Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Stephen A. Smith | Sports Television Personality | 04-24-26

Transcript

Stephen A. Smith | Sports Television Personality | 04-24-26 · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Get it in McComb fires. Hawks take the lead offensively,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and Dyson Daniels has been the best defender on Brunson.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: The Hawks stole one in Game two.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: It's down to the wire here in Game three, seven seconds,
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: let punch him of the ball.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Cronching makes us both cronching on the baseline. Tom's got
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: a sucks.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: Holder and Lauda takes a two long lead in the series.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: The reality of it is, and I told him this,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: it's it's a seven game series for a reason. You know,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: stuff's gonna happen. There are plenty of teams have been
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: down one two, you know. Should I even think Oklahoma
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: City was down one to last year and they end
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: up winning winning it. So I'm not saying we're gonna
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: win it or anything like that. But the reality of
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: it is, it's it's seven games, and you take one
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: game at a time. Each game is its own entity.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: And that's what I told the group. Now, this should
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: stink because we gave ourselves a chance knowing that we
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: didn't play our best basketball. So it should stink, but
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: we need to feel it and get ready to be
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: locked in for the next game, which we will be.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Whatever that was Iron Eagle, my dear friend Iron Eagle
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: on the call. He was great last night. Hey, you
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: can't lose an Eagle and Breen, they're both amazing. As
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: a nicker Bocker suffered their second consecutive one point loss
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: to the Hawks, and then you heard from Nick coach
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Mike Brown, and as I said this morning, amidst all
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: the trumpy ron talk and talking to Blair White, a
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: very courageous conservative, transgender and studio not long ago when
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Randy Sutton, the amazing cop the wounded Blue. As I
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: said earlier this morning, the happiest guy in America right
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: now has to be Tom Thibodeau. I'm sorry he's got
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: to be grinning ear to ear that son of a
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: gun had the Nick Baker is two games away from
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: the NBA Finals. They got better every year. He won
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: more and more games every year. And whatever the issue
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: was with Leon Rose or I just don't care. So
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: they fire him, they bring in Mike Brown, and now
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: the Knicks. I don't think they'll lose this series, but
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: they're losing now. So the best sports personality I believe
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: in the world, I really believe that Stephen A. Smith
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: has now distinguished himself as that, but he's so much
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: more than that. He does this amazing show every week,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: and you know, he discusses a lot of stuff. He
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: had some great points on President Trump and Iron for example.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: I agree with a lot of it. Two nights ago.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Then he toured with the idea running for president not
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: that long ago. Just a really smart guy and Krelbi entertaining.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: And he's my friend, Steven A. Smith, Steve Good Friday morning, buddy.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: How are you good morning.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: I'm great, and it's so great to talk to you.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: I think you'd agree with me that right now, Tom Thibodeau,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying he's rooting for the Knicks to lose,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: but you know how people off, they're.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Gonna be honest. He's looking pretty good right now. He's
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: looking pretty good right now. There's no there's no there's
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: no way around. He's looking pretty damn good right now.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: You know, it's it's really, it's really not a good
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: thing for the New York next right now, very very
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: disgusted what I saw last night. I'm losing the game,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: brunting back to back bad place on offense to end
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: the game. Carl Anthony Towns, I mean this is a
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: guy that can dominate the Atlanta Hawks in somehow, some ways.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: He's not as active of a part of an offense
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: as he needs to be. He got a guy in
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Michel Bridges who can play, who's worth one hundred and
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: fifty million that they're paying for him in the day's
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: NBA economy. But it's never worth six first round picks
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: for unprotected in order to get his services, particularly when
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: you consider the fact that those assets that you surrendered
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: to get him, who's Jalen Brunson's boys. They won national
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: championships of Villanova. That's why they went through all of
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: that to get them. You know, it compromised their ability
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: to get somebody like Giannis Afterda Kumpo, who would have
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: already been a Nick from last summer had it not
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: been for the Nicks being for rest of those assets.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: So it's not a good day. I mean, they can
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: still win this series, but there has been a drop off.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Regardless of what statistics say, regardless of what their records say.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: This is not the same team that had the grit
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: and the grind and the toughness that they had under
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Tom Thibodeau. That is just a fact.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Couldn't agree more.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I couldn't agree. It is, Yeah, is what it is.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: And we gotta see what they're gonna do.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, and you know, Hard is still valuable
