The Stephen A. Smith ShowFull Show: Stephen A discusses why Shannon Sharpe stepped away from ESPN and First Take.
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
All right, folks, I need you all to start what you're doing and listen up. You know how much I love this time of year, the NBA Playoffs. It's in full effect and with all its action jumping off the Stephen the Smith Show.
Wants to make sure you take advantage of it all.
That's why we've partnered with Prize Picks, the best place to win cash while watching sports.
The app is easy to use.
Just pick more or less on a few player stats and you can win up to two thousand times your cash on a single lineup. Best of all, Prize Picks will give you fifty dollars when you play your first five dollar lineup win a lose, You'll get fifty bucks for playing. So use promo code says and download the app now again.
Download the app and.
Use code says to get fifty dollars instantly after your first five dollar lineup.
Prize Picks. Hey, hey, run your game today.
I'll give you my picks for Sunday's game between my beloved New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons.
So let's get to it. First.
Up, well, Jalen Brunston score more or less than twenty nine and a half points.
Have you seen the way Jalen Brunts has been playing.
Please That brother is a closer clutch Player of the Year in the NBA. Showed up in Game three and showed you exactly why I'm going with more on this particular answer. Next up, we'll call Anthony Towns cat Man score more or less than twenty three and a half points. He just finished dropping thirty one hit ten and eighteen shots. Why would I believe he's gonna be any differently in game four? I think he's gonna show up. He's gonna score more than twenty three and a half. I'm going with more on this one too. Next up with Tim Hardaway Junr. Score more or less than ten and a half points. He got hot in the first half tailed off in the second half in Game three, but that only calls for a few threes. He can score more than ten and a half points. I'm gonna go with more on this one. And finally, well Kaid cutting him score more or less than twenty seven and a half points.
I'm going with more. So that's it.
You see what I said, Jaylen Brunson, call Anthony Towns okay, Tim Hardaway Junior and of course, the one and only Kaid cutting him.
More and more and more and more. That's what we like on prospects.
We love that word more because it means more money for everybody.
We like that. We like that. It's been a rough week.
It's been a lot of things going on, not just in the world of politics. Of course, there's the NFL Draft as well, along with the NBA playoffs, but needless to say, on a personal level involving Shannon Sharp, it's a lot to talk about.
I'm here for it.
Got to do the job, got to do the job. The steven Ate Smith Show in the house. Let's go.
What's up everybody.
Welcome to this the latest edition of The Steven A. Smith Show, coming at you as I love to do it at the very least three times a week over the digital airways of YouTube and.
Of course iHeartRadio.
As always, I like to pause to take a moment to thank my subscribers and followers for continuing to support the show. We've now eclipsed more than one point one nine million subscribers on YouTube. Of course, there's millions of over the last several months courtesy of iHeartRadio. Can't thank y'all for love and support enough keep it coming, and I'm gonna keep on coming. To continue to like and follow the show, just click the right hand just click the bell in the lower right hand corner, and you too shall be considered the latest member of the Stephen A. Smith Show family courtesy of being updated on all of our newest content. And while you're doing that, make sure to pick up a copy of my New York Times best selling book, Straight Shooter, a Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes, now in paperback. Let's get to the latest news, and it's involving mister Shannon Shop who announced yesterday that he would be stepping away from ESPN and ESPN's First Take my daytime job at least until the NFL preseason sometime later on this summer. As you may recall, a lawsuit was filed against Shannon on Sunday by a woman using the name Jane Doe or using a Jane Doe suitonym. The thirteen page civil complaint filed in Nevada, alleged that Shannon Sharp committed assault, sexual assault, battery, and sexual battery. Shannon and his attorneys responded with evidence of the relationship being quote unquote consensual, and Jane Doe's attorney, Tony Busby responded by releasing audio of an alleged conversation between his client and Shannon. For those that don't know, Tony Busby is the same attorney that filed a lawsuit against jay Z and Diddy alleging they both sexually assaulted a minor, which has since been withdrawn. Jay Z has now countersued Busby. Needless to say, the headlines this week took on a life of their owner, and as a result, Shannon announced he was stepping away from ESPN. He is a portion of Shannon's statement that he posted on social media quote, I will be devoting this time to my family and responding and dealing with these false and disruptive allegations set against me. I plan to return to ESPN at the start of the NFL preseason. I sincerely appreciate the overwhelming and ongoing support I have received from my family, fans, friends, and colleague.
Quote.
It's been a difficult week from a sports media perspective, certainly as it pertains to first take, Shannon Sharp became a friend when I recruited him to come on board on ESPN's first take. He came on board, and he did a sensational job. No matter the amount of success that we enjoyed for the twelve years prior to his arrival, he helped take it to another level last year, and we were doing our thing this year as well.
And so when the news came down that he and ESPN.
Had mutually agreed that he would need to come off the airwaves of ESPN, it was a blow. Blow to the show, or blow to me personally, because I'm gonna miss him.
But it was not a surprise.
When I was on the airge just a few days ago, a lot of people were looking for me to say something.
