Stephen A. Smith Plans to Be Back in Print and Blog Frequently
At one point, the comments turned ugly, racist and downright nasty. According to Smith, who spoke to the Daily Examiner via cell phone from Dallas, they’ll be coming down today — but they won’t discourage him from posting more frequently. He tells us the site is being run by friends and family members, and has been in the works for a couple of years. And — he plans to blog on it two to three times a week.
“I’m used to writing three to four columns a week, so this will be nothing,” he says. In addition, Stephen A. plans on having frequent guest bloggers, friends from the entertainment and sports industries, who’ll be talking about “anything that they feel strongly about.”
So, will the site be like the Huffington Post?
“Kind of. Yeah.”
We got the sense that Smith doesn’t quite grasp the enormity of his online detractors. He’s excited about receiving 10,000 unique visitors in the first 36 hours, but is seemingly oblivious to the fact that most of those visits came from other sports blogs making fun of him.
“I realize I’m a polarizing figure,” he says. “I want people to disagree with what I say. I want them to forget my persona for a second, or the fact that I appear to be a bit demonstrative or bombastic [on radio and television]. I want people to respond to the words coming out of my mouth or that I write as opposed to the persona. But once they start using the n-word and get derogatory, they won’t be on there anymore.”
As he noted in his blog yesterday, the topics of choice will be broader than just sports. SAS was blog fodder recently after a number of appearances on Hardball to talk about the presidential race — a development Smith says he was “shocked” by: “It was a total accident. I am far from a political aficionado, but I am an American and an African-American, and I do recognize and care about these issues — I always have.
“I’ve been on plenty of those shows to talk about sports, but they’ve called me the last four times to talk about politics and I’ve loved it. And I they [the talk show producers and hosts] said they loved how I express myself and how I think. Chris Matthews even said to me, ‘You know more than you think.’”
SAS acknowledges that the blog has finally emerged because he has extra time on his hands. When he was doing his ESPN talk show Quite Frankly (canceled last year, but a “wonderful experience”), it took up to 15 hours per day. Also gone, of course, is his Inquirer column, which was axed last August after a dispute with the paper. He says he’s dying to talk about that situation, but under direction from his lawyers cannot. But he will. As soon as he can. He longs to be back in print, and he guarantees that he will.
“I’ve been a journalist for 15 years,” he says. “Newspapers are my foundation. That’s what it’s all about. Having a newspaper column makes me feel credible and good about what I do. It’s what made me feel whole.”
For now, he has the blog. He reiterates that he welcomes all visitors to chime in as much as they want:
“I want to challenge people to challenge my message — as opposed to the messenger.”
Stephen A.’s Online Hate Club [The Daily Examiner]
January 24th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I used to like Stephen — used to. He’s a walking, talking sportswriter stereotype. Sometimes, at least on his show, I think he tries too hard. Just do you and stop the unnecessary yelling…
January 24th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Having a column didn’t bring credibility to SAS; SAS drained credibility from those sports columnists who actually work hard at their jobs and are good at them.
SAS dishonored the job by treating as his moonlighting gig, when in fact it was the Inquirer column that put him on the map. An employee cannot properly serve two bosses, and once his electronic profile rose to the level it had, SAS needed to resign from the column so that someone else could get a chance and, more important, do it right.
His columns got worse and worse, to the point of embarrassment to those who work hard at the Inky. That is lethal to morale, to have a high-income staffer take short cuts that would get a grunt in hot water. Finally — FINALLY — the editors there did the right thing.
If SAS was so eager for credibility, he should have accepted the “demotion” (not really a demotion, since his pay wasn’t going to get cut) to being “just” a reporter again, and built back his reputation in the print world. But his ego never would allow that.
January 26th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Not being from Philadelphia, I haven’t read Steven A.’s column and only know his work as a TV commentator. But, having been employed as a reporter for two decades, I also know about the jealousy and competitiveness generated inside a building full of writers when one of their number gets an outsized share of attention (and extra money). “Not Red” is being unrealistic by arguing that Steven A. should have been a good boy and taken the demotion in stride. Smith is bigger than the Inquirer and he can get another newspaper gig. And the newspaper can get another sports columnist.