Around the horn

, to ride one
To move an arrested criminal suspect from one police station to another in order to prevent him from seeing his attorney. Thus, the suspect is barred from securing a writ of habeas corpus until the police have finished questioning him.

- american underworld lingo - 1950

In the days when most shipping was done by sailing ship, to get from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean by going around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America (instead of going south of the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa).

In baseball, throwing it "around the horn" refers to the ritual that the defensive team performs after the pitcher strikes out a batter. After the third strike, the ball gets thrown from the catcher to the third baseman, then to the second baseman, then the shortstop, on to the first baseman, and finally back to the pitcher.

This is only done when no runners are on base.

Around the Horn is a 30 minute show on ESPN that pretty much signifies the approach that ESPN has been taking in the past couple of years: more analyzing and "Crossfire" like shows (such as Pardon the Interruption), less actual live games. And believe me, as much as I like this show, I actually think I am watching James Carville and Robert Novak duke it out on Crossfire.

The show, hosted by the eccentric, but stupid Max Kellerman, a boxing analyst for the mothership, brings together columnists from the Los Angeles Times, Denver Post, Chicago Sun Times, Boston Globe, and The Dallas Morning News, who argue for Max's approval, on which he will give points. And, as one would guess, he gives points for opinions he likes. He also has the ability to mute a columnist, to keep them from interrupting, or to do it because Max doesn't agree.

Some of the columnists who contribute to the show are Bob Ryan, Jay Mariotti, Woody Paige, and T.J. Simers. Ryan and Mariotti are the best, for Ryan is the most informative, while Jay is the most entertaining. Woody is probably the most annoying, for he gets muted about 50 times a game.

Overall, its a good show for insight, to get some opinions of columnists on some major sports stories, while also giving a few laughs here and there, but I warn that it can definately be stupid at times. Its pretty good fun.