Stephen A. Smith is one of the top sports commentators. He’s the host on the top-rated and popular First Take on ESPN and has his own show on SiriusXM, the Stephen A. Smith Show. On Monday night, the First Take host will be at Texas Live! in Arlington, getting ready for the Cowboys-Cardinals Monday Night Football game.
His afternoon SiriusXM show will have Jerry Jones and DeMarcus Ware as guests.
Before his appearance in North Texas, ESPN’s top commentator took some questions from Calvin Watkins about the Cowboys, energy levels, the Mavericks and Jerry Jones.
Questions and answers were edited for space and clarity.
Cowboys
No matter how critical you are of Dallas’ sports teams, the fans here respect you. What does that say about the fans’ respect for you?
Smith: “It says to me that it’s reciprocated because I have profound respect for them. I troll Cowboys fans because I grew up a Cowboys hater, but that’s all in fun. The same dude that’s trolling them and laughing at them is the same dude that will sign their autographs, take their pictures and sit there and have conversations and recognize how great of a fanbase they are of their team and their respective teams. Plus, I love the city of Dallas. The hospitality is always first-class. It’s a great, great town. Not just a sports town, but a town. When I thought about relocation, long before I moved to Florida, though I still live in New York, too, I thought about Dallas, believe it or not. I love it. I love it when I come to Dallas. I love going back and forth with Cowboys fans because it’s a lot of fun, and they are passionate about it. But they know, and I appreciate it, especially in the world that we live in, they know it’s nothing malicious. They know it’s me having fun with them as a sports fan, that was a Pittsburgh Steeler fan and watched my team beat them in the Super Bowl and lose to them in another when Prime Time and those boys was there. I just love the energy they give me and that they bring to me. It gets me hyped talking to them. It’s being around them that makes me love them so much.”
How do you find the energy to do the live remote shows like the one on Monday at Texas Live?
Smith: “I love what I do. I don’t have a job, I have a career. By that I mean, a job is doing what you have to do to sustain or elevate your quality of life. A career is doing what you want to do, and it just so happens to do those things for you as well. I’ve been incredibly blessed and fortunate that I’m never bored with my job. I’m never bored with the things that I’m doing. I’m never bored talking football, talking basketball, talking boxing, UFC, baseball, whatever. I love it. And now that I’ve ventured beyond that and I’m doing politics and social commentary and stuff like that, not only am I passionate about that, but it has me even more passionate about talking sports because obviously that’s the real world. That other side with the social commentary and politics, and you got to get into serious riveting issues that dramatically and directly affect people’s lives. So even though you enjoy talking about it, you enjoy talking about it because it’s substantive, it’s serious and it can be life-changing. Sports can be fun. So when I’m talking about sports, it can do all of those things, too, but there’s a lot more joy that comes along with the world of sports and doing the other things that I do makes me have a greater appreciation of doing sports, and I ended up winning because I’m involved in both genres.”
How surprised are you by the Cowboys’ up-and-down season?
Smith: “Not surprised at all. I thought their offense would be prolific and I thought their defense would be horrible, and that’s exactly what has been proven to be the case. You know what you’re looking at. That’s why I call them the Alice Cowboys, instead of the Dallas Cowboys. They have no defense. They can’t stop anybody. And Jerry better get it together, he better do something. He’s going to waste the season because they’re not going to do anything because you can’t stop anybody. You got seven teams in the conference already ahead of you that you’re not catching.”
Help the fan understand that Jerry Jones cares about winning, but he’s also a businessman…
Smith: “Jerry cares about winning. I would never accuse him of not caring. But what we have to accept about Jerry is that Jerry cares just as much about business because it almost destroyed his life. I unapologetically have love for Jerry Jones because I know of numerous Black men that he has helped over the years, as well as you do, too. Things that we can never say. Things that we can never report. But he’s got a whole lot of people out of jams by extending a helping hand, not just with his money, but with his connections. The conscience that made him say, ‘I got to do this because it’s the right thing to do.’ That’s the Jerry Jones I know. I didn’t need him, but I knew of an abundance of people who did. If he hadn’t come to their aid, who knows what would have happened to them. That’s the Jerry Jones that I know, that I got love for. Who never, ever, once asked me to be shy about my opinions about him and what he does. He knows when he makes a bad trade or when he’s losing and all of this other stuff, and he knows I’m going to get on them.”
The Mavericks are very early in the season. Your thoughts on them?
Smith: “I walked into this season thinking if Kyrie Irving was healthy and Anthony Davis is healthy, of course it’s contingent on that. But if that happens, the Dallas Mavericks can win the championship. I changed my mind opening night when I saw what [Victor] Wembanyama did to them. I didn’t see a dude beat them. I saw a dude destroy them. I saw a dude who made Anthony Davis look depressed and I couldn’t blame Anthony Davis, the dude is seven-feet-five. What are you supposed to do? He’s seven five with a handle. A J, a three-point shot and driving ability to get to the hole. He’s quick off his feet, so don’t even think about attempting a layup with him in the vicinity; it’s not going to the rim. He’s sending it out of there. This is who he is, and I see a guy who is going to win Defensive Player of the Year that could also win the league MVP this year. That’s what I’m looking at when I see Victor Wembanyama that’s got San Antonio off to a 5-0 start.”
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