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: out there, does a good job McBride, but these guys,
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: they're not the same. And you know, forget about the
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: opense for a second. I mean, are you telling me
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: that there's nobody on the Knicks that can stop cee
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: J McCollum.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Willie Steve. Yeah, certain teams that way. CJ's and savvy
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: veterans has been around for a long time. He can
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: really shoot the basketball. He can really play. He's poised
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: under pressure, doesn't get nervous, can make big tom shots
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: to keep forgetting. He was the top two options for
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: years in Portland with Damian Lillard. And not only that,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: they got a bunch of young thoroughbreds around him that
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: can play but don't know any better. So they rely
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: on him for poise, They rely on him for leadership,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: and they rely on him for clutch plays, whether it's
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: scoring or setting somebody else to score. He knows what
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: he's doing. And the New York Knickson not stop defensively
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: across the board because even though og can descend, even
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: though Josh Hart can descend and Michel Bridges can descend.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Sometimes you can exploit Carl Anthony Towns on a perimeter,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: and you can exploit Jaalin Brunton everywhere. And so the
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: combination of all of those things, along with the absence
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: of faith that Mike Brown has shown in his death
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: in his death definitely plays a role, which is a
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: problem because that's one of the biggest reasons you decided
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: to shift from Thibodeau to Mike Brown because of those things.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Thibodeau's from Achilles' heels for stubbornness, you know. And I
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: think the line of the Year last year came from
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Kenny to Jet Smith formerly of TNT now ESPN with
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: the Inside the NBA team. Kenny Smith had the line
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: that I don't want you to ever forget sid and
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: that line was this about Tom Thibodeaux. Tom Thibodeau would
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: have a problem playing nine guys in a baseball game.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: That's what he said. That's right, And there was a
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: lot of the year because it's absolutely true that was
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Tom Thibodeau. You know, he was stubborn in Chicago, He
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: was stubborn in Minnesota, he swore he had learned the
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: era of his ways and started winning a little bit
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: and got stubborn in New York. And it's a damn
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: shame that he's not the head coach of his team,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: because if you just knew how to relax just a
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: little bit and just laid off and didn't alienate players
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: the way that he can on an organization strictly because
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: of his stubbornness, because he's so committed to the game
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: of basketball. It's all he cares about, is all he
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: thinks about, is all he does. But you got to
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: lighten up. And because he didn't, he alienated the support
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: of his players, and as a result, they wanted somebody
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: different than him. Well now they got it, and look
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: at what's after you.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: One more on the Knicks. And this is one of
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: the things I don't miss, Steve about doing sports talk
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: radio every day, because I'd be spending two hours on
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: the fan today talking about how tomorrow's a must win
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: Knicks camp ball down three games to one, Well can
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: they can they come back and win three straight? Blah
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: blah blah blah blah. I don't know if tomorrow is
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: a must win or not. But as a Nick man,
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: I'd rather be two two.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: It is no, no, no. You can't go down through one,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: can't go down three one. This New York Knicks team
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: is not built to come back from a three to
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: one depicit. I'm not saying that it's impossible, but it's incredibly,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: incredibly daunty. The New York Knicks are not versatile enough
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: to make you believe that they could figure out a
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: multitude of ways to come away with three straight victories
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: after being down three to one to a young Atlanta
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Hawk squad. They don't win Game four, so I don't
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: believe they advancing to the second round.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: Wow, which would be a huge, colossal failure. I'll give
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: me your impressions quickly, because they don't want to get
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: to the political news. What your impressions of the local
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: football teams? You know, the giant fans. I saw a
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: lot of people on Instagram yelling and screaming. They wanted
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: sexy players. They wanted the running back Love out of
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Notre Dame with a wide receiver Tyson out of Arizona State,
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: or even that safetyet of Ohio State. They didn't get
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: either one. But Harball feels like up the middle with
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: a very good linebacker on and off the ball and
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: a guard to protect Jackson. Dort that the Giants did
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: very well. The Jets. They did add some talent skilled
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: players on offense with the tight end out of Oregon
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: and the wide receiver out of Indiana. What were your
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: impressions of the local team?
