thelesterlee
This week it’s been reported that Max Kellerman is being yanked off First Take as Stephen A. Smith has been behind the scenes trying to remove Max from day one.
I won’t sit here and say that Max was good or bad. If you’re on TV every day expected to have a ‘take’ on everything then yea, you’re going to have long Youtube compilations of you being wrong about anything and everything.
But ESPN insists this show is necessary and the show will go on. Here are the ways they can replace Max Kellerman:
1. Bring back Skip Bayless
It was reported that ESPN offered Skip a bag a few months ago to give him some ESPN+ show that no one was ever going to watch because I literally know zero people with ESPN+. Skip turned down what would have been free money to do absolutely nothing and I think it’s because he has severe main character syndrome and wants to be the star.
I’m convinced Skip will never be satisfied until he returns and tricks himself into believing that he’s a bigger star than Stephen A. Smith which means he would come with the most absurd outbursts we’ve ever seen.
Bring in the most unhinged Skip Bayless the world has ever seen.
2. Stephen A. solo
The reports say that Max will be replaced by a rotating group of guest hosts from ESPN’s morning show, Get Up, as Get Up is filmed in the same studio. No one is in a hurry to see Stephen A vs. like Dan Graziano or whatever other NFL reporter frequents that shit.
Give us Stephen alone in a freezing cold studio shouting at the camera about Dak Prescott or whatever. I don’t know, I haven’t seen the show in a while but from every clip I see, it appears as though Stephen is just waiting for his co-host to stop so he can get more screen time.
If Colin Cowherd can sit alone at his throne desk for 3 hours then why can’t Stephen A?
3. Nick Wright
Nick Wright might be the most hated man in sports media according to Twitter which means the Fox Sports host will be bringing eyes solely from people who hate him and his lust for LeBron James. Wright is more than capable of passionately debating the Lakers on a show that refuses to discuss any basketball outside of the Lakers. He checks off those boxes.
Plus, like Max Kellerman, Nick Wright will stand for the black athletes that Stephen A. Smith routinely shits on. Also real quick, google image search Nick Wright. Man is an alien.
4. Cancel the Show
First Take is the worst thing to happen to sports media as it paved the way for loud wrong ignorant contrarians to find careers strictly from playing devil’s advocate and saying the dumbest shit while talking down to us as if we’re the idiots who have yet to consider how great Tim Tebow actually is despite his atrocious stats and overall inability to know where the football was going when it left his hands.
That nonsense has spread through comment sections where every accomplishment by a professional athlete is met with assholes diminishing them for the sake of arguing which leads to higher engagement and more people knowing who you are.
LeBron James won a championship in the most unique circumstance in NBA history and thanks to First Take mentality, so many people feel confident calling it a ‘mickey mouse’ ring instead of acknowledging how great the achievement is.
One of my favorite shows that ESPN cancelled a couple years back was High Noon with Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre. They didn’t sit across from each other and fake argue about topics they didn’t even give a shit about. They didn’t yell about the Dallas Cowboys for an hour.
The two men spoke intelligently and calmly with wit about all of the day’s sports stories. You can have a show where two people agree and don’t pretend to take a side on something that they clearly don’t believe in so they can drum up drama and hope to trend on Twitter.
Fuck First Take for ruining sports media and creating a generation of annoying kids whose entire personality is being a dick.
