Why I Can't Stand ESPN's First Take

[Music] ever since Steven Naismith and skip bayless decided to go their separate ways in 2016 first take at least in my opinion has kind of sucked now don't get me wrong when Skip Bayless left I wasn't expecting the show to reach some epic level of quality immediately but now that it's been basically two years since the retooling of the show and I still feel the same way for the most part I wanted to make a video voicing my opinion as a fan and giving some constructive criticism on how I go about fixing some of the issues before getting to the specifics I do want to stress that I am for the most part of fan and I'm sure there are a bevy of issues in the background that probably would stop a lot of these things I'm listing from habit but regardless of that I still want to voice my opinion not only for myself but for a large portion of the fan base in hopes that someone of relevance at ESPN would see this and take steps to make the show better now that that's out of the way let's get into some of the reasons why I think First Take kinda sucks one of the most important parts of having any debate televised there otherwise is that both debaters are allowed to have time to properly set up and explain their points without interruption this allows the person presenting their points and not only say why they think they're right but also bringing context and set up a story line for people feeling who are just now tuning in and trying to figure out the facts Steve and a Smith and Max are terrible at this to put it bluntly and while it does bring some of the best segments in the show with Steve and a Smith raging at some outlandish thing that Mac says most of the time it ends up being all three people on the show yelling at each other all trying to say the same things in different ways all because they didn't let each other finish their sentence now interrupting each other while having a conversation is pretty normal for the most part and I am NOT saying that this can't happen whatsoever but when it comes to having a structured debate the moderator or the hosts have to let each other speak or it just becomes frustrating to listen to this happens a lot when Steve and a Smith are masking into the apex other point or one of the hosts asks a question to help make a point in their own debate this wouldn't be that bad either if they didn't do this every single take and take it so serious reverence has been the presumptive best quest once Kip and Shannon have devised a really good way of handling this by creating a dynamic to reset the conversation and let the moderator or themselves restructure and allow each other to make their points is it my turn yeah this is one of the main reasons why the show is really hard to watch because you feel like it's less about the actual topic and it's more about arguing for the sake of arguing if that makes sense while a lot of that is on both Stephen a and Max effects the main issue lies on the moderator which brings me to my next point I need to preface this point with saying that I have a great amount of respect for Monty quorum I think as a person she is awesome and if you take the time to just listen to what she has to say in interviews and solo discussions she is actually great to listen to but as a moderator she is terrible like really really bad the main issue which is going to be a reoccurring theme in this video by the way is that she won't stop interrupting as a moderator your only real job is to fact-check set up talking points in a fair and unbiased manner and to make sure everyone gets the point across in the time giving Molly does all of those things just at this point it is super clear she wants to do more than be a moderator which is fine if her role was third debater and they gave her 25 more minutes to the show but she's not and because she refuses to stick to her role she ends up interrupting Stephen a Smith and max mid-sentence blurting out some uninformed opinion making everyone stop and correct her and just ruining the flow they had eating a big chunk of debate time and just overall screwing up the segment as a moderator it is extremely important that you only speak when absolutely necessary and become as unnoticeable as possible to make every even flow but it is so clear that Molly doesn't want to do that and has her own agenda to get as much TV time as possible even if it means screwing up the segment what makes it even worse is that the majority of the time she is being extremely biased and because she has to interject to make her point it seems like she has no idea what she's talking about now I need to stress here that I do not think it is a problem that she is a woman and because of that she does not know what she's talking about or whatever sexist things people keep writing in the comments I just don't think that the role fits what Molly wants to do currently and she has to get her own show eventually or at least have Steven a Smith and max set her up with questions where she can get the talking time she wants without ruining the show because she honestly makes a lot of the segment's unbearable to a point where I switch to something else it's that bad oh speaking of them watchable I don't think there's anything worse on First Take than when Steven Naismith takes a break from the show and they have one of their analysts fill in for excluding some of the guys like will Kane and a lot of the football guys they bring on the fill-in hosts are absolutely awful it's perfectly understandable that the quality would drop down for a fill-in episode especially when they have to replace the energy of someone like Stephen H Smith on the show we're replacing him with guys like Ryan Hollins is just not okay even guys like will Kane who I think are decent to have on his third host with Steven Naismith and Max are awful when they have to carry out the hosting we won't first take by themselves due to the fact that it feels like they're trying to match the energy level that is normally on the show and say stupid just to get clicks and ask reviewer retention I know this sounds extremely harsh but ESPN seriously needs to reevaluate how they pick on air talent that's pretty much everyone they've picked up as the analyst sucks on air I've referenced them a lot but fs1 has done a really good job of picking rotational talent and guys like Chris Broussard who to ESPN's credit was originally an ESPN guy I think a lot of the issues come from the fact that they get previous players to come and do the hosting job which while they make good analysts on paper are usually not ready for the full-time hosting gig this is one of those areas that I was talking about before where I don't really have a lot of good ideas for other than just please fix it as they would just make the show so much better and provide ESPN with more flexibility with the schedules as well as having a guy that can bounce from show to show and kill it every single time like Chris does his very first move is the executive once to sign Lamar Odom who was on clap we're we go into my final opinion I hate it when Steven Naismith and Max Kellerman argue for argument's sake now this is a broader opinion and I think it's very subjective to the viewer but I personally feel like Steven Naismith and Max Kellerman argue too much on first tape now I know you're probably thinking that's the whole point of the show is to argue and debate but in my personal opinion I don't find it entertaining when people argue for the sake of arguing like just as an example a lot of times when Steven Naismith and Max Kellerman agree on a subject they will fish for little things to have an argument over instead of actually agreeing and talking about why they agree now some people may enjoy that and feel like it brings more complex arguments and more enjoyment and I can totally see where you're coming from but I feel like more complex conversations come out when both Steven a and Max agree on a subject and just go in-depth on why they agree rather than just reaching for an argument that they both really don't care about I think this is specifically a Steven a and Max Kellerman chemistry thing because it wasn't as a parent when skip bayless was co-hosting or at least if they did it it came out as more of a joke but if they can come to the middle ground more often I think the show will be a lot more intriguing for the simple fact that they actually believe in what they're talking about like I said beforehand I could be wrong about this and you may disagree with everything I'm talking about but the purpose of this video was to highlight a couple of things that are the most annoying in my opinion the first state could change without too much effort on the production side of things - the whole fire every fill-in host thing I grew up on guys like Steven a Smith and as a boxing fan I love having Max Kellerman on with Stephen a has a tandem but I also think that the show could use a lot of improvement in its current state as I do think it has the potential to be a lot better than it is now thank you guys so much for watching if you did enjoy make sure to rate comment and subscribe and tell me what you think down below in the comment section I make videos like this two to three times every week giving my honest opinions on all things basketball and general sports media until next time [Music]

Channel: OKOBA

Views: 391,089

Rating: 4.7173934 out of 5

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Id: yJfy3Cxahr0

Length: 8min 56sec (536 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 30 2019