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WEEKLY REWIND: Stephen A Smith Stops By and More! · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wait that ass up in the morning Breakfast Club. Yeah morning,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: everybody's DJ Envy Angela Yee, Charlemagne the guy. We are
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to Breakfast Club. We got a special guests in the
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: building to the room, stephen A. Smith. What's up, y'all?
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: How y'all doing? How I'm good, bro, I'm good. It's
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: been crazy. I've been busy as hell and the nbac's
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: is about to jump off too, So it's been crazy.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: But I'm here. I wasn't missing this. Your book is
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: available for pre orders. Great shooting. Yeah man, it's gone well.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: And thank you because you was one of the people
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  Speaker 1: that inspired me as well a lot of people both
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: for y'all. I mean, I'm proud of y'all with y'all
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: books and what y'all have done. But I tell you, um,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: it was a long time coming. I really didn't want
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to do it. Um people have been They would have
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: been asking me since ESPN let me go in two
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: thousand and nine to write a book, and I didn't
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: want to. I didn't want to because I always said
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: if I wrote a book, you know, I got to
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: be straight up about you know, just my life and
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: kind of the things, the kind of things I had
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: to go through on a personal level. And then my
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: mother got rest us. So before she passed away in
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  Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, she had always made me prom us, don't
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: ever write a book until I pass away, because she
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: knew that I was going to talk about, you know,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: some of the relationships that I had grown up with
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Pops and others in my family and stuff like that,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and she knew I was gonna do that, and she
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: did not want me to do that while she was alive.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: She said, you go and do it. I'm just asking
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: you for one favor, don't do it until I pass away.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: So I had waited all of those years that then
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: even after I wasn't gonna do it, and then my
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: sisters reminded me, Hey, go ahead and do it. Go ahead,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: guy got folded. They said, it's time. Why now, because
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: you've always been like a private person personally. Yeah, I
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: still am, I believe it or not. I still am.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: But there's a lot to tell. There's a lot to
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  Speaker 1: tell in terms of the path that I had to
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: travel to get to where I am. And so you
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: tell some of those stories and you try to be inspirational,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: as y'all have done. With y'all book and whatever. You know,
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  Speaker 1: you tell people. You know, you don't tell them every
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: single little nugget about your life, but you tell a lot,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and you tell a lot with the golden mina of
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: being constructive and being inspirational and just trying to let
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: people know, Look, you ain't the only person have been
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: through stuff. It's a whole bunch of us have been
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: through stuff. And we walked through that terrain and we
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: carried ourselves on through and we, through the grace of
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: God and a lot of help from a lot of people,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: we were able to pull it off. So you can't too.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: And that's basically what you're doing. You're being You're trying
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: to be as motivational and inspirational as you possibly can.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: But in the same breath, in order to do that,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: you got to be real. And so I just said, Hey,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: I'm just gonna do it. Did you know what you
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: wanted to do as a kid? You know what I
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: always I grew up idolizing Howard Cosell and be primarily
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: because of Muhammad Ali and his relationship with Muhammad Ali
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: and then Brian Gumble, because I saw him doing everything.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: You know, it was like it was the Today's Show.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: It was he used to do NFL on ABC and
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the Olymics. He did everything, and so I grew up
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: idolizing them, and I had fantasized about that. But I
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: also I always fantasized about being a criminal lawyer. And
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: this is before I mean I literally did. But you know,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm in the I'm in I'm in the fourth grade,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm getting left back because I got on undiagnosed
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: dyslexa dyslexa, and I'm saying, hey, you know what, ain't
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: away I'm going to law school. I'm thinking, like, hell no,
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  Speaker 1: ain't doing that. But I mean I grew up watching
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Perry Mason and Mad Logging This four, Law and Order,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: all of those crime shows that anything that had the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: courtroom in it I fantasized about. So I always said,
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  Speaker 1: you put me in a court, ain't nowhere in hell
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  Speaker 1: you're gonna convince me. I'm gonna lose out on convincing
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  Speaker 1: twelve jurors to see my way. And I always believe that.
