Since the NBA season hasn't officially begun and the WWL has finally found out he's not as viable a sports star as they once hoped, Stephen A. Smith's visibility on ESPN has been limited. But last week Smith went into full-on ALL CAPS-mode while biding his time in the on-air personality purgatory known as 1st and 10. Everyone's favorite loudmouth took the news about Adam Jones' most recent minor dust-up with his nightclub body guards a little more personally than most:"I’m really ticked off right now. Because one of the things that I think a lot of people can’t say, but obviously I can say being an African-American, I don’t see too many white players getting into these kinds of situations." Smith outlined three years of "trials and tribulations" for A. "P" Jones and one major "second chance" given by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
"It’s entirely embarrassing," Smith said. "As an African-American, I’m really getting sick and tired of having to sit up here and give some kind of explanation as to why these guys find themselves in this situation. "My last comment: White players are not finding themselves in these situations. We’ve got to start taking a look at ourselves."
Matt Jones says ' Right on, Steve!' But... close to 70% of the NFL is African-American so it makes some sense statistically that "these guys find themselves in this situation." But what's more odd is Stephen A.'s attempt to go all "I'm disappointed in my people" over this particular incident. Pacman has been a trouble magnet since the minute after he was drafted by the Titans in 2005. This is still Pacman's problem more than anyone else's. But given SAS' decreased profile, he probably has to do something to remind ESPN that he's still Stephen A. Smith, dammit, a voice of the people. Stephen A. Smith has had enough of the Pacman Jones' saga [Fort Worth Star Telegram]