Hall of Fame tight end and Fox pundit Shannon Sharpe became the biggest story in sports out of nowhere Friday night, jawing at Grizzlies guards Dillon Brooks and Ja Morant, center Steven Adams, and Ja’s father Tee during Memphis’ 122-121 loss to the Lakers.
“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave,” Sharpe memorably told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin after the confrontation. “They do all the talking and jockeying and I ain’t about that jockeying. It started with Dillon Brooks. I said he was too small to guard LeBron. He said, ‘F—‘ me. I said, ‘F— you back. He started to come at me and I said, ‘you don’t want these problems.’ And then Ja came out of nowhere talking. He definitely didn’t want these problems. Then the dad came and he obviously don’t want no problems. But I wanted anything they had. Don’t let these fools fool you now.”
Astute Internet sleuths, however, pointed out that such an altercation would have been unthinkable to the Sharpe of Nov. 24, 2021.
That day, Sharpe and Undisputed co-host Skip Bayless were discussing the ejection of two fans from a Lakers-Pacers game in Indianapolis at Los Angeles forward LeBron James's behest.
“You know what these seats cost, Skip,” Sharpe said. “Sitting courtside…They know right from wrong. But somehow, and it’s been like this for a very long time. People think because they pay money – and we see this in restaurants, you think you can talk to your server any kinda way. You think because you’re paying an enormous amount of money, and the athletes are there to entertain you, you can say, you can do whatever you want. ‘It is well within my rights because I paid $5000 or I paid an exorbitant amount of money for this ticket.’”
Sharpe, ironically, concluded his 2021 monologue by urging fans courtside to show respect.