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Stress? I thought both teams did well. I just don't
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: give a damn because it's not the season, you know.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: I'm ticking tired of us winning in the month of
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: April and May and then thinking up the joint from
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: September through December could kill less. I'm not sold on them.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, again, give them credit. What creditors do. They
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: did what they needed to do to win the draft.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Props to them, but you need more than that. And
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: unfortunately these organizations that both organizations have shown us that
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: they're bereast of making the right They just struggle to
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: make the right decisions. Tim and Tom and Tom Again,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not a namord with what I'm seeing, and so
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: we got to wait team. But they did make the
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: right picks, especially with the New York Jets. I'm one
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: of those guys who firmly believes do what got you there,
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: meaning that if you're a head coach, what got you
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: the head coach the job? If you're Aaron Glenn, it
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: was because you're a defensive wizard. Okay, Fine, go out
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: there and make sure that the Jets are elite defensively.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: That's how I am. If that's what got you the job,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: make sure that once you get the head coaching job,
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: you don't forget what got you the job. So I'm
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: good with that. So if you want to show up
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: your defense and show everybody that you're going to have
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: a big time defense, and you bring in the personnel
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: to do that, you actually have to losing Quinn Williams
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: and those guys last year and tank in the second
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: half of the season, Fine, just go ahead and do it.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: But I'll be happy when I see them win games
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: when they count. Fair enough.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: One more on sports, and I know that you talked
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: about it, and I enjoyed your conversation because you're not
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: entertaining guy, But it's everywhere, and I gotta tell you,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: I don't care. I don't care who Diana Russini is
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: sleeping with, even if he is the coach of the Patriots,
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: whether he's married or not put that crap with our
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: buddy Kevin Fraser on Entertainment tonight. Why this is turning
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: into a major sports story. Every other story on my
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: Instagram is Russini and Brabel. I couldn't care less.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: I feel bad. I know Diana Roussini a little bit.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: We work together at ESPN for ten years. She's a
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: good person, She's a damn good reporter. I feel very,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: very bad for her. But it's undeniable that she put
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: herself in a compromising situation. I'm not here to catt
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Endia Spurgeon's on her, to judge her or anything like that.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: You know, And what I will say to people is this,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: and I don't get into people's bedroom and stuff like that,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: because when we don't talk about enough in the country
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: is that everybody's marriage is different. You got a lot
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: of people in this country that have married the name
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: only you know that marriage is not what you think
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: it is when it comes to their specific relationship. So
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: you don't know what the hell is going on in
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: somebody's relationship. I mean, I've seen it. All said is
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you've had I've seen people that have been married,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: they got open relationships, open marriages, they swing in, they
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: doing all sorts of stuff that you know, I mean,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: you just never know, so you don't get you don't
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: get caught up and all of that. Here's what I
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: would tell you where it becomes. This is the one point.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: And I said this on my radio show on Mad
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Dog Sports Radio, serious extem every day for one to
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: three pms instead of the time. I said, listen, here's
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: what we have to understand. Mike Rabele's got some answering.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: The do to his family is why.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Oh the money shot was coming. Literally, He's right, Mike Brabel.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: The person he has to answer to first is his wife.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: And he's actually admitted those have been difficult conversations. Let's
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: get right back to see if you're making the point,
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: and you're right that Rabel he's got to start with
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: his wife. Oh he's not there yet.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, I thought he was there. He is.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Let's gip Steve back on the phone. He was saying,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Rabel has to start with his.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Wife, right, his wife, Okay, actually starts to end with
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: his wife and his family. He doesn't owe us an
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: explanation for a damn thing. Here's where the problem comes
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: in with Diana received. You are a reporter covering the
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: team and the sport. If you were a reporter covering
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: the NFL, but you were seeing with somebody with hockey
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: or somebody on the NBA or whatever, it's none of
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: our business. But the fact of the matter is you
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: covered the NFL and there's numerous stories that you were
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: reporting on that involved him and the Patriots. So because
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: of that, now the conflict of interest comes into play. Okay,
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: did you report? Were you objective in your reporting? Were
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: you just reporting what was fed to you? How was
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: it fed to you? The pillow talk? What was it?
