Club Shay Shay - Stephen A. Smith Part 1 REWIND

Summary

Podcast Summary: Club Shay Shay - Stephen A. Smith Part 1 REWIND

Podcast Information:

• Title: Club Shay Shay
• Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts and Shay Shay Media
• Description: NFL legend Shannon Sharpe—3x Super Bowl champion and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame—sits down with the biggest athletes, celebrities, and influencers to discuss their accomplishments, challenges, and everything in-between.
• Episode: Club Shay Shay - Stephen A. Smith Part 1 REWIND
• Release Date: June 25, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of Club Shay Shay, NFL legend Shannon Sharpe engages in an in-depth conversation with renowned sports journalist and broadcaster Stephen A. Smith. The discussion delves into Stephen A.'s personal journey, his educational background, the significance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and a spirited debate on basketball legends Michael Jordan and LeBron James.

Journey and Education

Stephen A. Smith shares his humble beginnings and the challenges he faced while pursuing higher education. Attending an HBCU, specifically Winston-Salem State University, was a pivotal decision in his life.

Stephen A. Smith [06:15]: "No, I didn't, man. All I was trying to do was get my degree and to make sure that I positioned myself to have a career instead of a job."

He emphasizes the distinction between a job and a career, advocating for the importance of education as a foundation for long-term success.

Importance of HBCUs

The conversation shifts to the role of HBCUs in shaping Stephen A.'s career and personal development. Both hosts highlight the community, mentorship, and cultural significance of these institutions.

Stephen A. Smith [05:49]: "HBCU is always near and dear to my heart. ... What I was doing to help any chance I get."

Shannon Sharpe [06:57]: "What I tell people, Stephen A., Is that when I went to an HBCU... I realized that I had done something special."

Stephen A. recounts his experiences with mentors like Pastor A.R. Bernard and the late Clarence "Big House" Gaines, who instilled in him the importance of supporting HBCUs and giving back to the community.

Professional Careers and Mentorship

Stephen A. discusses his professional journey, detailing his internships at various news outlets and the strategic moves that positioned him for success in the competitive world of sports journalism.

Stephen A. Smith [07:56]: "I did an internship at the Winston Salem Journal, I did an internship at the Atlanta Journal Constitution..."

He credits his mentors and the rigorous environment of HBCUs for fostering his resilience, work ethic, and commitment to excellence.

Shannon's Educational Experience

Shannon Sharpe reflects on his own educational journey at Savannah State University, highlighting the transformative impact of dedicated professors and the accountability he experienced.

Shannon Sharpe [14:30]: "So when I had an opportunity to transfer and go to a PWI, I couldn't."

Shannon Sharpe [14:44]: "...you shouldn't be ashamed of something that you put yourself in."

Both Stephen A. and Shannon emphasize the value of perseverance, practical experience, and the supportive network provided by HBCUs.

Sports Debate: Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James

A significant portion of the episode features a spirited debate between the hosts regarding basketball legends Michael Jordan and LeBron James. They dissect various aspects of each player's career, influence, and legacy.

Stephen A. Smith [27:55]: "Michael Jordan was MVP all six NBA Finals... He never went seven games."

Shannon Sharpe [32:25]: "He the goat. He the goat."

The debate covers statistics, individual accolades, team dynamics, and the cultural impact of both athletes. Stephen A. brings a critical perspective, questioning LeBron's accolades compared to Jordan's flawless NBA Finals record.

Stephen A. Smith [38:31]: "If you take LeBron James' career from 2012 to now... the resume is better, but I still don't believe he was the player that Michael Jordan is."

Shannon Sharpe [39:17]: "He got those rings. He got six Finals MVPs. He has six championships. He has five regular-season MVP... If LeBron gets another title, Stephen A., I'm not gonna erase what Jordan did."

The conversation is characterized by mutual respect despite differing opinions, showcasing their deep knowledge and passion for the game.

Managing Professional Relationships

Beyond sports, Stephen A. and Shannon discuss the dynamics of professional relationships, particularly within the media and broadcasting industry. Stephen A. shares insights into his role in fostering a diverse and supportive environment on his show.

Stephen A. Smith [45:13]: "I want voices... I'm built differently... I want to make sure there's brothers, there's sisters, black and white, ethnic, you know, Hispanics, Asian Americans."

He underscores the importance of representation and collaboration, highlighting how a diverse team enhances the quality and reach of their discussions.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with reflections on personal growth, the importance of community support, and the enduring impact of mentorship. Both hosts reiterate their commitment to excellence, authenticity, and fostering positive relationships within their respective industries.

Stephen A. Smith [56:56]: "It's about what you're willing to take an ass kicking for. You got to be principled."

Shannon Sharpe [57:37]: "How do you handle that, Stephen? Because I know... two people that strong can absolutely get along as long as there's respect."

Club Shay Shay offers listeners an engaging blend of personal anecdotes, professional insights, and passionate sports discourse, encapsulating the essence of both Shannon Sharpe and Stephen A. Smith's illustrious careers.

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Notable Quotes:

• Stephen A. Smith [05:49]: "HBCU is always near and dear to my heart."
• Shannon Sharpe [14:44]: "...you shouldn't be ashamed of something that you put yourself in."
• Stephen A. Smith [27:55]: "Michael Jordan was MVP all six NBA Finals... He never went seven games."
• Shannon Sharpe [39:17]: "He got those rings. He got six Finals MVPs. He has six championships."
• Stephen A. Smith [45:13]: "I want voices... I want to make sure there's brothers, there's sisters, black and white..."
• Stephen A. Smith [56:56]: "It's about what you're willing to take an ass kicking for. You got to be principled."
• Shannon Sharpe [57:37]: "How do you handle that, Stephen? ... two people that strong can absolutely get along as long as there's respect."

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Listen to Part 2: Don't miss the continuation of this insightful conversation. Club Shay Shay - Stephen A. Smith Part 2 is available on all major podcast platforms. Simply visit the Club Shay Shay profile to access the next segment.

Transcript

[Stephen A. Smith]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Jeff Teague]

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[Stephen A. Smith]

Crabs in the barrel mentality. Blah, blah, blah. Nah, man, we showing something different, right? You know, first take, I've been blessed and fortunate enough throwing shade on nobody. We've been number one for 12 years. We gonna be number one for 13. It's just that simple. And 14, and damn it, if I do it for 15, gonna be 15. That's the way it's gonna be. That's how my mentality is. And I don't root for anybody to fail. I just root to be the best, right? And there's a difference. And as far as I'm concerned, anybody that's with me, we the best. All my life, been grinding all my life Sacrifice, hustle, paid the price, Want a slice, got to roll a dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life, all my life, been grinding all my life Sacrifice, hustle, paid the price, want to slice, not to roll a dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. Hello.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Welcome to another edition of Club Shay Shay. I am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proprietor of Club Shay Shay. And for my first partnership with the Volume, I knew I had to land someone big. He's not big. He's huge. He's ginormous. He's a legendary sports journalist, a featured commentator, premier analyst, famed host, veteran reporter, podcaster, actor, writer, executive producer, businessman, New York Times best selling authority, one of the most recognizable on air personalities. Not just sports personalities, personalities on television, a cultural icon. And he's also HBCU alum Stephen A. Smith.

[Stephen A. Smith]

My brother.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Bro. Bro, we here.

[Stephen A. Smith]

What's up?

[Shannon Sharpe]

We here, bro. You keep knocking my brakes. I'm getting.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm sorry, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm sorry. We good.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I ain't know I could break anything on you. Yeah, yeah, right there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. Brad, I mean, I only. I'm gonna be able to keep this one. Cause every time I hug somebody, it comes off. Yeah, we good, bro. How you doing?