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  Speaker 1: But then the journalism came and all of a sudden
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  Speaker 1: it just blew up unexpectedly because even though later earlier
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  Speaker 1: on in my life. I didn't have that confidence. Later
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  Speaker 1: on I did. And when I had that confidence, I
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: was ready to do it. But then this journalism took
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: off and I was like, you know, I'm doing quite well.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Let me stick with this. How'd you overcome to Dyslexiao,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: because you're one of the most articulate people speaking on
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  Speaker 1: television today. My older sister, Linda, she was a teacher
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: back the day my sister Carmen as a teacher. Now
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: my sister Abbey Gills and the education system as a superintendent.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: But Linda was a teacher. And Linda literally taught me
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: how to read and write and and one of my
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: best friends growing up, his name was Ronnie Is. His
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: big brother, Tiver was also brilliant. So whenever I was
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: over his house, Tiver was a brilliant dude, and he
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  Speaker 1: would teach me how to read. And then I come
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: home to Linda, and Linda would sit me down four
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: or five days she said, we're gonna overcome this, and
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  Speaker 1: you know, she would teach me how to read it right.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: And then in the seventh grade, I had a teacher
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  Speaker 1: that told my mother during the parent teachers night, he
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: said he ain't stupid, not at all. She said, he's
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: not focused. He drifts, He doesn't focus and concentrate on
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: things that bore him. But when he's when he's interested
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  Speaker 1: in something, he's locked in and he don't miss anything
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: when he's like that, fine what he's interested in And
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: watch what you had? Watch many times? Do you argue
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: with your sisters like how was your house growing up?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Because you like to argue. But here's the deal, here's
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the reason why. Because I wasn't allowed to growing up.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: I got four older sisters. Bro shut the hell up.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Then that's that's on the regular. So you know, you
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: got four women. And it's like, I remember the scariest
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: moment in my adult life because it's related to your question.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I had to go on the View right after the
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Tiger stuff came out, and I was like, cool, Soto,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: problem is, Peter, let me go. It was you know,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I had gotten the Fox Sports radio. They asked me
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: to come on the View. I said fine, and I
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: walked in the studio and it's Barbara Walters there. It's
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Barbara Walters, Joy, Joey Bayhard and Elizabeth Hasselback all this
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: back in those days, okay, And I walked in. You
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: got these four women on the set. That's cool. But
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: the audience was like stadium seeing and it looked like
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: they right on top of you, right, And I was
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: the only man in the entire studio, right, There wasn't
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a male in sight. That I was the only spec
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: of testosterone. It was it was like, I said, oh,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: how did you hear the hell about that? But the
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: end then they was asking me about Tiger and I
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: was like, well, you know, I'm trying to what are
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: you saying I got myself into you know? To me?