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: You know, did you serve his agenda or did you
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: serve the objective agenda and the objective of the athletic
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: and your readers. That's the stuff that made it become
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: such a public spectacle that the industry had to touch
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: and couldn't avoid because that is something that you simply
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: don't do. And that's where the problem lies. She's married,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: he's married. Whatever, that's their business, that's their family business.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: We don't notice specifics. She denied it initially, so did he,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden he has this useless
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: press conference where he's talking with saying absolutely nothing, and
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: as far as I'm concerned, through her under the bus
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: because he had no business speaking about it at all publicly,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: but he did anyway, and so that's really really unfortunate
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: that he did something like that, certainly to cover himself.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: That didn't work. But in the end, what it came
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: down to, What it comes down to is that when
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: you're in our business, you don't put yourself in those
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: compromising situations, especially when you're the females, because the females
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: are the ones holding you accountable. You have to remember
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: a lot of times, and I want to say this
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: on your show, and I said this publicly because I
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: think people need to hear this so many times when
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: stuff like this comes out, particularly about women covering professional sports,
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: a lot of people think it's the men going off.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: That's not true. It's the women in the industry that
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: are going off about women who put themselves in that position.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Because any time something like that happens, women, most of
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: whom would never think to do such a thing, look
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: at themselves as having their credibility questions. How did you
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: get to where you were? Did you did you? Did you?
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: You know what? What? What mechanisms did you use who? So
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: women are you know, women, the women of high integrity
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: throughout the years that have been instituted, the wonderful women
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: like the Christine Brennans of the world of the USA,
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Today's uh, the Sarah Jenkins of the Washington Poles. Uh
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: uh you know, uh, you know, just just Pam Oliver
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: at Fox, you see Storm, ESPN, and you know Robbing, Robbing,
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: Roberts and so many others that are institutions that're just
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: phenomenal and great and stuff like that. Who would never
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: find themselves in their position? You you don't ever, ever,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: ever want to put yourself in that kind of position
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: as a woman in this business, because when that happens,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: everybody raises an eyebrow, and women guard against that with everything.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: They have the credibility, the credibility of what they do.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: So when one comes along and finds themselves in that
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: kind of compromise and position, these women are highly sensitive
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: to it, as well as they should be, a lot
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: of times they're thinking, it's the men that are complaining
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: about stuff like that. No, it's not. It's the women
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: that hold down that standard. And they're right to do so.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: They're not wrong that may be the best point of home.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: You just made a great.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Argument why it does matter.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: So now you've completely convinced me. I was like, I
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: just don't care, but you made a great argument based
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: upon the profession, and you're right. Women unfortunately are viewed
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: by a lot of guys like how did she get there?
