Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / ESPN's Stephen A. Smith Talks Sports, Business and Acting

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ESPN's Stephen A. Smith Talks Sports, Business and Acting · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: My first guest is one of the most opinionated people
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  Speaker 1: in sports commentary today and he's also a soap opera star.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Please work with the money making conversations ESPN. Stephen A. Smith.
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  Speaker 1: What's going on the time. How are you man? I'm
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  Speaker 1: doing very well. I know you're the New York market
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  Speaker 1: up there. I've done in used to Texas doing my
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  Speaker 1: live show on Monday. Uh. We talked a couple of
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  Speaker 1: times while you were vacationally relaxing. But every time you
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: look around, man, there's all about money. Brother, It's all
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  Speaker 1: about big money in sports. Well, there's no doubt about that.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, when I'm on the lecture circuit
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  Speaker 1: a lot of times when I'm giving a speech, one
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  Speaker 1: of the things I tell people every chance I get
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  Speaker 1: of all the goals I have, and I have many,
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  Speaker 1: as you well know, there there are two goals that
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  Speaker 1: stand out when I'm working for somebody. Old number One.
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  Speaker 1: I walk into work every day thinking about how I
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  Speaker 1: can make my bosses more money. Gold number two, how
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  Speaker 1: can I get my share of it if it all
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  Speaker 1: starts from there? Because if you don't have that mentality
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  Speaker 1: and you're not paying attention to value, not just the
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  Speaker 1: value of the corporation that you represent and you work for,
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  Speaker 1: but you're not paying attention to your own value because
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  Speaker 1: when you think about monetizing things for somebody else, it
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  Speaker 1: breeds from the fact that you're trying to elevate your
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  Speaker 1: monetary value. And when you understand that mode of thinking,
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  Speaker 1: then it makes everything purposeful in terms of your approach
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  Speaker 1: to doing the things that you do on a daily basis,
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  Speaker 1: and it inspires you to move forward and to make
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  Speaker 1: things happen because you're planning on reaping the benefits of
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  Speaker 1: your productivity. I'm on the phone with ESPN or Steven A.
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  Speaker 1: Smith from First Take, a show that I actually record
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  Speaker 1: if I missed if I missed You Live, I got
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  Speaker 1: to record it. Okay, So DVR makes what makes you
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  Speaker 1: not in fancies? Give Payless? Is on that now you're
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  Speaker 1: doing your thing with Max and Molly as the host
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  Speaker 1: co host. What makes that show so special? First Take? Well,
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  Speaker 1: for me personally, UM, I think it's a combination of
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  Speaker 1: a couple of things. Number One, everybody believes they're an
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  Speaker 1: arm chair quarterback for lack of a better phrase. You
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  Speaker 1: especially you actually when you know your sports. So I'm
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  Speaker 1: not gonna aide on you. The reality is clear. It's
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  Speaker 1: like it doesn't matter. I remember I told this to
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  Speaker 1: Max one day when I was I was debating him
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  Speaker 1: about the art of the Bay off the Air, and
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  Speaker 1: I said to him, you got friends, don't you? He said,
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  Speaker 1: of course? I said, Jay, you hang out buddies, right,
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  Speaker 1: He said absolutely. I said, you're the foremost authority on
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  Speaker 1: boxing and you're an insider. Isn't that correct? He said, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's why I work on HBO. I said, how many
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  Speaker 1: times do your boys argue with you every day? I said,
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  Speaker 1: because they think they know. Even though you're in the profession,
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  Speaker 1: you have access and as a result, you have a
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  Speaker 1: license to pontificate and editorialize and open, etcetera, etcetera, because
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  Speaker 1: you're coming from an informed perspective. But you still can't
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  Speaker 1: tell them anything because they think they know. That's the
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  Speaker 1: world of sports. And so what happens is is that
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  Speaker 1: when you look at First Take, First Take is a
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  Speaker 1: debate show where folks are supposed to give you multiple angles.
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  Speaker 1: Chances are ninety nine point nine percent at the time
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  Speaker 1: you are going to agree or disagree with somebody. Let's show.
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  Speaker 1: And so that's one of the compelling elements. The other
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  Speaker 1: one is you know. And I take pride in this.
