Stephen A. Smith on Sharpe, Belichick, and Epstein

SAN FRANCISCO — ESPN star Stephen A. Smith swung by the Front Office Sports set at Radio Row, where we discussed the NFL controversies dominating Super Bowl week and a potential reunion with Shannon Sharpe. Excerpts:

Front Office Sports: So I go to interview Shannon Sharpe–and who do I see but you having an on-air reunion with your former First Take sparring partner. How’d it go? 

Stephen A. Smith: We talk all the time. He and I talk at least two or three times a month. You know, I worked with him for a short while. I certainly didn’t have the lengthy relationship with him that I had with Skip Bayless, because I didn’t know Shannon like that. But regardless of the things that happened, he was always a good friend and a good partner to me. Whatever I needed from him for First Take, he did. He contributed to us having record ratings. 

And I’m going to always be grateful to that, just like I’m grateful to any contributor that contributes the way that he did. Ryan Clark, Swagu [Marcus Spears], Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky, Jeff Saturday, Chris Canty, Cam Newton, the list goes on. Kimberley Martin, so many people. Kendrick Perkins and Jay Williams and others. Brian Windhorst, let me not forget him. So many people have contributed to the success of First Take. And Shannon Sharpe was right at the top with the rest of them. He was fabulous for me. And I’m always going to be grateful to him. And I’m always going to be a friend to him.

FOS: You said on First Take they might as well burn down the Pro Football Hall of Fame if they don’t admit Tom Brady on his first ballot? Why?

SAS: Yes, somebody’s going to get arrested for arson. Because somebody’s going to burn the building down. I mean, you can’t leave Tom Brady out as a first ballot Hall of Famer. He’s a seven-time time champion. Universally recognized as the GOAT in football. You cannot turn around and omit him from the Hall of Fame as a first ballot. Because there’s no credibility. If that happens, nobody wants to hear anything. I mean, it’s bad enough you did it to Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft. Bill Belichick’s an eight-time champion. You want to bring up Spygate? Spygate has something to do with the two rings he got with the Giants? Spygate has something to do with the three rings he got before Spygate? How about the three rings he won after Spygate? How about that? OK? 

And if you’re so gung-ho about holding it against him, well, how come he didn’t win the Super Bowl from 2004 to 2014? So what was going on then? You ain’t saying anything about it then? And so I look at it from that standpoint, I say it’s utterly ridiculous. Of course, he should be in the Hall of Fame as a first ballot. And then you’ve got Robert Kraft. An owner for 32 years. 11 Super Bowl appearances, averaging one every three years. Three different head coach-quarterback combinations: Bill Parcells with Drew Bledsoe; Brady with Belichick; and now [Mike] Vrabel with [Drake] Maye. What are we talking about here? And you had Jerod Mayo. What did you do after one year? You said you got to go. We need a change. What did you do? You go into the off-season. You spent a boatload of money. Would Vrabel be on the verge of being named the Coach of the Year if Robert Kraft hadn’t made that change? …

I mean, Robert Kraft has a lot to do with the success that the New England Patriots have reaped over the years. To act like he’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer is egregious. But nothing would be more egregious than Tom Brady not being recognized as a first-ballot Hall of Famer. You might as well burn the Hall of Fame down. You might as well not have any more Hall of Fame ceremonies. 

FOS: Did the NFL make a mistake selecting Bad Bunny as halftime performer? To the point that Turning Point USA is counterprogramming with its own alternative show starring Kid Rock. Your take?

SAS: Well, they can plan whatever show they want. That’s perfectly within their right. And I don’t have any issue with it whatsoever. People have a right to be conservative in this country. They have a right to be Republicans. They have a right to have their views, as long as you’re not wishing harm or animus towards other human beings. All right? You have a different point of view, that’s fine. There’s no big deal with that.

But in the same breath, I’m more concerned about our President and his administration sending ICE to the Super Bowl. Now, according to the reports, there’s no plans to do so. And I hope that rings true. I hope there’s not suddenly a surprise, where we’ve got agents, you know 700 of them supposedly departed from Minneapolis. Let’s hope that they’re not transferred to California, to Santa Clara, and they’re standing outside of Levi’s Stadium trying to look for migrants to arrest and incarcerate for ultimate deportation. This is not the day for that. You’ve got 364 other days of the year to do that. You don’t do that for Super Bowl Sunday. 

It’s a big-time celebration for the American public. It’s the biggest sporting event in America–bar none. We’re all looking forward to having a day where we can distance ourselves from that. And we just enjoy the moment and enjoy the day. You know you can do that for the American people. The American people deserve it with all the chaos that has already been called. And I’m not talking about just [Donald] Trump and his administration. I’m talking about all of them. All the politicians and all the things that they have done. There’s been chaos going on in the streets of America periodically for a long time now, spanning decades. At some point in time, the American people deserve better. And whatever you’re going to do, you can sit back and say, ‘You know what, I want to watch the Super Bowl. You don’t have to worry about me doing something like that on Super Bowl Sunday.’ That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to do.

FOS: What’s your reaction to Tisch being named 400 times in the Epstein files? How much of a problem is this for the NFL?

SAS: I think it could potentially be a problem because I think that when you have Mr. Tisch, when you read those emails, which I have, and you see that he’s joking with this sexual predator that was Jeffrey Epstein before he killed himself, and you’re asking about girls and all of this other stuff, and you heard what Epstein is saying, clearly you were communicating with him about young ladies. Now, it was wise of him, through the Giants, to come out with a statement highlighting that these were women; not girls. He made sure to make that point. That was wise, but it still doesn’t absolve him because that’s assuming you’re believed. And why would anybody just automatically believe you if you were associated with Jeffrey Epstein on that level? Knowing the kind of heinous, despicable things he was involved in. 

For the owner of the New York Giants. Once a gold standard in the NFL, they’ve been anything but for the last decade and a half. They’ve been a football abomination most of the time. To have your owner involved in that kind of stuff is not a good look at all. It certainly warrants an investigation. But in the same breath, that doesn’t mean that commissioner Roger Goodell was wrong when he said, ‘Let’s let the facts come out.’ The only caveat that I would add is this: This isn’t Spygate about stealing football signs. This isn’t Deflategate about deflated footballs.

Roger Goodell, who I love, I think he’s a great commissioner, he destroyed the tapes for Spygate. There can be no destruction of evidence when it comes to finding out how deeply involved and entrenched with Jeffrey Epstein that Steve Tisch was. You got to let those facts bear itself out—because you certainly would have done it if it were one of the players. And we’re talking about players being put on the commissioner’s list, not being able to perform their duties and obligations, because of the appearance of things. Well, why isn’t the same applicable to an owner? It should be. And that’s what we need to be looking at. 

FOS: Who would you like to see buy the Seattle Seahawks?

SAS: I would like to see an African-American gain a majority ownership stake within the National Football League. I’ll tell you that. That I would like to see…How about the billionaire Robert Smith? How about somebody like Bob Johnson, who once owned the Charlotte Bobcats? How about somebody like Oprah [Winfrey]? She got money. How about that?

FOS: Would you go in with Oprah?

SAS: Do I look like I have that kind of money? I do not. But if I did, I would certainly want to own an NFL team.