Anyone who watches as much ESPN as I do may have noticed something different on Baseball Tonight Monday. No Harold Reynolds. I really didn’t think twice about it that night. It’s odd, but not that odd for an analyst to miss a night here and there. Maybe he was sick, maybe his flight was delayed, or maybe his start was being held back because he was involved in a three-way trade for Alfonso Soriano. Anyway, no Harold that night. I heard something much more interesting the next morning on the radio while driving to work - Harold Reynolds had been fired from ESPN.

Wow. Fired? Really? For what? It’s kind of hard to get fired from ESPN as long as you show up for work and don’t piss anyone off. Especially for someone who has been a longtime mainstay of a popular show. The first thing I did when I got to the office was to check Google News to see a story about it in print. Click, click and there it was (and all 99 related).

My next question was, why? So another click, click to my favorite new sports blog Deadspin.com and I had my answer, sort of. Apparently, the rumor around Bristol is sexual harassment. So I had to smile, just a little.

For those of you that don’t know, Harold and I have had a long-running feud, one that dates all the way back to the 2003 season. Well, now that I think about it, Harold doesn’t know about this feud either, but, that’s not important right now. Back in 2003, there was a lot of talk floating around about contracting teams. This was also the season that the Detroit Tigers lost an almost record of 119 games.

The analysts on Baseball Tonight were talking about contraction and a few different scenarios. Harold said something along the lines of, “You want to talk about contraction? Start with the Detroit Tigers.” Then went on to say things like, they’re awful, they’re horrible, etc.

I do think that MLB is fat by about 2-4 teams. But you don't start by yanking franchises that have been around for over 100 years. You start with teams that haven't been around long, in cities that don't deserve or want a franchise, and don't have their name on any trophy, anywhere. I'm looking at you, Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Now it’s 2006 and only three seasons later, they have the best record in baseball and have had the best record for nearly the entire season. Yeah Harold, we should have contracted them huh?

For whatever reason Harold was fired, whether it really was the harassment charge or the other rumor that he got into an argument with producers over the negative coverage of Alex Rodriguez, he’s going to land on his feet. I’m sure that we’ll see ol’ Harry on Best Damn Sports Show in a few weeks filling in for Rob Dibble.

But until the Tigers win the World Series, whether you know about it or not Harold, the feud’s still on.

Harold Reynolds has confirmed that he was fired for sexual harassment. Read about it here.