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  Speaker 1: I don't wake up every day thinking about what I
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  Speaker 1: want to talk about. I wake up every day thinking
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  Speaker 1: about what you want to hear about. And those are
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  Speaker 1: the subjects that I tackle. I don't. I don't sit
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  Speaker 1: up there and I it's it's my show. And because
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  Speaker 1: of that, I'm gonna talk about what I want to
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  Speaker 1: talk about. I read the papers, I was in the radio,
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  Speaker 1: I watch television. I know the news, I know current events.
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  Speaker 1: I know what's going on, and based off of that,
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  Speaker 1: along with my journalistic background it spans twenty five years.
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  Speaker 1: Even a lot of people want to ignore that the
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  Speaker 1: journalist in twenty five years. It's my job to know
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  Speaker 1: what's resonating and percolating in the mind's eye of the viewing, listening,
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  Speaker 1: in reading public. And those are the subjects that I tackle.
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  Speaker 1: So you come, you combine the interests of the fan,
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  Speaker 1: collaborating that with the art of debating, knowing that you're
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  Speaker 1: gonna touch somebody's trigger points and pulses, and I believe
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  Speaker 1: that's what makes the show successful. It is successful. Now, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: this is money making conversations. So let's get started. You've
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  Speaker 1: been seeing them on the media tour Four Cities, Econo McGregor,
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  Speaker 1: flaw Wave Made Weather promotion the tour. Your thoughts and
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  Speaker 1: your thoughts on who actually gonna win? Well, first of all,
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  Speaker 1: to answer the second question. First, if Floor it may
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  Speaker 1: whether losers, it will be the biggest upset in the
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  Speaker 1: history of boxing, because you're you're having somebody who is
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  Speaker 1: universally recognized as one of the best who have ever
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  Speaker 1: done it, who would lose to a guy that has
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  Speaker 1: never been in a boxing ring in his career. It's
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  Speaker 1: something that's never happened. It's something that no one on
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  Speaker 1: the planet would predict would happen with any sense in
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  Speaker 1: their brain. Floyd Money maywhether in a boxing ring, should
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  Speaker 1: completely outclass and destroy an embarrass Conor McGregor, Steve. Let
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  Speaker 1: me just say this, but a lot of rumors out
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  Speaker 1: there saying that, hey, is he lose there's a bigger
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  Speaker 1: check in a rematch. Well, you could say that it's
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  Speaker 1: a bigger check in a rematch, but it doesn't negate
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  Speaker 1: the fact that it would still be the biggest upset
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  Speaker 1: in the history of boxing and an extreme level of
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  Speaker 1: embarrassment for Floyd Money. Mayweather he does now. If he
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  Speaker 1: doesn't care about that, that would be different. But other
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  Speaker 1: than his money, what does Floyd money? Maywether brag about
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  Speaker 1: the fact that he's undefeated, that forty nine have tried
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  Speaker 1: and forty nine have failed, even though some guys before twice.
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  Speaker 1: In the end, what it comes down to is that
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  Speaker 1: that unblemished record is attached to his legacy, and if
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  Speaker 1: you're going to compromise it. It would be one thing
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  Speaker 1: to lose to Canelo Alvarez. It would be one thing
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  Speaker 1: to lose to Triple G. It would be one thing
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  Speaker 1: to lose to a young lion like Errol Spence Jr.
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  Speaker 1: Or a Terence Crawford, But to lose to a guy
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  Speaker 1: who's never boxed in boxing ring in his career, it
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  Speaker 1: would be the greatest and biggest embarrassment any boxer has
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  Speaker 1: ever experienced in history underword embarrassment? Has the promotional tour
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  Speaker 1: been an embarrassment? Not to me? Um, It's a pugilistic sport.
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  Speaker 1: If this with basketball, football, baseball, things of that nature,
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  Speaker 1: I would be ashamed of what I'm seeing. But in
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  Speaker 1: boxing it's it's a It's a pugilistic sport. You have
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  Speaker 1: a license to assault, but also the license to be assaulted.
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  Speaker 1: And as a result, anything that you can do to
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  Speaker 1: get inside of somebody's head and mind, to mess with them,
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  Speaker 1: to make them over anxious, to energize and invigorate them
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  Speaker 1: in a way that may compromise their level of ploise,
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  Speaker 1: there's absolutely nothing wrong with it, especially if you're econom McGregor.