I'm not going to go there.
I'm not gonna speak to one's innocence or one's guilt about something I have absolutely, positively no knowledge of whatsoever. Do I believe that Shannon Sharp is guilty of what he has been accused of.
Absolutely not. That is my personal opinion.
The brother that I've come to know, I don't believe would assault or rape anybody.
And I'm gonna state that.
Emphatically, but just as emphatically, I'm going to remind everybody it is my opinion because of what I feel about him, not in any way implying that I know a damn thing beyond that, because I don't know. I've seen the text messages really by his lawyer, who, by the way, I don't think has been impressive in this at all, because some of the information that was let out to the public. I have no idea why a lawyer would advise such a thing. But that's a different subject for another day. And we're allowed to deduce from.
An opinion perspective.
What we believe in what we don't, so long as we concede that we have no way of knowing definitively what the truth is. What I can't speak about is the fact that this three times Super Bowl champion, and this Hall of Famer, who emphatically stated to me over the phone how innocent he is of these allegations that have been levied against him, insisting repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly that anything you read, anything you see, anything you hear, was fully and totally consensual. In the same breath, what's inescapable is that, without us knowing all the merits, he was working with Disney, where I've worked since two thousand and three, excluding my departure from two thousand and nine to twenty and eleven when I was going for those two years. Outside of that, I've been at Disney since October of two thousand and three.
I know this place, I know.
The worldwide leader that is ESPN, who's under the umbrella of Disney, and it wasn't difficult for me to figure.
Out what was transpiring.
As I sit here before you today discussing this matter. ESPN and Disney have a weight and see attitude when it comes to whatever evidence they may learn about this entire situation involving Shannon Sharp, from a legal and from a civil perspective, what they didn't need as it pertains to those two things that I just mentioned, They didn't need any definitive evidence at this particular moment in time.
About all of that stuff. Wants.
All the things Shannon Sharp's lawyer put out there, it was uncomfortable to listen to and it was not something that Walt Disney wants associated with its brand. So to have him on the airwaves while all of.
That stuff was put out there.
Was not something that Disney was going to take. That is what I mean when I say I am not surprised in getting to no share in the shop. I know a lot of things that he has articulated that he has been through in his life. I can't imagine too many things in life tougher than what he's going through now. And there's a lot of people out there talking a lot of smack and a lot of stuff about him.
You will never hear that from me. It will not happen.
I don't give a damn if we speak a day from now, a month from now, a year from now, years from now. He's my friend and it's always going to be that way. I'd say the same thing to you about anybody else else that I know to be my friend. I don't have to work with you. I don't have to be around you, I don't have to be around you all the time, talking to you all the time, to have love for you and.
To wish you the best.
And that's exactly what it's going to be for him. I sincerely hope that all of this goes away and we find there's a bunch of falsehoods to these allegations and he's able to come back in this industry and do what he has been doing, which has been phenomenal. I hope Club Shay Shay and Nightcap and all of these other things that he's associated with, that he continues to thrive in his life and move forward, and whatever mistakes he may have made along the way, I'm not talking from a legal or civil perspective. I'm talking about in his eyes or that of others, whether it be moral or something else.
I hope that.
He corrects whatever he feels he needs to correct, and he moves forward. But in the process of doing all of that, I hope we're all reminded.
Of a few things.
And this extends far beyond a Shannon Shop for anybody else.
One of the things.
That we need to remind ourselves of is that in this day and age, very few things of private. In this day and age, there's very few things that won't come to light, because most things do. But thinking beyond Shannon, thinking beyond myself, just.
Thinking about the world that we live in.
In terms of the podcast, Stratosphy and everything like that, a lot of people want to walk around thinking you could do what you want to do when you want to do it, You could your own, your own operation, You don't have to answer to anybody.
That's not true. I've had people.
Open their mouth, and they've said, stephen A, you work for ESPN, What kind of control do you really have?
This is my podcast, this is my YouTube show. I owned this.
But if you think for one second that I could just do what I want to do, when I want to do it, how I want to do it, and there's not going to be any repercussions, you're clueless and you're destined to fail and fall in your face. I'm not talking about Shannon Shop. I'm not talking about Shannon Shop. I'm not talking about anybody in particular. I'm talking about a climate that we're living in. Some people sit up there and they look at me and they say, stephen A, don't get himself in this kind of trouble.
How does he pull it off?
Well, first of all, there's certain behaviors and proclivities that you never have to worry about me engaging in. But most importantly than that, I often say this about Walt Disney. I'd rather work for a place.
With standards than one looking for them.
You know why, because lines are drawn and I never have to worry about crossing them because guess what, I've got something there reminding me, hold on, hold on, you don't need to do that. It's not a silo. I'm not by myself. I don't get to operate in any way that I want without having to worry about ramifications or repercussions. I always have to be concerned about that. So I'm challenged every day to come on the airwaves and think about the ramifications with repercussions of anything that I do.
Constantly.
