Now that the news of Stephen A. Smith leaving (or not being asked back to) ESPN has made its way around, people are piling on. I do understand, but I must say that I may miss the guy.
Yes, he is very, very, very grating. He has that problem of trying too hard to use huge words to show how smart he is. I'm not saying that intelligence sucks, but to express it without forcing it is to use it wisely. He also has his "going to the well" saying. The classics like "at the end of the day" and "quite frankly" are used waaay too much.
I did like the fact that he was one of the few talking heads that was actually opinionated and willing to call out certain players. Unlike Skip Bayless, when SAS does it, it doesn't sound like "hating". I like that.
Unlike many people, I get the hyperbole. He, like Bayless and Jim Rome, know that they rub people the wrong way and their sarcastic behavior just infuriates their critics even more. I'm fine with that.
That being said, he hasn't really brought anything to ESPN over the last year or so. His show, "Quite Frankly", failed miserably. His contributions to NBA coverage has been scaled down to next to nothing (dude was on the ABC set for the Finals in past years). He doesn't break any news and he's only been good at his debates with Bayless on "ESPN First Take". I also liked his articles on ESPN.com and ESPN the Mag.
He'll catch on somewhere, maybe at my old stomping grounds at FanHouse.
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