop at Gute Leute, an Arlington coffee shop which, despite the German name, is a small chain from South Korea with one stateside location.

In an open, modern café with a bar of seats, I took a spot and ordered two of their experimental drinks that are only served (and only really work) in-person: the namesake Gute Leute and the OhA!

The Gute Leute felt more traditional to me and seemed almost like a dessert, since it was an espresso shot topped with sweet cream and lotus cookie crumbles.

The OhA is one that I think I consumed the wrong way but is meant to be consumed in three segments. First, you drink to get a bit of the fairly bitter coffee in the middle. Then, you incorporate the oat milk gelato layer and peach purée on the bottom by mixing it all together for a sweet mix, and then you squeeze some lemon on it to add a bit of acidity. The drink’s name is meant to convey the shift in reactions to the drink, from the “Oh” reaction to the bitterness to the “A” of the sweeter portion.

It works well, and overall I preferred the taste of the OhA to the more bitter Gute Leute, but both were quite good and I wish I had consumed the OhA a little more accurately.

Considering the place is about a mile from my house, fortunately, it’s not going to be too hard to get back!