And because of that, that's an additional guardrail to secure me from putting myself in a position that could jeopardize myself, my show, my brand, my family, the company that I work for, anything like that. Again, I'm not talking about Shannon right now. I'm talking about what people say when it comes to people like myself and others who unapologetically explain that we have people to answer to. And all you folks out there with your own podcast, running your own operations, if you have advertisers and sponsors, get what you answer to somebody too. And I'm here to tell you, don't be upset about it.
Feel good about it, because you need to view it as an extra line of security that enables you. It being a guardrail, it enables you to watch.
Lines that you want to make sure that you don't cross because when those lines are always there, you usually know it and you usually make sure you don't cross it, because the bigger picture is always staring in front of your face. I've seen a lot of stuff happen over the last few months. I've seen a lot of stuff happen over the last few years, and in almost every case, guard rails were pretty much absent. I'm glad I have God rails. The people that work for me, the people that work with me, the people I work for.
The public at.
Large, find a way to be me while in the same breath guarding myself against some of the things I need to be guarded against. Just the thought, just the thought back to Shannon, I'll always be here for him if he needs me, just the same way I said that about Skip Bayless we he departed from Fox, just the same way that I would say about any of my friends. That's what friends do, even in the toughest of times, sometimes.
Especially the toughest of times.
They ain't telling you you're right all the time, and hell, sometimes they may not stop you from falling into that abyss, but they're there to lift you up when nobody else will. That's all I have to say other than I hope he's back in his business real soon on linear television talking from football, because that man knows his football and he certainly knows how to entertain.
Us while he's talking about football.
I'm gonna miss him. I hope he's back soon. But if by some happenstance that doesn't happen, I'm always gonna be wishing the best form no matter.
What coming up.
Longtime Trump support the canvas, Owens is turning.
Her back on the President.
I'll get into exactly why that is straight ahead. But first round one of the NFL drafts toward Travis Hunter go back to Florida whiles your door Sanders was left out still looking for a team the draft them. We'll break down what we saw in Green Bay last night with the one and only Adam Scheffler, the Ultimate Inside from esp He's right here up next on The Steven Nick Smith Show from go Away All right, everybody, listen up with all the big time sports action that's happening each and every day, The Stephen A. Smith Show wants to make sure you are taking advantage of it all. That's why we've partnered with the prize Picks the best place to win cash while watching sports. The app is really easy to use. To make a lineup, all you have to do is pick more or less on a few player stats. Choose from any of your favorite players Luka, Doncic, Jimmy Butler, and Zach Lavine all in the same entry, then sit.
Back and watch. The list is absolutely endless.
You can play Prizepects in over forty states, including California and Texas. Best of all, Prospects will give you fifty dollars when you play your first five dollar lineup.
Wanna lose, You'll get fifty bucks.
Just use promo code says and download Prozpects right now.
Again, download the app and use.
Code sas to get fifty dollars instantly after your first five dollars lineup Prize Picks.
Run your game. Welcome back to Steven A. Smith Show.
Now let's get to Round one of the NFL Draft. As expected, cam Ward went number one overall to the Tennessee Titans, and not too long after the pick was announced, news broke that the Jacksonville Jaguars traded with the Browns to acquire a second pick in acquiring Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. Meanwhile, my Steelers are still looking for a quarterback after day one, and Shador Standers is still on the board for round two. So joining me now to break it all down? Break it all down the headlines we saw last night as the one and only Adam Schefter.
What's up, buddy? How you doing? Steven A?
Always great to be with you, Nice to see you.
Shador Sanders didn't even get drafted in round one?
Were you surprised by that?
The longer this went on, the more it seemed like this was a possibility. It felt like the Giants weren't gonna take him at three, the Saints weren't gonna take him at nine, and the one shot he had was twenty one to Pittsburgh. And the Steelers talked about the idea of taking him, but there was not consensus within the organization. They needed help along their defensive line, and they opted for the Oregon defensive line and Derek Harmon, and so Shador Sanders was left sitting on the board watching other quarterbacks like Jackson Dark go number twenty five to the New York Giants. So when you asked it, were surprised. I think the longer this went on. The closer we got to the draft, the more we all recognized that this was possible, and when the Steelers passed them at twenty one, it became a reality.
What about Jackson Dart, the Giants moving up to grab him. I didn't hear from anybody other than I very own Dan Alowski that Dart was going to be somebody that possibly would be taken ahead of Shador Sanders. Was I mean, that did throw you full loop at all.
And we talked about it in the pregame show on College Game Day, Pete Famill pointed out that there was a possibility that Jackson Dart could go ahead of Shador. And look, the Giants and Saints and I believe the Cleveland Browns as well, all really like Jackson Dart so much so that I think each of those teams would have taken Jackson Dart ahead of Shador Sanders. One of the three did, and I believe the other two are in the same category as well. And so Shador Sanders is still sitting there right now, going into round two on Friday night. I really think we're at the point now the Steelers don't have a second round draft pick. Their next pick is number eighty three in the third round, and you say, well, could he would? He would he last till then, and it's hard to imagine that he would. But strange things have happened. And I also think that people are reacting like, oh my god, he didn't go in round one and he is milk Kiper Junior's top rated quarterback. Guess what, there have been a lot of quarterbacks over the years that have slipped into the second round that have gone on to have successful NFL careers. When milk Kiper first started in ESPN in his very first year, his third rated prospect on the entire board was Boomer Sison Boomer size and went into the second round and all he did in the National Football League was win MVP. Drew brees felt into the second round, Jalen Hurts fell into the second round, and now Shador Sanders has done the same.
