Bob Ryan: PTI ‘a breath of fresh air in this otherwise toxic environment’

Bob Ryan attended his first Final Four in 1970, when UCLA beat Jacksonville in College Park. He’s in Indianapolis this year for what he estimates is his 35th. In the 55 years between those two trips, he has watched sports media transform into something he doesn’t always recognize, and in a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s NBA Radio Postgame Show with David Shepard, he explained why Pardon the Interruption has remained one of the few constants worth celebrating.

“They’re an oasis,” Ryan said of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. “They’re a breath of fresh air in this otherwise toxic environment.”

The praise came in the context of Shepard asking Ryan about PTI’s sustained excellence, specifically, how Kornheiser and Wilbon have held their standard for 25 years while everything around them has curdled.

“You got to give credit to the hierarchy there that they appreciate them for what they are and never sought [to change them],” Ryan said. “Not that Tony could change. I know Tony couldn’t. Michael might be able to make an adjustment, but not enough.”

Kornheiser is constitutionally incapable of performing an enthusiasm he does not feel. He is opinionated, self-deprecating, allergic to the kind of performative hot take that has become the default currency of sports television, and the show built around those qualities has never tried to sand them down. PTI survives because it is fundamentally a conversation between two people who have strong opinions, genuine knowledge, and long memories — and because ESPN has been smart enough to leave it alone. In September 2025, the network signed both Kornheiser and Wilbon to new multi-year extensions, ensuring they will be there through at least the show’s 25th anniversary this October.

Ryan, who Tony Kornheiser has called “the quintessential American sportswriter,” started covering the Boston Celtics for the Boston Globe as a beat writer in 1969, a few months after Bill Russell retired, and spent four decades at the paper before formally stepping back in 2012. He was one of the four founding panelists on Around the Horn when it debuted in November 2002, alongside Tim Cowlishaw, Woody Paige, and Jay Mariotti, and went on to make over 700 appearances, finishing in the top 10 all-time in win percentage. He also appeared regularly on PTI itself and on The Sports Reporters, the Sunday morning roundtable where both Kornheiser and Wilbon built national profiles before PTI existed.

“They gave birth to Around the Horn, which lasted 22 years,” he said, “and we wouldn’t have existed without them because we were a spin-off.”

Around the Horn ran from November 2002 until May 23, 2025, when ESPN canceled it despite the show still pulling respectable ratings and showing no real signs of decline. That decision drew considerable criticism, in part because ESPN did not have a clear replacement plan in place when it pulled the plug. PTI paid tribute to the show in its final week, with Kornheiser noting that 17 different Around the Horn panelists had at one point substitute-hosted PTI and that the two shows had been intertwined from the beginning. Ryan appeared on the finale, delivered one last rant about the three-point shot for old times’ sake, and watched the show he helped start go off the air.

“The spin-off has disappeared, and the real thing is still going, same and strong as ever,” Ryan maintained. “Nothing changes.”

That’s why PTI still works.