First Take Just a Platform to Promote Christianity?

[iPod Raheem 2.0]

Yes? No? Right? Wrong?

Now, this may not be a revelation to anyone. shyt, I myself, have felt Skip is pushing some Christian agenda with his excessive praise of Tim Tebow for what, in my opinion, seems to be "non-football" reasons, at times. After watching Steven A. and Brandon Marshall converse about Marshall's apparent spiritual awakening/transformation, the shyt is blatant: ESPN's First Take is, at least partly, about preaching Christianity to the masses.

Now, I honestly don't know how I feel about this.

On one hand, shyt seems akin to somebody making an appreciation thread in the Coliseum about their favorite Bible verse. It's like , wrong forum breh (which is what some of you might be thinking about this thread ). Moreover, it seems a bit curious that the coverage seems to be exclusive to athletes who are Christians (please let me know if that's inaccurate). In a nutshell, I feel there's a time and a place for discussing religion and ESPN is not and should not be that forum.

On the other hand, it makes me wonder if it is possible for people to divorce their spiritual and religious beliefs from how they interact and engage with the world in all aspects and capacities of their life, including sports. If you believe Jesus saved you, the Bible includes instructions for how you should live, you are charged with spreading the word, etc.--how can you not put Bible verses in your eye black strips, how can you not praise your Christian QB who can't throw the ball, how can you not talk about Christianity at every opportunity??? In a nutshell, I feel there's a time and a place for discussing religion and it's anytime and everywhere.

Is it appropriate for ESPN to provide a platform for discussing religion?

Are you at all concerned that ESPN seems to push a particularly Christian agenda with its First Take program?

Do you care at all about your favorite player's personal life, especially with regard to their spiritual or religious beliefs?

Are player's spiritual or religious beliefs relevant to how we watch the game or how we think the media should cover the game?

Let me know what you think, brehs.

And if you haven't seen the exchange between Stephen A. and Brandon Marshall, check out the first video on this link for background/context to understand why I started this thread: Brandon Marshall of Chicago Bears calls out Ndamukong Suh of Detroit Lions for hit on Jay Cutler - ESPN Chicago

 

[ATLien]

Tebow





and





the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost

 

[MegaTronBomb!]

wrong, it's just another angle they're using to manufacture debate....simply cause it's gonna divide people and get a rise out of folks.

they luhh da polarizing angles.

 

[courtdog]

Yes? No? Right? Wrong?

Now, this may not be a revelation to anyone. shyt, I myself, have felt Skip is pushing some Christian agenda with his excessive praise of Tim Tebow for what, in my opinion, seems to be "non-football" reasons, at times. After watching Steven A. and Brandon Marshall converse about Marshall's apparent spiritual awakening/transformation, the shyt is blatant: ESPN's First Take is, at least partly, about preaching Christianity to the masses.

Now, I honestly don't know how I feel about this.

On one hand, shyt seems akin to somebody making an appreciation thread in the Coliseum about their favorite Bible verse. It's like , wrong forum breh (which is what some of you might be thinking about this thread ). Moreover, it seems a bit curious that the coverage seems to be exclusive to athletes who are Christians (please let me know if that's inaccurate). In a nutshell, I feel there's a time and a place for discussing religion and ESPN is not and should not be that forum.

On the other hand, it makes me wonder if it is possible for people to divorce their spiritual and religious beliefs from how they interact and engage with the world in all aspects and capacities of their life, including sports. If you believe Jesus saved you, the Bible includes instructions for how you should live, you are charged with spreading the word, etc.--how can you not put Bible verses in your eye black strips, how can you not praise your Christian QB who can't throw the ball, how can you not talk about Christianity at every opportunity??? In a nutshell, I feel there's a time and a place for discussing religion and it's anytime and everywhere.

Is it appropriate for ESPN to provide a platform for discussing religion?

Are you at all concerned that ESPN seems to push a particularly Christian agenda with its First Take program?

Do you care at all about your favorite player's personal life, especially with regard to their spiritual or religious beliefs?

Are player's spiritual or religious beliefs relevant to how we watch the game or how we think the media should cover the game?

Let me know what you think, brehs.

And if you haven't seen the exchange between Stephen A. and Brandon Marshall, check out the first video on this link for background/context to understand why I started this thread: Brandon Marshall of Chicago Bears calls out Ndamukong Suh of Detroit Lions for hit on Jay Cutler - ESPN Chicago

As a person who watches First Take almost daily, you have no idea what the hell you talkin about.
I had my issues with the show because they DIDN'T care about religion.
Maybe you forgot, that one bytch Broadie jacobs got extra famous for her infamous "fukk Jesus" speech while downing a bottle of belvi (old first take host)
Just cuz Brandon Marshall wanted to call Steven A out about how he treats others, that doesn't mean ESPN is pushing anything.
It was Brandon pushing, not Steven A aka ESPN.

So yeah, Religion is cool to talk about anywhere. And ESPN doesn't overdue it in the slightest.

 

[iPod Raheem 2.0]

wrong, it's just another angle they're using to manufacture debate....simply cause it's gonna divide people and get a rise out of folks.

they luhh da polarizing angles.

That may be right. Religion, check. Tebow, check. Skip aka Water Pistol Pete Jr.'s basketball record? Off limits.

