Jason Whitlock: "This guy is really good at stretching the truth and saying things that are far-fetched. People are really good at just nodding their head along -- ‘WELL, IT’S STEPHEN A. SMITH, HE’S ELITE! HE MAKES A LOT OF MONEY! I CAN’T QUESTION HIM! HE’S POPULAR! WE HAVE TO MAKE A SUCCESSFUL PODCAST SO I JUST HAVE TO NOD MY HEAD WHILE HE SAYS FARCICAL THINGS!’... We’ve got Stephen A. Smith on three different podcasts [saying] ‘I NEVER PLAYED A GAME.’ He’s adamant about that. Why is there a ‘Stephen Smith’ on the ‘90-’91 Winston-Salem State yearbook stat-sheet credited with playing nine games? Who is THAT ‘Stephen Smith’? You go to the NCAA archives, that 'Steve Smith' is credited with playing ten games. This isn’t just a tiny little lie. Who is this other Steve Smith? Is the entire story fraudulent? Because that’s the only logical conclusion to reach – is that Stephen A. Smith’s whole Winston-Salem State career is fraudulent. Some people are calling the ‘Wilt Chamberlain’ Stephen A. Smith picture photoshopped. We get this picture [Stephen A. Smith’s basketball headshot from Winston-Salem State’s yearbook] over and over again. Where are the candid photos of Stephen A. Smith just on the college campus hanging out with his buddies or friends? At homecoming? Where are those pics? Every time this man’s on TV and has talked about going to Winston-Salem State, all we get are the ‘Wilt Chamberlain’ photos. Think about your college experience. How many pictures do you have from college? The only picture you can produce is a head-shot from the basketball team?? We can’t just see you and your boys hanging out at an HBCU? I wanna know who the ‘Steve Smith’ is on the stat-sheet. The more I watch these videos of Stephen A. Smith, the lying seems pathological, and it makes you wonder ‘why has he been installed the top?’ Is it because he’s so comfortable stretching the truth? Is that who they need at the top of all these influential positions? People very comfortable playing loose with the facts and the truth? // Stephen A. Smith is just comfortable sitting down in front of interviewers and saying ANYTHING. Watch this clip as Stephen A. Smith talks about his childhood and how the 'drug dealers protected him':
Stephen A. Smith: 'I'm not snitching, I'm not talking, I'm not getting into people's personal business or whatever, I grew up with that code. One of the biggest drug dealers in Hollis [Queens, New York] literally lived directly across the street from me, and he was a killer. It was understood 'Steve is not to be touched.' The dealers in Hollis: 'Steve is not to be touched.' They understood that there was potential in me, and they literally threatened they were going to whip my a** if they ever saw me on the corner involved in the drug game in any way. They said 'we didn't have a choice.'
Interviewer: 'How did they know that about you?'
Stephen A. Smith: 'They would see me on the basketball court. First of all, the level of diligence that I put forth. I'd shoot like 300 J's a day, stuff like that. They'd see me in school. They knew I came home and did my homework, put in the work, whatever -- they knew I wasn't trying to be about that life. Their whole mentality was 'you got your mother there, you got your four older sisters there actively part of your life, you got a support system, you don't have to do this. 'We did'. We made our choice, but we ain't gonna let you make this choice. Literally, I've had several of them tell me 'WE WILL F*CK YOU UP. DO NOT BE ON THIS CORNER, DO NOT BE DOING THIS, WE WILL BUST YOUR A**.' And they meant it, and I knew they meant it. They would sit up there, they would let me shoot and stuff like that, it would get dark, they had to get into their game, they said 'alright, it's time for you to go.' It was understood, people in the neighborhood, it was widely known 'DO NOT TOUCH ME' with that game.'
