New England Patriots - NESN.com
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was doing his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show when the topic of Stephen A. Smith and First Take arose. What came next from Vrabel was both hilarious and respectable.
When reminded that First Take is the No. 1 morning show in sports television, Vrabel reacted with light incredulity.
“Is it?” Vrabel rhetorically asked. “I find that hard to believe. It’s not the SportsCenter that I grew up with.
Touché, Coach Vrabel. We all miss the SportsCenter of yesteryear, when the program actually showed highlights for most the hour and felt no need to engage in clickbait-fueled drama narratives that have little to do with the sports we love.
The success of First Take in many ways encapsulates the new era of sports television, for better or worse (we can tell which way Vrabel leans on that one). Hot takes, instant reactions designed to rile up fan bases, and a lot of short-attention-span content dominates First Take, and it’s helped it dominate the ratings, apparently.
The show’s writers and hosts seem to have a knack for latching onto the winning themes of the day in the sports world and taking a sort of TMZ-style approach to attacking these themes. Drake Maye was recently dragged into the mess when Cam Newton decided to disparage his accomplishments for no apparent reason other than to drive views (or perhaps Newton feels bitter that his stint in New England did not go as swimmingly as Maye’s 2025 has gone so far).
Smith went even further than Newton, labeling Maye a “liar”, which was completely uncalled for, and Maye ended up taking the high road in response.