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's good to see you, bro. How you doing, bro? I promise you I'll be here. I'm here.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I need you to tell the people what you went through. Because you promised me this. Because we've been trying to get this thing together for a little over six weeks now. And I said, stephen, A. Can you. Can you do Tuesday at noon? And you said, I'd do it, but I want you to tell the people the length in which you went through to get here at noon.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, what happened is, is that my pastor for the Christian Cultural center in New York City, Pastor A.R. bernard, had a fundraising event at a golf tournament in Long Island, Right? And so they were honoring me the night before I came here, and I had to play some golf, which I don't play. So obviously I have to embarrass myself for a few hours for every one shoot.

[Shannon Sharpe]

There's no footage. There's no footage.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Not that I know of. Not that I know of. Not that I know of. But for every one good shot I hit, I hit about 5 to 10 bad shots or whatever. But then after I did that, I promised you I was gonna get here in time, so I had to take the private jet, get up here in time, and I flew here last night, got here about 2 in the morning, woke up at 4:30 to prep for first take, and then did first take, and here I am, bro.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's love. I really appreciate that. Of course, I know you talk about your pastor, but everybody that Comes on. You know, I have my own line of cognac.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And I need to get you a bottle. And you gonna leave here with a bottle.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Ain't nothing wrong with that. I mean, he know I could get out of. There's nothing in excess. Nothing in excess.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay, nothing in excess. But I wanna toast you, bro. Cause you for a lot of guys, you made it, not just athlete. And I want to give you your flowers, bro.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Appreciate you. Appreciate you, man. Thank you so much, man. Coming from an HBCU obviously is a very, very big deal. That's something that's near and dear to my heart. I've been an ambassador for HBCU week since around 20, 19 or so. And in that span we've generated over about 65 million in scholarships for over, you know, 3,000 students. And so I'm really, really proud of that. And HBCU is always near and dear to my heart. And the basketball coach, Clarence Big House Games, who helped the late great John McClendon in integrating the sport of basketball, they were both HBCU icons and both of them were big time mentors of mine. And they knew I didn't have the game that was going to take me to the next level, but they knew I had the mindset and the tenacity to do what I could to help HBCUs. And all he ever said to me was when I said, what can I do for all that you've done for me? He said, don't forget HBCUs, you make sure that you help any chance you get. And that's what I've been doing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What I tell people, Stephen A. Is that when I went to an hb, when I went to Savannah State, I had no idea the importance or the magnitude of what was going on at the time. It wasn't until much, much later that I realized that I had done something special. So when you're going, when you're matriculating at Winston Salem, did you understand what was going on at the time and how big of a deal it was going to be later?

[Stephen A. Smith]

No, I didn't, man. All I was trying to do was get my degree and to make sure that I positioned myself to have a career instead of a job. When I'm giving speeches, I constantly say to kids, there's a difference between a job and a career.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

A job is doing what you have to do to maintain or elevate your quality of life.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Stephen A. Smith]

A career is doing what you want to do. It just so happens to. To do those things yes. And so for me, if you don't have an education, the chances of you being able to pull that off, even with the advent of social media and the opportunities that present themselves, I think it's a misnomer to think that you don't have to have any kind of education whatsoever and you're going to succeed. From a normal perspective, there are abnormal examples. Of course, there's always somebody that breaks the code, but for the most part, you got to go through that. That terrain. You got to go through that grind. And for me, it was always understanding that. So when I was at Winston Salem, it was really about getting that degree and getting practical experiences. I did an internship at the Winston Salem Journal, I did an internship at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, then I came back. I did another internship at the Greensboro News and Record, then back to the Winston Salem Journal before I even graduated. And so for me, that was incredibly important, establishing that resume and really, really showing that I was a worthy individual. Because if I didn't have those internships, something to prove that I was really, really committed by acquiring that level of practical experience, then it was going to be my resume against somebody from a pwi. And if you're somebody from a predominantly white institution, chances are you're going to get the nod over somebody in an hbcu. So I understood the climb. I understood the obstacles that I had to. That I had to fight off. And that's what I went about the business of doing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did you always want to go to an HBCU or. It just happened, bro.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It just happened. I didn't even know what an HBCU was until they came to offer me a scholarship. I had no clue.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I heard about the United Negro College Fund Zoo Rawls doing that every year, but they ain't never mentioned Savannah State. So I'm like, all I knew about was the Big One, the Gramlins and the Southern University.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You knew about Eddie Robinson, you knew about Eddie Robson, but that was about it. Because the fact is that when you took it at HBCUs, I mean, there's some up north, like Bowie State in the Maryland area and what have you, but for the most part. That's right. But for the most part, they down South.

[Shannon Sharpe]

South, correct.

[Stephen A. Smith]

They ain't out west, they ain't in the Midwest. They damn sure ain't on the East Coast. So if you're living in those places, you simply don't know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right. And you know what? I caught a lot of criticism because I was one of the top prospects in the state of Georgia. When I was coming out and I said an HBCU wasn't my first choice. Had I not. Had I made. Had I not been Prop 48. I mean, I had Georgia, I had Texas, I had Nebraska, I had all the big schools recruiting me. And more times than not, I'm like. But the best thing that I did, Stephen A. Is when my former coach, rest his soul, Bill Davis, came down. He said, son, if you good, they'll find you. He said, if I was drafting, he said, I would take you number one overall.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Wow.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He convinced me. And when I had an opportunity to transfer and go to a pwi, I couldn't.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, I will tell you this. It's like. And I've said this to a lot of our white brothers and sisters. I'm like, look, ain't nothing like being surrounded by your own. And the advantage.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It's the pageantry. It's homecoming.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. They just don't understand. They just don't understand. I mean, you know, the bands, the pep rallies. I mean, Lord, the band play the whole game.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It ain't no where they got the ball. You got to be quiet. The band plays the entire game, whether we got the ball or they got the ball. And then you got the step shows, and you got the Sorrows, you got the Pratts, and you got the park, and everybody's coming back from 20 years, 30 years, 10 years, 15 years.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Stop just bringing back memories. Just bring back memories. Let me tell you something, man. Listen, you've heard me. Listen. People see me on tv. You hear me complain about a lot of things in life. You ain't never heard me complain about going to the hbc.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, no, no, no.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's the greatest experience I've ever had in my life. Let me tell you something right now. I had a mentor of mine, God rest his soul. Mr. Robert Devaughn. He was the telecommunication communications director at Winston Salem State. Loved him dearly. He had to convince me to graduate on time. I wanted to do internships, to delay and postpone graduation. That's how. That's how much I was living the life at Winston Salem. You understand what I'm saying? I mean, it was like. And then everybody like, well, you know what? You being disingenuous because you went and you did an internship in Atlanta. I was like, have you ever heard of Spelman? Yes, I have. I mean, right down the block. That's right down the block. Okay?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Atlanta just started. And look, Atlanta's always been Atlanta.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It Just exploded in the last 20. But Atlanta was back. Atlanta back in the 70s, in the 80s, Atlanta was like that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How about that? And then on top of it all, check this out. So you got to take a route. If you're going down, you're going I85. If you're coming up, you're going 85. I85 north, right? You're passing HBCUs in loot.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

