During most segments of First Take, a weekday program aired on the ESPN sports network, the discussion focuses on a wide variety of topics ranging from football to basketball and even golf. However, on Friday morning, co-host Stephen Smith addressed the subject of race-related politics.
Responding to a feud between Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown and Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant regarding their knowledge of the black culture in the U.S., Smith declared: “It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever” that black conservatives “are considered pariahs and are ostracized in our communities.”
Skip Bayless
By Randy Hall | December 16, 2013 | 10:22 PM EST
By Tim Graham | August 3, 2012 | 5:05 PM EDT
President Obama set up a sports-radio interview in Columbus, Ohio...and then talked about the New York Jets. The New York media ate up Obama's comments dismissing the Jets trade for Tim Tebow. On ESPN, commentator Stephen A. Smith insisted Obama should have been talking about the NBA finals instead of Jets football.
With plenty of ooze, ESPN's Skip Bayless wondered if Smith was going to be a Romney voter: "I loved what he said on a Columbus radio station...I loved what Obama said. It was smart! It was insightful! It was interesting to me. His Regular-Guy stock goes way up with me, ‘cause he can really talk sports. He can talk it in depth....You gotta lay off this poor man."