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: And it was like but then I remember I grew
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: up around this. I grew up around this. I knew
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  Speaker 1: how to handle it. And if it wasn't for my upbringing,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: what my fault oldest sisters and my mother. There's five
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: women telling me what to do. You shut the hell
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: up when we tell you to shut the hell up.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: The subject in that position too, because I feel like
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  Speaker 1: a lot of times as women, especially in sports, you
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: see a lot of women who might be the only woman,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: yeah in the room, And so I love the reverse
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  Speaker 1: when that happened. We don't, we don't. It's scary. It's
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: scary as scary as hell. I mean to this day.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: That is the scariest moment in my career because you
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: gotta remember typing out of some stuff now and I'm like,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I'm walking in this studio. I'm like, there's nothing I
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: can say. I mean, I got to figure out a way.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: And they were just looking at me like you even
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: uttered the room syllable We're gonna be on you. And
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: I was like, that's interesting, especially with like the Ema
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Joker stuff happening now and seeing Shacks say, I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to weigh in and criticize this because I've been
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  Speaker 1: through the things that I've been through, So you don't
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: want to be a hypocrite. Well, you don't want to
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: be a hypocrite. But in the same breath, if you're
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: sitting in that chair and all of y'all can relate
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  Speaker 1: to this with the great show y'all have been doing
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: for years, you gotta call it like you see it.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: And what we gotta do is we gotta be careful.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: You can talk about an incident without talking about the person.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: And this is what listen. You know how many people
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: disagree with me every day. I have no issue with
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: you attacking what I say or what situation I've addressed.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: That's entirely different than attacking me. I can. I can compartmentalize.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: And if you're sitting in that chair, you know I
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  Speaker 1: told shout, bro, you can avoid it all you want
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: to T and T coming up, Bro, season get ready
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: to start, You're gonna have to avoid it. You're gonna
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: have to talk about it at some point. I definitely
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: told them that. And so for me, you're dan right.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: I touched on it, but I touched on it from
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: a different angle. There's no excuse for him to find
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: himself in that position that he was in. But my position,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: religiously was it's none of our business. There's no reason
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  Speaker 1: on earth that you can justify to me why the
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Boston Celtics had that press conference while we're having this discussion.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: That was an h R matter. I've been covering sports
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  Speaker 1: formas thirty years. I'm telling you every year the stories
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: like this. Every year you don't see it being discussed.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: You hear about the Can't getting fired, and you hear
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: rumors as to why, but you don't know it's not
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: validated by the organization. And then you know, I took
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: it a step further and I mentioned this blackness only
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: from this perspective, you kept him, you retained him, You
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: didn't fire him. That means no one has the right
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: to come and get him. You suspended him, but it
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: was indefinite. You said, I'm gonna suspend you for a year,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: but then after the year, we're gonna we're gonna look
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: into it. I mean, that's bs all right. You probably
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: docked half his pay, because that's what my source has
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: told me. You docked half his pay, And I'm like,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: so he doesn't he can't work, he can't go elsewhere.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: You docked half his pay, his futures up in arms,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: and you publicize his personal business because the press release,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sorry. The report said consensual relationship. Now
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: you might have violate the organizational policy and all that,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: but it said so essentially, all of this has happened
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: because of a consensual relationship. Now we don't know her status,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: and even if we did, we can't say because you know,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: they haven't revealed that information. You know, you can get
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: sued for stuff like that. But here's what I know
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: about him. He ain't married, and it was a consensual relationship.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: According to y'all. You think, do you think we'll ever
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: get the full story. Hell yeah, you can't. Not just
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: that you can't do what you did with this man,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and there's not going to be an uproar at some point.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: And I said it, and then people was getting on
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: me about that. I said, I know plenty of white
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: dudes that's that, that's screwing around in the office in sports.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: This stuff wasn't public so I know at least three
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: dudes personally that got fired because of it. It was
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: never publicized. We heard about it, but it was never publicized.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: And guess why, because they're working for another team now,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: not in that capacity that they were. It might have
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: been on the lower level, but they still are employed
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: in the same and with the same brand. Because why
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: it wasn't publicized or put out on front streat like
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: they say something that sure, he's not married, that's right,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: that's right. Allegedly one of the women are. Why are
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: they attacking him so much for the rest if it's
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: an organizational policy, why the woman's name is Listen, we
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: totally agree. I'm not gonna sit up here in front
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: and act like we disagree. What I'm saying is in
