Stephen A. Smith [BREAKING NEWS]: NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski retiring from ESPN | FIRST TAKE - video Dailymotion

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Stephen A. Smith [BREAKING NEWS]: NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski retiring from ESPN | FIRST TAKE   woj, adrian wojnarowski, st bonaventure, adrian woj, st bonaventure university, st bonaventure basketball, st. bonaventure, st. bonaventure university shams charania, shams, woj espn, wojnarowski, woj bomb, adrian wojnarowski salary, woj retiring, woj retired,

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00:00as we just got the Woj bomb to end all Woj bombs literally and figuratively.

00:08Adrian Wojnarowski I am pleased to say has become a dear friend. The two years

00:14that I spent covering the NBA for our network I spent more time I think with

00:20Woj on the road than I did anybody else. He and I for whatever reason always

00:24seemed to be the ones who were leaving somewhere at the same time going

00:27somewhere at the same time in a car he going here going there spending time on

00:31the road and we are like-minded people we have a lot of the same interests and

00:34so I went from someone who just has always admired him for his

00:40professionalism and magnificence in the way he did his job as well as anyone has

00:45ever done anything certainly in my 30 years in the sports media business but

00:51but I was so I went from being someone who admired him like crazy to someone

00:55to whom I would add I really really like. So we're all sitting here in our

01:00commercial break with nothing going on and all of a sudden everyone at the same

01:06time sees this message together. I will read it to you verbatim from Adrian

01:11Wojnarowski's Twitter feed. I grew up the son of a factory worker two miles from

01:16ESPN's campus and only ever dreamed of making a living as a sports writer. 37

01:22years ago the Hartford Courant gave me my first byline and I never stopped

01:25chasing the thrill of it all. This craft transformed my life but I have decided to

01:31retire from ESPN and the news industry. I understand the commitment required in my

01:36role and it's an investment that I'm no longer driven to make. Time isn't an

01:40endless supply and I want to spend mine in ways that are more personally

01:45meaningful. I leave with overwhelming gratitude for countless mentors and

01:49colleagues, subjects and stories, readers and viewers. No one has benefited more

01:54than me from the belief, trust and generosity of others. The past seven

01:59years at ESPN have been a particular privilege. I'm appreciative of the

02:03company's leadership especially Jimmy Pataro and Christina Douglas for the

02:07understanding and acceptance of my decision to make a life change. After all

02:11these years reporting on everyone's teams I'm headed back to my own. He is

02:16going back to his alma mater St. Bonaventure where he will be the

02:20general manager of the basketball program. I'm not exactly sure I

02:23understand what that means, how that differs from in different roles from

02:28being the athletic director. I don't know I guess maybe it's the AD but specific

02:33to the basketball program. I won't speculate. I'm sure we'll find that out

02:36quickly. He'll let us know but I'm just shocked. I don't really know anything

02:43else to say. I don't have any great insight. I can tell you that I

02:48witnessed up close and personal what it takes to do his job at his level. I

02:55watched for two years that guy never sleep. I mean we would get out of here at

03:011130 midnight 1230 after games and he was going to meet people. Like he was at

03:07that point going to meet a coach, meet someone to go you know he's building a

03:11relationship, developing a story, whatever it might be constantly on his

03:15phone. You know texting people and getting stories and every single night

03:20of the NBA season there's an injury he's on it right. Someone gets hurt up he's

03:24there with the agent he's gonna get the story and he was so driven as these guys

03:28tend to be. He and Shafty and all the reporters who were in that line of work

03:33are so driven to have the story first to break stories. It's such a part of their

03:39DNA of what they do and I had a similar job to that on a microscopic level

03:45comparatively speaking for a very short time when I covered sports in Chicago

03:50and I can tell you it almost gave me an ulcer. Like waking up every morning to

03:55see did I get you know did anyone out there break a story about the team I'm

