There is an art to the debate shows on ESPN. Domonique Foxworth is a frequent presence on many of them. On Friday, he said that he had to learn that in that format, opponents are actually teammates.
“I think the First Take thing is always an interesting one, and I’ve mentioned this before. People forget when you’re on First Take, we on the same team,” he told Bomani Jones on the latest edition of The Right Time. “When you do first take with Stephen A, you learn that he understands that we are on the same team.”
Both Foxworth and Jones admitted that they are fierce debaters and like to win. Stephen A. Smith made sure that Foxworth understood the reality of television. Even if things seem adversarial to the audience, two people debating on a show like First Take have to come in with the same goal.
“It’s us against the audience. Like, we try to keep you from changing the channel.”
First Take is not your standard debate. Foxworth said that Smith made sure he understood that there is no score. Wanting to win the argument is good, but it is important to understand what “winning” means in that setting.
“My inclination was, I’m here for blood, I want to win. And while wanting to win is important, to make the show entertaining, cutting people off and yelling and preemptively defeating their points? That shit ain’t entertaining,” he said. “You know what’s entertaining? Having a conversation where I make a point, you make a point, we build on it, and we grow to a point that we get better information. That’s not how First Take is built. So what’s entertaining there is I shoot a jab, you shoot a jab.”
This isn’t the first time that Domonique Foxworth has talked about the learning experience he has had on the First Take set. On an episode of The Right Time last year, he told Jones that he has come into debates with Chris Russo with the goal of triggering one of Mad Dog’s infamous rants, because that is what the audience wants to see.
