Andrew Bucholtz: What if ESPN is two-faced, or even Two-Face? There’s a strong case for Stephen A. as the face of the emphatic-on-command, debate-embracing side of ESPN that picks up so much criticism, especially given how they use him on everything from First Take to SportsCenter instant analysis to embedded reporting on Floyd Mayweather, but that’s far from all that goes on at the Worldwide Leader.

The direct counterpart would seem to be their nuanced, serious journalism, and that’s perhaps best exemplified by Bob Ley. Ley combines a long ESPN history with substantial gravitas, reporting skills and hosting chops. Like Stephen A., he’s shown the versatility to be a key part of a lot of the network’s coverage, from regular Outside The Lines to on-location segments in unusual locales like Cuba to studio hosting around games at events like the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2016 to hosting sudden breaking news specials around events such as last year’s FIFA scandal.

With the departure of Mike Tirico and the diminished role of Chris Berman, Ley is one of the biggest names left who can be used in so many different slots. It’s worth noting that people consume ESPN in different ways, too; there are plenty of viewers who will see lots of Ley and never watch anything Stephen A. is on, and vice versa. Tuning into ESPN can be like Harvey Dent’s coin flips, but if SAS represents the bad side, Ley has a strong claim to represent the good side.

Matt Clapp: I get how people could say Stephen A. Smith, but I honestly hardly ever even think about him regarding ESPN, because I haven’t watched First Take by choice in about 10 years and don’t personally know any sane person that does. When Stephen A comes on SportsCenter to yell and be outrageous about Kobe Bryant or crab rangoon or something, that’s channel-changing time. But, that’s all me, and I understand that there are actually people out there that (for some reason) watch his scorching takes as the ratings (somehow) and salary (smh) say so.

The face should be — and is, in my opinion — Scott Van Pelt. He’s the best at his job right now and has an own SportsCenter dedicated to him and his style. I mean, think about that. Think about having your very own SportsCenter. That’s legendary stuff.

SVP brings the perfect mix of knowledge, (actually reasonable!) takes, professionalism, and humor to SportsCenter, essentially bringing his radio show to a sports highlight show. That is great TV, and at least should make him the face of ESPN.

Ben Koo: If you’re a naive optimist, the low hanging fruit answer is SVP or perhaps someone like Dan Shulman or Chris Fowler. Maybe even Steve Levy now that he’ll be doing college football (why?) despite Brent Musburger wasting away on the SEC Network.

But here is the reality – it’s Stephen A Smith.

First Take is a cash cow built by Horowitz and Bayless. They are gone at FS1 and will go directly against First Take and SAS. This is now the worst scenario possible where we have a battle of shitty TV shows that have a lot of money, ego, and pride on the line. ESPN doesn’t want to lose that. Bristol yearns to drink the salty tears that would come with FS1 falling flat on their face, especially with the new Bayless doozie we’ll be seeing.

With that motivation, ESPN has and will push Stephen A Smith down our throats on countless platforms so he’s best positioned to be more authoritative than Bayless and the FS1 cabal of windbags. Quite Frankly, sports fans deserve better.

Stephen A Smith facepalm

Matt Yoder: Andrew’s Bob Ley argument is really convincing.  And much like Sean said, I think there’s a smarky answer here that can cause us to want to not accept the reality of the situation.  But there’s way too much evidence to the contrary – Stephen A. Smith is the face of ESPN.

It’s one thing for Smith to have First Take, but he appears across ESPN platforms in a way Skip Bayless (or any of these other candidates) never have.  There are some days you just cannot escape him – from Mike & Mike to First Take to episodes of SportsCenter to even ESPNEWS and ESPN.com.

Only Smith is given all of that precious airtime and only Smith is seemingly given carte blanche to say whatever he likes, including threatening Kevin Durant on the air like some kind of cartoon mob boss.  There’s a reason why he was voted “Most Annoying Person in Sports Media.”

And that’s ultimately what’s depressing about the situation – for as much as we think ESPN is moving forward with new voices, or is seeing addition by subtraction in recent times, they are still committed to having this as part of their arsenal.  Even if it’s someone who’s been suspended for comments about domestic violence, acted as a hype man for Floyd Mayweather, and threatened athletes’ careers on live TV.  Bristol wants to have their cake and eat it too – they want to simultaneously be the gold standard of sports broadcasting while also promulgating the fool’s gold of Smith.

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