Well I've had a blast this week, watching CIAA hoops and reuniting with old friends and acquaintances. One of them I haven't seen in almost a decade, Stephen A. Smith, the opinionated NBA analyst on ESPN. Stephen A., a Winston-Salem State grad and basketball player, did the on-air announcing for the championship game. He's a bona-fide CIAA success story.
He came to the Greensboro News & Record in the mid-90s, a fresh-face cub reporter in our High Point office, where I was the editor. I still remember driving him around High Point to look for apartments. One by one, he shot them down with the same disdain that he dismisses a bad call by a referee. He wrote some stories, we played some hoops, then he moved on.
Stephen A.'s career took off soon after. A short stint reporting in New York, then on to the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he's still a columnist. But he found his niche on ESPN covering the NBA. He recently got his own show, "Quite Frankly," on ESPN2, where he does interviews in his animated pull-no-punches style that viewers either love or don't love.
Me, I love that he's doing his thing and staying true to himself. And I finally got a chance to tell him after the game.
What do you think about Stephen A. Smith? Post comments below.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Stephen A. Smith, a CIAA Success Story
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4 comments:
I think Stephen A. Smith does a great job on ESPN and he doesn't hold back any punches, however he may need to hold back some punches on his commentary during the CIAA tournament. I find his comments a bit tooo critical at times. Sometimes even down right cruel to some of these young players. I wonder if the CIAA was covered on ESPN when Stephen A. Smith was playing for WSSU...would the color guy be as critical on him.
There is a thin line between being arrogant and being "true to himself"
CIAA
Alumnus
I'm cool with Stephen's approach, but I can see how he rubs some people the wrong way. He's very confrontation oriented which is a very risky approach that has some appeal.
FAMU
Alumnus
I LOVE LISTEN TO STEPHEN A. SMITH BECAUSE HE TELLS IT LIKE HE WANTS. ITS UP TO YOU TO LIKE IT OR NOT. YOU WILL LOVE TO HATE OR LOVE TO LOVE HIM . BUT EITHER WAY YOU LOVE HIM AND REALLY THAT WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT LOVE.
Stephen A. Smith is a loud mouth blowhard. Other than that, he's a nice guy.
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