Stephen A. Smith, Dan Le Batard Battle It Out Over Debate Shows
1. Back in March, Stephen A. Smith was a guest on Dan Le Batard’s show, and the state of hot-take shows was discussed, with the conversation going viral after Le Batard told Smith, “I hate what you two [Skip Bayless and Smith] have done to sports television."
The two then talked about each other and the argument on their respective shows until they finally met face to face (or Zoom to Zoom) on Smith’s podcast earlier this week.
And they went right at it again on the topic of debate shows.
“You talked about the show being dumb or doing dumb things,” said Smith, “and I’m saying, ‘Wait a minute. Have you seen some of the stuff that has happened on the Dan Le Batard Show?’ Now, I find it funny. I find it comical. And I’m like, there’s no harm. You got an audience. They Love it. I love it. I love you. I love your team.
“But I’m sitting there like, but Dan, it ain’t like y’all doing a whole bunch of stuff that’s so cerebral and upstanding and so serious and ethical and all of this other stuff. You got your flavor, and other people have theirs. What’s the problem? You do seem to be a bit sanctimonious. I’m not gonna use the word hypocritical because I think that’s harsh, and you don't deserve that from your buddy.”
Le Batard took Smith's description of him as sanctimonious in stride, replying, “I think that’s fair criticism of me. I appreciate that you were gentle with the downgrade from hypocrite to sanctimonious.”
Le Batard then made the point that at some point debate shows began taking an ugly turn. “With argument television, which took the acid that was sports radio and put lighter fluid all over it, created an environment that I believe is crueler to the athlete than it needs to be and celebrates sports less than it should because when you have an argument between two people, somebody’s gotta take the other side, and it stops being about the celebration of sports."
Smith offered a counter, saying, “I get where you’re coming from, Dan, and I really don’t take offense when you give that kind of description. What I take offense to is you acting as if it started with Skip Bayless or it started with First Take. Dan Le Batard was on Sports Reporters. And before you were on Sports Reporters, you saw others on Sports Reporters. What were they doing?”
These were compelling arguments from both men. I do think this is mostly a work. For those of you who don’t follow wrestling, a work is something planned. A shoot is when things go off script. I’m not saying Le Batard and Smith were working off a script, but I do think they used the debate-show topic as a way to create content, go on each other’s show and generate headlines.
The subject of what sports debate shows have become is a fascinating topic. I think Smith is totally wrong for saying debate shows didn’t start with First Take and shows of that ilk. Sure, there were debate shows long before those. But those shows didn’t follow the formula of, “say something outrageous or dumb even if you don’t believe it just to get attention” that all the shows follow now.
That's the part where Le Batard wins and Stephen A. loses.
2. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features two interviews plus the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment.
First up is Super Bowl champion Julian Edelman, who joined Fox NFL Kickoff this season. Edelman discusses his new gig with Fox, why so many former Patriots are on television and why he chose TV over coaching. Edelman also talks about what it was like playing for Bill Belichick and with Tom Brady, how Belichick would use other players’ quotes to motivate the Patriots, how Brady would mock him for not being fully in on the TB12 Method, the issue of gambling in the NFL, his love of burgers, beef with Ben Affleck, bad betting losses and much more.
Following Edelman, John Ourand from Sports Business Journal joins the show to talk about the dispute between Spectrum cable and Disney, which has left 15 million subscribers without ESPN. What is the dispute about? When will it get settled? What should customers do? Ourand also discusses what we should expect from NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube when the season kicks off, the strong ratings for the start of the college football season and more.
The podcast closes with Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joining me for “Traina Thoughts.” This week we talk about Week 1 NFL lines, the U.S. Open, Jimmy Buffet and more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.
3. The Pat McAfee Show debuted on ESPN on Thursday with a disclaimer read by “Lou Holtz.”
4. Jason Kelce’s wife, Kylie, joined New Heights this week, and, after watching her performance, I think she absolutely needs a podcast. The highlight of her appearance might have been this story about how Jason proposed to her.
5. All tennis players should celebrate their victories the way Carlos Alcaraz celebrated his Wednesday night at the U.S. Open.
6. Yankees rookie Jasson Domínguez has hit three home runs in his first five major league games. His nickname is “The Martian.” On Wednesday night, John Sterling got to call his first Domínguez home run, and he did not disappoint.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I embarrassingly went on Twitter this morning to beg for some TikTok followers. (Follow me here.) One of my followers replied with a message that made me very happy.
Clearly, @goshdarn is an avid follower of the “Random Video of the Day” in “Traina Thoughts," which warms my heart, so here is the latest offering from the king of food porn on TikTok, @menwiththepot.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