Adam Scheft, I always appreciate the knowledge that you dropped. So help me with your perspective, because I'll certainly take it from you verbatim covering this league the way that you have me covering the NBA and just overall sports over the last thirty years. Certainly your talent and your skill is paramount. That's primary issue.
Number one. You gotta have the ability.
But I've seen many executives sometimes make decisions because they didn't want to deal with potential headache, somebody that could have the ear of folks, somebody that could have the kind of influence in cachet that could disrupt whatever their vision was for their franchise.
That brings me to Dion Sanders.
Did that play Did his presence aura, his cashet and the fact that he's a relatively loquacious individual what he needs to be and he will speak up for himself, his son, et cetera. Did that play any role in your mind at all in the possibility of Shadu falling out of the first round?
Oh? Probably did? I mean again, I don't want to blame Deang, That's not what we're doing. But I think when a team is drafting shador it recognizes what would come along with that, and you'd have a very famous, very accomplished father that would come along. And we wrote this in our ESPN Draft Intel column that ran on ESPN Plus last week. I said, short of Mike Tomlin, there aren't many coaches around the league that might be comfortable drafting Shador and knowing that if and when their seek gets warm, people in that city could be calling for his job and calling for Shador's dad to replace him. Like that definitely could happen in time. I don't think Mike Tomlin would care about that, but I think there might be other coaches who would. And beyond that, I just feel like, for whatever reason, chedor didn't have the best interview process. There are some teams that did like him, there were more that didn't for whatever reason. It's strange to me because again, he does have the support and when you watch him, you see how talented he is. And the bottom line, stephen A, is the facts speak for themselves. Every team had a chance to pick him in Round one, nobody did. We're back at it again Friday night. More teams will have another chance to draft him. And so that's the great part about the NFL Draft. You got to put your cars on the table and you see where teams stand on certain individuals, and right now you're seeing where teams stand on Shador.
Sanders, his collegiate teammate, didn't have that problem. Travis Hunter, Jacksonville Jaguas. Moving up to the number two spot and making a deal with the Cleveland Browns that ultimately landed them Travis Hunter. You broke that story. Can you talk about that Travis Hunter and what.
They told you or why they told you they liked this kid so much?
Oddly enough, I think we could first lean into what the general manager of the Cleveland brown said about him, despite the fact that he traded away the draft. He called Travis Hunter a unicorn. He compared him to show Hey Otani Wow, a two way player. And I think those are some of the things that the Jacksonville Jaguars were drawn to. In the end, they saw what they felt was like the best player in this draft. They saw somebody that they thought could come in and play wide receiver at a high level for them. They're gonna onboard him as a wide receiver, They're gonna have him play defense. I think they're gonna do everything they can to get the value out of the number two pick in this draft, and they felt like they were getting a star player, a dynamic presence, a great personality. You saw him last night dancing on the stage. Once he was selected, they loved everything about him so much so that they were willing to give up their second round draft pick today and their first round draft pick next year, which is quite a lot. But Jacksonville would tell you, hey, there's no price that's too great for a star that has been compared to Shoho Tani and that's why they paid up and they're going to play him on both sides of the football.
How a would Jacksonville Jaguass feeling about Trevor Lawrence right now?
They're fifty five million dollar quarterback.
Well, Steve and I what I would tell you is they have a new head coach and Liam Cone who they brought in to elevate Trevor Lawrence. They have a new general manager, James Gladstone, the youngest general manager who pulled off that trade on Thursday night. That's a huge swing to take. Think about that. The first trade of draft picks in the twenty twenty five NFL draft pumps from the youngest GM in the league and somebody who's making his first draft day, and that was a doozy. There aren't too many people that start that big. But he comes from the Rams. Don't think he cares about taking big swings, not as concerned about keeping the draft picks. And I think that they feel like he can help elevate Trevor Lawrence. And so that's the idea and the thinking gear. They're giving Trevor Lawrence a restart, a reboot, with a new head coach who has worked in elevating the playoff quarterbacks. They're giving him a new GM who obviously thinks differently and aggressively than a lot of other gms, and they're hoping that between the new head coach, the new GM, the new assistant coaches, and the changing culture that Trevor Lawrence can turn out to be the quarterback that many thought the Jaguars were getting when they selected him with the number one overall pick.
That would be crazy.