Jason Whitlock: "Think this through, and we've heard other prominent athletes say this. DeMar DeRozan tells this story... DeMar DeRozan, 6'6"-6'7", headed to the NBA, everybody could see it, he grew up in rough neighborhood... This is a common refrain among super-talented athletes that grew up in the hood 'hey, the bad guys could see I was headed somewhere and they left me alone.' Just think about the facts that we know from Stephen A. from his own mouth, that when he left high school he was 5'9", 130 pounds, according to Stephen A. Smith. You want us to believe that when you left as a senior at 5'9", 130 pounds, that the drug dealers in your neighborhood would look out and see a 5'5", 5'6", 5'7", 5'8" tiny little kid and go 'WOO WOO, DAT BOY RIGHT THERE, HE GOT A BRIGHT FUTURE! LOOK AT THOSE JUMP SHOTS HE'S TAKING! THAT LITTLE MIDGET THERE IS THE NEXT MUGGSY BOGUES! DON'T TOUCH HIM!'... Or perhaps, as Stephen A. says -- they 'recognized' how 'brilliant' Stephen A. was in school, and that he was doing his homework, and he was on a different path. So they said 'THAT BOY RIGHT THERE...', who according to Stephen A. Smith had dyslexia, was held back in school either one or two different times, was held back the first time I believe in fourth or fifth grade because he was 'dyslectic', undiagnosed, and WASN'T a good student. So the drug dealers were like 'HEY, THAT LITTLE 5'5", 110-POUND KID WHO'S DYSLEXIC, AND MANY OF US CALL 'R*TARDED', DON'T TOUCH HIM! HE'S GOING SOMEWHERE!'... Or a third option is... According to Stephen A. Smith out of his own mouth they said 'THAT BOY RIGHT THERE, THAT LITTLE MIDGET, DYSLECTIC, WE THINK R*TARDED, HE'S GOT A MAMA AND FOUR SISTERS! HE'S GOT A SUPPORT SYSTEM!'... Like there is no drug dealer who can relate to having a mama and three or four sisters? Stephen A. Smith takes a major dump on his father who was in the home, but Stephen A. is telling this story as if drug dealers looked out and said 'YEAH, STEPHEN A. IS JUST LIKE ME! MY DADDY AIN'T IN THE PICTURE, AND MY MAMA AND FOUR SISTERS GOT MY BACK, LET'S DON'T TOUCH HIM! HE'S GOT SOMETHING I DON'T HAVE!'... Drug dealers, they don't have matriarchal leaders? They don't have single mama's with other siblings? To sit and listen to this interview 'OHHHH, YEAHHHH', and suck it all in and just take it all in... This defense of elite ignorance -- what are we doing? Some guy that got held back in school, some guy that's dyslexic, some guy who has a very sketchy story about his college experience -- HE'S at the top of the sports media world?? They're installed. They're installed because you allow it. You defend their ignorance at every turn. // It's pure fantasy and make believe. The guy is a pathological liar."
Watch Jason Whitlock of Blaze TV’s Fearless once again call out ESPN studio host Stephen A. Smith for being a ‘pathological liar’ when it comes to Smith’s recent media blitz trying to market his memoir titled ‘Straight Shooter’, with Whitlock unpacking multiple parts of Smith’s most re-told stories that seem to be the most exaggerated and far-fetched.
Check out the segment above as Whitlock doubts the truthfulness and legitimacy of Smith’s recollection of his college basketball career at Winston-Salem State, and then mocks Smith for stories he included about drug dealers in Hollis, Queens (NY) ‘protecting’ Smith as a child, because they knew Stephen A. was on the fast track towards ‘greatness’ as a basketball talent and apparent intellect.
Whitlock chronicled the ever-changing story of Smith's college basketball career at Winston-Salem State University, which first began as Smith allegedly averaging 1.5 points per game, with an old clipping from the 1991 Winston-Salem State basketball yearbook confirming a ‘Stephen Smith’ to have scored 15 points of 5/23 shooting in 9 games.
After the graphic picked up steam on social media, it turned into a sore subject of ribbing for Smith, as ESPN’s NBA Countdown show with Malinka Andrews, Jalen Rose, and JJ Redick even featured a ‘blind resume’ graphic featuring the three players’ college statistics during their final seasons of college, with the ‘1.5 points’ becoming embarrassingly obvious that is was Stephen A’s.
Smith didn’t look too entertained during the cringe-worthy segment as his discomfort was evident, with Smith saying he appeared in just one game that season because he ‘cracked his kneecap in half.’
In later interviews, however, including monologues on his own podcast, Smith says he didn’t appear in ANY games at Winston-Salem State, and said the knee injury as a freshman prevented him from ever suiting up on the court, and thus costing him a chance to ‘excel’ at the Division-2 level.
Smith claims that he made 17 consecutive three-point shots in a basketball scrimmage during an individual tryout at Winston-Salem State while visiting the school, and got a full-scholarship the same day.
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