As a person who watches First Take almost daily, you have no idea what the hell you talkin about.
I had my issues with the show because they DIDN'T care about religion.
Maybe you forgot, that one bytch Broadie jacobs got extra famous for her infamous "fukk Jesus" speech while downing a bottle of belvi (old first take host)
Just cuz Brandon Marshall wanted to call Steven A out about how he treats others, that doesn't mean ESPN is pushing anything.
It was Brandon pushing, not Steven A aka ESPN.

So yeah, Religion is cool to talk about anywhere. And ESPN doesn't overdue it in the slightest.

I don't watch this shyt religiously. I tune in from time to time. I had clicked on the ESPN story about Marshall calling Suh out, this video involving Stephen A, Skip, and Marshall played, and I watched it. It seems you fall on the side of thinking religion is relevant to news coverage on sports. That correct? If so, why? Is Marshall upset with how all the analysts/hosts affiliated with First Take criticize players and comment on their performance? Or just Stephen A?

By the way, I haven't been following this story. From the video, I thought Brandon Marshall said it was wrong for Stephen A to be critical of Tim Tebow because they're both Christians and brothers in Christianity shouldn't tear each other down. That correct? If so, do you agree?

 

[courtdog]

That may be right. Religion, check. Tebow, check. Skip aka Water Pistol Pete Jr.'s basketball record? Off limits.



I don't watch this shyt religiously. I tune in from time to time. I had clicked on the ESPN story about Marshall calling Suh out, this video involving Stephen A, Skip, and Marshall played, and I watched it. It seems you fall on the side of thinking religion is relevant to news coverage on sports. That correct? If so, why? Is Marshall upset with how all the analysts/hosts affiliated with First Take criticize players and comment on their performance? Or just Stephen A?

By the way, I haven't been following this story. From the video, I thought Brandon Marshall said it was wrong for Stephen A to be critical of Tim Tebow because they're both Christians and brothers in Christianity shouldn't tear each other down. That correct? If so, do you agree?

Basically Brandon called out Steven on his ways, and Steven really had nothing for him in return. The famous WWJD is basically what applies here.
Brandon asked him indirectly what would jesus do, basically putting it out there that Steven wasn't acting Very Christian like. His reply was something of "Tebow actually thanked me" which doesn't exonerate him of any sin

This thread seems to be taking the conversation too far, because your asking is this the standard. Its not. It was only one segment, and you seem to be put off by it being talked about at all. But it was never actually the topic. Brandon brought that up during the convo, it shouldn't be a taboo thing to talk about if its brought up. Which it was here. You can't take what happened on that show yesterday and make a thread off of that convo asking "Is it a platform to promote" cuz it isn't. First Take isn't where people go for Religious anything. And skip isn't this well known christian.
He usually differs or says he won't get into it from what I've seen from him
Long story short, ESPN would make a deal with the devil before Jesus

 

[Reverend Jesse Jackson]

This theory is absolutely ridiculous. A better would be 'is it a platform to promote LA and NY sports'. That is ALL they talk about (and the Cowboys). They need to balance out the other sports teams.

 

[iPod Raheem 2.0]

Basically Brandon called out Steven on his ways, and Steven really had nothing for him in return. The famous WWJD is basically what applies here.
Brandon asked him indirectly what would jesus do, basically putting it out there that Steven wasn't acting Very Christian like. His reply was something of "Tebow actually thanked me" which doesn't exonerate him of any sin

This thread seems to be taking the conversation too far, because your asking is this the standard. Its not. It was only one segment, and you seem to be put off by it being talked about at all. But it was never actually the topic. Brandon brought that up during the convo, it shouldn't be a taboo thing to talk about if its brought up. Which it was here. You can't take what happened on that show yesterday and make a thread off of that convo asking "Is it a platform to promote" cuz it isn't. First Take isn't where people go for Religious anything. And skip isn't this well known christian.
He usually differs or says he won't get into it from what I've seen from him
Long story short, ESPN would make a deal with the devil before Jesus

Put off? Not really. Like I said, I don't watch the show regularly. I watch clips after they've been aired. I don't mind them talking about religion. Just intrigued by what seems like a pattern--albeit an admittedly small sample size when it comes to Tebow and now Marshall, but when you consider how much attention is given to Tebow, the story becomes a little more interesting.

Let me get this straight, though. Stephen A's job is to partly be a professional troll and partly to discuss topics in sports in an entertaining way and this includes him being very critical of players. In your opinion, or rather what the Bible tells you, this is un-Christian-like? This is a sin?

And you're telling me I'm taking it too far by saying that there seems to be an agenda when Skip has openly praised Tebow for essentially being a spokesperson posterchild for Christianity. I believe he even said NY would be a good place for Tebow because it would give him a greater platform for him to spread the gospel. I don't know, maybe I'm speculating and reaching, but it seems like Skip has made Tebow a talking point because he and Tebow share the same faith.

I guess I should say it's not an obvious, explicit, super over-the-top agenda push; more of a subtle, nuanced agenda push.

I could be off-base, though, because I really don't watch it like you apparently do. Maybe it's just a marketing gimmick to get people's attention.

 

[iPod Raheem 2.0]

This theory is absolutely ridiculous. A better would be 'is it a platform to promote LA and NY sports'. That is ALL they talk about (and the Cowboys). They need to balance out the other sports teams.

Thanks for weighing in Reverend. What makes it absolutely ridiculous?

 

[Reverend Jesse Jackson]

Thanks for weighing in Reverend. What makes it absolutely ridiculous?

90% of their show is about NY sports, Dallas and Aaron Rodgers this year. The coverage is exclusive to this.