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  Speaker 1: And here's why. As much as people may have been
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  Speaker 1: put off by his comments towards Floyd Money maywhether, I
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  Speaker 1: didn't embrace it as an indictment against black people because
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  Speaker 1: he kept calling Floyd Money Maywell boy. And I don't
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  Speaker 1: like it. I please, don't get me wrong. I don't
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  Speaker 1: like it one bit. As a black man, I don't
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  Speaker 1: like it. But I wasn't offended by it because I
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  Speaker 1: didn't believe his comments were geared towards me. It was
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  Speaker 1: geared towards that guy he's going to be in that
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  Speaker 1: ring against on our August twenty six and econom of
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  Speaker 1: Gregor that I have seen has religiously and perpetually antagonized, irritated, humiliated,
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  Speaker 1: and denigrated every single opponent that he has gone against.
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  Speaker 1: What he's doing with Floyd is nothing that he hasn't
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  Speaker 1: done against any other fighter. And then on top of
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  Speaker 1: it all, he backs it up by going into the
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  Speaker 1: ring and or the octagon knocking dudes out. The Floyd
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  Speaker 1: but he's done it, and he's funny too. Yeah, but
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  Speaker 1: I'm not even going by that so much for Shaan
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  Speaker 1: is just that for me, you know, you have to
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  Speaker 1: look at things from a contextual perspective. You got to
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  Speaker 1: look at it and say, Okay, this dude is doing this.
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  Speaker 1: What is it that we're talking about? With Floyd, We're
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  Speaker 1: not just talking about a great, undefeated champion. We're talking
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  Speaker 1: about a guy, no matter how bright the lights shine,
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  Speaker 1: he is ultra cool, emploised under pressure. But he is
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  Speaker 1: the guy that has been primarily responsible for the promotional
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  Speaker 1: and marketing arm of his fights for the last decade. Now.
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  Speaker 1: I know Floyd personally. I've spoken him on many occasions,
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  Speaker 1: and Floyd was looking so much to this fight, not
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  Speaker 1: just for the money. He was like stephen A, for once,
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  Speaker 1: I don't have to work. This guy will promote all on,
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  Speaker 1: so he said, And I've never had that available to me,
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  Speaker 1: and he doing it. He promotion and mcconnom McGregor is
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  Speaker 1: doing it. Give the man credit forward. Awesome, Awesome. Now
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  Speaker 1: we gotta go to a break, steven A. As usual,
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  Speaker 1: you can talk brother, and I love you about that.
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  Speaker 1: But when we come back from the break on moneymaking,
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  Speaker 1: money making conversations, I gotta ask you about because we
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: always talk about it. That's soap opera career. I'm I'm
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: head General Hospital. If you don't know about this soap
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: opera career, you're about to learn about stephen A starring
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: on General Hospital. And he's gonna tell you the history
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: or why he has a passion for General Hospital. Ladies
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  Speaker 1: and gentlemen, will be right back with stephen A Smith
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  Speaker 1: money making conversations. Were also gonna ask about the Ball family,
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  Speaker 1: Laval and lavon cool. We're back on my special guest,
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  Speaker 1: ESPN's first take. Stephen A Smith be listening to money
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  Speaker 1: making Conversations, steven A. He had him on the show
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: The Daddy. He's been making the headlines everywhere you go
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and I and I thought about this, What is the
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: difference between Laval Ball and what he's doing with his
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: son and what Richard Williams did for Venus and Serena
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: william Well, what Richard when Richard Williams was making noise.
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  Speaker 1: It was after his daughters had established their greatness um
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  Speaker 1: and the fact that they had arrived on the scene.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Laval Ball was prognosticating and pushing his son forward, and
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: he made his son more relevant than he actually was.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Richard Williams capitalized orfer relevance that had already been established.