The new GM is thirty four years old, so it's gonna be really interesting to see how that works out for them. Switching to the Cleveland Browns. They're on the other side of this deal. They passed up on a Travis Hunter to make this deal, move down the fifth in the draft, ultimately got a first round pick for the next year, sort of recouping some of the losses that they have to you know, they have to suffer from the Deshaun Watson trade. What did you say, Adam Scheffer. How isn't that how you would break it down?
Well, Steve and A.
They have not had a top fifty pick in the three previous drafts. So when they selected Mason Grant from my University of Michigan and Thursday Nights first round, that was the first time in four years, wow, that they've had a top fifty pick. And they're making up for it now because now going into tonight's draft, they have two of the top four selections in the second round, picks thirty three and thirty six, and they already have the Jacksonville Jaguars first round draft pick in twenty twenty six, so they're on the board with two first round picks next year. And that's why I know a lot of people are saying, what are back tonight for the Browns. They might go that route, they could, certainly, but they also could opt to pick two really strong players and say we're punting on quarterback in what we consider it to be a week quarterback draft class, and we will revisit this topic a year from now when we have double once. That is an option going into the draft tonight, and we'll see how the Browns react to it.
What's the NFL feeling about the draft that the Giants had last night Carter and then obviously moving up to draft Duard. How are people feeling about the Giants right now?
Well, I think most talent evaluators felt there were two blue chip prospects in this draft, Dravis Hunter and Abdul Carter. Jacksonville got one, The New York Giants got the other, an Abdula Carter, who has been compared to Michael Parsons, who wore number eleven at Penn State, plays like him, looks like him, and if Michaeh Parsons a version of that showed up on the Giants roster, that would be great. Jackson Dart the quarterback, they move up, and Steven Aams is telling you, I think that they jumped in front of the Browns. The Browns are happy to sit and wait, and they jumped in front of the Saints, who definitely wanted Jackson Dart. The Saint Swarren schedule to pick again to number forty. Saints weren't willing to use their number nine overall selection on Jackson Dart, but clearly there was something of an arms race to try to get the Jackson Dart and The Giants won that, and the great part about that is that they did it without having to give up a first round draft pick next year. So if Jackson Dark comes in this year and they feel like he's a total bust, which isn't going to be the case, they could always use their first round pick on a quarterback next year if that's what they want. That's not their plan, trust me. But all they have to do is trade. I believe was a couple of third round picks to move up to that spot, whereas the Atlanta Falcons, one slot in front of them, wound up trading a first round draft pick for next year to go get draft James Pearce, a defensive lineman. Giants didn't have to give up the future one the Falcons did. The Giants didn't, and the Giants moved up for a quarterback and the Falcons a pass rusher. So again, what they gave up in return they felt was more than worth it to get the quarterback that at least a few teams wanted.
Here, there's a couple of minutes left with you, Adam Schefter. Very few things surprised you, one can imagine, because you're the ultimate inside of you know what the hell is going on better than anybody in the National Football League.
Anything shocky last night.
Well, that trade that came down was such a huge trader was one of the biggest on the clock trades that we've seen in NFL history. There have been only two teams that had top five picks traded. One was the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons in the eighties when the Vikings traded their pick to go get Chris Dolman and the Falcons got Bill free Look. And the other time it happened was when the Chicago Bears traded up with the forty nine ers to go get Mitch Trubisky, famously in a draft where they drafted Mitch Trubisky ahead of Patrick Mahomes. That was the size and scope of this trade last night, and it was a trade that I think you look at and you say, both teams win here because the Jaguars get a certifiable star in Travis Hunter and the Browns come away with so much draft equity team that hasn't had any draft equity in recent years, and a chance to remake their roster. I was surprised that we saw two teams last night that we're willing to part ways with their first round draft pick in the twenty twenty six NFL Draft. For the record, if I ever were part of a front office, and I never will be, but if I ever were, I would never trade a future one unless I was some super Bowl champion in some great position. I would hold onto those picks like my life depended on it. And we saw the Falcons, who haven't won a playoff game in any recent season, trade their one next year. And we saw the Jaguars, who haven't had recent playoff success, trade their one next year. We'll just wait to see how that works out for the Cleveland Browns and La Rams who hold those future picks in twenty twenty six.
Speeking to the end of the NFL analysts and knowing the game the way that you do. Who's the biggest winner of round one? Does fall in estimation?
Is it simply Jacksonville and Terrapasento? Is this somebody else?
Well, Steven A, it doesn't really matter what I say as the winner right now, because we could go into any year and annoy some winner, and all of a sudden, some player turns into some star that we never saw coming. It's a fun exercise. I mean, it's always gonna be about quarterbacks. So really, if cam Wod turns out to be a star, then the Titans won the draft. If he doesn't, then they failed. If Jackson Dart turns out to be the quarterback, then the Giants get eight plus. And if they don't, no one's keeping their jobs. So I mean it's greats to me. It's like giving a student a grade on the first day of school before they completed their first homework assignon return paper. It doesn't mean anything like you gotta take some tests before we're giving him a grade.
Totally fair.
Shador Sanders, Cleveland or New Orlean's gonna pickhim up in the second round of estimation.
