Speaker 1 (0s): All right. Bows and bow ties. Luck. I'm having a hard time this morning. Everything is not going my way. I left my coffee I made at home and I don't like drinking the coffee at work 'cause it's so we're gonna go with this. My, my, my phone thing broke, so I took this from my car and the way it's, I'm just having a rough time But. anyway, so for those of you who are unaware, apparently I not got into a hit they hit on, it's not even like this big hit, it was just a nasty, it was just like an ignorant foul on Kaitlyn Clark the other day.
It was the Chicago sky against Indiana Fever. And so Kennedy, Carter foul, Kaitlyn Clark off ball. And there's all this, this talk about it. Was it unwarranted? Yes. I was like, but this is the thing. I'm not co-signing the foul and I'm gonna circle to Steven Smith in a second. but I, you know, no one likes to show when Kaitlyn is running her mouth and chirping.
So if you rewind what happened? She was running her mouth and chirping and carrying on, getting in her face. She did, I, if I remember correctly, I believe she elbowed Kennedy Carter, right? And so, you know how some people, they will get their lick back and, but no one shows the thuggery of what she does. Like all of these women are competing. And so when Kaitlin is doing it, no one wants to show that side. 'cause she's gotta be the face of the WNPA. but I also feel like we need to show I.
think it needs to be equal. That's all I'm saying. And if you're gonna show it, show it all, show it all. Now, this is the thing about Steven A. Smith that, that when I was listening to what he said, I'm sorry, I was listening to them go back and forth on first take. Right? And then I heard his, his, someone mention that he put out, I guess a response to Monica McNutt thing that was, who was on his show yesterday was Shannon Sharp.
And I was like, let me catch this. And I was listening to I, it was maybe 13 or 15 minutes, I can't remember at least the click that I saw when I searched for it. And I just felt like Steven A. Smith missed the mark. What he did was, I'm not a journalist, okay, I am an engineer. But what he did was what I would consider to be a journalistic pivot instead of it, it, it was more like he was creating a slightly nuanced straw man argument.
Not really, but kind of, sort of. Because her Monica was basically saying, you could have been doing this years ago more so. And he's saying, I've done, he sounds like 45. And if you know, you know, I've done more for black people than they have, you know, that's what he sounds like. He's like, I've done more for women's sports and I could've done less. That's basically what he said. I forget the exact words, right? I've done more for the WNBA, I've done more for women's sports. I, I I, and we are the champions of diversity.
And what she's saying is, you could have done more. It's like now all of a sudden everybody wants to jump in on these women's sports. It's like you, she was like, you could have been having this conversation, you could have been highlighting these wonderful athletes and, but now, you know, so he's saying, well, the market didn't call for, I'm like, you can create that, that that's your show. You can create the thirst or something if you highlight something that people don't know, it's kind of like, for example, I'm gonna speak to lacrosse for a second. A lot of people are, it's, it's, it's a growing sport, but a lot of people don't know enough about it because it's not really in their face.
It's primarily for those elite, you know, kids whose parents have a lot of money. But you know, you can create the hunger and market for something. Once people see it And they know about it. Like, well what is this? Who is that? That looks like a cool move. but I think what was driving me a little like, hmm, about Stephen A. Smith is because he gives off this very God complex. I did this, I did that. Almost like I'm the one that brought you here and it is almost like a, a slightly veiled threat if it weren't for me and I did this.
You see what I mean? And so now it becomes more of this pivot to like, he made everything about himself. He claims he was defending the show, the integrity of the show with the show has done. But he, he, he found a way to center himself in all the arguments. I did this, I did that, and it, and it sounds like I gave you this opportunity. I could take it away. That's what I took away from his, his his response and all of his emotional yelling and carrying on.
I'm like, why are you yelling? He yells all the time. Nevertheless, the the point was, she was just saying you could have been focusing on these nuanced conversations all the time. He's saying he's done more for diversity, getting Molly on the show and, and, and getting, he had Curry champion and all sort the stuff like that. And I'm like, well, what she's talking about is having these nuanced conversations, which is she's not arguing, you know, the amount of, oh my something's itching me, diversity you have on this show and, and And, they are related, but that's not what I took away on the first take show.
She was saying, Hey, you could have been covering this and having these nuanced conversations a long time ago. So let's be real. Him trying to, what I feel like is a slight pivot. He's arguing an argument. That's not even an argument, which was he's saying, we've done a lot for diversity. I want you guys to catch that. That was like a very nuance. I'm like, that's not the point. At least that's not how I took it.
And then on top of that, it's kinda like, I've done this, I've done that. Like almost as if like I've dangled this carrot. I've let you nibble. I can also yank the carrot back. I'm just saying when I listen to him go on and on and on, I'm like, he's such a, a, a low way. Like to throw in the term narcissist. I like calling it a god complex. I don't know. I feel like he had to make it about him.
Like he's personally attacked and well, he did hold his feet to the fire. I just wanna say, look, a lot of this stuff that is being discussed right now, I feel like these are non issues. Like, they're just like, I, I feel like these are things that I normally wouldn't unless it cost them the game and the playoff or something. I'm like, go ahead and give that woman the foul that she had to, to take. Or if it's a, if it's excessive, make her get a fine or whatever like that.
but I wanna know where was all this outreach, by the way, slight pivot for a second. When Angel Reese got thrown to the ground and practically choked to death, she almost lost her life. See, no one was talking about when Angel Reese was, you know, being choked out and thrown to the ground that could ended her career. No one said anything about that. Kaitlyn Clark got bumped and you guys wanna put pillows under her. She got a hard fo off ball.
And I'm like, you know, this whole baby of her, what's gonna happen is if they continue to baby her, the public is actually gonna turn against her too. 'cause people aren't gonna wanna see this because if you want them to baby her people are not gonna watch. I, I will stop watching. I'm like, let her play, let her grow and let her be good. Look, let me tell you something. You've got so many women in that, that league who are just fantastic.
I will also readily admit that I'm one of the newer fans of the WNBA, regardless of what anybody thinks. The fact of the matter is the fans are here. So what the WNBA has to do, which they are failing miserably at, is marketing all of them. Sometimes it's gonna be the bad across the board, but you gotta show the good two. If you make it just about one, what happens is you alienate your other viewers.
That's what's going to happen. That's where I'm at with with that. Now, getting back to Stephen A. Smith, he has to stop centering himself in the WNBA conversations, women's sports conversations. Somehow he found a way on his show to make it about him instead of about what the topic was. So she said he could have been having these kinds of conversations a long time ago.
Real conversations, nuanced conversations, because they're layered conversations. He's like, I've done more for diversity and equity and all these other things like that. Like the DEI comments. You see how that was a slight nuance thing? It was almost like a strong man argument. No one was saying that he didn't give people opportunities or, or advocate for people, but he made it about that. I'm just calling a thing a thing. Okay? So for those of you who wanna like get mad about Kaitlyn Clark and the WNBA and all stuff like that, well, gold would just be mad, but let's be honest about what her point was, at least what I perceived her point was.
And he has to stop censoring himself. He has a godlike complex. I was listening to him Yammer on and all that yelling and being all emotional and stuff like that. And I was like, this cat is doing too much, too much. And he thinks this is about him. all right. That's it. That's all I got. That's all I got and I got a bootleg phone situation. I gotta get myself together, y'all. I will get it together. Hopefully after today. This is the whole situation. I don't have any coffee. all right.
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