Debate has gotten a bad name in the last decade. “Debate me” has become a rallying cry for a coalition of internet guys; clumsy rage baiters, bored virgins, and right wing self-fart-huffers (ad hominem!!). So at the risk of sounding like one of these weirdos, I’m going to posit a hot take I stand by: debate is fine. Good even. Prove me wrong!

The reason people shut down the second they hear the phrase “debate me” is because it’s been effectively weaponized to poison the well of public discourse by attempting to legitimize abhorrent, often fascist, ideology with an insidious bad faith approach. FAIR! But that’s fake debate about real stuff. And that’s not what I’m talking about. I want real debate about fake stuff, and at the moment no one does it better than First Things First.

I have a half baked and untested theory that since the deaths of Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert and their TV show, we’ve been putting our healthy debate energy into politics, with horrendous results. Gene and Roger’s show acted as a sort of cultural release valve for people (mostly men) to satisfy the primal desire to yell and dominate without playing sports. It was important and I think we miss it, so any chance I see for charismatic, knowledgeable professionals to take up that mantle, I’m ready to toot that horn.

Maybe discussing football (they talk about other sports too, but mostly football) on First Things First doesn’t have the same cultural impact as debating movies, but football is the closest thing we have to monoculture in 2025 (Taylor Swift counts as football now), and Nick Wright, Kevin Wildes, and Chris Broussard are the best at debating it.

How, in an age of non-stop football content, do these guys stand out? The answer sounds simple, but it’s chemistry. Simple doesn’t mean easy though, and chemistry isn’t something a network can just buy. First Things First has been on the air since 2017, and I’d say they’ve only now reached the peak of their powers.

I was an early adopter of the show as a Kansas City Chiefs fan. The one on-air constant of the show, Nick Wright, is also a vocal Chiefs fan. His ascension from radio to TV happened to coincide with the team drafting Patrick Mahomes and their run of league dominance. Our team was national news, and this was the only national show treating them like that in 2018.

The early days of First Things First copped existing TV debate formats. It did it well, but it wasn’t particularly unique. The years went on and luckily the Chiefs, a topic of expertise, stayed relevant. Enough so to carry them through different interactions, co-hosts, and remote episodes during covid.

In a testament to rare patience from TV, the show has grown in time. They’ve settled on well defined personalities that work well together. Kevin Wildes, a former behind the camera producer is “the leader” but his real role is to be a New England country club straight man that helps his cohosts shine in their louder roles. Nick Wright has grown into his persona as the cocky pinky-ring-wearing hot take artist, debater and professional gambler. And Chris Broussard, the journalist of the group, doesn’t mind playing up the part of the sometimes cranky old head for comedic effect. It’s a balance, but it’s all authentic exaggerations of their real personalities, and you can feel their behind the scenes relationship through the TV.

It helps the hosts get to wear their team allegiances on their sleeve, and they have a devotion to “take integrity”, something lacking in a lot of other shows. The “hot takes” on FTF never fall into the trap of feeling like a producer told them they had to say it 5 minutes before they got into makeup. They have stakes. They never let each other forget their teams, their “guys” or their predictions. For most shows, takes are week to week and disposable, but Nick, Wildes and Brou live and die with theirs. When they win they revel in it, and like all competition, sometimes we watch just to see them lose.

Beyond the takes, it’s a show bolstered by bits, which I typically don’t trust with sports guys, but this show puts me at ease. On an average week you might see break dancers, doo wop singers, thrones, banners, full plates of lunch, tiny plastic hands, love letters, bouquets of roses, robes, hospital beds, smelling salts, and royal trumpeters. And if that sounds a little zoo crew, it’s because it is, but it’s self-aware (Wildes is frequently vocal when he hates a bit) it’s rough around the edges, and they clearly do it to make each other laugh.

If I had one critique about the bits, it would be the recent addition of AI generated visuals for a segment. If anyone from the show reads this, Wildes doing a green screen bit drips with DIY Pee-wee’s Playhouse charm, and the AI stuff has the aesthetics of Boomer Facebook Slop. We love to see the sweat, the seams and the clunky props!

But that’s basically my only negative in a show that broadcasts 15 hours of live TV a week. It’s disguised as a sports show where the hosts yell at each other, but there’s no table flipping or storming off set. It’s never done with the intent of cheap viral moments, or sensational IRL drama. It’s done for the love of football, and to make their cohosts laugh. In a year that saw the WWE-ification of debate with wall to wall Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith, the cancellation of Around the Horn, and the continued rise of stat geekery, we’re left with a down period for an actually fun to watch sports debate show. Luckily First Things First proves it’s up to the task.

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