Should ESPN move on from Stephen A. Smith?

[FlyBoy718]

I will never question SAS work ethic, drive and passion for what he does but I can’t watch/listen to First Take anymore. Those type of shows for me has gotten corny and obnoxious to the point that it’s become tiresome mostly because of SAS and Skip. Listening to Molly is nails on a chalk board.

I’ll listen to Nightcap early in the morning. It is What it is in the afternoon and Gil’s Arena in the evening. I’ll occasionally watch Pat Mac here and there but First Take for me is expendable and ESPN is trash these days.

Any credibility your post had went out the window with the bolded. Cac alert

On a different note, I was listening to the opening of yesterday's First Take and Shannon was effusive in his praise and thanks for SA after they announced he signed an extension with ESPN. Given the article in OP's post, I'm starting to question whether I was listening to the passing of the torch now

 

[Supa]

Nah bruh. Skip Bayless is a known agitator. No one really takes/took him seriously, especially after Shannon left him. Also w/ Skip you knew he was trolling. It made it entertaining and funny

On the flip, SAS takes himself so gotdamn serious it’s agitating. Ans he Is THE face of nba and nfl coverage, so he dictates the very way sports are covered across the board. That same seriousness for no reason. Plus just to pay his salary espn let go of countless actual sports experts and instead hired personalities and gossip mongers.

And perhaps worst of all he brings in the passive aggressive personal attacks. It’s disgusting what he’s single handedly done. Skip def opened the door to this style but SAS took that small fire and poured gas all over it

SAS is not the face of NFL coverage at ESPN

There's multiple people you'd think of for football before getting to him. He only really covers the NFL on First Take and even then he has the real football people on the panel. They go to Ryan Clark before they ask him anything. He dictates nothing NFL related.

If you want to get at him for the fall of NBA discourse go ahead.

Skip is a weirdo who 90% of the industry can't stand. SAS has a few enemies but he's still well regarded enough that athletes will go on his show or even text him. He's had Magic, MJ, and other athletes reach out to him while being live on air.

SAS has never crossed the line the way Skip did with Shannon.

SAS will have fun, joke, and entertain. He's not that serious all the time just because of his tone.

 

[NZA]

too valuable. SAS is willing to work all day long on subjects he knows little about. he is also a walking meme - he keeps social media engagement going. shannon is great in certain situations only.

 

[duckbutta]

Naw breh. SAS is at a point where he is more mainstream than any other person on a sports/sports adjacent network period. I don’t like most of what he says but I respect the hustle of how he got there. ESPN isn’t moving on from him at any point. He’s automatic high ratings.

Stephen A aint hustle to get anything at ESPN. He just became a company yes man and a c00n. All he did was say yes to everything a white exec told him to do. That aint "hustling". That's just selling your soul.

Tim Legler is someone who "hustles". He don't do gossip stories. He don't do a whole bunch of media stuff. He don't do the over the top yelling and try to make words like pontificate and bombastic trademarks. He just talks hoops. He like Adele when she was fat and was just getting by on her talent as a song writer and ability to sing. No short shorts no dancing no titties out just this fat white chick standing under this spotlight with her neck rolls sizzling red getting by on her voice. That's hustling.

Anybody can be Stephen A. Anybody can do what Stephen A does. All it takes is having a lack of self respect. Every time a white person tells you to do something, you do it with a kool aid grin. Then go out of your way to let everybody know you do it with a Kool Aid grin. Do that long enough and you to can one day have a woman named McNutt make you look like a fool on national tv.

 

[BlackAchilles]

If they do they better hire one of the Jamaicans from In Living Color if they gonna work him into the ground covering every single sport like they do Stephen

 

[RickyDiBiase]

Black people hate seeing other Black folks win. I hope he sticks around and gets a significant pay bump. If I were in the league, he would have been one of the few guys I would give interviews to. Wilbon, SAS, Jalen, and Michael Smith (No Jemele)

Take his nuts out your mouth

 

[34TheTruth]

Black people hate seeing other Black folks win. I hope he sticks around and gets a significant pay bump. If I were in the league, he would have been one of the few guys I would give interviews to. Wilbon, SAS, Jalen, and Michael Smith (No Jemele)

Stfu . Don’t worry Stephen A. Isn’t going anywhere. You’ll still get to see that c00n tap dancing in a cowboy hat every Monday like that shyt didn’t get old 5 years ago lol.

 

[Primetime21]

Yall keep saying his shtick getting old, have you seen First Take’s numbers month over month?

