A day after revealing that he was taking Club Shay Shay to The Volume, it was announced that ESPN has also landed Shannon Sharpe. The NFL Hall of Famer will begin appearing on First Take alongside Stephen A. Smith on September 4, three days before the new NFL season kicks off. The news led the top of the August 24 episode of First Take, with Smith proudly announcing that he had got his guy.
Smith has been gunning for Sharpe ever since the latter left FS1 in June. However, it's an interesting choice to bring Sharpe to First Take. He reportedly left Undisputed due to a growing rift with Skip Bayless, especially over some of the opinions Bayless held. Meanwhile, Smith definitely isn't on the same level Bayless but, as we'll discuss in a moment, has been on a string of buckwild takes as of late. However, Sharpe did just link up with a guy who appeared to forget that Dwayne Haskins was dead so who's to say.
Will Smith Be Around To Debate Sharpe?
ESPN and Smith appear happy now, giving the veteran broadcaster a fiery personality to debate with. But is Smith's future at ESPN in jeopardy? The day before Sharpe's First Take debut was announced, Smith performed an egregious violation of journalistic practices. Amid his ongoing beef with Lonzo Ball, Smith revealed that the source of his information about Ball's injury recovery was Ball's own medical team.
Many people have pointed out that this is several HIPAA violations in a trenchcoat and that it was shocking that such a seasoned journalist would openly reveal this. While it's unlikely that ESPN is going to punish their main revenue earner in any notable way, it's the latest in a string of major Ls for Smith. At the time of writing, ESPN has not responded to HotNewHipHop's inquiries about Smith's comments regarding Ball.
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