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the interest of making sure that all our eyes I
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: dieded in teas across and we don't have folks coming
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: at us talking about why, why why are we trying
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: to make somebody else the victim. All I'm saying is
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: it's always private. We've never heard the details you heard.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: They got fired. You could speculate as to why, but
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: because it's not known, another team has no problem bringing
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: you on board and employing you because that's never been confirmed.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: By having the press conference, you confirmed the stuff that
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: was put out there about him. You said nothing about her,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying to put her on front street.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: I'm saying he shouldn't have been talked about. Let him
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: go or keep him, but keep the matter in house.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: They didn't do that because they wanted to suspend him
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: and make an example of him. And it could have been,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: you know, enforced by somebody else. But the bottom line
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: is it was wrong. Do you think because he was black? Well,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: I think that part to me. I'm not gonna go
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: that far, but I will say this, I haven't seen
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: it happen to any white boys. I'm gonna tell it
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: like that. I haven't seen it, and I said it.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I said it on National TOUGHIC. I ain't see anybody,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: and everybody. Everybody backed up because they know I've covered
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: this league and I've covered professional sports for a quarter century.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: And I went on national television and I said, I
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: know plenty of white boys that's been doing their thing
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: in the office. Nobody said anything we didn't know, and
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: they and everybody backed up because they know I'm telling
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: the truth. It's just the truth, and it's it's jacked
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: up to that. Listen, he ain't perfect, and whatever he
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: had coming to him, if the organization they had courts
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: to fire now because I heard that he obviously violated
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: the organization of policy. And then plus he lied initially
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: won approach. So now you got cause you got him
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: debt the rights. Okay, you can't defend him. If they
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: wanted to let them go, they could let them go,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: but then let him go. Don't hold them and keep
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: him from working and keep him from going someplace else
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: to work. You have ruined this man's career because of
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: a consensual relationship. Ain't nothing right about that man. And then,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: to me, that's the point that everybody's missing. To your point,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: that's that's a great point. Clearly, they're protecting some one
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: person in this situation which absolutely him. It's just like,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: go golify him, play much right, that's right, throw him
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: out to pasture, and and and black man. We know
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: about that all too well. So people are gonna sit
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: up there and say, Steve and A's trying to make
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: it a race issue. Actually know you made it a
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: race issue by how you elected to handle this. All
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: I said was I said, fire him or keep him.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: But you don't do this because you've never done it
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: to anybody else. So why is the first example of
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: black man? I got a problem with that. What do
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: you think about Matt barnes comments? Because I wondered from
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: an og journalism perspective looking at the new media and
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: they called it. What do you think his comments? He'll
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: never work again. He thinks if they listen, if the
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: full he might be right. He might be right about that,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: he's not wrong. And I think that in Matt Barnes case,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: who's a good brother, by the way, he's real good brother.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: I think with him. Here's the issue. I think he
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: felt uncomfortable with the ledge he went out on. It
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: wasn't so much the story itself, but the things he
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: said initially. And sometimes you find yourself in that situation
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: where you might know all the facts, but you went
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: too far out. It's saying what you said and you
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: got a backtrack, and people are thinking that you're backtracking
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: totally because you went out too far. I didn't go
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: out too far. I said exactly what I meant. I
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: said it a week and a half ago. Damn it,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: I'm saying the same thing now because I know that
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the story is going is gonna percolate, it's going to
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: develop even more. We're gonna hear more details coming out
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: of it, and I'll be front. I mean, listen, I'm
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: not gonna front with you and act like we didn't
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: hear what's going on and we don't know. I mean,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of details that I know that I
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: cannot say because for legal issues and what have you,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: you just can't do that. But trust me when I
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: tell you, it comes from a place of knowledge. I
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: know what the hell I'm talking about, and I know
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: how screwed over he's gotten in all this. He ain't innocent,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: and if he got fired, he would have deserved it, period.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: But you didn't have to do that. Him getting fired
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: is one thing you publicize in his business like. That
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: is an entirely different matter altogether. He'd have lost his
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: job with the Boss and Celtics. If you handled it
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: correctly in this instance, you might have ended his career
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: as a head coach and as a rookie head coach.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: He did what the president of basketball operations couldn't do
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: in seven years. He took these brothers to the NBA
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: finals in year one, year one and this and this
