Deadspin: Quite Frankly

Deadspin Classic: Our Field Trip To Quite Frankly

Will Leitch — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 11:00:10 EDT

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Stephen A. Smith and the Philadelphia Inquirer recently parted ways for a second time. Let's remember the good ol' days, when Stephen A. was an emphatic, multi-platform media nuisance, and Will Leitch was just another guy in his studio audience. More »

Stephen A. Smith's Legacy Summed Up In Stylish Jacket

Dashiell Bennett — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:10:43 EDT

Got an image you'd like to see in here first thing in the morning? Send it to tips@deadspin.com. Subject: Morning crap. More »

Stephen A. Smith Seeking New Horizons For Mouthiness, Realness

A.J. Daulerio — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:15:31 EDT

Here's Stephen A. doing his best Stephen A. impersonation by violently enunciating on MSNBC this morning. Maybe next time he'll get a proper introduction. [MSNBC] More »

Depressing Autographed Seat Cushion Is The Only Thing That Remains Of Stephen A.'s Career

A.J. Daulerio — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:30:35 EDT

I saw this this ungodly little tchotchke at Standings Bar in the East Village, one of the best places to watch sporting events in NYC. I tried to buy it for $40. The owner refused. More »

That'll Be All For "Quite Frankly"

Leitch — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:45:48 EST

We haven't received any definitive confirmation, but there are rumors swirling this morning that, after last night's taping of "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith," ESPN executive vice president Norby Williamson — Norby! — informed the show's staff that the program has been canceled and will air its final episode tonight. The rumors are that Norby told all the swingers himself. More »

Stephen A. Fesses Up

Leitch — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:30:34 EDT

Well, there's finally some closure in the whole Stephen A. Smith/Dusty Baker/Cubs blogs/hey-how'd-WE-get-involved-in-this? situation from last week. If you'll recall, Cubs manager Dusty Baker cancelled his appearance on "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith" because a staffer encouraged people to boo him, and Smith, rather than acknowledge that a staffer made a mistake, blamed us, of all people, for doctoring the memo. Well, in an email sent out to various involved Cubs Web sites, a representative to Stephen A. acknowledges that the infamous Jackea Chan email was legit though a press release quoting Smith. More »

The Post Where Stephen A. Calls Us A Liar, And We Return The Favor

Leitch — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 12:45:44 EDT

On Wednesday, we told you about how several Cubs blogs reported receiving emails from "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith" staffers encouraging them to come out and boo Cubs manager Dusty Baker. Well, it turns out, Baker caught wind of the emails and cancelled his appearance on the program. In the Chicago Tribune today, media columnist Teddy Greenstein talks to Smith about what happened. And guess what? He says it wasn't a planned ambush of Baker, nor was it the fault of an overzealous staffer. You know whose fault it was? OURS! More »

Come On Down And Boo Our Guests!

Leitch — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 13:45:24 EDT

You know how audience coordinators at "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith" are always trolling Web message boards trying to get people to come to their shows? Well, now it's getting rather extreme. More »

Audience Panhandling At Quite Frankly

Leitch — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 13:45:54 EDT

We don't mean to imply that the fine folks at "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith" are still having trouble giving out (free) tickets to a potential studio audience, but we've been receiving a ton of emails from readers claiming that the show's "associate audience producer," Brian Dunphy is trolling message boards for specific teams, promoting the show and the tickets. More »

You'll Have To Stay Up Late For Stephen A. Now

Leitch — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 11:00:47 EST

In news we'd heard might be coming for a while, our main man Stephen A. Smith — whose show "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith," in case you forgot, is "bigger than ESPN" despite having worse ratings than billiards — is having his show moved from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the end of the month. More »

The Real Story Behind Stephen A.'s Piss Break

Leitch — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 11:40:07 EST

Earlier this week, we directed you to the BenMaller.com report that Stephen A. Smith brought two bodyguards with him into the press box (and the press box bathroom) at the UCLA-USC game last Saturday. At the time, we gave Stephen A. the benefit of the doubt; celebrity is a funny thing, and you just never know if the guy has received a specific threat, or whatever. More »

Keeping Stephen A. Safe

Leitch — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 14:15:37 EST

Most common emailed story to us today: The BenMaller.com report that "Quite Frankly" host Stephen A. Smith showed up in the press box of the USC-UCLA game with two bodyguards in tow. According to people who were there — we've heard from some people in the press box who saw it as well — it was the first time anyone can remember a press person bringing bodyguards into the press box. (We find it even more amazing that USC had enough extra press passes to give three to "Quite Frankly.") More »

"Quite Frankly" Cares About Both Its Fans

Leitch — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:10:24 EST

We don't mean to harp on any difficulties "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith" might be having filling its studio audience (tickets are free, of course, if watching the show film for two hours could ever actually be called "free"), but, honest to Heavens, we received the following phone call and voice mail yesterday. More »

Two Great Tastes That Taste Great Together

Leitch — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 08:40:36 EST

Yep, that's right: Dennis Rodman was on "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith" last night. This is like seeing L. Ron Hubbard and Tony Robbins in the same room together. Our mind is officially blown. More »

Why Your Hometown Columnist Sucks: Stephen A. Smith

Leitch — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 13:10:10 EST

We're not even going to get into his show on ESPN, which we've well-documented elsewhere. We are here to discuss the many sins of Stephen A. Smith the writer, the columnist. The man absolutely refuses to back up any of his written assertions with sources or facts. A guy who routinely sends in columns between TV appearances via a BlackBerry. Yeah, that's the new journalism, we suppose. More on that after the vital statistics: More »

You Can't Divide By Zero

Leitch — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 11:50:10 EDT

Apparently, our DVR isn't working right, becaues we've yet to watch "Quite Frankly: Afterthoughts," the Oprah-esque "spinoff" featuring host Stephen A. Smith talking with his studio audience. It launched Tuesday, which is extremely frustrating to us, considering we went to see the show on Monday, just one freaking day too early. We would have loved to hang with Stephen A. and asked him some more questions. His eloquence about Mike Martz — "I DON'T LIKE HIM!" — still has us a little awed. More »

Our Field Trip To "Quite Frankly"

Leitch — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 18:07:15 EDT

We finished up with the site early yesterday not because we're lazy, but because we consider Deadspin a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week job. (Oh, uh, except for weekends.) We wrapped up our Monday posts in record time, because we had to hustle downtown, because we had the hottest ticket in town: Audience seats to see "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith", the show that proves it actually is possible for an ESPN show to garner worse ratings than billiards. When we got there, as you can tell from the photo, we got our moment in the sun, a chance to talk to Stephen A. himself, on camera, mano y blogo. Well, it wasn't exactly a "confrontation," but it was an experience nevertheless. After the jump, join Deadspin for the tale of our class trip to see "Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith." Quite frankly, that's all you need to know. More »