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: And this doesn't help? But you know it me when
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: you talked about well did she you know change the
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: story is integrity comes into playing or reminded me of
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: these Senate confirmation hearings when they sit down and they
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: go are you gonna like but Trump, are you gonna
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: tell the truth? Are you gonna make sure that story
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: makes Trump look good? Kind of like you're talking about
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: with Rusini and Rabel. But that's the first thing I
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: thought of was, Wow, that's like a Senate confirmation hearing.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. I mean to some degree it has
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: to be when it comes to her, not Rabel. And
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: then you have people calling up saying it's a double standard.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: I said, no, sir, it's not a double standard. It's
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: not a double standard at all, because we're not talking
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: about gender. We're not talking we're talking about the institution.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: If you are a guy and you are covering the NBA,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: the w NBA, and then you happen to be it's
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: revealed that you have some kind of relationship with a
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: female coach of the w NBA that you're covering.
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: The same applies, Yeah, you're the same apply Yeah sure
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: sure even now even the the w n B A
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: came under fire last week, the Dallas Wings because they've
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: got two girls who were together Unsuity of Connecticut.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: They drafted He's Fudd.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Well that's totally different because see that here's the thing
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: that's an agreed that was an egregious story that I
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: spoke out against that too, that's involved in Paige Beckers
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: and as Ozzie Fudd with teammates at Yukon. You know,
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Paige Beckers went to the pros. Before she went to
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: the pros, uh, they confirmed that they have a relationship
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: with one another. So what they're two players. You understand
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: one is not an authoritative figure or anything like that.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Whatever their relationship is.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but but but you don't want these are your
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: two best players on the team. If they get into
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: a fight the night before and one of these girls
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: can can't perform.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: You can't you can't go by that because listen, listen,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: I've seen situations. Listen. I've been covering sports for years.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: I know of a situation where a player got traded
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: because the coach was screwing around with the cheerleader. Yeah,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: and then then and then the player ended up messing
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: with her. I mean, I've covered stories like this. You
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: understand saying I know what I'm talking about. But what
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: I'm saying to you is that that's different. Two young,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: consenting adults having a relationship with one another is not
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: a crime. The reason why that story was so bad
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: is because it implied that the Dallas Wings went out
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: and got Ozzie Fudd because of the relationship with Paige Beckers,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: as opposed to Ozzy Fudd being one of the elite
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: players in college basketball. This young lady is a sensational
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: basketball player who proved it time in and time out
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: on the basketball court that she was worthy of her
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: stature as a top player. So to imply that the
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: only reason that the Dallas Wings brought her on board
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: as the number one overall pick is because she's so
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: tight with Tage Beckers is an insult to her credentials
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: and what she has established and she has accomplished. That's
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: not fair. You understaid, look at just strip strictly on
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: her game. There's nobody that could look at her and say, well,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: she wasn't worthy of the number one. Over she's great,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: because that's great, because that's just a complain. Yeah she's great,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: it's great.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, No, she's great. And there'll be a good basketball
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: team this year, the Dallas Wings. I want to move
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: on over. I did catch your your monologue of your
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: show a couple of nights ago when you talked specifically
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: about President Trump and Iran, and I don't know if
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: you go you know at this point, Steve, I think
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: you've come to find that even though I'm a maga
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: guy and I love Trump and I have a hard
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: time criticizing him, that doesn't mean I don't. And I
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: think you've come to realize now that you and I
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: happened to agree a lot more than maybe you would
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: have thought before you and I started this really great
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: relationship and this great friendship. And I agreed with just
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: about everything you said just a couple of nights ago
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: on your show, But for the audience that did not
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: hear it, let him know how you feel about this
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: whole conflict in Iran.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: Well, listen, I think that, first of all, I think
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: most of us as American citizens agree more than we disagree.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: I just think that in the binary system that we're
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: living in, where we have two sides that have going
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: to the extreme, you know, that kind of divide and
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: polarization has been stirred and instigated by politicians on Capitol Hill,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: which is why they get on my damn nerves, which
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: is why I don't like them. You understand, I'm here
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: in Washington, d C. Because I'm going to the White
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: House Correspondence dinner tomorrow tomorrow night, and I'm here to
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: tell you something. Right now, they asked me a question
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: about it. Folks will get their feelings hurt because I'm
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: sick and tired of what they're doing to this country.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: You know, we're not that divided. We're reasonable people as
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: American citizens if we just sit down and talk with
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: one another. Having said that, here's my issue with President
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Trump with the Iran situation. When you can see folks
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: in Maga turning against them, I don't blame them. You
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: advertise that, market it yourself as being America. First, how
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: you have come across you have, you have, you have