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: is the other part that y'all got to know about it.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: He's making about three million, three three to three and
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: a half million dollars. Had he had another successful season
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: and I'm not talking finals, he could have got them
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: to the conference finals whatever. He's in a position next
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: summer to negotiate a contract that's paying him at least
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: triple at least nine million today's NBA company at least
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: nine to ten million dollars. That's to go on rate
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: for a lot of these brothers are right. So now
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: you've squashed that because what leveraging position does he have.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: He can't come to you and negotiate a deal that's
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: gonna get him a raise next year. You've stripped him
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: of everything because of a consensual relationship. I don't know
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: if it was personal. I know that it was handled
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: in a way that I don't think enough people are
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: breaking attention to. It's an HR matter, y'all. It's an
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: HR matter. If it happened with one of y'all, if
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: it happened with me, if it happened to anybody, it's
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: none of our business. Man, it's an internal matter. Now,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: if it's not, if it's not consensual, and you're talking
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: about something else, sexual assault, rape, something like, that's a
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: different matter. You're breaking the laws. But if it's legal
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: and consensual, it's none of our business. That's why we
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: got to have another conversation about the power of self control.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Brothers got to learn discipline. Like, there's certain situations you
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: just shouldn't put yourself into, and that's one of them.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: That's right, Which is why I say if they fired him,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't have said the word you put yourself in
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: that position? What are you doing? What are you doing?
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: You you're you're a rookie head coach. You just got there, okay,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: and you find yourself in this position. There's no excuse. Now, listen,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: from the beginning of the time, men have had problem
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: resisting women I mean, I mean from Adam and Eve
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: for crying out lot, it's very very predictable. That's a
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: little bit happ like what she's like. I mean, I
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: would like hopefully Stevens people get exercise something that they
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: can then straight. But I mean, listen, there's no question
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: about it. And especially and as black man, we gotta
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: understand this. Yeah, times, times are what they are, and
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: we believe progress has been made, but we also recognize
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: that there's a long way to go, and so the
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: rules are still different for us than it is for
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: white men. Is call it what it is. You gotta
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: know that and your responsibility to yourself and your community
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: and and folks on the come up that idolize you
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: because of the position that you're in. You know, you
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: gotta be careful, though, you gotta be careful. Look at
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: a position. I mean, come on, man, come on, man,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: you you think you think that if I haven't had
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: opportunities to get with folks in the industry and whatever,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: you ain't playing that game. You know they ain't worth
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: my check, then they're not worth what I built to
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: try and accomplish for myself. I'm not going that route.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: That's just me they'll send people that somebody like, yes,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: and they had, and they had and they have to listen.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: You can't put you can't put it past anybody. Because
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: you got people and they listen, They're gonna come at
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: you in a variety of ways. I've been in situations
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: where I've been proposition covering the NBA Playoffs, NBA Finals,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: and I'm not saying this is exactly what happened, but
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: I wondered who said them because the women were a
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: little bit too aggress I'm like, like, I don't think
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: I look like Godzilla, but I ain't that damn attractive. Now.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: This is a little bit too aggressive here. I mean,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: why they acting like they got to get with me something?
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Something's fishy about that. You know what I'm saying. I
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: didn't know. But you have that suspicion and that and
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: that and that success, that intuition. You gotta you gotta
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: get it self, protect them. You gotta be like, you know,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: this is just a little too good to be true.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, ain't right about this, you know,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: I mean you know what I mean, Me me, me,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: you know, me meeting a honey or whatever. Ain't fun
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: all right that you know that happens with all of us.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: But you know, three women coming up to me at
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: the same time. I say, you know, thank you, but
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: no thank you, and they still come in. They don't
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: want to take no for an answer. They're trying to
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: find out what hotel I mean, in what hotel room
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: I mean rather because we were in the lobby of
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: the hotel. It's happened in Dallas years ago during the
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: finals between Dallas and the Miami Heat. And I'm sitting
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: there like this is too good to hell. These women,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: these women want me like this. Hell, no, I'm not.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a confident I'm a confident brother, but
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: damn no, I'm not falling for that. No past now, yeah,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: no mercy. Yes, so this is more in the field
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: of politics. Yes, well, it's not limited to just politics.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: It's it's politics, it's news as pop coaching entertainment is. Listen,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: each and every single one of you. I expect, I
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: hope expect to have y'all on as a guest. I mean, listen,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of issues that I like to talk
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: about and what what what what's beautiful about the show?