You think that's you think that's likely.
Not expecting New Orleans, And I don't feel overly confident on Cleveland, But I don't know that for sure. We'd have to see again. You get to certain spots in the draft where if Shaudor is the best player on your board, even if you didn't think you were gonna take him, you go ahead and pick him. I steven A, I just got a feeling that, like I said to you, I'm not going to be surprised if he winds up on a team that we just never connected to him whoever. That is, unless and this is hard to imagine, unless he falls to number eighty three and the Pittsburgh Steels is a third round.
Last question.
I love that I saw asking Gent just running back extraordinar out of Boise State landing with the Raiders. One of the things that I love about what I saw this week as they were talking about him, you brought up Saquon bark People brought up Sakuon Barkley. I remember, I brought up Derek Henry. I remember a few years ago, back to twenty twenty three to be exact, but you had Austin Ecklin, these guys rallying the running backs to sort of make a case because they were being devalue just by their birth certificate, the loan you collected enough dust or excuse me, we ain't giving you a long term contract. We don't know if you'll be able to last. And you heard guys like mel kaype Jr. And others never draft a running back in the first round, et cetera, et cetera. To see him go in the first round, it's like hope that running backs and being more appreciated with what Sakwuon Barkley did for the Eagles last year, what Henry did for the Ravens last year. You just sort of find yourself hoping that the running backs there's going to be an elevated level of appreciation for them. What do you think about that? Is that possible?
Well, I think it's interesting that there was an elevated level of appreciation. We saw the Eagles reward Satroon Berkley and redo his contrary after one year, the Ravens have talked to Derrick Henry about a new deal. We're here in Green Bay where Josh Jacobs came to Green Bay and had a huge impact on the Packers roster, and we are heading into rounds two and three in a draft where the strongest position in this draft was running back, and we're going to see a slew of running backs taken tonight and on Saturday they can come in and make a difference for teams, but you're gonna get a bunch of running backs tonight that teams are counting on. This was considered the big press count or the big draft for these running backs. Again, people texting me out press counter so sorry, big draft of running backs and that's the strength of this draft.
The best in the business.
To one and only Adam Schefter live from the NFL Draft, Man, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule.
I know how busy you are. I really appreciate it. Man, thank you so much.
I appreciate you. Stephen A, thank you for having me.
All the US.
Talk to you soon. Well, only Adam Schefter. There's nobody better when it comes to the NFL.
Nobody better. Coming up.
Candace Owens was once a big supporter of President Donald Trump.
Now she's speaking out against him. What's up with that. I'll get into that and more next right here in the Steven eight Spress Show. I Don't go away. Welcome back to the Steven A. Smith Show.
Now it's time for me to get into some political talk. Due to a headline that I just saw yesterday that I found very very interesting, far right conservative Candace Owens is speaking out against one of her favorite people in the world, supposed to lead, mister President Donald Trump himself, and accusing the administration of fighting against free speech right here in the United States of America. The comments are reference to Harvard University, who is suing the Trump administration for threatening to withhold federal funding if the school did not comply with its list of White House demands. As a result, lawyers for the university sued the administration earlier this week. In the suit, university lawyer claimed that Trump administration is unlawfully using billions of dollars in federal funding as quote leverage to gain control of academic decision making at Harvard end quote. They also allege that the funding freeze violates the First Amendment and flouts federal law, and that is essentially what Owens is saying as well.
Take a listen to her thoughts from a podcast yesterday.
I never thought that I would see a day where I would be rooting for a university above Donald J. Trump and his administration. But I don't recognize his administration right now. I don't recognize what's happening.
I have a theory I do.
We were kicking around some theories earlier, me and the team, and we were going, what how could Trump be such a free speech enthusiast and being allowing these things to happen, going after college universities, trying to suppress speech while pretending that you're not suppressing speech while pertaining that you're fighting DEI. It's so messy, it's so obvious. Everyone knows what you're doing. People who are still trying to grift I get. I suppose are not willing to challenge you on this, which is ridiculous because when you are out of office, we are going to have to live with these consequences. Our children are going to have to grow up in this America. Okay, so when you threaten our speech, it's not worth it so that we can have pom poms and go Hurrah for a couple of years. Then go, okay, well, yeah, now it kind of stinks because we're getting arrested for wrong think. You got David Freeman, Yeah, arrust them a rush, Tucker Carlson and Candice Owens.
Get them. I love it.
And if you think it's gonna stop with college campuses, you're out of your mind. So you better buck up and root for Harvard University.
Fight. See. It's moments like this that.
When the show is over and I go home and I have an opportunity to look at some content, and then I see the comments that come in my direction. One of the things that grates my last damn nerves is when everybody's acting like, Oh, I'm flip flopping all, I'm timid, or I'm scared to take a position.
No, ladies and.
Gentlemen, there's something to be said about exercising common sense, not living on the fringes or the extreme, and deducing that both sides can actually make sense, because that's what we're going to do here. First off, to stop the press and disappoint some of y'all. Candice owns is not totally wrong. The President of the United States knows that Harvard receives billions of dollars in funding.
