Why didn't anyone tell me ESPN shitcanned Sean Salisbury??

[Wee Bairn]

But thank god they finally did- now I can watch ESPN football shows without having to see this braying jackass ten times a week. I don't think I've ever talked to one person who didn't find this guy to be anything but an obnoxious ass, the type who thinks he's edgy and controversial, when in fact he's just a dick. His departure statement is the height of pomposity:

"I want to thank ESPN for 12 great years of talking football on TV and the radio. I have grown as much as I can at ESPN and decided to expand my horizons. I have created a brand and it's time to expand into other opportunities in TV, radio, Internet, publishing, movies and public speaking, among others. My resume speaks for itself as a football analyst, and I believe I can talk all sports with the best of them"

What brand exactly- slimy know-it-all perv? The only three ESPN analysts I have ever despised are Sean, Trev Alberts and Steven A. Smith, and now two of them are gone. Alberts had the audacity to think he was underappreciated and quit showing up for work- what balls. May and Holtz are brilliant without that smug smartass, whose now I'm told on something called CSTV with a bunch of third raters, like himself- good career move, Trev. Now if only they can dump Emmitt Smith, a guy who speaks English like he just fell to Earth last week, I'll be a happy guy.

Happy Trails Sean, I'm sure other networks are dying to have a sexual harrassment lawsuit in waiting on their payroll!

[DudleyGarrett]

I just read that he took pictures of his penis with this cell phone camera and sent the photo to several of his female co-workers.

If that's true, damn.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Wait..you mean that gets you fired?

[JohnT]

Why do people hate on Steven A. Smith?

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Why do people hate on Steven A. Smith?


He's primarily a basketball analyst and partial to the Knicks. These two things were glaring when he had his own show.

[JohnT]

Well, I thought that ESPN focused primarily on the I-95 corridor between NYC and Boston anyway, so showing partiality to the Knicks is probably a job requirement. ;)

[gonzomax]

Steven A. says the lengthening of golf courses is an action of bigots trying to stop Tiger. It is stupid. Tiger is very long . It is the short hitters that get eliminated by longer courses. Yet he keeps saying it is an anti Tiger move. He learns very slowly.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

Well, I thought that ESPN focused primarily on the I-95 corridor between NYC and Boston anyway, so showing partiality to the Knicks is probably a job requirement. ;)


The Worldwide Leader really does focus a crapload on everything in the Northeast, much to the chagrin of everyone else in the universe.

[MadTheSwine]

Why do people hate on Steven A. Smith?

Obnoxious racist.

[Omniscient]

Why do people hate on Steven A. Smith?

I don't expect everyone to hate him, but I can't understand why anyone would not see why people might. His incapability to control the volume of his voice alone drives people nuts, not to mention his frequently asinine opinions, his provincial attitude and unwavering belief that he's 100% right about everything. Some people might enjoy this stuff, I can accept that, but you really couldn't put this together?

[Least Original User Name Ever]

I watched his show in the beginning when he had it, but he ended up saying that he doesn't care about another sport besides basketball and every other team was secondary to the Knicks (so far as his like for that team went). I can see why people don't like Stephen A.

[Wee Bairn]

I think Stephen A is a bright guy who knows the sports he knows and will glady admit there are some he doesn't know. My problem with him is he thinks YELLING is a way to get a point across. And yeah, it doesn't enter into his mind he could be wrong about any topic.

[Least Original User Name Ever]

I think Steven A is a bright guy who knows the sports he knows and will glady admit there are some he doesn't know and doesn't pretend to know. My problem with him is he thinks YELLING is a way to get a point across.

I completely agree. It's just that his show was supposed to be a "sports show", when it was just a basketball show waiting to bust out. It eventually did. He does basketball pretty well and gets some interesting guests.

Sorry, what I meant to say was...


OH COME ON NOW! THAT'S PRE-POSTER-OUS! ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT ELTON BRAND ISN'T GOING TO GET IT DONE THIS YEAR? QUITE FRANKLY, I'D TELL YOU THAT HE CAN'T NOT GET IT DONE!