So it's like, yeah, I'm at Winston Salem, but I'm stopping at Johnson C. Smith.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You got Johnson Smith. You got Fayetteville State.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You got Bennett College in Greensboro. All girls. I mean, it's just beautiful. You got South Carolina State, A and T. It's like, Lord. I mean, I used to take a long ride because, you know, you could cut through and get to Winston Salem State, but I used to take the long route because you had to pass through all of them things to get to Winston Salem. I'm like, why would I want to rush? Why would I want to do that?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I tell a lot of people. I tell my white counterparts. I think everybody should have to experience one semester at an HBCU to get the feel, to get the ambiance of what it's actually like and to have some of those teachers. Because the professors, Stephen A. I believe they sincerely cared about Shannon Sharp. I remember going to a class, and his name was Haynes Walton. And Stephen A. He come to class with a piece of chalk this big in his pocket, and he start writing on the board.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I was like, okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Taking notes and everything. And he said, on this page, such and such. And in this chapter, such and such. I'm like, well, damn, how he know all of that? Every day for like, three weeks. So I got the text. I said, I'm gonna find out how he knows so much. What? I started reading text by Haynes Walton.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yep. He wrote them that him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He wrote that like he know everything.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He wrote.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And from that point on, right, every. I felt that every class that I went to, every professor, doctor, they could teach me something, and I was attentive. Now, it didn't hurt that, you know, they were in class, too.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right. That's right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So I said to front of the class, I was there, had me a brief, a briefcase I had on, you know, on Fridays, I had hard bottom shoes on slack. Had me a nice blazer. Pretending like I'm gonna be something one day. Y' all need to come on, get on o' Shea.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right. Ain't no question. And listen, they cared. They Held you accountable. They did. They felt like they were an extension of the family that you departed from.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And they made you feel like if you disappointed, if you ended up being a disappointment, you disappointed them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You disappointed yourself, you disappointed your family, you disappointed your community. It was at a level of accountability. And not only that, they highlighted the obstacles that were waiting for you. So it was like, listen, we've been here. We did it. This was waiting for you. What you gonna do about it? And there's a sense of pride that kicks in. But more importantly, when you go to an hbcu, I think this is the most important, most important thing for folks to understand, particularly as it pertains to black folks. Usually in every walk of society, we are alone in certain respects.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

When you go to an hbcu, you got company. Yes. People who look like you, who share your cultural identity, who share your trials and tribulations, the obstacles, the pitfalls, everything. You literally are looking at people, hanging with people and talking to people every day. Where your experiences are not foreign to them. They all know it. And so they gonna lift you up. Unless you don't want to be.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

When you don't want to be, they know to leave you to the side. Cause you ain't about it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

We gonna stick with people who's about something. And that self accountability elevates everybody.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I think back, Stephen, a one of the. One of. I started off, I was Prop 48, so I had to start off in developmental studies.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Developmental studies is remedial. Right. So in other words, all you're taking is classes that doesn't go towards graduation.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Dr. George McLemore, I never forget. I had her reading class. And after two days, she called me up. She always called me Mr. Sharp. To this day, when I go back and see her at Savannah State, she calls me Mr. Sharp. She said, Mr. Sharp, I don't wanna see you next quarter.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yes, they all say that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She said, you're too smart. She said, you have no business being in this class. Now, Mr. Sharp, I don't wanna see you next quarter.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Mm.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She told a story, everybody. Cause at that time, I ended up graduating, got my degree and playing in the NFL. She said, y' all see that young man on television? He was in this very class, but he worked his tail off to get out. And I did. A lot of my teammates were embarrassed because, you know, it wasn't a regular class, Stevie. It was a trailer.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And you know, it was right next to Peacock hall, where I went I would go eat breakfast and walk right up in there just as proud because I wasn't ashamed because I put myself in that situation. See, you shouldn't be ashamed of something that you put yourself in.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I put myself in that situation.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But a lot of times people don't see themselves, a person putting themselves in that situation because they're not willing to absorb and accept accountability. See, the beauty of being involved with athletics is that you're surrounded by people who make you accountable for yourself. You. It's like a human mirror. You know when you didn't work hard, right? You know when you didn't put in the work, you know when you didn't listen to the coach, you know when you didn't do all of these things. So that transitions to other forms. It could be the classroom. It could be anything else. I remember even before I got to college, seventh grade. It's in my book Straight Shooter. My seventh grade teacher, Mr. Caravan, looked my mother dead in the face and she said, you, son is not a dummy. She said, he doesn't listen with things he's not interested in. He drifts, right? So what happens is you think he doesn't know and he didn't understand. He never heard him. He will literally drift and he doesn't hear anybody anywhere. He said, but when you find out what he's passionate about, you'll have a star in your hands, right? And that's what you said. And that came in handy because years later, when I met, AI is the.

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[Jeff Teague]

This is Jeff teague from the Club 520 podcast. Yeah, we're taking over Times Square's JD Sports for a special draft takeover. We're chopping it up with the next generation of hoop stars. Top picks, fresh fits and real talk. Catch exclusive interviews, behind the scene vibes and the crew checking out the latest heat in JD sports. It's all going down on Club Five20 podcasts. Powered by the volume. Don't miss it for excitement and check out their new collection. Visit jdsports.com or download JD app the.

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[Stephen A. Smith]

Especially when I was covering the 76 and stuff like that. I have this uncanny ability. I don't. I'm not saying it's a gift, but I have this uncanny ability. I have been in an arena with 20,000 people and I didn't hear a word. I didn't hear anything. Like, I'm on deadline, right? I got an article to write, I got 20 minutes to drive to write 800 words. And I literally have the ability to block out all the noise. And it reminded me of what Professor Caravan said to my mother about drifting, right? I drifted to a different place, except this time I saw the positive in it. Because a lot of times if you hearing that noise, you can't focus, you can't concentrate, you can't get the job done. I could, because I could lock in and I could tune out the noise.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You sound like an athlete. If you heard athletes say it, say, it's like everything slows down, everything is moving in slow motion. I don't hear not one of those. 85,000 of those. 30,000 fans are screaming. I hear nothing. Everything is just hushed.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And I can actually hear my heartbeat. That's how quiet it is. Even though I'm in a Stadium with 80,000.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And those are the great ones, as an athlete. Those are the great ones because the ones who hear all the noise are. Are the ones who succumb to it and they panic. They sweating a little bit, extra palms sweaty, backsides tight. They can't really handle the pressure. They fold under the pressure. But when you can be composed and poised under pressure, particularly on the field of athleticism, whether it's a quarter play, the field to play, or whatever the case may be, you got a star in your hands. That wasn't me. That was me when it came to my job, right? I could tune out all of that noise. What people have is pressure. It's like we do television every day. I'm in front of the camera, bro. I worry about nothing. I'm not phased. I don't care who's in front of me. I don't care what noise people are saying on the outside. I don't care about the camera folks. I don't care about the producers in the control room. I don't care about the bosses upstairs, whatever. When the camera is in front of me, I believe I own it, right? And I'm not phased by anything. It just doesn't phase me. But I've seen people who have been reporters, for example, and you put them in front of the camera, brother, they sweating bullets. They nervous as hell. They stuttering. They don't know what to say. They're trying to gather their thoughts. They're trying to be ultra careful. They don't know what to think, what to say or whatever the case. And I'm like this. They have no chance. Yeah, they have no chance.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But people think it's easy. Everybody can't talk on camera. Everybody can't speak in front of an audience. We've seen some of the greatest players not be able to do what you and I do on the regular. And people just like, well, how do you do it? You just do it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You just do it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't see you. I don't hear. All I hear is my own voice, right? You.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm a little different than that. I think that you and I would be a little bit different than that, because that's your gift, and that's cool. Me as anybody producer, anybody would tell you when I'm on the air. That's why they named me the executive producer. First take, I ain't asked for the job. I didn't need another job. The last thing I need is another job, bro. I didn't. It ain't like they throwing extra money my way for this. You know what I'm saying? It ain't happening. But they came to me, and I'm like this. They like why they say you producing the damn show anyway. On the set, you looking at the camera. I know this camera is on. I know this camera is off. I'm imagining what the audience is doing because I have a connection with the audience. This is what they want to hear. This is what they don't want to hear. This is who they want to hear from at this particular moment in time. This is who they want to hear at this particular moment. All right, Steve, it's time to jump in. All right, Steve, it's time to. Time to lay back. Because the objective is the show. It's not me. It's not you. It's the show. And the objective is to make sure that the people on camera are maximizing their potential in terms of their presentation to the audience, to grab them and to reel them in.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's how I'm thinking.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And. Or now that it didn't. It wasn't at the beginning. At the beginning, I was a lot like that. But as time went on, you're just seeing and you're saying, well, wait a minute, why did this?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You're the quarterback.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I've always. That's what I see.

