Thrifty ESPN spending freely

HOW TO save money through reckless spending:

With savings-conscious ESPN having laid off hundreds since 2013, it still is sending the crew of “First Take” to work from the NBA Finals.

Then again, ESPN apparently believes everyone loves self-ordained know-it-all, blowhard and bad-guess artist Stephen A. Smith.

More: As kids who want to be genuine college students increasingly can’t afford to attend, colleges continue to throw millions at sports.

The NCAA women’s championships, as seen last week on the Golf Channel, could have been confused with an international event.

The championship was won by Arizona State, which recruited players from Italy, Ireland, Sweden and Germany.

Perhaps if Victor Cruz hadn’t dropped so many passes, limiting his opportunities to salute himself in dance, his gripes about the Giants conspiring not to throw him the ball wouldn’t be laughable.

Speaking of attention-starved NFL dancers, having officially done the wrong thing last week by encouraging showboats and the excessively immodest to perform for our presumed delight — and the good of the game, good grief — Roger Goodell should now do the right thing:

Remove Vince Lombardi’s name as the title of the Super Bowl trophy. As reader Bill Harris reminds us, it was Lombardi who said that those who score touchdowns should “act as if they’ve been there before.”

That brings us to Aaron Judge. It is sad that people, especially media, are surprised and curious as to why Judge demonstrates gentlemanly, modest behavior and a determination to always play hard. It is as if, given the state of our sports, we should be shocked.