Woody Paige: Jay Mariotti Complained to ESPN Executives About Being Called 'Richard' Every Day

There’s no surprise that tensions run high on Around the Horn. Vying for those made-up points and 30 seconds of face time is extremely serious business. As the public, we’re not privy to all the juiciest behind-the-scenes bits. Woody Paige peeled back the curtain a bit earlier this week during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, where he shared the tale of his not-so-affectionate nickname for Jay Mariotti.

“I always called him Richard and he would call ESPN executives every day, every day he’d call them,” Paige said. “And Jim Cohen, who is now with the NFL Network, was a good friend of mine. He was the vice-president and he finally called me and he said, ‘Jay Mariotti complains that you can’t get his name right, you keep calling him “Richard.”‘ I said, ‘well, I can’t call him Dick.'”

Paige responded to this directive by calling Jay “Jim” because someone else was being the Richard.  Interesting workplace dynamic.

Paige and Mariotti, who worked on a podcast together last year, were voted onto The Big Lead’s all-time Around the Horn Panel, so obviously the dynamic facilitated great television no matter what they called each other.