[Shannon Sharpe]

See for me, I'm, I got, look, I, I know what everybody's supposed to do, but I focus on, on my job now. If I need to tell somebody they're route or they need to, hey, this blitz you hot or you got a block?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, you showed the world that with the, what you posted on Twitter. You say, who laid it up for you? Who laid it up?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You already do.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And then you lie. Yeah. Yes. That's what you supposed to do. That to me is my job.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Let me ask you a question. Like when you say like these viral and people ask, like, when do you know what you're gonna say? A lot of times when stuff goes viral, I had no idea because I don't know what he's gonna say.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You don't know what everybody's gonna say. But sometimes it just happens. A moment happens. How much is just reactionary? Because like I said, you have a lot of different. You have Mad Dog, you have Ryan Clark, you have Dio, you have four Swagu, you have so many different people. So it's hard to get a beat or rhythm to what they're going to.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Say if you don't know them, okay. And if you don't know the audience, okay? And so what happens is I know what the audience wants from Ryan Clark. I know what it wants from Swagu. I know what it wants from Molly. I know what it wants from Mad Dog. I know what it was from Alaski, I know what it wants from Shannon Sharp, okay. For the purposes of that show. And so I'm looking at Shannon Sharpe and I'm like a three time super bowl champion. That's one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history as a Hall of Famer. And damn it, he loud and he's boisterous. He gonna come right at you and all of this other stuff, okay? This is what they want and this is what they're going to get right now. You don't want to give it to them too much all in one bowl, right? You want to spread it out. You see, once breaking it out, you want a little bit here, a little bit there. All right, it's 10. 10 o' clock.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Boom.

[Stephen A. Smith]

10:15, here we come. The momentum is swelling. All of a sudden, it might be a little bit too much. You might want to dial it back a little bit because we coming at 11, right? 11:15. Helping. We come in at 11:30. See, that's how I'm thinking. Okay, so it's like, okay, yeah, I want you to shine and I want you to. I want you to be you, because I'm going to be me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Stephen A. Smith]

And so here we come, and the audience is watching. How do you know that? Because you paid attention to the audience. You're not sitting up there manipulating them. You're not disrespecting them. You're showing them you appreciate them because you're paying attention to what they're telling you and showing you they want. A lot of times you have talent, and it's like, listen, this is my lane. And there's something to be said about that. When you know who you are and you know what you bring, that's not to be disrespected. That's to be appreciated. Okay, here's his strength. Well, if I have a different strength, how do I get to complement that so he can shine while we shine? That is the objective when you trying to win. And it's applicable on the football field, on the court of play, or on the television set. But how many people are thinking like that? I'll tell you who. The winners think like that, the losers don't. It's very simple.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know what? I want to address some comments that you said because you said condolences in advance.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yep.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He's the modern day black Hulk. He's not used to getting beat down. That's right. Welcome to the beat down.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, let me tell you. Let me elaborate. First of all, obviously, I wasn't talking about physically. I got no shot. I got no shot. I mean, let's get that out the way right now. Let's get that out the way right now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You understand what I'm saying?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Let's get that out the way right now. I will not talk about physically. I got no shot whatsoever. But, you know, I've seen you. I've seen you debate quite often.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And I see I'm good at the.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I've lived far too.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You could do your thing, but, you know, you ain't never been up against me. You serious? This is a little different. Going up against me. You see, what happens is you got people that are trying to win the debate to be right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

False. It's about your perspective up against mine. And who can convince the audience their perspective is better than the next? That's what it's about. You see, a lot of times somebody like, if somebody that it's a mistake to argue with Shannon Sharp about the facts of football, you don't do that. Not if you didn't play.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, please. You got no shot, but you can go like this. You know something? I. Is really nice. I heard what you said, but you see, you said this two weeks ago. That's not consistent with what I just heard. I mean, you saw this game right there. Now, I'm not you, but damn it, I got two eyes, right? I saw that. Are you telling me what I saw was a lie? Really? You're sure about that? Well, didn't you say this a year ago? You see, these are the kind of things like, you know, you obviously, you know, you love yourself some LeBron James.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You know, they gonna happen.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He the goat. He the goat.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He's not.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Say it with me.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He's not. He the goat. I just got off the phone with MJ Last to remind him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You should have hung up on.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Remind him I hung up on that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, say the goat.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The blasphemy coming out of your mouth. The goat. It's okay. You could believe that. You could believe that, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Still going 21. But we'll do. I'm sure we. You know what?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

The first LeBron topic don't need to be nobody.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Here's what.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Don't need to be nobody.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Here's what's going to hurt you. Here's what's going to hurt you. Because, you see, when you talking like that, people like.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But. Nope. I'm going to sit back and let you talk, and then I'm going to say you finish. Are you. You sure?

[Shannon Sharpe]

No.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And you going to be like, nah. And I'm going to say, you gotta wait now. Cause I waited. Here I come. And you have to deal with the tsunami that I'm gonna bring. I'm gonna rain down upon you when it comes especially to that subject.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Especially.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And that's what. And that's where you gonna hurt yourself. Listen, LeBron, listen. I got this, man. The game was started in 1947. I got LeBron James, the thousands of players that have played in the NBA. I got him number two all time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You got people walking around like. That's disrespect. It is. I got him. See, See, that's emotion. That's emotion. That's emotion right there. Listen, let me tell you something right now. I personally believe a legitimate argument could be made that I'm sitting in front of the greatest tight end in the history of football. Some people bring in Gronk, Tony Gonzalez.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Other players, Travis Kelsey, whatever.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Travis Kells, of course. But you in the conversation, you understand. And you know, because your brethren, I mean, they give you mad love and respect. Right? I can say that. But my point to you is, is that if somebody said you weren't number one, you don't feel insulted.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No.

[Stephen A. Smith]

So why you got to be insulted about my. Because that's emotion.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, there ain't no motion. The motion but the goat.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Huh? See the motion.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You told me the storm was coming. See, your storm happened for nine years, then took two years off and it happened for three years and took another three years off. And then it kind of just was like drizzling. My storm been going for 21 years. Raining.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You could say that. And my retort to that would be six NBA Finals losses.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So. So they only.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Six final losses. Six final losses.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Let me ask you a question.

[Hypnotic Voice]

6.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I just want you to tell me one thing and we going to debate this. Sure. Tell me the team that he faced that was the 2017 or the 2018 Golden State Warriors.

[Stephen A. Smith]

What do you mean? I don't understand your question.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Michael Jordan. Tell me the team you talking about.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Michael Jordan.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I want you to tell me the team that Michael Jordan face that was the equivalent of the 1718.

[Stephen A. Smith]

No one. Can I respond to that?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Sure.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Can I tell you why no one. Do you know why? Because none of them had Jordan. No, that's exactly why.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay, let me ask you. See?

[Stephen A. Smith]

See? See? That's the ultimate equalizer or usurper. Pick whichever one you want to. You want to pick. Do you understand that Jordan is 60 in NBA Finals?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Do you understand that Jordan was MVP all six NBA Finals?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Do you understand that Jordan never even allowed a final series to go seven games? You understand that he never went seven games.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I also. I also. I also know he just started going to Finals because Lamb Bird back went out.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Excuse me. 10 time NBA scoring champion, 9 time all defensive play. All defensive first team. You do know that, right? Yeah. So in other words, is LeBron on both sides of the ball. Was he that dominant?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, he was dominant. But you know he should have won it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You know he should have won Are you kidding me, Stephen? A kid.

[Shannon Sharpe]

K step. Give me this. You know, goodwill. LeBron James should have one. Defensive player of the year. How does. How does Mark Gasol, who's a second team all defensive player, be defensive player of the year?

[Stephen A. Smith]

I agree with that. I agree with that. But the flip side to it is that as we watched LeBron James, even with his greatness, at one point in time, as a defensive player, we never looked at him and said, oh, my God, that's that dude. Defensively, yeah, you had.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You had.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Now LeBron is universally respected and revered. MJ was feared. You know the difference. You know the difference because there are people who have feared you. You know the difference better than me. You know the difference between reverence and fear.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Look, you know this. You like John Wick. I like James Bond.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He's all right. He's all right.

