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As\u00a0First Take<\/em> has grown into the biggest show on sports television, the show and its host, Stephen A. Smith, have become lightning rods for criticism of the entire industry. Many attribute the sensibility of First Take<\/em> as a root cause for why talk shows on TV went downhill.<\/p>\n Skip Bayless\u2019s return to the show last week provided an opportunity for these sorts of critics to rail against it once again (including us<\/a>).<\/p>\n In reality, the reunion between Smith and Bayless was far more of a greatest-hits compilation<\/a> than a return to the abrasive energy that propelled the show to great heights a decade-plus ago. But seeing the pair on screen brought fans and media together to trash debate television and the hosts, just like the good old days.<\/p>\n But in his own reaction to Bayless\u2019 return to\u00a0First Take<\/em>, former ESPNer Bomani Jones offered a defense of the show, and more specifically, its audience. Jones underscored the way in which he sees the criticism toward\u00a0First Take<\/em>\u00a0often veers into criticism of the audience, which is to say regular people with their televisions on during the day and, in the case of\u00a0First Take\u00a0<\/em>specifically, a large subset of Black viewers.<\/p>\n \u201cI have always felt about the class of people who critique sports media, when they talk about\u00a0First Take<\/em>, that\u00a0First Take<\/em> is an easy scapegoat for them,\u201d Jones said on his podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cDaytime programming at ESPN has always had a huge Black audience. I bring that up to say, generally speaking, white people don\u2019t really know what to say when they watch something, and they get a signal that it ain\u2019t for them. Black people typically keep on watching. But a lot of those criticisms of First Take<\/em>, I have always heard in a way and have felt to a degree like they were also, a wee bit, criticisms of the audience. Whether people intended for it to be that way or not.\u201d<\/p>\n