[JohnT]

I don't expect everyone to hate him, but I can't understand why anyone would not see why people might. His incapability to control the volume of his voice alone drives people nuts, not to mention his frequently asinine opinions, his provincial attitude and unwavering belief that he's 100% right about everything. Some people might enjoy this stuff, I can accept that, but you really couldn't put this together?

:rolleyes:

What you say about S.S. could be said about 90% of sports broadcasters. Couldn't you put that together?

It's the near-universiality* of the opinion that I don't understand.

*Probably misspelled, but c'est la vie.

[EsotericEnigma]

Steven A Smith is the most ignorant commentator I can remember on that network. He has a lot of trouble forming coherent sentences. NOT to menTION that ITS reaLLY HARD to LIS-UN to the STUPIT way HE TAWLKS.

[jimmmy]

OH COME ON NOW! THAT'S PRE-POSTER-OUS! ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT ELTON BRAND ISN'T GOING TO GET IT DONE THIS YEAR? QUITE FRANKLY, I'D TELL YOU THAT HE CAN'T NOT GET IT DONE!


LOL. My main problem with Steven A. Smith is that he is a one trick pony: you can tell some producer/network head/agent said to him as a newbie "Hey buddy we need you to be controversial and confrontational - that is how you get airtime and be a star" & that is his one trick disagreeing strongly with anything that anyone says. Watch any night currently and you can see him take Walton to task for saying the sky is blue.


re the OP I think Salisbury is gone at least partially for his Cryptkeeper/Captain Obvious (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi7XtBv94pE) jab at senior analyst Clayton. He also tussled with Berman. In part I think it can be conceptualized that part of why he was canned was for breaking ESPN's equivalent of the SDMB's "No personal Attacks/Don't be an A$$hole" rule

[mshar253]

I just watched that Cryptkeeper video; it was pretty hilarious.

I believe that Salisbury got the axe because the folks at ESPN finally realized that he couldn't get off the bench in his entire career, and thus it's impossible to take him seriously as an "expert." If he's such a gosh darned expert, why didn't he apply any of it when he was still playing???

That's just a WAG, though.

[Snarky_Kong]

I just watched that Cryptkeeper video; it was pretty hilarious.

I believe that Salisbury got the axe because the folks at ESPN finally realized that he couldn't get off the bench in his entire career, and thus it's impossible to take him seriously as an "expert." If he's such a gosh darned expert, why didn't he apply any of it when he was still playing???

That's just a WAG, though.

Playing expertise has very little to do with being an expert analyst.

[Wee Bairn]

All kidding aside re the Cryptkeeper bit- how unprofessional can you get? No place at all for that on a real show on a real network, and has Sean looked at his swollen face in the mirror lately?

And yeah, very stupid to give Steven A. a show where he covers all sports, when he only likes one or two.

[HelloKitty]

Stephen A. is tolerable in small doses. I used to like the "Old School/Nu Skool" bit they used to do with him and Skip Bayless (who, BTW is unwatchable in any other segment...so since they don't do this segment any more, Bayless is now unwatchable). And I didn't hate SAS's interview show, it was a decent departure from the usual late night talk shows and was basically what Jim Rome (also tolerable in small doses) does except with an audience.

But lately they have had Stephen A. doing Sports Center anchor duties.

Please stop this immediately!

[Least Original User Name Ever]

"Stephen".

[Moriarty]

I once watched SAS on Sports Reporters, and he was (loudly) saying that a football team should have attempted a last second field goal on third down, so that, if they missed, they could try again on fourth down. This is such a dumb statement, and a clear sign of ignorance about the sport of football, that I lost all respect for him. It'd be like saying the Knicks should have taken a 4 point shot to try and get back into the game; there's no such thing, dumbass!

He only knows basketball, and, as has been said, his manner of speach is rather irritating, so I don't even care what he has to say about that.

As for the Sean Salisbury "cryptkeeper" comments, I always thought the insults between him and John Clayton were an act. Admittedly, it was rather dumb, but I thought they were both trying to create some sort of television dynamic, rather than actually insulting each other (although Clayton, god bless him, was too dorky to play his part).

[furt]

I just read that he took pictures of his penis with this cell phone camera and sent the photo to several of his female co-workers.

If that's true, damn.That was over a year ago; it wasn't the proximate cause.

[mshar253]

Playing expertise has very little to do with being an expert analyst.