[Meta AI Voice]

Hold on.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Can I have James Bond? I prefer. I prefer James Bond. You could be John Wick. Okay, I prefer James Bond.

[Shannon Sharpe]

John. Rick shot up the whole place. Killed everybody.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

James Bond. Killed a few people, but got the ladies. They do the same thing.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right. Remember when Halle Berry was walking out, when he was walking out the ocean and he said, magnificent view. Remember that? The smoke? And that was Right. You know, that stuff is stuff like Pierce Brosnan, but you have Daniel Craig, of course, Sean Connery, the man. Okay. I mean, I'm trying to understand the versatility of James Bond is where the. You could say that. But at the end, guard one through.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Five, you seen him do it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm not denying that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Shut down Tony park on one end in the last five minutes, say, I.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Got Timmy D. I also saw him get checked when Jason Terry was guarding him in the post in his finals against Dallas. You going to deny that? No. Okay, then, so. So let me ask you a question. Has there ever been a time when Michael Jordan showed up in an NBA Finals and you literally looked at him and said, yo, he show up.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He didn't play nobody? Come on. Let me ask you a question. I'm gonna. Do you like this here? Sure. Tell me the guy that he faced, that with the award, the equivalent of Kevin Durant in the NBA fight, Michael.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Jordan or Steph Curry? I wouldn't say the equivalent of Kevin Durant, but let's go down the list. He beat Magic for his first title.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Magic was 73.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay, I find you. I'm going down the list. Going down the list. I didn't hear you say that when Magic was here, but we're talking about Magic.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know Magic.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You didn't say that when Magic was here. Tell him that the man had gone.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The man that's on the nine. Nine finals in 10 years.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I feel you on that. And by the way, he took Vlad Divock and those guys wasn't Kareem and Worthy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you saw what he did to Jordan in the first game, right?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Allow me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Put a triple double on him. They had to put Scottie Pippen on it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's cool.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay. I ain't gonna say he backed him down. Made him look like Kareem Caldwell Jones. Okay. Go ahead.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's fair. Michael Jones. I'm sorry. Magic Johnson in the first title. Clyde Drexler in the crew. The second title. Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson. Don't ignore that. Dan Marley in them. The third title.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Good.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay. Okay. Peyton the Glove with Sean Kemp before He became Sean Kemp 1 Hall of Famer. And also you've got Karl Malone, John Stockton.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And you have an NBA game that was considerably tougher at that particular moment in time than today's NBA game is in terms of physicality and what's allowed. Yes. So you can appreciate this.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You can appreciate that when you can put your forearm on people where you can hand check them, when you can do a lot of things you can't do. Now right now, you get called for passing gas.

[Shannon Sharpe]

True, you will, but it's a different game now. But here's the thing, Stephen, okay?

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[Jeff Teague]

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[Club 520 Voice]

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[Shannon Sharpe]

The old school guard have equated physicality with talent and skill. The guys in today's game are more skilled.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I totally agree with that. I totally agree with that. But you would know this better than me because you were an all world player. Even though the game of the NFL has evolved significantly, you know good and damn well that if you were playing in this time, oh yeah, you would have adapted. Yes, you played in that time. You adapted the game in the 60s and 70s. You would have adapted those times. So what I'm trying to say to you is this. Michael Jordan was what he needed to be if he was playing today, he would be what he needed to be in order to be successful today. That's all I'm trying to say. When you see greatness on that level, you have to consider seed that that's the case.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But see, all they asked Michael do was to cook. LeBron had to cook. He had to clean. He had to wait table. He had to take order.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, you could say that. But what I'm saying, if the brother's doing it on both sides of the floor, then obviously he's doing more than one thing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He doing that too. But why?

[Stephen A. Smith]

He's doing how many guys you know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That are top five scoring and top five assist?

[Stephen A. Smith]

How about this? How about when Shaquille O' Neal with Penny Hardway, Nick Anderson, 3D Dennis Scott knows boys. Yeah. War in Orlando, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How about the fact that they couldn't even get the ball past half court because Scotty Pippen and Michael Jordan had him on locking?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Full court press. We ain't never seen LeBron do that. We never see LeBron do that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

LeBron do that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You know. Stop it. He never did it. You remember when D. He never did it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You remember when D. Rose was the mvp, Y' all voted D. Rose mvp. What he do to D. Rose in the playoffs?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Excuse me, excuse me. D. Rose what kind of team did he have? You couldn't tell me? Yo, Kim, Noah and those boys was.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They did enough to get the number one.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You didn't say nothing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So what?

[Stephen A. Smith]

You voted him MVP?

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's why I called LeBron and told.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Him I voted him MVP and still picked Miami to win that series. I knew they weren't gonna beat Miami in the best of seven. Playoffs are different. Yeah, all right, but that don't mean LeBron deserved the MVP. And oh, by the way, I don't even knock LeBron James for not getting the MVP. Because when you're that great, you're not gonna put all your efforts in over 82 games. You playing for April, May and June. So this entirely plausible. I'm very fair to LeBron James. Judalagh.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Sometimes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Most times. Most times, actually, I'd say all. It's just that I call it like I see it. I'm not emotional like you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, no, no. You're both. Yo, you're emotional. I've been doing my homework on you. Yeah, you know what? I got a call today for one Michael Jordan. He rolled up on me in a black SUV and rolled the window down.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's true. That's true.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That was scary. I thought he was gonna shoot. I thought. I thought it was a drive by. It was in Denver. I thought it was a damn drive by. Scared the living hell out of me. You understand? I mean, that's. That, that's an absolutely true story. But at the end of the day, all I'm trying to say is that LeBron is phenomenal. He's great. We should throw no shade on him. One of the greatest ever. Top three. Top three.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I see you saying one of it. Th.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He will never be greater than Jordan to me. But more importantly, let's go to Kareem, 19 time all star. I bet six time league MVP champion. On a high school level, they don't get Kareem's credit. Champion.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They don't get Kareem's credit, though.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Champion in the NBA six times. Good Lord, have mercy. All time leading score before LeBron surpassed him, all of that stuff happened. I'm just saying, come on now. The resume is better, but I still don't believe he was the player that LeBron James is. Yeah, all right. But what I hold, and I'll say this to you, I'll tell you something that I very really said. If you took LeBron James career from 2012 to now, and that was his history, from his first title to what he is now, and you wanted to make an argument against Jordan. I'm listening. The problem is we don't get to ignore those first seven or eight years where there were a couple of occasions where one, he was accused of quitting. And number. And I don't believe that, by the way.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, I don't believe Noah drunkenness.

[Stephen A. Smith]

No, no, no, no, no. I'm talking about.

[Shannon Sharpe]

God still gave him the heart.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I got you, but I feel you. But it's true. But it's still accused of drunken. But the point is. No, no, no. Against Boston, I don't believe that. It was a lot of stuff going on with LeBron that's none of our business. That people. They were totally unfair to him, including his damn teammates. But that's a different story for another day. I never held that against him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But when you got four games against the Dallas Mavericks in which people looked at you and said, choke.

[Shannon Sharpe]

If you say that, you know what?

[Stephen A. Smith]

You cannot get past that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I can't argue out of that one.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I can't argue out of that one. That, to me. That, to me, sealed the deal about the MJ LeBron comparison.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So what if he were to win a title this year?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Don't matter.

[Shannon Sharpe]

At 39 years of age.

[Stephen A. Smith]

So. So. So that don't erase Jordan.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, see, there you go. See, that's the argument that people have when I was talking about Tom Brady not playing. Well, I'm not trying to take away what Jordan's accomplished.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I agree.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He got those rings. He got six Finals MVPs. He has six championships. He has five regular season MVP. If LeBron gets another title, Stephen A. I'm not gonna erase what Jordan did. But he already. He already here for me.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

All he doing is just.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But. But what I'm saying to you is I already talked about the Dallas thing. Yeah. And I talked about moments which you can appreciate. What I'm trying to say to you is that when you are that dude. Right. That doesn't happen to you often. That happened to Magic when they called them tragic.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Johnson 84 and all of that. We get all of that. You understand what I'm saying? But for the most part, that doesn't happen. And this is the kind of thing that you also have to pay attention to as well. Not only do you not get to say that about Jordan, but when you look at LeBron, think about this. You want me to tell you what I hold against him just as much as I held against the Dallas performance?

