Sportswriters should stay off TV, including Stephen A. Smith
September 18, 2007
It always boggled me why sports columnists started getting appearances on TV in the first place.
Not only are most sports columnists the opposite of photogenic, but the more they’re on TV, the less columnists have time to go out to practices, games, press conferences, locker rooms, or do, you know, actual reporting. By being on TV, the columnists essentially become talking heads, where before, their editors at least made sure they’d actually go out and talk to the athletes, coaches and administrators they’re writing about.
Pardon the Interruption can be enjoyable at times, but unfortunately, that started a trend of many other TV shows putting sports columnists on the air. Off the top of my head, I can think of Around the Horn, Rome is Burning, 1st and 10, Sportscenter, I, Max, and there’s probably other shows on Fox Sports and other sports networks that put sports columnists on the air to yell at each other about certain topics.
Stephen A. Smith is one of the most annoying of all. When I first saw him on TV years ago, he always seemed to be well-informed and intelligent. But on ESPN, he involved into being a guy who just talked loudly and was opinionated just to be opinionated. It’s no coincidence that Smith became less appealing to watch the more he was on TV — he was probably doing less real reporting.
Well, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the paper Smith wrote for, took a stand and tried to re-assign Smith back to reporting. Smith isn’t taking this well, and may be looking into the prospect of suing the Inquirer. For what exactly, I don’t know and don’t understand. It was the Inquirer who first made Smith famous and it’s their right to expect more of employees they’re paying. It’s not like the Inquirer has been overworking Smith — with Stephen A.’s gig on ESPN radio, Quite Frankly and his many appearances on ESPN, it has been ESPN benefiting from Smith, not the Inquirer.
Here’s hoping that the Inquirer stands firm and that Stephen A. Smith loses his lawsuit. It could start a trend across the country of newspapers firing their columnists who spend too much time on TV and not doing actual reporting.
Gilbert
Ben
October 10, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Stephen a Smith is the biggest jerk I’ve ever heard on radio. While listening to ESPN radio one day, the idiot had the nerve to justify the to his white colleague “Don’t Snitch” belief in the ‘Black community’. To top that, the loud mouth was on the Fox news network where the Czar issue was discussed. He had little to say as he seemed LOST during the whole conversation. I was embarrassed for him. Finally, last night he was on “The Ed Show” where he could take no position on whether Lush Rimbo (my name for the racist) should own the St. Louis Rams or whether black players should take a stand and not play for him. Come on Ed there are many intelligent Black commentators and educators out there who could better represent Black people. This guy is a clown.