On the Tuesday, May 23 episode of “First Take,” host Stephen A. Smith and guest JJ Redick got into a back and forth over LeBron James’ hypothetical retirement. In a closing retort, Redick mocked Smith’s collegiate basketball career at Winston-Salem State University, one of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities. Many on Twitter saw this as being disrespectful to HBCUs.
“You didn’t play Stephen A. You don’t understand our athletic mortality,” Redick said. “Three games at, wherever, South Dakota, Winston-Salem State doesn’t count.”
JJ Redick Knows Winston-Salem State
On its face, this looks and sounds bad. Clearly Redick knows Smith received a scholarship and played at Winston-Salem State under legendary Hall of Fame coach Clarence Edward “Big House” Gaines. Smith’s career didn’t last long due to injuries.
Saying South Dakota before naming Winston-Salem State was intentional. Redick has heard of Winston-Salem State. It’s only 78 miles away from Redick’s alma mater, Duke University.
You could make the argument that Redick’s condescending tone is why people tend to hate Duke and Duke basketball players specifically. They have an elitist attitude, and it’s gross.
However, let’s not turn this into the crime of the century against HBCUs.
This is “First Take.” The show’s focus is to embrace debate. But this show has never been about debate. It’s about getting off hot takes and making viral moments for social media.
The panelists routinely engage in slights and digs at one another.
In 2012, Jalen Rose called out then host Skip Bayless for his poor high school JV basketball stats.
When you have people yelling and arguing about sports, the attacks get personal. It happens regularly on this show and that has been true for years.
Redick did apologize to Smith later in the show, saying Smith “got under his skin.”
This Is What “First Take” Is
That’s also the “genius” of Smith and the conceit of the show. He wants to get under the skin of the other panelists to cause emotional reactions and viral moments. It’s effective and makes content that a large segment of the sports-watching public enjoys to consume.
Smith essentially admitted all of this on his eponymous show later that same day. He said he “agitates” because he’s a journalist. But that getting under someone’s skin is “what First Take is all about.”
“You know why I love @jj_redick? He is always unapologetically himself. He isn’t one of those phony, inauthentic asses that smiles in your face and stabs you in the back.”
The host of the show is putting the game right out there for you all to see.
You can bristle at the fact that Redick seemingly disparaged Winston-Salem State and Smith but this wasn’t some all-out assault on HBCUs and Black people. This was “First Take” doing what it does best. For better or worse.
If you really care about the status of HBCUs and their long-term viability, get involved in understanding why they are grossly underfunded.
A 2019 study conducted by the philanthropic research groups Candid and ABFE found that the eight Ivy League schools received $5.5 billion from the 1,000 largest U.S. foundations, while the 99 American HBCUs only received $45 million.
If you care about HBCUs, that real fact is what should get you fired up. Not a sports show that creates conflict on purpose for ratings.
