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Come Fan with UsTuesday, August 4, 2026

Stephen A. Smith wore a name tag because Shannon Sharpe kept calling him ‘Skip’

Name tags, crab rangoon, things of that nature.

James Dator
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.

It always takes a little time to remember a new coworker’s name, but Shannon Sharpe is having a more difficult time than normal. Thankfully Stephen A. Smith is here to help him out.

Sharpe is the new part-time host of First Take on Monday and Tuesday, where he’ll scream at a different man after seven years of hosting Undisputed with Skip Bayless on FS1. The job is the same, but the cohost is different — and that’s led to some issues.

On Monday, his first day at ESPN, Sharpe couldn’t stop accidentally calling Stephen A. Smith “Skip” while getting fired up, because muscle memory is hard to break, even when it’s your mouth muscles.

When the takes are hot you don’t have time to remember things like someone’s given name, you just need to throw them out into the world and have them answer your argument — not worry about who you are.

Hopefully the name tag helps though.

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