The worst day of Stephen A. Smith’s First Take career with Skip Bayless was so bad he couldn’t even have sex, and it’s all Tim Tebow’s fault.
Smith and Tebow now have this in common. On the night of the Denver Broncos overtime playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in January 2012, Smith and Tebow were both celibate, albeit for very different reasons. Tebow because he remained celibate until he was married in 2020, Smith because he couldn’t get Skip Bayless off his mind.
For the first time since breaking up in 2016, the master debaters reunited publicly this week on The Skip Bayless Show. During the mini-reunion, Smith recalled his reaction to watching Tebow throw a game-winning touchdown in the playoffs, knowing the fuel it was going to give Bayless.
“I’ve been single all my life and had a very, very beautiful, sexy woman in my life at that time and I was having a really, really, really good time most evenings with her,” Smith claimed. “And I would always make sure there was some, a little action going on. And Tim Tebow threw that damn touchdown to Demaryius Thomas…literally, I collapsed on the floor and I laid there for over two hours. I didn’t move, I was so damn depressed.”
“After I finally got up from that living room floor, I couldn’t eat, couldn’t have sex, couldn’t do nothing,” Smith told Bayless. “It was one of the most awful feelings I had in my career. I remember spending a legitimate two to three hours trying to conspire to come up with a way that I wouldn’t have to come into work the next morning…‘maybe I can get a flat tire, I don’t want to get into a vicious car accident, but if I’m not going at a high speed…I could show the picture of the car and delay going into the office.’ Anything to not face Skip Bayless on this day. It was without question, the worst day of my First Take career.”
First Take as we know it was essentially built off the Tebow debate. Smith and Bayless may not have had the success they did if it wasn’t for Tebow. First Take may not have morphed into ESPN’s most successful daytime studio show, and who knows if Smith lands the $100 million contract he signed last week. But success often doesn’t come without sacrifice. And now we know just how much Smith had to sacrifice.