03:58covering which were the Bears or the Bulls at different times working locally

04:01in Chicago. Not working against Adrian Wojnowski or Adam Schefter or people

04:05like that. So the point I'm making is it takes a toll and I do sometimes find

04:11myself wondering like how do guys like Shafty and Wojnowski and not just them but

04:15but we'll use them because I think they're the two best known. Like how do

04:19these guys relax? How do they and the answer is they generally don't and

04:24that's a lot of stress and that's tough to live with in your life and I think

04:28Wojnowski is right around my age. He might be a little older. 55. 55 so he's a just a

04:33tiny bit younger than me and you know it is a time in life I can say from

04:38experience now where you do really start making a lot of decisions when you're

04:43younger like Hembo or your age now certainly Cam your age and all that like

04:48every decision you make is I want more I want more give me more give me more work

04:51I want to be I want to have the biggest career I can I want to and then you

04:54reach a point where you do start saying to yourself how is this affecting my

04:59health how is this affecting my relationship with my wife with my kids

05:02which has a wife he has grown kids so I'm not that surprised by this like the

05:08world will be stunned in my initial reaction to it was shock but now that

05:14I've sort of let it sink in a little I get it I get it so I just sent him a

05:19very long text and and but I wanted to share my thoughts I'll keep that private

05:25but I will share these thoughts here he's the best ever to do it man like I've

05:31been I've been in I've been in the sports media one way or another since

05:351990 and in that time no one has done a job better than he has done his I'm not

05:40saying he's better than everybody else I'm saying no one else is better at

05:44their job than he has been at his so I wish him nothing but the best I wish him

05:51endless success and very briefly before I give it to you I can also tell you

05:56that we would spend all these nights sitting here watching the NBA if st.

05:59Bonaventure basketball was playing he was glued Woj was glued there was always

06:05one TV in that conference room that had the st. Bonnie's game on and he was

06:09watching that and he was into it like me watching a jet game so this really

06:14matters to him it is something that is incredibly important to him and I'm

06:18really happy for him that he's making this decision very few of us get to go

06:23out on top willingly choose is no way in the world if anyone out there is

06:28speculating oh did he absolutely not no way in hell this was a decision that

06:34anyone but him made so to get to choose when you go out and how you go out and

06:40to go out to something that really is meaningful to you like this there is no

06:45better ending no question so congratulations to my dear friend I

06:48don't know him nearly as well as you do but I have worked with him a good bit

06:51and I guess the two things that I would say top of head obviously not having

06:54seen this coming the first of which is ruthlessly excellent at what he did at

07:00what he does I mean to such an extent that you can't help but notice and

07:03respect him vehemently for it he was ruthlessly great at that job until the

07:08final day he did it and secondly I think it's safe and fair to say that he

07:12transformed the industry that he was in he transformed it the Woj bomb became a

07:17thing the way that people broke news and scooped news has always been a thing of

07:22course he did it so well so effectively so furiously that he has like a cottage

07:27industry of people online that loved him for it and he became the very best in

07:30the world at what he did and I'm not sure anyone could ever do it better than

07:34he has Nikki sent me a text not today but Nikki is a huge Woj fan my daughter

07:39Nikki I'm talking about and she sent me a text one time like a screenshot of a

07:43text that someone in her social circle had gotten engaged and the way that that

07:50person was informing all their friends was Woj bomb we got engaged last night

07:55like that's literally what a 24 year old woman texted to to a large friend group

08:01Woj bomb everybody I'm getting married he changed the world he lived in man yeah

08:06he really did yeah the Woj bomb is a thing wow I'm taking it back I mean I

08:10you know I I don't I don't really know exactly what else to say we'll pause

08:14briefly on that you know delightfully he's not dying he's not sick he's

08:21just a little stunned we'll be right back on ESPN radio

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Stephen A. Smith [BREAKING NEWS]: NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski retiring from ESPN | FIRST TAKE

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