[Shannon Sharpe]

What?

[Stephen A. Smith]

The following year with the All Star Game, you got the Ball in your hands. It's an exhibition.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, he passed.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's an exhibition. It's not. Doesn't count, right? It's all in fun, right? Kobe claps his hand, God rest his soul. Yo, let's come on with it. You got D. Wade on the court. You got Melo in the corner, and he threw the pass. And all three of them, along with Kobe, descended on LeBron and said, yo, what's up? What you doing? Because they knew he was psyched out. He was messed up. And what I'm saying to you is that Kobe wasn't like that. MJ wasn't like that. D. Wade wasn't like that. In his first NBA finals appearance, they down 02 to Dallas. D. Wade goes berserk. Averages 37 in the last four games. I'm just saying it's stuff like that. It's not that you look at LeBron and you diminish him. It's just that you can't elevate him above somebody like mj. When I got that evidence to support my argument, that's all. And that's why I got him number two all time. God, strike me down. I mean, my Lord. I mean, what an insult. I mean, the number two all time in the history of the game. And it's an insult. So only you and Rich Paul and people like that feel that way. Most of us sane individuals know better.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, let me ask you this.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You and I have conversation, and people like, well, how close are you, Stephen A. I said I met him in 2014 when I came on the show.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I said, we've talked over the years. We exchanged numbers and we've talked over the years. But I said, over the last year and a half or so, I was going through some things, and he was the one guy that was in this business that I felt I could talk to. It would stay between us, but he would give me sound advice. And so now you have your thing with First Take. You are the voice. You are the face of First Take. You're the first face of espn. What made you reach out? Say, bro, I want you.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Cause I got love for you, bro. And that's just me being a man and speaking as two brothers, you know. You know, our former boss at First Take, Jamie Horowitz, who was over. He brought you over to FS1 and all of that. And he knows my history. He knows what I stand for. I remember when I first. You can ask him. I remember when I first arrived on First Take and I rolled up in there And I saw a bunch of white folks, and I said, yo, where the brothers and the sisters at? You don't think I'm gonna be sitting here working with a bunch of white folks, do you? I don't mind white folks. I ain't got nothing against y' all. God bless you. You understand what I'm saying? We all brothers and sisters in the eyes of God when all is said and done. But you ain't going to just have me surrounded by a bunch of lily white folks. You better sprinkle this. Sprinkle some pepper in here. A little pepper up in this mix, you know what I'm saying? And so, you know, he brought one, and then the next thing you know, I picked two or three others and made sure to diversify that staff. And then one of the things that I did when I came in there, I knew Skip was going to want to debate me or whatever, but I was talking about subject matters that we needed to broach because it was still his show. But he respected me enough to get my opinion. And I was like, look, we need all of these other people because I want voices. And I'm. I'm just. I'm built differently. What I mean by that is there's no shade on you or anybody else, but I don't believe anybody's knocking me off my perch. I won't knock me off my perch. You know, corporate stuff, bureaucratic stuff. That's stuff you can't, you know. But I'm talking about in terms of my on air performance, my job performance. I don't worry about it. It. You know what I worry about the day that I want to leave, and I haven't done anything to create opportunities for us to continue. And so for me, it's like, I look at you, I think that you're smart. You're obviously incredibly accomplished. You ain't gonna never hear me say no disrespect to anybody, not to bring up nothing. You're gonna never hear me say, three super bowl championships and hall of Fame status don't mean nothing. I don't roll like that. That's not who I am. I'm the kind of person that I argue with you about football, but I want the audience to know, yo, you the football expert, right? Not me, right? I'm the reporter that walks in and I'm like, this what I saw. Tell me I'm wrong. This is what I'm seeing. Tell me I'm wrong. This is where I'm coming from. Just like me and you talk about I know you. I don't give a damn how much basketball you know. You don't know no more basketball than me. I've been covered. I learned from living legends and all this stuff. But I still want to hear what you have to say. You can listen to me talk to football. Why the hell can I listen to. And you talk about basketball. Right? And so all of that and then your heart, being a conscientious brother, caring about the issues that you caring about, speaking about the issues that you speak about. Nah, brother. Iron sharpens iron. And yeah, I got Mad Dog Russo. That's white. I got Dan Orlovsky. That's a white dude. You see what I'm saying? You know, Jeff Satiny, at one time, he was on the show. That's a white man. But the bottom line is I want it all. I want to make sure there's brothers, there's sisters, black and white, ethnic, you know, Hispanics, Asian Americans. I don't give a damn who it is. I wanna make sure we're representing America, and we make sure that everybody that looks at our show says, I can identify with what they're saying. But in the end, when it comes to me personally, you know, whether it's Ryan Clark, it's Marcus Spears. All right? It's Damian Woody, it's Lewis Riddick. The list goes on and on. My brother, Michael Irvin, that's now over at FS1. Keyshawn Johnson. These are my boys. I go back decades with these. These are my brothers.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You see what I'm saying? They will tell you. You ask anybody that that knows me. I'm about getting you paid. I'm about helping you become successful. I'm about letting you shine. I'm not threatened by anybody's appearance. It's my obligation.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you've heard it. You've heard the comments. Yes, man. Stephen, a man, he's strong. Will he brag, Blah, blah, blah. Shannon strong will iron, blah, blah, blah. How is that gonna work?

[Stephen A. Smith]

They don't know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know what I tell people?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm saying two people that strong Will can absolutely get along as long as there's respect.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Absolutely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The moment one disrespects the other, the other loses respect for the one that disrespected him. So now it's just a matter of time.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Exactly. And that's not gonna happen. Happen? No, because I don't roll like that. I don't roll like.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's like, yo, I'll argue with you about your points, but you know what? We gonna agree, we gonna disagree. But at the end of the day, we brothers, and we gonna sit up there and try to do what we can to make our product shine, right? That's our responsibility. Because if we do, if we do otherwise, all we're doing is inhibiting the other success, right? We're getting in the way of what we're trying to do, right? That makes no sense whatsoever. And not only that, it's setting a bad example for our community. If I need. They really need to get deeper about it. Because what happens is, is that, oh, so they can't chill, they can't sit up there and do a show together. They can't get along. You see that crabs in the barrel mentality, blah, blah, blah. Nah, man, we showing something different, right? You know, first take, I've been blessed and fortunate enough throwing shade on nobody. We've been number one for 12 years. We gonna be number one for 13. It's just that simple. And 14, and damn it, if I do it for 15, gonna be 15. That's the way that it's gonna be. That's about my mentality is. And I don't root for anybody to fail. I just root to be the best, right? And there's a difference. And as far as I'm concerned, anybody that's with me, we the best. This is what we gonna do. So now it's we. It ain't Stephen A. Is, it's we. And when you come to first take. Cause you ain't start yet, you gonna see it's a family. You gonna see. We get along. It ain't fake. We roll with one another. We vibe for one another. We watch one another's back. It has always been that way under my stewardship of the show. And I can say my stewardship of the show because the show was handed to me. They ain't come to me and I just took the title and all. No, right. They came to me and said, it's yours. You're responsible for it. If I didn't want Shannon Sharpe at first take, Shannon Sharpe wouldn't be a first take. Absolutely. That's just how it rolls.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No question.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But I had to come out that day because all that you were, bro.

