Puskas: Smith’s ‘First Take’ may be last

It wasn’t that I wanted to watch ESPN’s “First Take.” Quite the opposite, really.

The problem was that my normal morning routine coincided with the show’s time slot. I’d roll out of bed, turn on the TV and somehow end up on ESPN somewhere between 10 a.m. and noon watching Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith pretend to argue.

Sometimes I paid attention, but often it was — literally and figuratively — just background noise as I prepared for the day ahead.

And then one day, about three months ago, I got rid of cable and said goodbye to Stephen A. and Skip, and ESPN as a whole.

I was glad I was missing “First Take” after The Johnny Manziel Summer Party Tour began and after LeBron James opted out of his contract with the Miami Heat. As a native Clevelander, I could predict what ESPN’s talking heads would say about the rookie quarterback, the prodigal basketball star and the city and its fans.

It had been weeks since I even thought about “First Take.” Then, on Friday, Stephen A. Smith set fire to his career and while I didn’t catch it live, I saw the clips.

The subject was the two-game suspension the NFL gave to Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who punched his then-fiancee into unconsciousness in a hotel elevator. The Rice story dominated the news Thursday, with most observers feeling his penalty was far too light for a brutal assault captured on film.

Then Smith made almost everyone forget about Rice and the NFL’s head-scratching application of penalties by saying live on “First Take” that women should do what they can to avoid “provoking” wrong actions by their boyfriends and husbands.

Wait. What?

It got worse from there. After ESPN colleague Michelle Beadle called out Smith on Twitter for his ridiculous “take,” Smith took to the social media site and tried — in vain — to explain what he meant. As if there was a logical explanation.

The result was a series of tweets just as ill-advised and meandering as what he’d said on camera. It was like watching a slow-motion replay of an auto accident. You didn’t want to watch the original video of Smith digging a hole, nor read the tweets in which he buried himself again and again, but you had to, because it was fascinating.

And painful.

Rob Parker, who was often a guest host on “First Take,” lost his ESPN job for less when he referred to Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III as a “cornball brother.”

I’m still unsure what that means, but I do know this: Stephen A. Smith should have had a producer in his ear shouting, “No! No! No!” And when he was criticized — and rightly so — for what he’d said, he should have taken a step back instead of “tweeting angry.”

Smith’s defenders will cry, “What about freedom of speech?”

But freedom from consequences does not come with freedom of speech.

It seems like someone new learns this harsh lesson every couple of weeks.

That’s my first take, anyway.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.