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: This is the freedom that y'all have to tackle a
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: multitude of issues. Understand that I've been in sports my
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: entire career. I never had that latitude. Now it seems
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: that way at times, because we tackle issues on first
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: take that you wouldn't anticipate on sports television. But the
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: reason for that is that some way, somehow it found
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: its way into the sports landscape, so it gave us
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: a license to talk about issues. You can talk about
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Colin Captick, and all of a sudden you found yourself
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: getting into politics because of then President Trump is how
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: he politicized and hijacked the narrative and all of this
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: other stuff. So you find yourself sifting into that area.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: But for the most part, it's been sports, and I've
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: been confined to that. This is different. It's my podcast,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: I own it. I'm in one hundred percent control of
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: the content for it. It's not associated with Disney and
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: ESPN in any way. And so for me, it's it's
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: just about talking about the issues that are percolating, the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: people who matter, the difference makers, the kind of impact
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: they intend to have, and personalizing those conversations. I'm still
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: gonna give my monolaus. I'm still gonna get my closing remarks.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: You're gonna always hear from me in terms of how
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: I feel on an issue on a case by case basis,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: but in the same breath that's gonna It's really about
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: talking to the people that are influencers and difference makers,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and more importantly, letting the audience know who to listen to.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Like I'm not one of those people when it kind
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: of politives. I got my own thoughts and opinions. But
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I will be the first to say I don't know.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: This is what I see and based on the evidence,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: this is what I deduce from. But you should talk
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: to this person and this person. You should listen to
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: this show and that show. I'm not somebody that's gonna
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: look at it and say listen to me and don't
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: listen to anybody else. No, I want you to listen
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: to those other people because I listen to them. I
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: want to hear what y'all have to say, what your
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: thoughts are, what your opinions are, et cetera, et cetera.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: And if we disagree, we disagree, and if we agree,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: we that's that's even better. But it's all good. Okay.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: I saw saw good, I saw you the other day
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: and you said you weren't gonna be so hard on Kareem. Yes,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: but I did. I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm trying to
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: move forward. I'm trying. I'm not trying to go to
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the past. But when I saw Kareem's comments, what you
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: call them comical buffoon, I did wonder what you thought
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: about that. I wouldn't call him. I wanted to call
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Kyrie a buffoon at all. I'm not gonna question the
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: intelligence of a brother, although he has said some bizarre
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: things in the past, the world is flat and stuff
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: like that. He said his uncle is gonna have a
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: conversation with you. I'm not his uncle. Well, well yeah
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: he did. Actually, Well, here's the deal. Kyrie's father is
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: from the Bronx, and so there's a couple of Cats
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: and the Bronx that know me well. They he grew
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: up with them, I've known them throughout my adult life.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: They've been mentors and friends and all of that other stuff.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: And so I laughed about it because they're my boys.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: I should Hell, I give you some of their names.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Rod Stricken, Gary Howard Harry Howard is a former executive
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: sports as executive sports editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: at a time with sixteen hundred papers throughout the daily papers,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: daily newspapers about this country where you only had about
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: two black sports editors. He was one of them. He's
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: the former deputy sports editor and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: he was the one that got me hired to the
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Inquirer before I got into television and all of that.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: So that's one of his boys, his dad's boys. You
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: got Rod Strickland, who's godfather. You got Gary Howard, you
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: got his brother, Gary Howard's brother, Reggie Howard. I know
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: these brothers and so, and of course Kenny Smith from
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: T and T because he knows the men like family,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: and so you know, they all reached out to me
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: at one point in time or another. Stephen, hey Man,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: you know, lay off whatever. And I said, Yo, fellas,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: I said, y'all caught up in how I deliver and
