First Take Can Make Anything Into a Debate
With the threat of COVID-19 shutting down every sport outside of NFL offseason moves, sports TV programming such as Get Up! and Undisputed that rely on LeBron James highlights and NBA player beef to fill their shows at this time are suddenly without it. Now producers have to conduct TV shows that discuss sports content…without sports content. Since it is likely that sports leagues will not start games again for a couple of months, and it won’t be every day that a six-time Super Bowl winning quarterback will leave his team after 20 years, this will be difficult for a lot of programs. Maybe shows can fill the time the same way they usually do when there’s a lull in sports news? Perhaps the NFL or NBA will release a Top 100 Players that the hosts can debate for hours on end? Or maybe we can once again litigate whether the ‘17 Warriors could beat the ’96 Bulls? The possibilities are endless, and given the timeline we are likely working with here, the shows may need every one of those possibilities.
One of the shows that is most impacted by all of this is First Take, the well-known ESPN morning debate show. As a daily show, First Take needs the constant sports news to fill its two hour time slot. Given the lack of sports, it would be challenging to fill an hour show, let alone a two hour one. And yet despite the circumstances, I am confident that First Take will not have problems filling content.
Why? Because First Take can make anything into a sports debate topic. Don’t believe me? Well let’s look at the various times that First Take has turned small stories into full-blown segments:
In the 2012 All-Star game, LeBron James had the ball for two possessions down two points in the final 16 seconds. His team did not score and lost the game. Given that this was a exhibition game without stakes, it stood to reason that this wouldn’t become another referendum of LeBron James’ “clutch gene”, a common discussion at the time. After all, being “clutch” doesn’t make sense without pressure, and pressure doesn’t make sense without stakes. And yet, First Take takes time to make this a debate topic titled “Should LeBron have taken the last shot?”. Once again, this is about an exhibition game, a game with so little stakes the NBA had to completely rewrite the rules to get players to try harder in it.
In 2015, Kevin Durant called host Stephen A. Smith a liar for reporting that if he left Oklahoma City, it would be for the Lakers. Stephen A. Smith took exception to that and responded on the next broadcast of First Take. Normally, one would expect a pretty short statement, something along the lines of “I stand by my sources”. Instead, this show created a full-blown 20 minute segment which consisted of Stephen A. all but threatening Durant, warning that “you don’t want to make an enemy out of [him]” while the former other host Skip Bayless decried Durant’s media hate and accused the Thunder of coddling their players.
In 2014, the Memphis Grizzlies gave away free neck tattoos to the first 5,000 fans at one of their games. It was a fun promotional night idea to honor one of their players who in turn has a neck tattoo to honor his son. Normally on sports shows like Pardon the Interruption or Around the Horn, this would be an ending topic, something to note and maybe comment on for a minute or so. For First Take however, this promotion transformed into commentary on athletes and tattoos with the show asking the question “What is the fascination with tattoos and sports?” The hosts on the show explained at length how some of corporate America view tattoos in a negative light. Stephen A. Smith went so far as to say some of the athletes look like “they’re straight out of prison” in the eyes of some employers. Once again, First Take was able to take a small event and stretch it out into a complete topic.
In 2011, First Take asked a question about Blake Griffin that was simply titled “How do you view him?”. It sounds very much open-ended but here is the context behind the question:
Blake Griffin, rising young superstar. Really, I think hands down rookie of the year pick…like President Obama, Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, he’s a product of a mixed marriage. How do you view him?
Yes, this is a segment about whether Blake Griffin is white or black. For five minutes they debated this between Skip Bayless and guest host Rob Parker. Putting aside this being a debate segment in the first place, one would think there wouldn’t be much disagreement. After all, Blake Griffin’s racial parentage is not in question; there’s not much else to debate. But First Take always finds a way; Skip Bayless touted Blake Griffin as a white superstar he could have pride in while guest host Rob Parker argued that he’ll be seen as black by a lot of other people.
But out of all the times First Take made entire debate topics out of small events, nothing compares to the Tim Tebow era. Skip Bayless’ obsession with Tebow provided the show with opportunities to create segments from the tiniest events, including:
- Tim Tebow being used in punt formations for the Jets
- Tim Tebow having dinner with Taylor Swift
- Tim Tebow being friends with Jeremy Lin and talking with him regularly
- Tim Tebow being friends with LeBron James
- And my all-time favorite one, Tim Tebow changing his dog’s name from Bronco to Bronx
This short piece doesn’t even cover all the times that First Take would bring back the same topic days later, making sure to change the question slightly so that the content would sound more fresh. So, as the weeks possibly drag into months without fresh sports content, rest assured that First Take will manage to embrace debate, even if there’s not much debate to embrace.
