REPLACING SHARPE WITH CHAD JOHNSON IS MORE MADNESS FOR STEPHEN A. SMITH
If O.J. Simpson was alive, Smith also could hire him if he names Johnson — once accused of head-butting his former wife via a 3-inch forehead cut — as a successor to Sharpe and Marcus Morris Sr.
With urgent pushes of a computer button, Jimmy Pitaro can read hundreds of websites at ESPN headquarters. Only hours after the network severed Shannon Sharpe — who was accused of rape in a $50 million legal lawsuit, a case he resolved with no network rescue from Stephen A. Smith — the chairman is urged to view 2012 stories from Miami.
They concern Chad Johnson, the former NFL wide receiver and a swaggerer for life. He appears on Smith’s show, “First Take,” and said the other day that he’d like such a studio gig during the football season. “I can get used to this for the next six months,” he said. “I’m gonna start September 5th, if I’m not mistaken. Because of ‘Thursday Night Football,’ the first week, so I should be here Friday.”
Host Molly Qerim suggested he ask “the boss.” That would be Smith, in most matters. But in this gathering debacle, Johnson would be following Sharpe on the “First Take” set, meaning Pitaro should be front and center. Guess what happened to Johnson one distant night in south Florida? Wasn’t it beyond bizarre to hear him reveal his broadcasting hopes?
He was accused of head-butting his newlywed wife, Evelyn Lozada. After a police officer saw a 3-inch cut on the center of her forehead, the Dolphins cut him. Johnson said she had “head-butted” him during an argument. Christopher Epps, in his arrest report from the couple’s home, said Johnson had no “visible marks or bruises.” You may know Lozada from her appearances on the TV program “Basketball Wives.” Only weeks after they became husband and wife, she decided to press charges in Davie, Fla. Police captain Dale Engle said Lozada found a receipt for condoms in a car and had a “pretty good-sized laceration.”
Johnson was charged with domestic violence, after Lozada said she ran “to a neighbor’s house to get away from him.” She filed for divorce. They lasted 41 days.
Thirteen years have passed. He still uses the nickname “Ochocinco,” which stands in Spanish as an “eight” with a “five” — he did wear No. 85. He does a podcast with Sharpe, which continued while the Hall of Fame tight end settled his legal case for — we assume — less than $50 million. Could Johnson yap on “First Take” with Smith? Sure. Does he have opinions? Sure.
Should they make him a co-host?
If that happens, Pitaro should resign and join the Cartoon Network, if not play first base for the Savannah Bananas. Smith should hand back his $100 million and move to Bora Bora. They would replace Sharpe with Chad Johnson and his past? That would come days after Marcus Morris Sr., who had appeared on “First Take” to discuss the NBA, was arrested on felony fraud charges that he stole $265,000 from Las Vegas casinos.
Don’t bother telling Johnson. “The fact that you came off vacation for me, that lets me know you’re trying to get things started a little early,” he told Smith. “And I appreciate that. Trying to preheat the oven, I like that. It’s gonna be a great season.”
Preheat the oven. If O.J. Simpson was alive, Stephen A. Smith could hire him.
Why are we watching this show, again?
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.