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: how I talk. You're not listening to my content. The
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: only thing I said about the brothers, you gotta show
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: up to work. You don't show up the work, you
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: don't get paid. You can talk all that stuff you
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: want all the time. I had a problem taking the vaccine.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: I don't have any problem with anybody who was quite
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: you know, apprehensive about taking the vaccine. I was talking
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: about a different discussion. The different discussion is they all
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: live in Brooklyn because of you. You wanted them there
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: and they all signed on. They said, Yo, we got
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: to go for the chip and ship. We can't do
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: it unless we vaccinated because they're gonna get in our way.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Everybody said, we down. But you oh, you know what,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Jaylen Brown didn't take the vaccine. Well, Massachusetts didn't, had
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: Porson didn't had that policy at place New York does.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: It ain't fair. Andrew Wiggins Golden State, a hell city,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: San Francisco had that policy. Andrew Wiggins didn't want to
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: take the vaccine. They were like, yeah, man, we're trying
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: to win the chip, and that's what he did. I said,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: that's what I was addressing. So you could talk about
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: putting something in your body and all that stuff, and
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I get it, and that's real, no question about it.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you're trying to
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: win the chip or not. And then it didn't happen.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: I said, look, that ain't the only time you missed work.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: You've been missing games for years. It's eleven years. You've
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: never played more than sixty games in the season before
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: times in eleven years. So I pointed out that stuff
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: and I said, you ain't gonna get paid. You can
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: book it. And so when people saw me on the air,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: they were like, Oh, you're trying not to get the
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: brother paid. Once again, you don't pay attention to my career.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. I didn't tell
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: them not to pay them. I'm saying, this is what
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: they're telling me. You ain't gonna get this money now.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: And I had owners like, he ain't getting that money.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: And what happened the summer. He can't get that money.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: He had to opt in and play the final year
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: of his deal because, as he admitted, there were not
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: but so many options. What have I been telling y'all
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: all year? And so now we fast forward to this season,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Bradley Bill got two hundred plus a million, Zach Levine
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: and Chicago got two hundred plus a million. I want
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Kyrie to get his money, but you are spectacular box
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: office caliber talent that we deserve to see. His problem,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, is that we're beneath him. It's like
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: he's so brilliant and he's such a savant that he
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: sees things that none of us see, or damn it,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: what we really want to see as you ball? Do
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: we really want to see as you playing forty one
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: nights a year at Barclay Center at least? At least
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: how about thirty okay getting a roll, put in more
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: than sixty games in the season and be the show
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: stopper that you are. So you know, I'm not going
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: to disrespect him like Kareem did. I think that's unnecessary.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: But you gotta remember see Kareem's civil rights activists, his
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: brother's deepest hell. He's been around a long time. He's
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: one of the greatest who's ever lived. He's qualified to
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: say what he said. I wouldn't go that far, but
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: I do think the frustration seeps him because you're looking
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: at him and you're saying, come on, bro, some of
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: the things that you're saying, some of the positions that
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: you're taking, you retweeting stuff about conspiracy theories and all
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: of this. I mean, it's the kind of stuff that
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: damages you. It damages the brand, and it makes you
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: look bad, and somebody need to tell you. That's all
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: I would have said if I was Kareem as a
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: closer calling them names, But that's just me. Should to retire,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: I think so. I'm not sure because we don't know
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: all the details. I will tell you if I were him,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: I'm suing somebody, and I'm not usually that dude, but
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I'm suing somebody. For him to take the hit Sunday
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: in Buffalo. You get up, you stumble, you fall back down.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: And for them to say was a back issue, it
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: was not a head issue. Understand what concussion protocols. You
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: usually take six to seven days. He had another game
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: in four four days. Okay, you put his life in
