The following was written by Stephen A. Smith (or as I like to call him, “Screamin’ Stephen”):
“The St. Louis Cardinals would not have sniffed the postseason without Pujols, let alone captured a World Series championship. But the reality is the talent that is Pujols, while fairly unique, is a dime a dozen in the laundry list of Latin talent that has invaded baseball.”
Whoa, hold on there, Stephen. I’m not sure where to begin with this – the nonsensical clichés you’ve smushed together, the generalities you’re sweeping around or the blatant racism that, had it been said about African-Americans by a white writer, would be all over the effin’ news.
The above-quoted text was from an article Stephen A wrote about how Ryan Howard deserved the Major League Baseball MVP way more than Albert Pujols. It’s a stupid argument to begin with since you could easily make cases for both of them but Stephen A (the "A" is for A-hole, I think) appears to hold against Mr. Pujols the fact that he’s Latin and that a lot of other good Latin players are around nowadays, too. Wait, what? Did Ted Williams lose out on MVP awards because he and Joe DiMaggio were both white? I’m so confused.
Smith also intimates that the Latins are “invading” baseball. Oh, reallllly? Did Jackie Robinson “invade” baseball, Stephen? And if a white writer, such as myself (if I were actually well-known), were to suggest in print that "the blacks are invading football," what might say you about that? I imagine it would be deservedly harsh because it would be a stupid, ignorant comment – just like your comment about Latin players invading baseball! Putz.
Getting to the more mundane (and how sad is it that the “mundane” point here is that Stephen A. Smith – a supposed journalist – is an awful writer and speaker), Smith says that Pujols is “fairly unique” yet “is a dime a dozen in the laundry list” of Latins. Wait, what? A race of people cannot be a “laundry list,” Stephen, you idiot. And I’m fairly certain that a person cannot be unique and a dime a dozen at the same time. They mean opposite things. Maybe the screaming voices in your head didn’t tell you that, Stephen.
So to recap: Albert Pujols shouldn’t have won the MVP award because he’s Latin and Latin players are very commonly outstanding baseball players. Except for those who are not. And Albert’s unique. But you could list many other players as good as him. The contradictions are dizzying. I think Stephen A. Smith is incredibly insulated from reality since he’s cultivated this faux-brash, screaming, constantly-offended routine to the point that people either think he’s black so he knows what he’s preaching about or they see him as just another looney screaming sportswriter and tune him out. Which is really too bad because Stephen A. Smith is everything that is wrong with the direction of sports journalism, commentary and television. He screams random, unjustified, non-researched opinions as though they are fact and ignores evidence to the contrary and contradictions to the point of lunacy. And we’ve become so used to it, comments like his racist, uneducated and plain stupid one above go unnoticed.
What is perhaps most bothersome is that this crap was actually premeditated and written down, read by editors and printed. It wasn't something he said on the radio while he was rambling trying to fill up his lame-ass, two-hour radio show. No, this was stuff he thought out and said to himself, "Yeah, that's clever, I'll say that." And it pisses me off.