ESPN Fires Harold Reynolds (and won't say why)

NY Post ^ | 7/25/06 | Andrew Marchand

[The G Man]

July 25, 2006 -- ESPN yesterday fired analyst Harold Reynolds from Baseball Tonight, sources told The Post. The reason was not immediately known.

"We are not going to comment," ESPN VP Josh Krulewitz said.

When asked how they are going to explain that Reynolds will never be on the air again, Krulewitz still declined comment.

[Osage Orange]

Ditto what you said....

Always anticipated what Harold had to say....Always seemed to have prudence in his words...

[Osage Orange]

Guess I wigged-out there... but I feel better for it! ;)

That will be $399 for your session.

[riverdawg]

"Wilbon, Jason Whitlock, John Saunders, and William Rhoden ..."

Saunders isn't nearly as bad about interjecting race gratuitously, at least on Sports Reporters, as the other three. Lupica is so self- righteous and full of himself that I can barely listen to him on that show.

[NavySEAL F-16]

Some background on Reynolds and a little more insight into his beliefs.

http://www.thegoal.com/players/baseball/reynolds_harold/reynolds_harold.html

[theFIRMbss]

>What did he do

Say Goodnight, Harold

In a world where a failed general manager can make a perfectly good living on television pretending to be a successful general manager, we supposed there just isn't much room for a failed second baseman.

In a surprise move, ESPN fired baseball analyst Harold Reynolds last night, for reasons that remain undisclosed. Reynolds had been with the network for 11 years and not only appeared regularly on "Baseball Tonight," but also handled College World Series duty, and that's a long time to spend in Omaha.

We're still casting about for the cause of Reynolds' dismissal -- if anybody has heard anything, you know where to find us -- but we remain a little shocked. It's not that Reynolds was one of the highlights of the network -- he was all a little too "Big Papi, yeah!!!!" rah-rah-ish for us, though we generally found him pleasant -- but Reynolds never struck us as much of a troublemaker. We're most curious what would cause the network to suddenly drop a guy, overnight, after 11 years. Maybe he refused to do an ESPN Mobile commercial.

[BlackRazor]

Saunders isn't nearly as bad about interjecting race gratuitously, at least on Sports Reporters,

He's more subtle about it. Like when he trashed the Duke women's lacrosse team for supporting the men. He never brought up race, but you knew exactly where he was coming from.

[kcrackel]

Look at what happened to Rush on that liberal network - ESPN. He was hung out to dry by all of them and then years later people at that station were saying what Rush said back when he was lambasted. I used to love that channel but now it has become so political.

I wouldn't doubt if what happened to Reynolds has to do with politics/religion. He just didn't fit in.

[KC_Conspirator]

I guarantee Whitlock will. Jason Whitlock used to be one of the brightest young stars in sports journalism, but I guess he just got too much hate mail because all he does now is play "the card" from the bottom of the deck.

[kcrackel]

I admit that I too watch the Sports Reporters every so often. I usually watch it when a big event is going on. I know that the entire cast is liberal but I do enjoy hearing some of Lupica's views of Tiger, etc. I was disappointed to see that Saunders showed his true colors concerning the Duke Lacrosse case. Apparently he has already convicted those young men in spite of how ludicrous that whole case looks now.

[mt tom]

you must be comparing chris berman to a anal orifice< very difficult to distingish the difference/p>

[The G Man]

Huh? Are you off your rocker? ESPN liberal? It's not like that's the place that spawned Keith Olbermann or something! Sheesh!

Oh, wait ...

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Unless he was sucking toes

He had a "Marv Albert" problem? Didn't hurt Dick Morris.

[TankerKC]

...Dick Morris...

I stand corrected...Albert had a biting problem, not a toe sucking problem.

[MikefromOhio]

Jim Rome ping
FReepmail me to get on or off this Jim Rome pinglist....

"Have a take, don't suck or you'll get run......."


I can't believe ESPN just fired it's best analyst. Now I guess that falls to Kruk. Anyway, I met Harold Reynolds when he was playing for the Orioles (I was 11 years old at the time). He was smart, he was able to communicate what he needed to say, and he NEVER took himself too seriously. That and he fixed a hitch in my swing. I hope this is just a big misunderstanding.

[Sprite518]

Who? Sorry I don't follow ESPN that much. Only in the Fall on Saturdays I tend to tune in for College Football games. That is about it though.

[CoolPapaBoze]

Ha! I noticed that a few years ago too and had the same reaction. Once you notice, you just can't even listen to what he's saying!

[highimpact]

I'm sure Romey will have a take. I hope it doesn't suck. I really wanna know what happened. HR was one of my favorite M's when I was a kid.

[PurpleMan]

Believe it or not, Whitlock is actually the first sportswriter to go after fellow black, Marvin Lewis for the way he is surrounding the Bengals with a bunch of Ray-Lewis-Randy-Moss-Ray-Carruth's in a column on espn.com.

"A stock clock is twice correct"

[RayStacy]

SOMEBODY else out here in FREEPVILLE must have noticed those ears. What gives?

[Perdogg]

I liked him!!! He jinxed UNC though.