[Shannon Sharpe]

When you was telling me this, perhaps see what you're saying now is that you told me months in advance because you was telling me things that were going on at Park Hell, I didn't know. And I'm like, hold on. I drive to this building every day. How the hell you know what? I don't know. And you telling me, bro, it's going down like this, it's happening like this. And I'm just scratching my head. I'm like, I'm at this building every day and everybody cheesing and breathing in my.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Was I right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You was absolutely spot on and say.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I was right, you know? And by the way, it wasn't because of Fox. It's because I know the business, right? I've been here for 30 years. I can see it a mile away. You know, I could see the handwriting on the wall. I knew when it was over for you, bro. I'm gonna be real with you. I knew when it was over. And I was like, I'm here. You see what I'm saying?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You did.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because I knew what was gonna happen. What happens is when you got noise and we gonna call it like I'm gonna call it like I see it. You don't want to do this. Let me do it, all right? Because I've been in the business long enough. When you're black and you have the.

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[Jeff Teague]

This is Jeff teague from the Club 520 podcast. Yeah, we're taking over Times Square's JD Sports for a special draft takeover. We're chopping it up with the next generation of hoop stars. Top picks, fresh fits and real talk. Catch exclusive interviews, behind the scenes vibes and the crew checking out the latest heat in JD Sports. It's all going down on Club 520 podcast. Powered by the volume. Don't miss it. For excitement and check out their new collection, visit jdsports.com or download JD Are.

[Club 520 Voice]

You still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover learn [e-mail] credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report of evident apparent meaning.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Public situations like that, we don't win. Everybody's circling, the sharks are circling. Now, it's not one person and it's not, you know, collusion going on instinctually. People tend to believe this, believe this, believe that, and the sharks are circling. And that's why I came out. You know, the number one reason I came out even before first take was even on my mind. The number one reason I came out, Shannon Sharp. And I said, I want Shannon Sharp on first take. Because I wanted the world to know that you were wanted. That was the most important thing to me. I wanted the work. I didn't want you to be in a situation where the sports world looked at you and said, what'd he do? He must have done something. Persona non grinder, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I said, I said, if he ends up here, he ends up here. The honchos know I want him. But more importantly than that, this is a brother that I think has done a lot of good work on television that has helped our community. And as a result, it's incumbent upon me, because of the perch that I sit on, to let them know, right, he's wanted, right? Don't cut him off. Because that's what they did to me in 2009. They cut me off and left me for dead, bro. And I'm not talking about espn, I'm talking about the industry. They cut me off and left me for dead. They thought I was done. They were writing my epitaph and I knew it. And I said, I was blessed and fortunate enough to have enough connections and to do what I do to overcome it. I don't know if this brother does, so let me, let the world know he has me and we'll go from there. That happened.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That absolutely happened like that. Cuz you and I was talking and you was like, bro, I got this, but soon as I get out of this meeting, I'll hit you back. And we were talking 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour. And you took every last one of my calls. And I'm thinking to myself, and I remember getting on the phone calling my sister and I was like, libby, it's probably gonna happen. I said, because it's not coming from inside, it's coming from somebody that I know knows the business and he wouldn't bull jive me, but he told me that there's a 95% chance that it's gonna happen and he wants me on his show. And I'm like, I don't want. I think I'm good at what I do.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

And for him, it did my heart good, because I know what you represent in this industry to say, I want him on my show. Whatever this, I don't believe nothing. Look, you go back from when I was with the Broncos for 10 years, went to Baltimore for two, back to the Broncos for two. CBS for a decade. I was with Fox for six years. Not one person ever said anything bad about Shannon. He's difficult to work with. He did this. That. My greatest compliment from players is guys that were on my team say, shannon Sharp's the greatest teammate I ever had. He's my favorite teammate. The way he approached it, the way he was. And so for you to come to me and to say what you said when you didn't have to do any of it, and nobody would have held that against you, because, like you said, that's what would have happened. And I heard it. Man, he must have did something. No. Showed up every day on time and did a hell of a job. I remember when Jamie Horowitz, who we're talking about, came to recruit me in 2016, in April, at the W Hotel. He said, you're gonna be a star. Yeah, I said. I said, jamie, I know what he said. Trust me.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He says, I know talent.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It goes deeper than that. Because you see, Jamie, whether he wants to tell you this or not, I knew back then Skip was auditioning you, because whenever I took off, you would be there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And what Jamie wouldn't tell anybody is that there were extra days that I would take off just so Skip could bring you on. Because, again, if you are not creating opportunities for other people, what good are you?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Stephen A. Smith]

My pastor says, and I'm not the most religious person in the world. I mean, as promiscuous as I've been in my lifetime, at least for the first. I mean. I mean, I am in no position. You know, I'm a lot better now over the last. Over the last decade or so, but, Lord, I had my issues. No question about it. And, you know, my pastor would say all the time, there's no success without a successor. And so when I look at, you know, for me, all the brothers that are on the show, one of my proudest moments was when Michael Irving came last year. And the reason why it was proud, because I love the playmaker. He and I are very, very tight. We're brothers, and I know what his name brings and the stature that it holds and so you're thinking that he comes and others are going to feel alienated. But if you watched him when he was on the show with us, it was a brotherhood, yo.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You see what I'm saying?

[Shannon Sharpe]

He's a great man.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It was a brotherhood.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So you know him because you know how great he is.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Exactly.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He loves everybody.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But it's like all of these. I mean, Orlovsky and RC and everybody swagger. They wanted to be on the air with him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And so my point is, is that that's how it's supposed to be. It's like, wait a minute. The NFL constantly talks about what a brotherhood exists. Well, guess what? First take is a platform for brotherhood.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Stephen A. Smith]

So when Shannon comes on. Yeah, you gonna be on the air with me. But guess what? Them brothers gonna slide up in there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Y' all need to be with each other.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You need to be next to each other. You need to be, you know, verbally knocking somebody like me upside the head when I'm coming at y' all like, I'm not little journalist. I saw this. And y' all like, look at this guy right here. You know what I'm saying? I mean, and we're laughing and having a blast. It's entertainment, bro. But it's information, right? Okay. It's perspective.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's serious stuff that needs to be addressed. It's the whole gamut. And think about it. We got the national airwaves for the worldwide leader available to us to disseminate and display our message, our belief, our culture, our perspectives, and put them all on display for everybody to see, to come back, or to embrace.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Stephen A. Smith]

But the point is, at the end of the day, you ain't gonna feel alone, right? You gonna be there, and we gonna be together. Why? Cause I'm gonna have your back. That's why. And they gonna have your back. And that's the way it's gonna be.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know what people ask me?

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's the way it's gonna be.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, people ask me, Stephen, a bro. How do you say what you say? And then, Kashana, you go to the game, you might be bumping to some of these guys.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

So how do you handle that situation? I say if I see them out, I'll nod. They acknowledge me. I acknowledge them back. If they don't, I keep it moving.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Keep it moving.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't make it personal because I don't know these guys well enough to make it personal. I'm talking about a given situation. You didn't play good in last night.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It doesn't diminish anything that you accomplished before last night. It doesn't diminish anything that you might accomplish moving forward. I'm talking about a specific set of events that happened last night.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How do you handle that, Stephen? Because I know. See, most times, they look at me, they do a double take. They like, nah, I'm gonna let that go.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's right. They don't want that smoke. They don't want that. They don't want to approach.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Stephen A. Smith]

We clean.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Pretend like I don't see you, but with you, I'm thinking it like, man, why you say that?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah. Well, first of all, I respect any of them who comes up to me, man to man, and confronts me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because if you want to have a conversation, here's where I'm big on. If I said something publicly and I'm wrong, I'm gonna correct it publicly.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Thank you.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm not gonna do something publicly and then apologize privately right now. If I'm wrong, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it publicly. I'm a man up. Cause that's the kind of man that I am. That's how my mama raised me to be. The other thing that I'm gonna do, but if I'm right, I'm not budging. You ain't gonna scare me. You ain't gonna intimidate me. You ain't gonna phase me. Let's get it on. Like I tell people all the time, figuratively or otherwise. It's not about getting your ass kicked. It's about what you're willing to take an ass kicking for. You got to be principled.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And you got to be somebody that's willing to stand on something.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And I'm the kind of person that's willing to stand on something. I'm not trying to get personal. I'm talking about your game.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Listen, I've seen players do some stuff behind the scenes, man. I'm walking out of a hotel room, whatever I see, whatever. And I'm like this. It ain't illegal, Nothing like that. But I'm just going like this. I don't know what you're talking about. I keep it moving. Ain't none of my business.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ain't none of my business.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But when you shoot 2 for 20, oh, that's my business.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's my business.

