Monday’s edition of First Take came live from Tampa, as ESPN sent its shows on the road ahead of their Monday Night broadcast of the final Wild Card game between the Cowboys and Buccaneers.
Being a Monday, ESPN had Michael Irvin joining Stephen A. Smith, which is the ideal desk to get two people yelling at each other about the Dallas Cowboys. Not only did they have a live audience of fans of both teams, but they invited out the fathers of Cowboys players, including Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott’s dads, so Stephen A. Smith could look them directly in the eyes and tell them their sons were garbage. The result is some incredible television, as Stephen A. stands up to deliver his prediction of two interceptions from Prescott and a Cowboys loss on a Tom Brady-led touchdown drive at the end of the game.
.@stephenasmith really told Dak’s dad that his son will throw two INTs and the Cowboys will LOSE pic.twitter.com/U5idOuh0BR
— First Take (@FirstTake) January 16, 2023
The best part of this is that it’s shot like an episode of Maury, with the fathers of the Cowboys players roped off on the side while Stephen A. tells them how their sons stink and they in turn just get to boo and make hand gestures to show their disapproval. I hope this is the future of First Take, having Stephen A. yelling about how someone stinks and then have whoever’s hosting that day to just yell “COME ON OUT” and either that player or a family member comes barging onto the set, furious with SAS.