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  Speaker 1: Laval Ball used his mouth to make his son relevant
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  Speaker 1: even though his son was gifted. Even though he was
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  Speaker 1: playing well at U c. L A. He became more
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  Speaker 1: of a cult like figure and more of a box
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  Speaker 1: office individual because his dad was running his mouth about
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: him as opposed to his game. Whereas Venus and Serena,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: their game showed up long before Richard Williams mouth did.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: I'll say that, can the Knicks ever play basketball? The
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: New York Knis Can they ever play basketball? And again
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: not for the foreseeable future. Uh they stink, let's be real.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Uh they're awful. But at the same time, UM, I
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: do think that they took a huge step in the
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  Speaker 1: right direction by getting rid of Phil Jackson. Uh. He
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  Speaker 1: was an absolute joke and an abomination as an executive,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: even though he was an eleven time champion as a
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  Speaker 1: head coach. He was horrible as an executive. He never
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  Speaker 1: wanted the job. He laughed to confidante about how he
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: never wanted the job, but he couldn't help himself because
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: James Dolan just kept up in the anti and throwing
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: more and more money. And as a result, he took
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: the job simply to be the face of the organization,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: to keep pressure off of James Dolan, so James Dolan
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  Speaker 1: could play his guitar and and and run his businesses
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  Speaker 1: outside of Madison Square Garden and be happy with that.
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  Speaker 1: That's why Phil Jackson took the job. He didn't take
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  Speaker 1: it to do the work. A perfect example was shocks
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  Speaker 1: unveiling of the Shock statue at the Staples Center a
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  Speaker 1: few months ago. Jack gave me that shout out. I
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  Speaker 1: was watching that's my that's my brother. You know that
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: he and our type, and um he was. He was there.
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  Speaker 1: And what was very very telling is that the great
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Irvin Magic Johnson was not in attendance. There was a
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  Speaker 1: video that was played and Magic said, I would love
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  Speaker 1: to be them. I'm sorry that I couldn't be their
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: big fellow. But you know, I got this new job.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: It's called President of Basketball Operations for the Lakers here
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  Speaker 1: and I got to be out scouting that night. You
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: c l A was scheduled to play Kentucky in the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: n C Double A Tournament, okay, and Jick Johnson and
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  Speaker 1: Magic Johnson couldn't be at Shocks statues unveiling because he
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: was out scouting. Yet somehow Phil Jackson, who never travels
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: anywhere but to l A by the way for road trips,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: He's sitting next to x Beyonce Jeannie on the podium
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  Speaker 1: with Shack and Kobe, and I'm like, why the hell
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  Speaker 1: ain't you Scotland. That Magic Johnson provided to us, not
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  Speaker 1: an excuse, but the same reasoning that Magic Johnson provided.
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly what Phil Jackson should have done, but he
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  Speaker 1: didn't do it. And it was it was just it
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  Speaker 1: was metaphorically speaking, it was just one of those things
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  Speaker 1: where you just said, this is the difference. Magic's out
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  Speaker 1: there doing the work, fills out there pretending to do
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  Speaker 1: the work. Step in the right direction. And I'm happy
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  Speaker 1: about it. Now now that we saw the collapse of
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: the Clippers, now this is Houston talk. Now Houston Rockets.
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  Speaker 1: They just gave James Harden the biggest extension and I
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  Speaker 1: have nothing wrong with that. I'm getting that money. They
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  Speaker 1: deserves it. He deserves it, Okay, but ken Chris Paul,
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  Speaker 1: James Harden, who has to have the ball all the time.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Can they put a dent in Golden State Warriors? And
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  Speaker 1: no they can't, No, they can't. They can put it
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: in every body else. Uh, they can get to the
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Western Conference Finals, but ultimately they're gonna run into the
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  Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors. And you have to remember that's the
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  Speaker 1: Achilles here. Yes you have James Harden, okay, but if
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  Speaker 1: you're Golden State, you also have Clay Thompson. Yes you
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  Speaker 1: have Chris Paul, but if you go to State, you've
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  Speaker 1: got Steph Curry. And there is no answer for Kevin Durant.
