NFL 2015-2016

[micfranklin]

Offseason...its SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO slow.

[Philly]

Not if you're an Eagles fan

[NAB]

[Philly]

The whole map is inaccurate. They gave south jersey to the jets - definitely Eagles country. Let them have the artistic license tho - Mexico is Dos a Cero

[eynon81]

[Philly]

Yep there's the real map. Nowhere near as pretty.

[Saz]

I call it ESPN's Stephen A. Smith Dilema. For all the times I hear black people rip Stephen A. Smith, calling him a coon, a sellout and an Uncle Tom. For all the times I heard white people call him a buffoon and a race baiter. One thing I can say about Stephen A. Smith is that he speaks with bass in his voice. He expresses himself like an old head homeboy from around the way which I find endearing. He gets loud when he argues. He uses his hands when he talks. Stephen A. Smith is a real brother.

That being said, ESPN has never quite known how to deal with Stephen A. Smith's brand of banter and street corner, rec center, barber shop, pulpit delivery. They gave him his own show (Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith) in 2005 but ended up parting ways with him in 2007 amid controversy. Then they brought him back for guest appearances on Pardon the Interruption, Jim Rome is Burning and Sports Center only to part ways with him again in 2009 after contract negotiations broke down. Then in 2012 ESPN brought him back yet again and paired him with Skip Bayless, the whitest guy in all of America. One thing you can say about Skip is that in all the years he's been on First Take with Stephen A, he's never tried to adopt any of his slang or mannerisms. Skip is perfectly happy being who he is. And the two have gone on to form an unlikely brotherhood. Who saw that coming??

But Stephen A. is in a very tricky position. After he got taken to the woodshed by ESPN last year for comments about a woman's role in domestic violence situations, he landed a show on Sirius XM. Now he has one show (First Take) where they create the illusion that he can say whatever he wants and another show (The Stephen A. Smith Show on Mad Dog Sports Radio) where he actually says what he wants. You may think that this gives Stephen A. Smith leverage but no, you can't serve two masters. Stephen A. Smith likes working at ESPN. It's the top of his profession, a dream job. They have no equal, no competition, and no rival. He would be sick if the let him go. As he often reminds Skip Bayless, when on air, Smith has a responsibility to the black community to make sure that he addresses certain topics with a degree of levity and nuance. However, black folks are very hard on Stephen A, and so are white folks. Even sportscasting contemporaries piled on Stephen A. for his latest comments. This I find hard to believe because usually those in your profession will come to your aid in times of need. Especially when the criticism appears to be frivolous. No one, not Michael Wilbon, Charles Barkley orColin Cowherd will touch this one with a ten-foot pole because of the female angle. Basically, it's hard being Stephen A. Smith. His margin of error is so slim. The comments he made about theGerman women's World Cup soccer team were funny and if any other SportsCenter anchor had said them it would not have been a problem.

I stand with Stephen A

[Philly]

Stephen A Smith is actually a great sports mind as evidenced by his time covering the Philadelphia 76ers as a beat writer. I've heard similar things about Skip Bayless when he covered the Dallas Cowboys. Their ESPN personas are strictly for ratings.

[NAB]

[micfranklin]