Stephen A Smith Checks in from the Super Bowl
Stephen A Smith Checks in at the Super Bowl
Transcript
00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, the man to my left is Stephen A. Smith.
00:05 What's up, my brother? How are you?
00:06 I'm doing good. How about yourself?
00:07 On the grind, baby. On the grind.
00:08 Okay, so we got the Super Bowl, we got the halftime show, we got Usher.
00:12 What song does he lead with?
00:14 I have no clue. I haven't thought about it at all.
00:17 I can't believe you asked me that question because my brain is fried thinking about football,
00:21 thinking about basketball because today's NBA trade deadline.
00:23 Think about all of this other stuff that I have to do.
00:25 I haven't thought a damn thing about what song he plays.
00:28 I know he will be good. You could say you got it bad or something else.
00:31 I don't know. But in the end, I would tell you this.
00:34 I think that he's going to do a fantastic job.
00:36 I just think we've been spoiled.
00:38 You know, we've had Beyonce, we've had Bruno Mars, we've had Rihanna and all of them.
00:42 I think the thing that's missing that people got to remember is that some of the greatest shows were collabs.
00:47 Yeah.
00:48 When Beyonce, Bruno Mars and Coldplay were together.
00:50 When Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent were together.
00:56 And so that's a lot to overcome.
00:59 And, you know, for me, Usher's got the talent to do it.
01:03 He's phenomenal.
01:05 But gone are the days when Michael Jackson was doing it or Prince was doing it or somebody else.
01:10 It's different now where you're looking for the collabs.
01:13 And I think that's what makes it interesting.
01:15 So we're talking about the Super Bowl.
01:17 We got Brock Purdy.
01:19 We got going up against the Big Dog and Patrick Mahomes.
01:22 If Brock Purdy can etch out this win,
01:25 where does that etch him amongst the NFL great quarterbacks?
01:28 Well, that depends on how he performs.
01:30 They could win with him not performing great, even though I don't think that's going to happen.
01:33 So if he performs well, let's say, for example, he plays lights out the way Jalen Hurts did,
01:38 considering the year that he has had and his clutch performances in these playoff games against Green Bay
01:44 and then obviously against Detroit, then we're going to be looking at him differently
01:47 because right now the passer rating that he has at about 113, Steve Young, Joe Montana,
01:52 neither of them did that as great as they were at that point in time.
01:56 Joe Montana's 127 rating in the Super Bowl.
01:58 We get that 4-0, 11 interceptions, 11 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.
02:02 We understand that Brock Purdy ain't doing that.
02:04 But in the end, when I look at him performing, there is CMC, there is Debo, there is IU, there is Kittle,
02:09 there is Kyle Shanahan calling the plays, and there is a defense,
02:12 even though I think their secondary is a bit suspect, they can't get to you.
02:16 And so when I look at it from that standpoint, there's a whole bunch of components
02:19 that could contribute to San Francisco winning without him.
02:21 He performs at an elite level.
02:23 We're going to start talking about him differently.
02:25 And to be honest with you, we might want to wish for it because that means it'll be some parody.
02:29 If Patrick Mahomes wins, the way these receivers were dropping passes all season long,
02:35 the way this offense has struggled because their defense is surreal and it's so young,
02:39 just imagine what Kansas City is going to do down the line and competition is going to be out the window.
02:44 So you can take it any way you want.
02:46 If Patrick Mahomes can get this, will he end up being in that GOAT conversation?
02:54 He's in the conversation now.
02:57 Six years as a starter, six AFC title game appearances, three Super Bowl appearances,
03:03 two Super Bowl champions, two Super Bowl championships, and two league MVPs.
03:08 So he's already in that conversation.
03:10 Then he won the title with Tyreek Hill.
03:12 He won it without Tyreek Hill.
03:14 Now this year, if he would have won it, he'd be winning it with a suspect offense
03:17 with nobody in Tyreek Hill's vicinity, but led by a defense that also did its thing.
03:23 So when you look at it from that standpoint, I don't think there's any question that he belongs in a GOAT conversation already.
03:28 And that would certainly elevate his stature into being the GOAT in some people's eyes.
03:33 Do you think the Taylor Swift talk has been overrated?
03:37 It's been too much talk about it?
03:38 Well, it bothers me on a personal level because if we're talking about it with fun, there's no big deal.
03:46 But I'm not going to lie, and I'm going to be a little bit crass here.
03:50 I see too many people out here talking like they don't ever get none.
03:54 Somebody explained to me last time I checked, if you fly into Germany to watch her perform,
04:00 it's to give her a kiss on the cheek and say, "I enjoyed the concert"?
04:03 What the hell were you doing in Germany in the first place?
04:05 Clearly you're doing some things.
04:06 She coming to Arrowhead Stadium.
04:08 She coming to Buffalo.
04:09 She's coming to Baltimore.
04:11 What you think? She's doing it.
04:12 She ain't got nothing better to do?
04:13 You're damn right she's coming because it's you.
04:16 So clearly y'all got something going on.
04:18 And I'm like, why are we so fascinated?
04:20 I'm sorry. I have a sex life.
04:22 I'm fine.
04:23 I don't need to know or care and talk about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's sex life.
04:28 I would hope they have one.
04:29 I hope you have one.
04:31 I hope everybody have one.
04:33 Men, women, and men and women.
04:35 I'm not going to have a damn.
04:36 Why is that a topic of discussion that has been so pervasive to the point where you got people that actually have attitude about this nonsense?
04:45 It's their life.
04:46 You know what I'm saying?
04:47 He's in his 30s.
04:48 She's in her 30s.
04:49 He's a superstar football player, two-time Super Bowl champion, arguably the greatest tight end in the history of football.
