first-take Page 4 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

ESPN <em>First Take</em> Boss Is Finally Leaving For NBC
Looks like Jamie Horowitz, an influential ESPN VP once called "the midwife of Bristol's 'Embrace Debate' era" in these pages, will be leaving for NBC after all. New York Times media reporter Bill Carter tweeted this morning that Horowitz, who'd apparently sulked through his last few months at ESPN a...

Sources: ESPN <em>First Take</em> Boss In Talks With NBC To Produce <em>Today</em> Show
ESPN vice president Jamie Horowitz, the midwife of Bristol's "Embrace Debate" era that made us all a little dumber, has been approached by NBC to take control of the Today show, according to two sources. A deal appears likely, we're told, though Horowitz still has to extract himself from his contrac...

Skip Bayless Is Making Up Shit About The NFL And JFK's Assassination
We all remember where we were and what we were doing when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Skip Bayless, as is his habit, even remembers things that seemingly didn't actually happen. The First Take embrace debate train rolled through Dealey Plaza on Friday and argued over whether the NFL should ha...

9 Things You Should Know About Skip Bayless, According To Skip Bayless
Skip Bayless told Michael Smith and Jemele Hill yesterday that he gave a Washington Post journalist a list of bullet points of "how I would try to capture me." (The Post recently published a profile of Bayless.) ...

Skip Bayless Is Making Up Shit About The Michigan-Notre Dame Rivalry
This morning we illustrated how one ESPN blowhard will make up facts in order to argue for continuing a college football series lucrative for the WWL. Not to be outdone, Skip Bayless chimed in on the topic this morning on First Take, and somehow managed to get it even more wrong than Mark May....


Stephen A. Smith Will Be On ESPN For Six Consecutive Hours Next Week
Well, ESPN2 technically. But yeah, this is happening on Monday: ...

ESPN Edits Fart Noise Out Of <em>First Take</em> Re-Air
Scandal! ESPN just aired its Best Of First Take clip show, which included a particularly fart-y piece of footage from this morning's edition of First Take, and where there was once a fart, there is a fart no more!...

It Sure Sounds Like Someone Unleashed A Monster Fart On <em>First Take</em>
OK, so we can't say for sure that this was actually a fart, nor can we say for sure who was responsible for it. But we choose to believe that it was a fart, and that it came from Skip Bayless....

Why ESPN's Chris Broussard Came Out As A Bigot
Outside the Lines is supposed to be the safe haven from all the bullshit. Bob Ley likes to call the show the Switzerland of ESPN. It's the thinking man's sports program—Bristol's answer to NewsHour. Sonorous reporters intoning Serious News. An air of calm, cool reflection about the issues of the day...

Here's Everything ESPN Covered Before Mentioning Jason Collins
The sports world blew up at a little after 11 a.m. this morning when Sports Illustrated posted its Jason Collins coming-out story. News takes a while to travel up to Bristol, apparently. How did ESPN cover it?...

ESPN Suspends Bill Simmons From Twitter After <em>First Take</em> Criticism
Apparently Bill Simmons is not beyond reproach....

Bill Simmons Calls The Bayless-Sherman <em>First Take</em> Meltdown "Awful And Embarrassing"
It's been a while, but Bill Simmons has finally weighed in on something ESPN. Naturally, it's about the show that sucks up the most oxygen in Bristol, First Take. ...

"I'm Better At Life Than You": Richard Sherman Craps All Over Skip Bayless On <em>First Take</em>
Embrace the debate, you guys! Here's a painfully awkward clip from today's edition of First Take in which Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, who is not afraid to speak his mind, has some very unkind things to say about resident ESPN troll Skip Bayless....

Rob Parker's "Cornball Brother" Comment Is Still A Big Headache For ESPN
Well, actually, the Rob Parker cornball comment became a big headache for the CEO of ESPN's parent company, Disney. At a Disney shareholders meeting yesterday, one guy representing a conservative group, the National Center for Public Policy Research, used Parker's comment to demonstrate that ESPN is...

Terrell Suggs Tells Skip Bayless He's "Graduated From Douchebag To Dirtbag" In <em>First Take</em>'s ESPN Debut
Last year, Terrell Suggs called Skip Bayless a douchebag, a great TV moment that made up for what it lacked in verbal majesty with a certain frankness of expression. Today, First Take debuted its new half-hour live edition for ESPN. Apparently the suits in Bristol are so worked up about the show a...

Rob Parker Is Out At ESPN
After Rob Parker appeared on a Detroit-based community-affairs show on Sunday and revealed that First Take producers knew exactly what he was going to say when he made his "cornball brother" comments, some speculation ran around Bristol on Monday that his suspension would be permanent....

Rob Parker: <em>First Take</em> Producers Knew What I Was Going To Talk About
Rob Parker's suspension for asking if Robert Griffin III was a "brother or a cornball brother" ends in a week or so and 1.) he really doesn't seem that sorry about what happened and 2.) he says First Take producers knew what he had to say....

ESPN Suspends Rob Parker For A Month
After taking a week to think about it, ESPN has hit Rob Parker with a 30-day suspension for his "brother or cornball brother?" comments. Also, ESPN is promising "enhanced editorial oversight" over the show, which means ... well, I'm not sure what. In a statement, Marcia Keegan, vice president of pro...