He knows this that.
Last year, in fiscal year twenty twenty four, Harvard got six hundred and eighty six million dollars in taxpayer dollars a fiscal year twenty twenty four. Now, this is an institution with an endowment exceeding fifty three point two billion dollars.
And so when you hear stuff.
Like the president is trying to impose his will on the country's oldest university, accusing it of engaging in anti semitism, along with other things, wanting them to eradicate DEI programs. How far fetched is it to deduce that he's trying to control speech, He's trying to control what institutions of higher learning are actually teaching it this eminating to the masters.
How far fetched is it to say that.
The president of the United States of America, the forty seventh president, who campaigned on a lot of this stuff, is keeping his word yet again, albeit to the chagrin of millions of tens of millions of American citizens throughout the United States of America.
It's not far fetched.
And when candaice One's sit up there says, be alert, be alarmed, because if they get away with this, if you're not rooting for Harvard on this and the federal government and the Trump administration is successful.
In muzzling or dictating, dare I say the kind of education.
That a university like Harvard is allowed to impart upon its student body, if they get away with that, one could easily ar you and does interfere with free speech. Remember, Harvard University just sued the federal government this past Monday after Trump threatened to pull nine billion dollars in federal funding unless the school agreed to a set of demands that included broad changes to its admissions, its discipline, and its management policies.
I'm reading from the story right here.
The Trump administration says it's actions, which included a threat to revoke Harvard's tax tax exempt status, our response to unchecked anti semitism on campus.
Remember just a few weeks ago or a few days.
Ago, Trump throughout two tweets. One he said, perhaps Harvard should lose his tax exempt status and be taxed as a political entity if it keeps pushing political ideological and terrorists inspired slash supporting sickness. Remember, tax exempt status is totally contingent on acting in the public interest.
Before so that Trump had said this about Harvard.
Harvard is an antisemitic, far left institution, as are numerous others with students being accepted from all over the world that want to rip our country apart.
The place is a liberal mess.
Allowing a certain group of crazed lunatics to enter and exit the classroom and spew fake anger and hate. It is truly horrific. Now since our filings began, they act like they are quote all American apple pie end quote. Harvard is a threat to democracy with a lawyer who represents me, who should therefore be forced to.
Resign immediately or be fired. He's not that good anyway.
Now, I hope that my very big and beautiful company, now run by my sons get rid of him.
A sap. There's a word other than anger and hate to bring into this equation, and the word to bring into this equation is liberal. Why because Trump, although.
One would argue he's not necessarily a conservative, the.
Same breath to me is because you ran with the GOP, you won.
Representing that ideological body, and on top of it all, you've put three conservatives on the Supreme Court, basically registering the six to three majority.
So again, you are a conservative.
Why does that liberal? Why was the word liberal? Throw me aback a little bit.
I'd love to hear.
If Trump feels the way that Hillsdale College runs its operations as a conservative institution. How about Liberty University of Virginia. Hillsdale is in Michigan, by the way. How about Grove City College in Pennsylvania. How about Texas A and M University, a large public university with a strong military tradition and conservative student base.
That Texas A and M. How about Brigham Young University.
That's just naming a few, Patrick Henry College of Virginia, University of Dallas, and Texas Pepperdine University. These are institutions that some would say are conservative.
I'm saying it shouldn't matter. If you feel that way about.
Liberal institutions, why are you not feeling the same way about conservative institutions. If you felt that way about both on either side of the ideological bar, then there's no argument. The problem is it only seems to be one side that's problematic. Now that's stephen A on this side. Let me go to this side and bring this point up, because we like to be fair on this show. When we've seen some of the actions taking place on some of these campuses, it has looked like anger and hate. There's no way around that. When we think about speech, we don't talk much about this Israely Palestinian conference.
We don't talk much.
About when Hamas or members of AMAS stormed into Israel and kidnapped and ultimately murdered hundreds.
If not thousands of people. We don't talk about that.
Nor have we talked about the fact that even though you want to go after any terrorist organization, because no terrorist organization is a good organization. The flip side to it is that you have a lot of people out there lamenting the fact that innocent women and children are being harmed, if not killed in the gods of stripping beyond, and that's where some of the protesters on these college campuses come from. I'm not taking aside I don't know enough. I didn't bring that up for that reason. I brought it up because that's what folks on the right are saying, and they're accusing some of our prestigious universities like Harvard, like Columbia, and others in the United States of America of fostering thoughts of anti Semitism, building tents on campuses, blocking students from getting their education, pointing out Zionists when they see them, and impeding their ability to learn peacefully. Now, when the right brings that up, what do you say, I don't know. I'm simply saying. That's the reason we got to watch the outcome of this case. Because if Trump wins this case, even though he's highlighting liberal institutions, which will be alarming and concerning in and of itself, because we know he's gonna favor the right over the left. He's gonna leave some other institutions alone while he bothers others. It's problematic because there's a bigger, grander issue here. If he wins the case, then guess what he's showing an ability to impede upon one's right to the first Amendment, which is free speech. And if he could pull that off, what can he do to anybody that opens their mouth and the sense in any way that is displeasing to him?