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  Speaker 1: Now it doesn't stop here for Houston because Carmelo Anthony
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  Speaker 1: desperately wants to be in Houston. He's informed the New
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: York Knicks that he wants to get traded, that he's
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: willing to waves is no trade Clauds for one of
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: two teams, either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Houston Rockets.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: He prefers to go to Houston. The problem is all
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Houston has to offer, basically as a contract of Ryan Anderson,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: and that's not nearly enough. The New York Knicks are
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: not going to take that. That's why you're hearing all
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: of these stories about these multi team deals. Three or
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: four teams are involved in the mix, because what the
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Knicks are looking to do is they're looking to get
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: equitable compensation for Carmelo, Anthony and Houston Kent offer that
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: straight up. Now, Melo desperately wanted to leave because his
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: relationship with Phil was pretty much over. But now that
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Steve Mills is the president of MSG and he hired
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: this dude, Scott Perry, who is a longtime league executive,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: African American well deserving of this opportunity. Certainly waited too
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: long to get this opportunity he deserved the years ago.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: He's now the new general manager for the New York Knicks.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: So because of that, they're hoping that they can change
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Mellow's mind. But from what I'm told, even though Mellow
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: has no problem with them, he wants to go to Houston.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: So if Darryl Morey and those other guys are able
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: to pull off something get up a multiple teams involved,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: including the Phoenix Suns, who just want a second round
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: pick and they're willing to give that up for Eric
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Bledsoe then find so be it. It's good, but it's
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: going to take a multi team deal in order to
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: get Mellow to Houston. We'll see if they can pull
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: it off. But that is definitely number one on his list.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: He wants to be in Houston with Chris Paul, one
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: of his best friends in the world, along with James Harden.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: That's where Mellow wants to go. But still shot Raymond Green.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: I agree, um, but at the same time, you got
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: bounced out in the Western Conference semifinals. Some imposta wearing
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: James Harden's jersey did show up for Game six of
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: the semifinals against the Spurs. I don't know who the
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: hell that was, because, I mean, James Harden was my
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: leading league MVP candidate. I love this game. I love
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: him as a person. He's a great guy. But that
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: particular night, I didn't even recognize him. I mean, think
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  Speaker 1: about this, James Harden, who averaged twenty nine eleven and eight,
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  Speaker 1: went the first eighteen minutes of the game without attempting
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  Speaker 1: a shot in a playoff game. Now, that don't make
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  Speaker 1: any sense. Something was wrong. I think somebody spiked his drink,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: they did they like at the raid, or they stole
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: his jersey. Son happened and they played because that wasn't
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the James Harden that I know and love. All I'm
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: saying is that that with CP three, especially if Mello arrives,
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  Speaker 1: there's no doubt in my mind, it will be good
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: at enough for them to get to the conference finals.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: So long as they don't have to run in the
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Golden State before then, I think they would get to
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: the conference finals. But that's it. Now With the NBA,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: for some reason, I'm so excited about the NBA because
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I've actually been watching Summer League basketball. Well, listen, you
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: got young talent and he's a young cats want to
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: come up. But I gotta tell you something. You want
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: me to tell you the real reason why you were
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: watching Summer league basketball laval ball. Laval Ball made you
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: want to watch Alonzo, and wanting to watch Alonso made
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: you want to watch de Aaron Fox out of Kentucky,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Malik Monk out of Kentucky. Uh, and you know all
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: of these other guys. It makes Jackson, Josh Jackson is
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: gonna be special. Uh. This kid, Dennis Smith junior out
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: of a line of states. Long can keep his head
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: on straight and get rid of those ridiculous tweets like
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Mark Human made him do, He'll be on. But I
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: think those guys, I think you've got. What Lonzo Ball
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: made you want to do is not just watch him
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: and imagine and fantasize him running the Lake Show. It
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: also makes you want. It made you want to look
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: at the other talents that have been ignored, comparing them
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: to him and seeing what everybody has and imagining what
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: they're going to do on the next level. I give
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: all that credit to laval Ball. Well, I would tell
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: you this the talent I've seen talent like this. I'll
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: be honest with what you says since Lebron came into
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the league. I'm talking you know, when they're first ten.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Even more because I think Kuzman that that boy is
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: gonna clown with LaVar lavon Uh being his point guard
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: in l a Laker uniform. Luno, I apologize Lonzo Ball,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: the point guard, rookie, second round checking pick in the draft,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: so so it all wounds up to be special. But
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: before I get off the air, because I know I
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: got to talk about this. Your soap oper career. I