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: danger because he's back out there now. To the In
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: fairness to the Miami Dolphins, they swear we followed all
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: the necessary protocols. We did everything right. We stand by that. Well,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: why the hell the independent doctor that you had, why
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: did you release him? Why did he get dismissed? Because
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: you didn't do everything right? And anybody with two odys
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: can see that brother who was in a world of trouble.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: You put him back in the same game Sunday. Then
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: you turned around, you played them Thursday, and everybody tells
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: you the second concussion is what's the most dangerous. The
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: first concussion does damage, but the second one is where
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: your life can really really be in danger. And in
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: my opinion, he shouldn't be allowed to play the for
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: the rest of the season, at the very least. At
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: the very least, and considering concussions and how big these
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: brothers are compared to him, the next hit, you don't
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: know what kind of damage that could do. I want
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: to ask you this. You gotta go and I ask
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: you this question a couple of years ago, and I
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: wonder if your thoughts to change because I asked you
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: and it's all said and done. When we're talking about
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: just basketball, who will be well, who would this error
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: be remembered by? Curry or Lebron James? Who will go
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: down as the guy for this error? Just basketball? Nothing else,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: nothing outside of the court, nothing just on the court.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: For me, I can't separate that. I have to say Lebron.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: But it's exactly because of what you don't want me
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: to touch on. See, when they talk about Lebron, you
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: can't avoid talking about everything. When you talk about Curry,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: you can't help but talk about only basketball. There's nothing
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: else that he gives you. Lebron gives you more because
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: of the issues he's willing to tackle, his willingness to
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: speak out, how he's been a target by some people
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: and what have you. Just basketball, Stephen ain't just only
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: I think Listen Curry is a bad, bad brother. He's
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: the greatest shooter who ever lived, no doubt about it.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: But the onslaught has come lately, Lebron has been I'm
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: going with Lebron because Lebron came into the league with
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: that kind of fan fear delivered ultimately with four championships
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: and ten NBA Finals appearance straight. Yeah, but eight straight,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: no question. I heard you say something on the show.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: You said that you're talking about wild chambering and Bill Russell.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: You say that that you can't give it to will
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Over Bill because Bill titles. It's a good point. It's
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: a good point. It's a good point. I can't even
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: front it's a good point. Jean Charlemagne, I can't deny
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: it because to me, Curry's my favorite player. But I
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: can test tell you as a guy that goes to
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: the arenas man when when Lebron walks in, it's just
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: a different field. It's a different As much as you
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: love Curry and as much as you love watching Golden State,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: and as entertaining as they are, and I think he's
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: the greatest you, who ever lived, greatest to you, the
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: god ever created. It's just that dude, right when Lebron
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: walks into a building, bro it's a different animal to encourage.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Repeat this year and gets will by the way, you know,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: I picked him. I picked him to repeat. What do
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: you think? Then he repeats fifth three? Yeah? Got him? Okay,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: got him? Probably probably, especially if he doesn't beating him,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: especially if he gonna be there. I think they're going
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: to playoffs though. I think they're gonna be all right
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: with Stephen A. Smith Straight Shooter. Pre order it now.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: We appreciate you for joining us, appreciate you gonna come
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: up a little early next time. We got more comment man,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: I'm happy to you. Can I mentioned something before I
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: go back. HBCU Week at Disney at Disney World. I'll
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: be there this Thursday and Friday. Um, we just celebrating
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: the Disney's involved with HBCU Week. In the last two
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: and a half years, we generate over twelve million dollars
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: in scholarships for over two thousand students. So they're gonna
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: be down at Disney World on Friday and First Takers
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: is airing. We're televising the show live from Disney World
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: on Friday for HBCU week, so check it out. Well,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: there you have it, Stephen A. Smith. Appreciate you, bro,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Thank you this club. Good Morningst.