Reynolds Fired

[Brass]

Harold Reynolds fired by ESPN....

[Jimmy!]

I'm sad to see the guy go. He's always been a favorite around Seattle, and one of my wife's favorite players. I'll be following this story pretty closely.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Wow...Harold Reynolds was one of the few non-abravise, non-annoying personalities on ESPN. For some reason, nypost.com is blocked at work (classified as ART no less!), so I don't see any reasons why.

I'm not much a fan of baseball, but I've always enjoyed Reynolds' commentary.

[officeglenn]

For the benefit of those who are blocked from work, or too lazy to click the link ...

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.

Reynolds did not return calls.

Reynolds, 45, had been with ESPN 11 years. He had been a fixture on the show, which is a gathering spot for baseball fans, players and team executives.

The program already is dealing with the loss of information man Peter Gammons. Gammons is recovering from a brain aneurysm that occurred at the end of last month. The show's main analysts had been Reynolds, Gammons and John Kruk.

In Gammons' absence, ex-Met GM Steve Phillips has played a bigger role on the show. The program uses several analysts, including Orel Hershiser, Tino Martinez and Jeff Brantley.

Last night, host Karl Ravech was joined by Kruk and Phillips. Reynolds usually is on Monday nights.

Reynolds was known for a smooth style that usually was player friendly. He never found himself in too much controversy for what he said on the air. In fact, ESPN was so high on him he was expected to stay with the network through its just signed eight-year deal with MLB.

Now, after yesterday, Reynolds is no longer welcome in Bristol.

P.S. The guy who wrote this is a total hack.

[leopard88]

One word: baffling.

[Drew22]

I bet it was about the other night, he was kind getting yelled at by Kruk and Phillips about A-Rod.

[jkrdevil]

I have a feeling he will probably end up resurfacing on TBS or Versus (if they get the LCS+regular season package baseball wants) next year unless something big comes out and that was the reason for his firing.

[marlinfan]

Oh no more Kruk and Martinez.

[Sodboy13]

Here's the problem with Harold Reynolds: He's intelligent, knowledgable, engaging, entertaining, and has a regular-guy quality about him that viewers can relate to.

Reynolds is not, however, loaded with mindless catchphrases, prone to raising his voice for no reason, or "faux-urban." These are the qualities ESPN values most in its black male air talent. See Stuart Scott, Stephen A. Smith, and God save us for a few months there, Kevin Frazier for examples.

I really hope Harold lands a slot with Versus if they get in on the MLB deal. At least I'll always have the memories of him and Kenny Mayne during the All-Star softball games.

By the way, what did ESPN do with Kenny Mayne?

[TFoA]

Kenny Mayne makes cameo appearances on Sunday NFL Countdown with his Mayne Event sketches.

As for Harold Renyolds being fired, WTF.

Why in the world would they fire the only guy who's actually a good analyst??? Crap man.

[WSU151]

I bet it was about the other night, he was kind getting yelled at by Kruk and Phillips about A-Rod.

I don't think so.

If ESPN fired people because they were getting yelled, Woody Paige, Sean Salisbury, Michael Irvin, et al. would have been fired an hour after they stepped foot in Bristol.

[marlinfan]

Word going around a few forums is that he was fired for sexually harassing Bonnie Bernstein.

I seriously doubt this is why he was really fired.

[amare32]

Damn. Harold Reynolds is hands down my favorite sports commentator. Unless they've got a REALLY good explanation for this, ESPN just made a major mistake.

I expect Reynolds will land on his feet, maybe w/ the MLB Radio outfit or even as a color commentator for a ML club. Somebody's gonna be lucky to get him.

[MrAsterisk]

Damn. Harold Reynolds is hands down my favorite sports commentator. Unless they've got a REALLY good explanation for this, ESPN just made a major mistake.

Absolutely. Really, really sad to see him go, and I hope he resurfaces on a channel where I can again watch him with regularity.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

The more I think about this, the more I realized how much I dislike ESPN. I haven't sat through an entire SportsCenter in ages, and that used to be my morning breakfast/late-night snack companion.

But now, it's just a hodge-podge of slam dunks, terrible catch phrases, overreaching sponsorship promotions (must EVERY stat be brought to me by someone or something?) and an easily recognizable amount of smugness.

Around the Horn is too loud, Rome is Burning is too dumb, and Quite Frankly is too boring. I do enjoy Pardon the Interruption, but I like the Sports Reporters even more, minus that fiction writer from Newsday.

There's nothing pulling me to that network anymore, not really. It's the only one left of its kind and I do better by avoiding it. How sad is that?

[DGivens87]

I loved HR...my dad always used to comment that him and Chris Rock were twins. I hope he re-surfaces at FOX and forces McCraver out of the booth.

[MrAsterisk]

By the way, what did ESPN do with Kenny Mayne?

As someone said, he does the humorous "Mayne Event" on Sunday NFL Countdown. He also advertises for ESPN360 by partaking in animated thumb wrestling with Bill Walton. Talk about a dream job!

I hope he re-surfaces at FOX and forces McCraver out of the booth.

Wow, then I might actually sit through Joe Buck.

[jkrdevil]

There has to be a good reason why he was fired after all they kept Sutcliffe on after he went on a Padres telecast drunk.

[Sodboy13]

The more I think about this, the more I realized how much I dislike ESPN. I haven't sat through an entire SportsCenter in ages, and that used to be my morning breakfast/late-night snack companion.

But now, it's just a hodge-podge of slam dunks, terrible catch phrases, overreaching sponsorship promotions (must EVERY stat be brought to me by someone or something?) and an easily recognizable amount of smugness.

Around the Horn is too loud, Rome is Burning is too dumb, and Quite Frankly is too boring. I do enjoy Pardon the Interruption, but I like the Sports Reporters even more, minus that fiction writer from Newsday.

There's nothing pulling me to that network anymore, not really. It's the only one left of its kind and I do better by avoiding it. How sad is that?

I couldn't agree with you more, dsgitlin. Problem is, ESPN is pursuing the 18-24 demographic hard and heavy. I'm guessing that you, like me, fall outside of this narrow range. Fact is, we're just too old for this sh**. ESPN: The Cellphone?!? Come on now.

ESPN will pursue young males with disposable income like there's no tomorrow, and will do so with the knowledge that every other demographic will have no choice to watch them for the majority of sports programming, no matter how much they may dislike the network's presentation.

[STL FANATIC]

Deadspin.com reports that they've had multiple emails saying the word in Bristol is sexual harrassment.

They say it's been occuring with females around the studio for some time, he's been warned, and one finally turned him in on it.

Deadspin doesn't report this with full confidence, but they do say it's the only explaination they've gotten from anyone and a bunch of people who were hearing the rumblings out of Bristol were the ones that emailed them.

And then there's the more severe possibility as seen on forums but not on deadspin that he sexually harrassed and perhaps date-raped Bonnie Bernstein.

Reynolds is married with at least one new child.

I always like to give guys the benefit of the doubt and believe the good side until there's lots of evidence to prove the bad. For now I'll hold out on believing the harrassment charges, but it is possible.