ESPN First Take - Needs A Second Take

I must admit that I want to like ESPN’s “First Take,” the “sports light” mixture of interviews and highlights co-hosted by Dana Jacobson and Jay Crawford on ESPN2 from 10:00am-12:00pm ET, Monday through Friday. The show is a re-tooled version of “Cold Pizza,” debuted in May ’07 and was moved from New York to Bristol so the program could take advantage of ESPN’s on-campus talent. “First Take” receives a C+ with much more room to grow if the network is willing to fix a few things.

“First Take” starts out well enough. Jacobson and Crawford do an entertaining opening segment addressing the key issues of the day in a well-paced and informative style. However, about 10 minutes into the two-hour broadcast, the show comes to a screeching halt during “1st and 10,” a recurring feature throughout “First Take” that teams Skip Bayless with rotating guest analysts. I imagine that ESPN originally envisioned this segment as a fast-paced debate between the experts. But what you have in reality is a couple of sportswriters sitting around rehashing the day’s events, without bringing any new perspective to the issues. And this is where the show dies. Bayless is an award-winning sportswriter and author, and has been the lead columnist for such respected newspapers like the Dallas Morning News and Chicago Tribune. But his strengths do not lie in the television debate format. Take for example the show on July 25. In a “1st and 10” segment, Bayless debated Howard Bryant of ESPN.com on subjects that ranged from the impact of the return of Red Sox DH David Ortiz on the upcoming Yankees-Red Sox series to the Brett Favre un-retirement saga -- and they agreed on virtually everything. Of course, that “everything” had already been analyzed to death by every other sports show! It was both uninformative and boring.

Williams Feels Bayless (r) Is Miscast In "1st And 10" Debate Format

The only place that Bayless and Bryant could find disagreement (and some interesting conversation) was in the possibility of Mark Cuban being the owner of the Cubs. Bryant felt it was a good idea, saying Cuban would be “a much needed breath of fresh air in baseball.” Bayless did not like this idea at all and retorted, “This guy is bad for baseball, he is a celebrity owner, a guy with his hands in everything. You can mark my words, he would be the general manager of the Cubs. He can’t keep his hands off of anything in Dallas. If he had the Cubs, he would travel with the team and call the shots. He would not be a good choice for baseball and a bad owner.” This commentary was not bad, but instead, I had hoped that “1st and 10” would offer up some insight on the issues of the day. Not two writers yelling at each other attempting to one up each other. When are the suits at ESPN going to get that all sportswriters do not handle the debate format as well as the “Pardon The Interruption” duo of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon? The “1st and 10” format does not work, so why not use Bayless at his strength as a sports commentator on the topics of the day in an essay form, kind of like the Andy Rooney of “First Take?” He would be a natural. I would much rather see quality commentary from Bayless and the others in the rotation on sports issues than the lame debate format that too often does not show how bright and thoughtful these men and women can be.

Williams Lauds Crawford (l) And Jacobson For Handling Of Co-Anchor Duties On "First Take"

The remainder of “First Take” is well-presented, as here Crawford and Jacobson take control with ease. Crawford can draw out first-rate opinions from his guests. Again on Friday’s show, he spoke about the Yankees-Red Sox series with the Boston Herald’s Tony Massarotti, who expertly broke down the Red Sox and the series. Massarotti: “For the Sox, a successful weekend would have them winning two out of three.” Jacobson demonstrated how she is equally talented during a phone interview on the Yankees’ side of things with New York Daily News baseball writer Mark Feinsand, who was a clairvoyant in saying, “The two keys to the series are the pitching of Joba Chamberlain and the hitting of Robinson Cano. … I would have to agree with Tony [Massarotti] and say a success for the Yankees is the same as it is for the Red Sox, win two out of three this weekend.” Both players were key to the Yankees winning two of three.

Crawford and Jacobson also connect well with their in-studio guests on a personal level. Crawford spoke with Knicks G Nate Robinson about the New York coaching change. Robinson said, “I know the players and the city are very excited about Mike D’Antoni. He is a cool dude and 100% real. I love his up-tempo system. He is a winner and hopefully he can get us to the playoffs.” The show is at its best when they have live studio guests like Robinson. In addition, Jacobson provided a candid interview with Bulls F Joakim Noah. She allowed him to talk openly about his marijuana arrest and his Bulls teammates voting to extend a suspension to last longer than first imposed. “I have to learn from the good things and the bad things that happened to me in 2008. I wouldn’t change anything that happened, even the arrest and the suspension, because it will make me grow to be a better person and to realize how blessed I am,” Noah said.

Williams Calls Steele "A Star On The Rise At ESPN"

Sage Steele handles the “SportsCenter Update Desk” live every 20 minutes. She is a quality anchor, interacting humorously with Crawford and Jacobson. A star on the rise at ESPN, Steele has just completed the coveted Red Carpet assignment for her first ESPY awards.

In the end, ESPN “First Take” is a reasonable morning sports show. Its potential lies in its hosts and their interviewing skills. It doesn’t hurt that high-quality guests are always on ESPN’s campus for them to choose from. But for my money, the over-used and ponderous “1st and 10” segments are useless. Take this out, expand the successful portions of the show’s format, and this might just be a must see show for daytime sports fans. That C+ could become a strong B or even an A in time.

Jim Williams is a seven-time Sports Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer who lives in Baltimore. He will be reviewing sports programming occasionally for SportsBusiness Daily and SportsBusiness Journal. He can be reached at jameswilliams360@comcast.net.