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NCAA, College League, USA Football: CFP National Championship-Ohio State at Notre Dame Jan 20, 2025 Atlanta, GA, USA ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith on the ESPN First Take set at the CFP Fan Central at the George World Congress Center. Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium Georgia United States, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKirbyxLeex 20250120_cec_al2_011 ©Credits Kirby Lee via IMAGO
It’s been about a month since Draymond Green first questioned whether Stephen A. Smith still deserves the “journalist” label. The pushback hasn’t let up, and Smith just picked a fresh fight over it, on his own terms. Addressing the criticism on his show, Smith made clear he’s ready to show up in the rooms he’s accused of avoiding.
“Regardless of all the things that I do, Draymond, be careful what y’all ask for because they brought that up,” Smith said on his YouTube channel. “Guess, you going to see in the locker rooms a little bit in the upcoming season? They want to ask for something, right? All right. You want me in the locker room? Okay. That’s what you want. You want to see me at the games? You want me to be somebody that you can reach out and touch? Ain’t nobody scared. No problem.
“Remember, they asked for it, Wilbon. I was sitting there minding my business, but they asked for me. You want me in the locker room? You want me in the locker room?”
The comments from Stephen A. Smith came after Green criticized Smith on his podcast, The Draymond Green Show, where the Warriors star questioned whether Smith should still be viewed as a traditional reporter. He even compared Smith’s on-air demeanor to that of a “mob boss”.
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“I have my words with Stephen A. Listen, he’s great at what he does,” Green said. “I think, you know, he’s arguably the best at what he does, right? And that’s yelling, respect, cool. But I also think where the line gets blurred in like, in a negative way for journalists. He throws out the journalist tag all the time. I am actually a journalist, this, that, and the other. But to your point, there he isn’t going in the locker room. There isn’t, you know, he comes in the arena. You really don’t get next to (him).”
Then days later, on the same show, he went further: “Until you started to disrespect players as if you were a player… you get upset about the very thing that you do.”
Interestingly, just days earlier, longtime ESPN colleague and Pardon the Interruption host Michael Wilbon told Smith almost the same thing on the Awful Announcing Podcast, calling him “not a journalist anymore,” just “a show.”
Stephen A. Smith, however, has rejected the idea that his current television career somehow makes his journalism background less legitimate. During an earlier response to Green, the ESPN broadcaster pointed to his career before becoming a major television personality. He reminded viewers that he spent the first 20 years of his career working as a beat writer covering high school, college, and professional sports.
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The post “You Want Me in the Locker Room?”: Stephen A. Smith Warns Draymond Green After Warriors Star’s Call Out appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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