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: gotta shifting the gears from money making conversation and talk
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: about something you love because you've actually had prolonged conversations
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: about your acting, because you've called me to reach out.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Did you see the episode? What do you think? Well, listen,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: um General Hospital. Here's the star of General Hospital, stephen A. Smith. Well,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I was certainly not take that reached Bernard A Ka,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Sonny Corinthos and the crew. I know, Um General Hospital
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: is a soap oper I've been watching for more than
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: forty years. I was raised by five women, and you know,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: my my mom recently passed along my folds, you know.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: And so what you have is, you know, you got
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: fo older sisters, and you come into the house and
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: you're not allowed to watch TV unless you're gonna watch
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the soaps. Because all the TVs was on General Hospital.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: And so I started watching it before before I was
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: eight years old, and I never stopped, you know, I mean,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: I go back to the days of Luke and Laura Franks,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: the machine and and and and all of that stuff.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, I mean everything, and so you know, I
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: remember I showed up for a cameo in two thousand
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and seven and two of the oldest characters on the
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: show cornered me and they said, you're supposed to be
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: some expert in general hospital, and they were bringing up storylines.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: I said, actually, that's incorrect. That was this was the storyline,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: and this is the year it happened, and they could
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: have believed and so, you know, that was the only appearance,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: but it was. It was only for ten seconds. But
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: they saw me on first take one day and everybody
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: was teasing me about General Hospital. I'm like, I'm not
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: apologized of anything. I love the show, and they asked
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: me to come on. And when I came on and
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: did a couple of scenes, Maurice Bernard, the star of
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the show, who was just incredible. He's an incredible act
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: of plus he's incredibly generous to me, spent time with
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: me going over the lines and everything like this, and
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: he was shocked I knew my lines and he felt
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: like doing it the camera didn't phaze me and that
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: I was a natural at it. So he had so
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: the executive director, Frank Valentini, was said, could you do
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: a few more lines? And the next time I came back,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: they gave me a few more lines and I that,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: and they said, we want to make this a recurring
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: role for you. My character's name is Brick. I'm a
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: surveillance expert for the Mob, and they wanted me to
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: come on in the third time. I came on, how
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: almost panicked because they sent me the script and it
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: was four pages of lines. I had over thirty lines,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: and I was in like five or six different scenes
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: spanning two days. And you gotta remember, because of budget
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: issues and everything like that, because it's the money making conversation.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: The soap opera industry isn't what it used to be
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: here as some of those shows that are canceled. But
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: you still got Young and the Restless with my man
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Very grad and who stars as Victor Newman. He's a
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: personal friend of mine. And you've got my Reese Bernard
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: on General Hospital. Those are the two most successful soap operas.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: But they cut back from the standpoint that instead of
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: having multiple takes and stuff like that, you need to
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: be able to do stuff in one or two takes
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: and move on. And so for a very novice, inexperienced amateur,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I like myself, who had very little interest in acting,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, I was sweating bullets man. But but but
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: the star of the show was coaching me through it,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: and he was like, I've been with people whose profession
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: is acting. They've going to Juilliard, they've gone to other schools,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: they've studied this stuff. They don't have what you have.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: When the lights come on and the cameras rolling, he said,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: the poise that you show, it's a natural, natural gift.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Ice Cube and others just looked at me. They're like,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: when you're going to Hollywood. So suddenly I'm a little
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: bit more interested in acting. But it's it's awful fun.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I'd actually just enjoy being around folks who are doing
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: it because they're so exceptional and it's so great, and
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: plus you can get away with anything because you're playing
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: a role. Absolutely. Hey Steven Ain't hey man, you promisibly
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: too breaks. You're giving me more than I canna ask
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: for my brother. I know you're busy. You got your
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: your your one point, your radio show starting in about
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: thirty minutes. Correct, I'm vacation until next week, man, next
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: next week, So so you you broadcast on New York
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: and l A vacation next week. I'm New York l
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: A Terrestrial. I'm nationwide on Serious Sex M Channel eighty
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: one to three pm Eastern Time every week day to
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Stephen A. Smith Radio show, and of course I'm on
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: First Take every weekday Wanted from ten am to twelve
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: newon I returned to the airwaves for First Take July.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you, love you as a friend, as a
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: younger brother. Keep doing what you're doing. Man, don't change. Okay, alright,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: my brother, We'll talk soon.