[Stephen A. Smith]

When you lose, engage. That's my business. When you sticking up the joint, that's my business. When you're not showing up in practice, that's my business. When you sitting there bitching and whining and moaning about your money but you ain't earning it, that's my business. Because that's your career that you've decided to put on public display.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's the difference. But your personal business, man. I always got you covered on that. As long as you know, don't ask me to assist in breaking any laws or anything like that. Cuz I ain't going to jail for your ass. That ain't going to happen. But outside of that, I mean, ain't none of my business. I keep it moving.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Football.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You love your team. I'm thinking you like all things New York Steelers. You the Steelers guy.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm a diehard Steelers fan because the first thing, the first game I ever saw was the Immaculate Reception.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow.

[Stephen A. Smith]

When I was six years old, my dad the Immaculate Reception Franco Harris against the Raiders. And I fell in love with the black and gold ever since.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I still haven't given Neil o' Donnell for that interception through the Larry Brown Super Bowl. I still am recovering from that. I still haven't given Ike Taylor for giving up a damn touchdown pass to demarius Thomas that Tebow threw. Don't get me started.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That might have been the worst moment of your own air career. That might have been the worst one.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Stevie, man, listen, man. I had. Oh my. Oh my God. I was with a girl I was dating at the time and you know, her fine self and everything and I had my mind on other things. Yeah. And Tebow connected that past. I collapsed face first on her living room rug and laid there for two hours. Didn't do nothing. That night. Totally ruined my night.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Totally ruined my night.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ain't want to do nothing.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I didn't want anything. I was so damn depressed. Of all people. And I love him dearly. He's my friend. But that non throwing Tim tebow throw an 80 yard touchdown pass I could not believe to save my life that that happened and I couldn't recover that night, bro. I was depressed. But those two moments are my worst as a Steelers fan.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So obviously if you're a Steelers fan, you have to hate the Cowboys because when the 70s, of course they always met in the Super Bowl.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And the Steelers always beat them down.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Damn right. Damn right. Roger Starbuck and Drew. Drew Hill.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Tony Dorset.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Tony Dorset. Get your ass out of here. We come in. Steelers took him out. Yes. Bradshaw, Swan, stalwart. Even Franco Harris, who I really didn't like that much as a running back. You understand? I like Rocky Blyer more than I like Franco Harris.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He was the fullback, right?

[Stephen A. Smith]

But the Spirit Steelers and the Steel Curtain with me and Joe Green, L.C. greenwood, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Mel Blunt, like Lord, this is what it's all about.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. Steel curtains.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I couldn't root for no New York teams. They ain't win any Damn terrible business. It was terrible. They were terrible, terrible, terrible.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So now you. Basketball, that's your thing. What's Stephen A's favorite sport?

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's basketball. But I've grown to really, really love football's been. Because football has been established as an event. So that's Sundays, you know what I'm saying? When you come to New York one time, I'm bring you by the crib. I'm bring you by the crib, show you the crib. You understand what I'm saying? I got the man cave. It's set up. It's set up now, you know?

[Shannon Sharpe]

So we gonna watch the game together.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Damn right. Damn right. Damn right. We can do that. We can do that with Ryan Clark, Marcus Spears. All we talk about coming one time. One time. I just invite y' all over. I'm make sure I got some catered food.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah. Because I know you can't cook.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Hell no. Hell no. I cook some lasagna, cook some steak.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But nobody know lasagna.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Hell yeah. Yes, we do.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Who they think I am, Garfield?

[Stephen A. Smith]

You might not eat the lasagna, you know what I'm saying? Knowing you, you watching your carbs and stuff like that, but some of us gonna eat it. But I will tell you this. I ain't cooking for a bunch of men. Ain't happening. But I'll tell you this. But I'll tell you this right here. I'll tell you this right here, right now. You know you gonna go. Football has established itself as an event. Yeah, but really, the two things I love most is basketball. And nothing beats a big time boxing event.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Like when I was at Errol Spence.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I was out there, I saw you, right?

[Stephen A. Smith]

It broke my. I picked Crawford to win. I ain't know he would win like that. Yeah, it broke my heart to see Errol Spence get whipped like that. He really, really did. I didn't see that coming. I might be at Canelo vs. Charlo. Charlo and petite. My problem is, is that Charlo's moving up two weight classes. I'm scared for him now. He got mad skills and he got heart, and he walks around looking like the bigger guy, but he ain't been in a ring with somebody that's punching him from 168 pounds, right. In a real fight. Right. And so that's my concern. His brother got some issues that he got to resolve. That's what they say. But he's the natural super middleweight.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

So he was the one who, in my opinion, should have been fighting.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Charlo. I'm sorry, Canelo rather than this guy. But those big time boxing events in Vegas, I mean, nothing beats it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I mean, this, the Spence fight was really big, but it's been a while since you had those. I remember going to the Mike Tyson and the Mayweather, right, where it was an event.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Mayweather, Pacquiao, Mayweather, Canelo, Mayweather, De La Hoya. Yes, that was a big event too. But I will tell you, nothing was really bigger than Mayweather, Pacquiao. We had waited so long.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And don't be born. It was five years too late.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Too late.

[Stephen A. Smith]

But we didn't know until after the fight that it was five years too late, you know what I'm saying? So leading up to the event. Oh my God. It didn't get any bigger than that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you know, the thing is everybody that Mayweather fought, he made him look like it was five years too late.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And that's how the great. That's the greatness of him.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Everybody that he fought, they like what? He beat Sugar. He beat Sugar. Sugar. Shay Mosley. He'd have beat Sugar.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Shane Mosley. Shane caught him. Shane caught him in the second round, almost hurt him, almost dropped him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you look at the champions that this man beat and made them look mundane in beating them. This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listened to Part one on. Just simply go back to Club Shay Shay profile and I'll see you there.

[Club 520 Voice]

Here's why April chose to vaccinate her child.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I think actually meeting someone who was not vaccinated and now has a lifelong struggle with a childhood disease really cemented for me that it's super important that we as parents continue to vaccinate our children.

[Club 520 Voice]

Talk to your pediatrician or visit yvaccines.com brought to you by Merck.

[Jeff Teague]

This is Jeff teague from the Club 520 podcast. Yeah, we're taking over Times Square's JD Sports for a special draft takeover. We're chopping it up with the next generation of hoops stars. Top picks, fresh fits and real talk. Catch exclusive interviews, behind the scenes vibes and the crew checking out the latest heat in JD sports. It's all going down on Club 520 podcast powered by the volume. Don't miss it for excitement and check out their new collection. Visit jdsports.com or download JD app when.

[Hypnotic Voice]

It'S tip off time at my house there are a few things that are must haves on my checklist. My fellow friends and fans. Check my favorite jersey. It is good luck. Check an iconic drink that's a fan favorite.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Check.

[Hypnotic Voice]

Hypnotic can turn any cocktail into an iconic creation. With its game changing color and tropical flavor, Hypnotic should be in everyone's starting five. I consider Hypnotic the point guard of my game day roster because not only is it versatile, but like having it on the rocks or as a base for cocktails, it also finishes smooth. So grab a bottle of Hypnotic and make your next basketball watch party Iconic. Enjoy the vibrant taste with friends and turn every game into a memorable celebration. Hypnotic where every sip is a slam dunk. Hypnotic Liqueur Bardstown, Kentucky 17% alcohol by volume Hypnotic reminds you to think wisely, drink wisely.

[Stephen A. Smith]

This is an iHeart podcast.