Stephen A. Smith and Bill Simmons are two of the biggest pundits in the sports space, the former the face of ESPN (DIS) -) and the latter the founder of The Ringer and executive with Spotify (SPOT) -).
Both have been critical of athletes in the past -- and have received their fair share of flack from athletes and fans alike over their decades of experience in sports media. And the two spoke candidly during an episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast” on Tuesday, July 11 about when they believe it’s fair for media members to be critical of athletes.
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Smith recalled an on-air dispute between his former ESPN colleagues Jalen Rose, who played 13 years in the NBA, and Skip Bayless from over a decade ago. The two got into a dispute that became personal when talking about sports, and Rose mentioned that Bayless had no real professional experience.
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“We also have to know our place,” Smith said. “Bill Simmons knows basketball, I know basketball, we ain’t Jalen Rose.”
Smith also said that there is an area that the media without pro experience can still fill.
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“I’m not trying to come at [athletes] as if I know what they know about every little nuance, because that’s impossible,” Smith said. “But I can say as a pundit, as a person who’s been a journalist, this is the perspective that I’ve been coming from … It makes for better conversation because [athletes] don’t feel challenged as if you’re diminishing them and what they’ve accomplished.”
Simmons recognized he made a mistake in the past when being critical of ESPN -- while he was still employed by the network -- on Twitter when it guested NFL star Richard Sherman and pit him against Bayless. Smith said he recognizes that there’s a certain level of importance in giving athletes the platform to answer back to criticism.
“If an athlete listens to me or you, and we constantly call them out, they have a right to get fed up like that and come on the air and call us out,” Smith said. “A lot of times with athletes what would piss them off more than anything is what we called the bully pulpit -- we have it and a lot of times they don’t.”
Simmons has been called out in the past for criticism over black athletes and coaches like LeBron James, Jalen Green and Doc Rivers. Though Simmons has also pushed back over the last few years, and has guested both Green and Rivers on his podcast over the last year.
“As I get older, I try to be critical about performance and what I see, and the stuff that I don’t like, the stuff Kyrie Irving has done, the stuff James Harden has done … I’m always going to call that out,” Simmons said.
The two then talked about former NBA All-Star Ben Simmons, who has missed a chunk of games over the last few years due to a mix of physical and mental issues. Smith said he’s understanding of Ben Simmons’ situation, but also said it’s fair to call him out because he wasn’t fulfilling his obligation and still trying to get paid for it.
Smith said Ben Simmons’ situation is different to Andrew Luck, the NFL star who chose to retire due to a mix of physical and mental issues.
“There are so many things more important than basketball … what we’re saying is that doesn’t absolve you from your responsibility that you signed up for and swore to honor and commit yourself to. And if you deviate from that, folks have a right to say ‘Nah, we ain’t trying to hear that.”
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