J. A. Adande
Joshua Ade "J.A." Adande (born October 25, 1970 in Los Angeles, CA) is a former sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a panelist for ESPN's Around the Horn. He is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Schooling and Early Career
Adande is an alum of Crossroads High School along with other famous people such as NBA star Baron Davis, Kate Hudson and Cash Warren.
Adande received his bachelor of science degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Adande first started work at the Los Angeles Times as an intern with the Westside edition in 1990. He continued his internships at The San Bernardino Sun and The Washington Post in 1991 and The Miami Herald in 1992.
He became a full-time staff writer for The Chicago Sun-Times, where he covered Illinois football and basketball and the Chicago Bulls. In 1994, he returned to The Washington Post as a staff writer where he covered college football, college basketball and the Washington Bullets (as they were known at the time).
Later career
In 1997, he returned to the Los Angeles Times to become a sports columnist for the paper's Orange County edition. In 1998, his column began running in all editions.
Adande's assignments at the Los Angeles Times included the Olympic Games, Wimbledon, the Super Bowl, the NCAA Final Four, the NBA, Major League Baseball and World Cup 2006.
Adande will be eligible to vote for players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in December of 2007.
In 2007, the Tribune Company, parent company to the Los Angeles Times, sought to cut costs at the newspaper by offering a voluntary buyout package to the newspaper's employees. Adande was one of those who chose to accept the buyout, and he published his final column (titled He's outta here) for the newspaper on May 31, 2007. He announced his leave on June 1st, 2007 on an episode of Around the Horn to which the other panelists applauded him. Kevin Blackistone joked "Aren't there enough people here without a job?"
Around the Horn
As a panelist for Around the Horn, Adande is sometimes known as "Top Cat Killer" for his numerous Showdown victories over Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas Morning News. (Cowlishaw is sometimes nicknamed "Top Cat" based off of his initials.) Adande is also known for the "J.A. Adande Lounge" which he usually mentions during his "Face Time" (which is the 20 to 30 second speech the winner gets after a victory on the show). His birthday was revealed to be October 25 on the episode of that date in 2006 (he won the episode). Another notable Adande feature is his impersonation of NFL analyst(and former quarterback) Ron Jaworski (Jaws). During the NFL season, when the panelists make their weekend predictions, Adande dons his Ron Jaworski jersey and talks in a deepened voice, similar to Jaworski's.
Adande left Around the Horn for a short time in June and July 2006 to cover the World Cup, but is now back as a regular participant. [citation needed] It is as yet unknown if he will continue as a panelist on Around The Horn following his departure from the Times. Kevin Blackistone accepted a similar buyout offer from The Dallas Morning News, but still appears on ATH regularly from a Washington, D.C. studio.