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: been doing a bit too many things that have deviated
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: from America being the priority. But I'm telling you, but.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: I can't make the argument Steven, this one case for
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: the Iran You're right, But I can make the argument
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: that America first, Iran started this forty seven years ago,
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: we did.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Nothing about it. Yeah, I'm not disagreeing with that. I
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: don't have a problem with him attacking Iran. What I'm
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: saying is is inconsistent with what you said. You said
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: you obliterated them last June. True, and then suddenly you
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: felt the need to attack them again. Well, why you
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: were either wrong then or you're wrong now? Which one
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: is it? Because it's not consistent? Okay? And then secondly,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: where's the plan? How do we exit it? Because you
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: said no new wars, no forever wars. Well, how is
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: this ending? Are we sure it's gonna end? It can't
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: be believe me, believe me, no, but not believing you.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: Where the facts? What are you going to show us?
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: You know, people have a right to know that because
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: of the American citizens. What I've implored upon you and
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: a lot of people on the right a lot of times,
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: it ain't just about believing you. Sometimes you scaring the
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: living hell out of people, meaning him, because of the
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: tactic that he's willing to utilize. I understand it's totally
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: plausible that you might be talking, blustering and all of
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: this other stuff just to scare the living hell out
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: of people because that's your negotiation tactic. But we don't
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: know that for sure. We just don't. And so because
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: of that, you want to see a plan of action.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: You want to see coordination. You want to make sure
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: that he's listening to the right people. You want to
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: make sure that he's doing within the best interest of
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: the American citizen. And far more often than not these days,
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: more so his second term than even his first term,
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: we've gotten the oppression that that's not the case. And
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: so that was the thing for me. I'm like, go
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: ahead and attack i Ron because obviously, with what they've
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: been doing over the last forty seven years or so
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: is unacceptable. They've killed American citizens, they've been a top
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: sponsor for terrorism around the world. They tried to kill him.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: They certainly have shown a propensity and a willingness to
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: do whatever harm to America that they can, damn it,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: get their asses. I got it. But in the same breath,
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: you also got to be consistent. If you're saying this
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: is what the issue is, don't change it up. And
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: in the meantime, don't ignore affordability issues in this country.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Don't avoid safety in the streets, don't avoid these things
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: that are going on in America that needs your attention
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: With a safety in the streets, I mean, look, the
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: guy has sent his people to a bunch of cities,
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: including were you going to be tomorrow night? That's a
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: much safer city because of Trump.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Well, listen, you can say that, and I'm not even
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: going to disagree with that. But in the same breath,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: here's what I will caution you about because a lot
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: of times with people, you know, so many people are
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: so enthralled with him that they're forgetting the importance of precedents.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: When you look at the Supreme Court and some of
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: the decisions that they have made and what they're going
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: to make in the future. Said, take this into consideration.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: How many times is precedent deferred to when a decision
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: is being made. A lot of times people are so
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: gung ho about Trump, They're like, year, go ahead, go ahead,
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: not remembering he's going in twenty twenty eight, twenty second
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Amendment ain't getting circumvented. Somebody else is going to be
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: in there. They don't have his cachet, they don't have
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: his provadal, they don't have his swag, they don't have
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: his ability to deliver and cultivate this communication in this
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: relationship with his people. They don't have those things going on.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: So when you allow him to get away with just anything, okay,
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: and you say, hell with the law on the books,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: hell with all of this nonsense, we need this done now.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: But then the next president is going to have an excuse.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: And what if that's a Democrat that is completely against
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: everything that said Rosenberg and some of the people that
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: vibe with you believe in, what are you going to
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: feel like? Then you got to be careful about all that.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: That's what makes our country great, that we have a
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: standard that we live on, a rule of law that
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: makes sure that's applicable to everybody, so nobody gets to
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: use the excuse of circumventing it. Whether it's Obama, whether
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: it's w Bush that it was Clinton, whether it's Bidence,
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: whether it's somebody in the future. You want to guard
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: the interest of the country, not the interest of the
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: individual you so happen to like that happens to be
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: in office at this particular moment in time. You have
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: to be careful about that.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: And this is why you're a major superstar. We started
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: talking about the Nicks and the Hawks, we talked about
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: the NFL draft, we talked about Russini and Vrabel, and
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: you closed out with the very sensible, I mean, this
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: very common sense approach to the presidency and how this
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: country can heal. That's why, steven A, I love you.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: That's why you're a superstar. And that's why I know
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: it's going to cost you about fifty million dollars, but
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: you still got to run in twenty eight.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: I'm not giving up my money. They're not getting me
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: to do that. They're not getting me to do that.
