There may be no better segment for First Take than two Dallas Cowboys stars arguing online over the team’s championship prospects. At least according to ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes.
After former Cowboys pass-rusher DeMarcus Lawrence proclaimed he left Dallas for the Seattle Seahawks because he would not win a championship with the Cowboys, his former teammate Micah Parsons called him a clown in a post on X.
“Calling me a clown won’t change the fact that I told the truth,” Lawrence wrote in response. “Maybe if you spent less time tweeting and more time winning, I wouldn’t have left.”
Two players from the NFL’s most famous team debating the Cowboys’ fortunes isn’t just a good segment for Stephen A. Smith and Co. to discuss on First Take — it practically is a First Take segment playing out on social media!
That led Kimes to tease the popular ESPN debate show in a follow-up post.
The first take producers logging on tonight https://t.co/Ay5rJ6kTuU pic.twitter.com/rFMm5nM7rJ
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) March 14, 2025
This isn’t the first time ESPN talent has shared opinions on the lightning-rod morning show.
Early in the 2023-24 NBA season, former game analyst JJ Redick rejected an in-game question from announcer Beth Mowins and ESPN producers about who the best duo in the NBA was.
Before that, former ESPN host Dan Le Batard fought a prolonged battle with Smith on each of their podcasts about the impact Smith had on sports and media by making content overly personal. And most famously, after a wild segment in which cornerback Richard Sherman and former First Take host Skip Bayless clashed on-air, former ESPN writer Bill Simmons was suspended for calling the show “awful and embarrassing.”
To be clear, Kimes was not criticizing First Take with her post. But she was teasing the predictability of the show.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.