Harold Reynolds fired by ESPN

[Molina00]

Man, this pisses me off and catches me way off guard. I love Reynolds and his ability to keep everything smooth on BBTN. He never said anything bad even when others were knocking certain players or teams. He always had some very good analysis on the game and was the best part of the BBTN crew.

That's pretty much the way I feel about it.

I personally always liked the guy, as a player and working for ESPN. Great way to end a fine career Harold.

[rockin500]

That's pretty much the way I feel about it.

I personally always liked the guy, as a player and working for ESPN. Great way to end a fine career Harold.

even if he did sexual harass a woman, this is hardly the end of his TV career. end of his ESPN career, but he will end up somewhere else, mark my words.

I mean, look at Marv Albert. hell, Isiah Thomas still has a job despite all his hankypanky. it happens.

[BoSox34]

I loved Reynolds as well and for many of the same reasons that have been mentioned... Now we have to listen to the "One-Testicle-Wonder" John Kruk throw fits on how Pay-Rod shouldn't be traded without anyone being able to return a legit response and put him in his place. IMO Harold Reynolds was the face of BBTN and will definately be someone that will be hard to replace.

[GiantsFanatic]

i always loved watching/listening to reynolds on baseball tonight.

[DravenX]

This is surprising. I'm use to seeing Reynolds on ESPN.

[HollywoodLeo]

Of all the women on ESPN, this is who you choose?

I like Rachel Nichols.

[CincyRedsFan30]

"(UPDATE: Another reader, with "contacts on the inside," refutes the sexual harassment whispers: "Anyone who is saying sexual harassment either has been given bad third-hand info or is lying. Harold has had a couple of rather heated arguments with the producers at "Baseball Tonight," and some of the suits at ESPN over the program's coverage of Alex Rodriguez. At the last production meeting, when it was made clear they were going to really play up the A-Rod angle during coverage of the Yankees-Texas series, Harold had a colossal meltdown, which led to his dismissal. The sexual harassment allegations are even more laughable when you consider that he is being replaced by Steve Phillips -- a man who has never met a skirt he wouldn't chase and who was caught in one of the more embarrassing front office sexual harassment scandals in MLB history."

[riverdunesrat]

As I read the first post in this thread, the name Kruk just jumped up and screamed at me like never before. How did that nimrod get on that panel? I mean I have always known he was there and all but it was just ironic to me how his name jumped out at that moment.......you had to be there I guess....

As for Reynolds, I liked the guy. He is one of the only sportscasters who, IMO could remain non-judgmental and non-biased and he wasn't afraid to call the other guys on their shit when they were crossing the line. He was straight-up.

[CincyRedsFan30]

July 26, 2006 -- After being accused of sexual harassment and fired by ESPN, former "Baseball Tonight" analyst Harold Reynolds said yesterday he doesn't think he did anything wrong and is still hoping to regain his job.
"This was a total misunderstanding," Reynolds told The Post. "My goal is to sit down and get back. To be honest with you, I gave a woman a hug and I felt like it was misinterpreted."

Reynolds declined to give any more details. The woman who accused Reynolds of the sexual harassment is an ESPN co-worker, according to sources.

Yesterday, ESPN confirmed The Post's report that Reynolds had been fired, but they would not comment any further.

"He no longer works here," ESPN VP Josh Krulewitz said.

Still, Reynolds is hopeful ESPN executives will change their minds. Besides being with the network for 11 years, Reynolds had just signed a new six-year contract to remain in Bristol and he recently got married.

Reynolds limited his comments, because he didn't want to go into too many details for fear of saying something that could hurt his chances of reversing ESPN's decision.

Reynolds, 45, started with ESPN after a 12-year major league career.

ESPN has been vigilant about sexual harassment because it reportedly has been a problem in Bristol for years. In 2000, the book "ESPN: The Uncensored History" reported rampant cases of harassment of women. Most prominently mentioned was Mike Tirico, who was even suspended at one point.

Tirico, though, never was fired and now is one of the main faces of the network. This fall, he will be ESPN's new voice for "Monday Night Football." Since the book's release, ESPN has denied its validity.

ESPN is known for giving its top on-air employees warnings. There are many cases where ESPN executives have chosen to provide on-air personnel with second chances.

Last NFL season, Michael Irvin was charged with a misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Despite Irvin's past problems, he was only suspended for a weekend and that was mostly because he did not immediately report the incident to ESPN executives.

Earlier this baseball season, Rick Sutcliffe conducted a rambling on-air interview while intoxicated. Sutcliffe was only suspended for one game.

Without Reynolds, "Baseball Tonight" will continue to have an unfamiliar look. The show was already dealing with the loss of its other fixture, Peter Gammons, who suffered a brain aneurysm last month. Gammons is recovering nicely, but is not scheduled to return soon.

Karl Ravech is still the show's main host. He will be joined by the other mainstay, John Kruk, on most nights. Ex-Mets GM Steve Phillips, who already was seeing more time in place of Gammons, figures to become an even more integral part of the program.

ESPN also can call on Orel Hershiser, Jeff Brantley, Tino Martinez, Orestes Destrades, Tim Kurkjian and Buster Olney as replacements for Reynolds.

"We'll get contributions from everybody from our deep commentator pool," Krulewitz said.

andrew.marchand@nypost.com

[McKain]

Man, there's a book written specifically to discuss how ****ed up ESPN was behind the scenes? Time to get a hold of that shit.

The best thing BBTN can do right now is to throw out Ravech, Kurkjian, and Olney, while getting input from Orel/Brantley/Tino/Orestes/Kruk when discussing some specific "oh i wonder what it is like to do this as a player" things.

[Ace]

grabbed one too many asses from the sounds of it. what a dick. his wife just had a kid a couple of months ago

[Killah Sith]

Intersting situation, hopefully it's just over hyped as these things sometimes get. I always liked Harold Reynolds. He was the best one on there in my opinion.

[Saber]

Eh, he'll be picked up by Fox soon enough.

[riverdunesrat]

Eh, he'll be picked up by Fox soon enough.

Yeah and he can harass that Jeannie chick......ewwwww.....shudder.....shudder.....

[bwitty24]

I was told it was sexual harrassment and that it wasn't the first time