What will he do?
Then? We don't know, but it's scary. It is scary.
My thing is, we also have to be mindful that when somebody brings up the fact that Harvard received six hundred and eighty six million dollars in tax payer money for fiscal year twenty twenty.
Four, when they ask the question on the right.
Why does an institution with an endowment of over fifty three billion dollars, which is the largest in this country, why do they need taxpayer dollars close to seven hundred million of our money. That is a legitimate question. I'm not saying I got no to answer. I'm not saying that it doesn't benefit our society. Considering the students and the quality of the students that emanate from places like Harvard and Columbia and come out into American society and make a contribution to this country. I'm simply saying it's a legitimate question. This is not stephen A casting the spurs is a cast in judgment. You have some folks on the right that believe some of these universities are engaging in anti Semitism and beyond which is what Trump articulated. You got Candice Owens, a renowned Trumps supporter, unapologetically so suddenly going against the administration because she says they're repeating on free speech.
Which side do you roll on? And why you want me to give y'all a piece of advice on this subject? Bump the individuals.
Don't think about Donald Trump, don't think about Candace Owens.
Think about the issue, think about.
The potential policy, not the people, Because if you really really think about what has ailed our society, that's.
Really what it comes down to. We don't like him, aha, we love him a her, and that's what the issue is. And a lot of times our emotions.
Are dictated by people we do or don't like, as opposed to the actual policy and issues that will affect lives far extending beyond ourselves. This is one of those times Candace Owens is bringing up the issue of free speech and Donald Trump, who she has supported for years, is challenging Harvard's right to do whatever it wants as an institution of higher learning, which by the way, is a private institution.
Who's right, Who's wrong?
The courts will decide. And if the courts decide that Donald Trump is right, Candice Owens is arguing that the courts will be giving him the right to impede on free speech, not just for institutions of higher learning, but for American citizens.
All over this nation. Is she right or is he right? Inquiring minds would love to hear what you think. That's why you got to watch. I know I am, Oh, I know I am.
Before we go, I want to quickly extend my well wishes to the family of Gilbert Arenas, former NBA star. Gilbert's son Elijah, had been placed in a medically induced coma after he was involved in a serious car crash in the Los Angeles area early Thursday morning.
As of this afternoon, he's now out of that coma.
Elijah, by the way, is a five star recruit who committed to play for usc this fall. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, Elijah was driving a Tesla cybertruck that crashed into a tree and fire hydrant, and a fire ensued. Reports say it appears Arenas suffered no major bodily injuries, but he inhaled a lot of smoke from the burning cyber truck and putting a smoke inhalation victim in an induced coma. It's actually protocol. But again he's out of that coma and on the road to recovery. I've gotten to know give the Arenas. I was a guest on Gil's Arenas podcast. I know he was a star player in the NBA. I remember when he went into the La one time and drive sixty. The brother was a scoring machine, formal All Star.
He could really, really ball.
I'm hearing a lot of special, special things about Elijah. I'm hearing this brother can really really play. This young kid is something special and so thank God, whether he could play or not, it's not the point in terms of him surviving this ordeal. Thank god he did and he was able to escape from that car safe and sound before the truck became completely inflamed. Thank the Good Lord that he survived, and he's gonna be able to recover and recuperate and ultimately play basketball again. I saw that cyber truck. I'm one of those guys, young kids driving that thing. I don't understand that that's a big that's a big that's a big ride. It takes a lot to control that thing. You need to be an experienced driver to drive something like that. But that's neither here nor there. I'm just thinking, he thankful that he's okay and that he's gonna be able to resume, resume his aspirations and continue to pursue those things. And I've grown up to become very fond of Gilbert Arenas and Gil's Arena is a tremendous podcast with you know, Swaggy P and Kenyan mar And and Rashard the Canton, all of those guys.
They do a hell of a job. Let's give props with props us do.
They're different, a little bit wild at times, but they know they're basketball and they do a lot to promote the game, a game that I love and has been.
Largely responsible for what I've achieved in my career.
But more so, more so than anything else, Gilbert Arenas is doing special things, and his son seems destined to do special things, and it would have broken all of our hearts if anything catastrophic and fatal had happened to him. So thank god he's okay, young fella learned FM be careful behind that wheel and make sure you do everything to keep yourself safe and prioritize your safety in the future. That goes for all of y'all out there. Life is just beginning for y'all. Be very, very careful about everything that you do and how you do it. You never know what it can cost you. Thank god, it didn't cost him much, and he's okay, and he's gonna be able to resume everything.
All right. That's it for this addition that Stephen A.
Smith show, I got to get on out of here because I got to get to LA to cover the NBA playoffs. She had again for NBA Countdown over the weekend on ABC and ESPN.
Until next time, y'all, enjoy y'all week and be safe. God blessed. Looking forward to talking to you on Monday. Until then, He's in love