 

[NYC Rebel]

Black people hate seeing other Black folks win. I hope he sticks around and gets a significant pay bump. If I were in the league, he would have been one of the few guys I would give interviews to. Wilbon, SAS, Jalen, and Michael Smith (No Jemele)

What is black in stephen a smith going on racist Mark Savage podcast to talk down black people? What are we doing thats worse than hes done in talking to cac audiences about us? Tell me when I should disqualify such an individual

 

[Rekkapryde]

Should kept this one in the draft breh

 

[Rekkapryde]

He's a clown and been running with sane tired gimmick since forever.
Eventually the audience would get tired of it.

the ratings say otherwise.

he knows how to play TV and media.

dude ain't dumb.

him being homies with these racist bozos should be called out more, but most people don't care. They wanna be outraged.

 

[L. Deezy]

yeah, give the slot to Ryan Clark for a show. Im tired of nyggas screaming.

 

[KillerB88]

What is black in stephen a smith going on racist Mark Savage podcast to talk down black people? What are we doing thats worse than hes done in talking to cac audiences about us? Tell me when I should disqualify such an individual

Shut the entire fukk up. There is nothing anti black about Stephen A. Our community always crying when someone says something we dont like. Out of all the black people representing the community in entertainment, SAS is the among the least troublesome. The fact you dunces don’t see that is more problematic than anything.

 

[Braman]

SAS is not the face of NFL coverage at ESPN

There's multiple people you'd think of for football before getting to him. He only really covers the NFL on First Take and even then he has the real football people on the panel. They go to Ryan Clark before they ask him anything. He dictates nothing NFL related.

If you want to get at him for the fall of NBA discourse go ahead.

Skip is a weirdo who 90% of the industry can't stand. SAS has a few enemies but he's still well regarded enough that athletes will go on his show or even text him. He's had Magic, MJ, and other athletes reach out to him while being live on air.

SAS has never crossed the line the way Skip did with Shannon.

SAS will have fun, joke, and entertain. He's not that serious all the time just because of his tone.

No, just no.

1- SAS has created a mini hierarchy where before dudes can get their own brands and off shoots, they come thru First Take. Damien woody, Swagu, and yes Ryan Clark. He runs football just as much as he does hoops. Plus he gets all those ratings acting a certain way, you think that blueprint aint gon get passed down to future talking heads?!

2- Re: Skip You just proved my point 90% of the industry can’t stand him. Hell he’s not even a ratings cash cow anymore. So why are you still talking about him like it’s 2010 and he’s the big boogeyman. He ain’t. SAS is the new boogeyman. Right down to him crashing other shows live set just to come in and dap people up

3- He’s been in 3-4 back n forths that have veered into personal territory—-thus bleeding over into mainstream news—-this year alone. SAS vs Monica, SAS vs Isiah, SAS vs J will…..before that, SAS vs KD. All that stuff blows up into some ‘state of journalism’ bullshyt and increases the perceived role of reporters/analysts as a whole. He runs all of this shyt bruh

 

[Supa]

No, just no.

1- SAS has created a mini hierarchy where before dudes can get their own brands and off shoots, they come thru First Take. Damien woody, Swagu, and yes Ryan Clark. He runs football just as much as he does hoops. Plus he gets all those ratings acting a certain way, you think that blueprint aint gon get passed down to future talking heads?!

They go through NFL Live or Get Up then SAS brings them on. Ryan Clark was not made through First Take. Wasn't he on I Am Athlete? The Pivot was when this profile started really grow. SAS didn't make him or any of the NFL personalities. He blew up because he became the NFL SAS showing up on every show.

Mina Kimes isn't even on FT that much and she's one of the faces of their NFL coverage.

Shefter and Kiper are both names you'd think of before SAS for NFL coverage on ESPN.

You're giving SAS way too much credit.

2- Re: Skip You just proved my point 90% of the industry can’t stand him. Hell he’s not even a ratings cash cow anymore. So why are you still talking about him like it’s 2010 and he’s the big boogeyman. He ain’t. SAS is the new boogeyman. Right down to him crashing other shows live set just to come in and dap people up

My point was he's the worst not SAS. He's getting paid a ton at FS1 and he can't carry a show. SAS has been getting better ratings every year since Skip left. If FT's ratings keep going up how can be so terrible?

You don't like him but the ratings say otherwise.

3- He’s been in 3-4 back n forths that have veered into personal territory—-thus bleeding over into mainstream news—-this year alone. SAS vs Monica, SAS vs Isiah, SAS vs J will…..before that, SAS vs KD. All that stuff blows up into some ‘state of journalism’ bullshyt and increases the perceived role of reporters/analysts as a whole. He runs all of this shyt bruh

None of those people were his co-hosts. None of them were needed to maintain his ratings. Those disputes just go viral and raise the profile. They don't damage anything. No one will give a damn about Monica McNutt if she's off the show just like they didn't before the beef.

He got rid of Max and the numbers kept going up. He got Shannon now who can probably headline his own show at this point.

You can not like him or his style but acting like he's ruining sports coverage is overblown. The fall of print media is the main culprit.