Woody Paige

Infobox Celebrity
name = Woody Paige


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birth_date = birth date and age|1946|6|27
birth_place = Memphis, Tennessee
death_date =
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occupation = Sports columnist
"The Denver Post"
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Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Paige, Jr. (born June 27, 1946 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a sports columnist for "The Denver Post", author, [cite web| title=Search results (matching titles)| publication=http://www.bookfinder.com| url=http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?author=Woodrow+Paige&title=&lang=en&submit=Begin+search&new_used=*&destination=us&currency=USD&mode=basic&st=sr&ac=qr| accessdate=2007-03-11] and a regular panelist on the ESPN sports-talk program "Around the Horn". He was also a co-host of "Cold Pizza" and its spin-off show "1st and 10" until Nov. 4, 2006, when it was announced that Paige would return to the "Post". [Citation |last=Leitch |first=Will |title=Woody Paige Refutes His Own Refutation |url=http://www.deadspin.com/sports/espn/woody-paige-refutes-his-own-refutation-212194.php |accessdate=2007-10-23] Paige was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee and is a Baseball Hall of Fame voter.

chooling and early career

Paige attended the University of Tennessee and joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity in 1964. After leaving UT, he began his career with the "Whitehaven Press" in 1963, and went on to write for the "Knoxville Journal", "The Commercial Appeal" of Memphis, and the "Rocky Mountain News".

"Denver Post"

Paige joined the "Denver Post" in 1981. As of 2007, he writes four columns per week.

A brouhaha occurred in July 2001 over one of Paige's columns. He reported that an employee at Invesco, which had the naming rights to the Denver Broncos stadium, Invesco Field at Mile High, claimed that the nickname for the stadium inside the company was "The Diaphragm," after its shape. The CEO of the company threatened Paige and the "Post" with legal action over the allegations, but had to retract the lawsuit when it was discovered that the story was true. [cite web | first=Neil |last=Westergaard |title=Greedy, Stupid, and Blind| publisher=Denver Business Journal| url=http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2002/03/04/editorial2.html| date=2002-03-01| accessdate=2007-03-18]

"Around The Horn"

As a panelist on "Around The Horn", Paige is well-known for his goofy opening jokes, including a blackboard behind him on which he writes intentionally silly comments. He has a bantering relationship and friendly rivalry with Jay Mariotti. The two have appeared in and "won" the most episodes of "Around The Horn" (in which host Tony Reali subjectively awards or deducts points for the commentaries that strike him as the most intelligent or appealing).

"Cold Pizza"

In July 2004, Paige announced that he was taking a one-year leave from the "Post" to join ESPN2's then-debuting "Cold Pizza" (originally conceptualized as a daytime-TV "morning show"-style program that was only loosely grounded in sports, intended to attract female viewers alienated by "SportsCenter"'s heavy sports- and "guy"-centered focus). On the show, he was featured in the "1st and 10" segment, where he lightheartedly debated sports writer Skip Bayless on 10 sports-related topics.

In his farewell appearance on "Cold Pizza", which aired November 28, 2006, Paige cited declining health in his family as a reason for leaving the show, and New York City, to return to Denver. [ [http://search.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=woody%20paige&page=multimedia&multimediaCount=15 Video of Paige's Cold Pizza farewell] . Accessed December 5, 2006.]

exual harassment allegations

On June 28, 2007 it was reported that a former makeup artist for "Cold Pizza" was suing ESPN, alleging incidents of sexual harassment against host Jay Crawford, and Paige. Both Crawford and Paige have denied these allegations. [ cite web | title = Makeup artist sues ESPN, claiming she was sexually harassed | publisher = USA Today | date = 2007-06-28 | url = http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2007-06-28-2118711793_x.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-26 ]

References

External links

* [http://espn.go.com/eoe/paige_bio.html Biography from ESPN.com]