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: I will gladly listen for me personally, said, I'll tell
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: you this right now, it ain't even about being an
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: office so much for me, I would give anything to
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: be on that debate stage and stand next to these
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: politicians swear up and down that they've had the interest
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: of the American people, and stand in front of my
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: face and say that because I would tell you right now,
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: I think i'd eat them alive because I know they
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: have I know they haven't done that. And that's my
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: whole point. It's like, I don't vibe with everything sid
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Rosenberg says. Everything you say ain't wrong. Everything Trump does
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: is not wrong. Everything that comes out of Marc or
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Rubio's mouth is not wrong. The same applies to the Democrat.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: There's some things you're right about. There's some things you
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: may be wrong about. Sit down, be adults, talk about it,
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: and stop trying to position yourself just to turn the
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: American people against one another. I know that I wouldn't
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: be that person. I know that I stand up and say,
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: you know what does a damn good point. You know
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: what them borders like. You know, with all the liberals
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: that I know, you're not going to tell me that
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: we did the wrong thing by closing the borders. When
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: you open them and you're let twelve to fifteen million
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: people in the country, you can't tell me that. Now.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: I don't like the OPI with ice and how that
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: was utilized. Minnesota's one example, La Portland, Chicago, places like that,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: But there is no denying that closing the borders was necessary.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: It's just about how you do things. You can't sit
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: up there and complain about the borders being closed when
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: you said nothing when Obama deported three point one million people.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: We ain't getting away with that. We're not going to
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: be hypocrites. But in the same breath, how you handle
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: stuff matters because it assuages the concerns of the American people.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: It brings a calmness to us that we know things
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: are happening with adults in the rooms. Don't talk to
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: me about Pushner and wittkof going over as envoys to us,
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: and those are our most qualified individuals to do it.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: We gotta be able to do better than that. Stuff
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: like that is what I'm talking about here. And if
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: you talk to the American people with that kind of sense,
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: I think it goes along with Stephen.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: You're beautiful and enjoy the White House corresponds stead of
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: tomorrow night, and good luck to one Nick's in game
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: four tomorrow and just let's do this again very very soon.
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: You're really on your terrific Steve Realdi, thank you so much.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: That was great. Anytime on man, you take it easy.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: You're the best. Stephen A. Smith. He is a great
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: guest and a terrific guy. We become really good friends.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: That was one your papa didn't see coming, did you.
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure if it's more shocking Randy Levine the
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: president of the New York Yankees, so Stephen A Smith.
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: But both of those guys are terrific guys.
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to Sit In Friends in the Morning.
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: You can hear sit in Friends in the Morning weekday
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: mornings at six. If you like the podcast, share it
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: with your friends and listen anytime at WABC radio dot
• 29:36
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• 29:40
  Speaker 4: button on all major podcasts platforms. Plus, follow WABC on
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: social on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X see you next
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: time for a new episode, so you never have to
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: wonder
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here.