ESPN First Take
with Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith is the worst show in the history of
sports television. Right?
For years, the
show has been targeted by sports media watchers – from the established Sports
Illustrated to the outsider Deadspin to the blog Awful Announcing – as the
epitome of everything that is wrong with sports coverage in
the social media era.
For years, I
never watched the show. It airs on weekday mornings when I’m at work. When I
occasionally work from home, I will keep CNN or ESPN on as background or play music.
I can’t say that I ever watched the show.
It has existed as
a curiosity for me. The show delivers outstanding ratings for a 10 am weekday
timeslot on ESPN2. It averages roughly 400,000 viewers, which is just about the
same number NBCSN does for its
Formula 1 coverage. There are a whole bunch of variables there – the reach
of ESPN vs. NBCSN at the top – but it’s worth noting that First Take does ridiculous
numbers for its timeslot, especially considering ESPN proper airs a live
SportsCenter opposite it.
So on Monday
afternoon, as I treated myself to a sushi lunch following a busy morning, I was
greeted by a repeat of First Take on the television behind the sushi bar.
“Finally,” I
thought. “I’ll be able to see what this is all about.”
Even before I
watched one minute I knew I’d write about it – in my head, I was excited to
explain in great detail how the fire from the steaming hot sports takes singed
my eyebrows off.
Instead, I
watched two guys talking about football. I don’t know how else to put it – it
was every other mindless debate show that proliferates the cable sports landscape.
In fact, as Smith
and Bayless discussed – excuse me, debated – whether Saints are really that bad
or the Browns are actually good, it struck me how I could hear this exact same
discussion – excuse me, debate – on Pardon the Interruption later in the day
and no one would bat an eye.
That’s when it
struck me. People like
Richard Deitsch and Deadspin don’t hate the show First Take, they hate
Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless. Maybe they should. Or maybe the hatred is
really a thinly-veiled form of jealously.
Both Smith and
Bayless have transformed themselves into well-paid stars thanks to endless and
shameless self-promotion. Bayless is infamous for trolling, moronic tweets.
Smith says loud, obnoxious things while telling people to tune in to First Take
for the take on his takes. It’s a remarkable circle of nonsense that attracts
attention.
Look, I’m not
saying you should watch First Take – there are dozens of other shows that serve
the same mindless purpose. They just lack the self-promoters at the helm.
It was remarkable
that at the same time I was trying to figure out why First Take receives such
venom, I saw a tweet to an SI.com interview with Charissa Thompson. I say
interview but it was more a love letter to Thompson in the guise of journalism.
The article
features praise such as, “She’s refreshingly self-aware about the media business and her
role in it.”
This isn’t to
disparage Thompson but her main role on
Fox Sports 1 is to moderate yet another mindless debate among former
athletes on Fox Sports Live. It is a
panel that has produced cringe-worthy
viral moments that rank up there with anything First Take has produced, yet
Thompson’s willingness to share her honest thoughts gives her a free pass.
It’s not like
Bayless and Smith are unique in their willingness to troll people into submission.
Gregg Doyel at CBS Sports and Clay Travis at Fox Sports are two other prominent
examples of morons who have risen to “stardom” in terms of page views and
Twitter followers by trolling fans on a daily basis. Yet their trolling skills
don’t match those of Smith and Bayless, so they don’t get the same amount of vitriol.
In fact, the
First Take disgust has risen to such levels that ESPN executives have been called
in to defend the show and refute absurd claims that the show is ruining the
entire cable empire’s brand. I haven’t met a single person who passed on
watching Monday Night Football or College Gameday because Skip Bayless said
something stupid.
In the end, I was
disappointed.
I was disappointed
that First Take was a horrid disaster.
I was
disappointed that so many have wasted so much time lobbying shots at First
Take, giving them the precise publicity they want.
I was
disappointed that my idea for a blog post ended up like this.
I was
disappointed that trolling remains so easy to pull off if one is so inclined.
I was
disappointed that this is the sports media – First Take and the First Take haters.
We can all do better. We should all do better.
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