04:55 She just generated over $6 billion in dollars from her Eris Tour concerts all over the world.
05:02 She's a catch.
05:03 He's a catch.
05:04 They hooked up.
05:05 Wow.
05:06 Stop the presses.
05:07 I mean, you got to be kidding me.
05:09 I mean, I just--I'm looking at people right now, and I'm really going like, "You must not be getting her."
05:14 You really must not be getting her.
05:16 It makes no sense to me.
05:18 Step up your ears, game, ladies and gentlemen, or we would like to say back in the day, the Mac.
05:22 All right, next week, you teaming up on the court against Shannon Sharpe.
05:29 Man, I don't know.
05:30 They might--they might ring it.
05:32 Will Bond and his team beat me in Chicago years ago.
05:34 See, the NBA collaborated with Will Bond because it was in Chicago, and he a Chicago native, and they fixed it.
05:41 They fixed it.
05:42 They gave him a bunch of ringers on his squad, and I had Lil Rel falling on his face on the court, dribbling off his own foot, you know what I'm saying,
05:49 and literally tripping over and falling over.
05:51 I'm not exaggerating.
05:52 I love Lil Rel, but, God, it was embarrassing.
05:54 The point that I'm trying to make is that I don't know what kind of squad I have.
05:58 Now, I think C.J. Stroud can play, okay?
06:00 I think the brother can play, all right?
06:02 I got Metal World Peace.
06:03 I know he can play, all right?
06:04 You know what I'm saying?
06:05 And I got a--Natasha Cloud, I believe.
06:08 I'm like, I got a crew.
06:10 I hope I have a crew, but I don't know what kind of crew Shannon has.
06:15 He might have manipulated.
06:16 He might have spoke to some people, club Shay-Shay and Nightcap might be in him, might be manipulating stuff.
06:21 He might get some ghouls on his squad to try to hurt my squad.
06:24 I can't put nothing past Shannon, so I don't know what's going to happen.
06:27 I just know I'm going to be there, and I'll be ready, and hopefully these people won't embarrass me this time around as I'm coaching them.
06:34 So, you got the Stephen A. Smith Show.
06:36 You talk all topics like we've been doing right here.
06:39 How have you been enjoying that, just being able to break away from sports talk in its entirety and talk about things that you're passionate about?
06:45 Well, it's sports talk as well, but the enjoyment that I get from it is not necessarily about the topics.
06:50 I wanted independence.
06:52 I've been an employee my entire career, and I had to have the courage of my convictions.
06:56 I had the courage of myself to go a bit independent.
06:59 Yeah, I got a good relationship. I got a great relationship with ESPN.
07:02 I've been there for years. First Take's been number one for 12 years straight.
07:06 We've been up in the ratings month over month for the last 18 consecutive months at a time when linear television supposedly is dying.
07:13 We're doing our thing, and so in 10 and a half months, I've got nearly 550,000 subscribers.
07:18 I own and operate it. It's separate and apart from ESPN, but it's not a podcast.
07:23 It's a show, and the reason why I say it's a show is because I want you to look at my show.
07:29 Look at the set that I built off my own dime out of my own pocket, and I want you to see a show that could be late night, that could be daytime, that could be a sports show.
07:43 It could be something that is a weekly, like real time with Bill Maher or The Daily Show or John Oliver.
07:49 It could be anything you need it to be.
07:51 It could be a hybrid. It could be a linear show.
07:53 It could also be something suitable for YouTube and the streaming stratosphere because that's the direction that this industry is going in.
08:00 And so for me, what I've accomplished, I feel I have an obligation to sort of be somewhat of a pioneer, to show people the way, to go out there, find young talent, produce young talent.
08:11 I've got my own production company. I'm producing scripted and unscripted content, docu-series, stuff like that.
08:17 I'm about to get into film. I'm working with some things. I've got some projects coming up as well.
08:22 All of those things are things that I had as a part of my vision.
08:25 And the Stephen A. Smith Show is the foundation for it because it's a platform that I built, that I've owned and operate, that enables me to touch on all of these things and venture into these realms.
08:36 And most importantly, to find additional talent that I could help promote and elevate and push up because I'm 56 years old, bro.
08:43 I've done it, you know, and so to me, if you're not reaching back to help people and help others ascend, then that means all you did was something for yourself.
08:53 And that's not how I was raised. That's not what I'm about. And I just want to be as successful as I can possibly be.
09:00 Make sure to maintain and elevate my quality of life, but make sure I do the same for others on the come up. And that's what I'm about.
09:07 So you're talking about uplifting the people that are around you. We had Deion Sanders primetime in here about an hour or two ago.
09:14 Talk about him as a coach and what you like seeing from him as he's been taken from HBCU going over to Colorado.
09:22 Well, that's my brother right there. We're very tight. We'll be together later on today.
09:26 We've been tight for many years. I love him to death. I believe in him.
09:31 And I always knew this vision. He was coaching while he was on an NFL network.
09:37 There were job opportunities that were coming his way that he was turning down because he wanted to coach prep kids in Texas.
09:45 Yeah. You know, it's everything to him. It's that important.
09:49 And so for me to see him as a coach first at HBCU doing what he did and then to go to the Pac-12 and to sort of begin the stages of turning that program around.
10:00 I can't say enough about how proud I am of him and how I'm rooting for him.
10:04 I know he took some lumps last year, particularly losing eight of the last nine games.
10:08 I get that part. But Deion, anybody that know anything about prime, you can knock him down, but you ain't gonna kill him.
10:15 He ain't gonna stay down. No, he gonna get back up. And I expect him to do that.
10:19 So, ladies and gentlemen, Stephen Smith.
10:22 - No problem, I'll take it.