So (this is just off the top of my head):

Mark Schlereth, Michael Irvin, Keyshawn Johnson, Shannon Sharpe, Dan Marino, Steve Young, Emmitt Smith, Cris Collinsworth, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Boomer Esiason are all analysts not because they all had successful careers (Keyshawn probably was least successful, though he was a #1 overall pick) but were chosen because of their speaking prowess? I don't agree with that at all.

[Wee Bairn]

Clayton didn't look like he thought the joke was in fun, and the idiot studio guy who laughed at it and encouraged Sean to run with it should be disciplined as well- that frat boy shit may fly at Fox, but not ESPN. :)

And if you allow that, what's next- "back to bald fat-ass Berman in the studio!" Or "and now here's Forest Gump's intellectual superior, Emmitt Smith". Or "up next, winner of the Sandy Duncan lookalike contest, Stuart A. Scott"?

[Snarky_Kong]

So (this is just off the top of my head):

Mark Schlereth, Michael Irvin, Keyshawn Johnson, Shannon Sharpe, Dan Marino, Steve Young, Emmitt Smith, Cris Collinsworth, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Boomer Esiason are all analysts not because they all had successful careers (Keyshawn probably was least successful, though he was a #1 overall pick) but were chosen because of their speaking prowess? I don't agree with that at all.

Well, I didn't say that, so it's good you don't agree with it. One doesn't have to be a great athlete to be a good analyst and being a great athlete doesn't guarantee being a good analyst.

[DudleyGarrett]

That was over a year ago; it wasn't the proximate cause.

You mean he didn't get fired for THAT?

[zamboniracer]

:

Playing expertise has very little to do with being an expert analyst.





So (this is just off the top of my head):

Mark Schlereth, Michael Irvin, Keyshawn Johnson, Shannon Sharpe, Dan Marino, Steve Young, Emmitt Smith, Cris Collinsworth, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, and Boomer Esiason are all analysts not because they all had successful careers (Keyshawn probably was least successful, though he was a #1 overall pick) but were chosen because of their speaking prowess? I don't agree with that at all.


Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be to say, having playing expertise gets you in the door but doesn't necessarily make a person a GOOD expert analyst.

[furt]

You mean he didn't get fired for THAT?One week suspension, IIRC, but it was never announced or explained.

http://deadspin.com/sports/espn/something-to-think-about-while-watching-sean-salisbury-226883.php

[Boozahol Squid, P.I.]

I once watched SAS on Sports Reporters, and he was (loudly) saying that a football team should have attempted a last second field goal on third down, so that, if they missed, they could try again on fourth down. This is such a dumb statement, and a clear sign of ignorance about the sport of football, that I lost all respect for him. It'd be like saying the Knicks should have taken a 4 point shot to try and get back into the game; there's no such thing, dumbass!

Perhaps you misheard him? If a field goal is blocked (not missed), and the kicking team recovers, they can attempt a second fg if they still have a down left.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

I once watched SAS on Sports Reporters, and he was (loudly) saying that a football team should have attempted a last second field goal on third down, so that, if they missed, they could try again on fourth down. This is such a dumb statement, and a clear sign of ignorance about the sport of football, that I lost all respect for him. It'd be like saying the Knicks should have taken a 4 point shot to try and get back into the game; there's no such thing, dumbass!
Obviously they can't get back-to-back kicks, but teams will often attempt late game FG's on 3rd down so that if there's a bad snap, they can flop on the ball and line up again on 4th down. Maybe that's what he meant.

[Spit]

Perhaps you misheard him? If a field goal is blocked (not missed), and the kicking team recovers, they can attempt a second fg if they still have a down left.


I think the key to the phrase was this:

I once watched SAS on Sports Reporters, and he was (loudly) saying that a football team should have attempted a last second field goal on third down.....

With no more time on the clock, a 4th down would be moot.


As far as being analyst vs. personal valour: Kenny Wallace & J. J. Yeley (the former never was a great driver; the latter hasn't had time to prove himself) are both pretty good NASCAR analysts (When J.J. does a guest spot on SPEED).

[Moriarty]

Obviously they can't get back-to-back kicks, but teams will often attempt late game FG's on 3rd down so that if there's a bad snap, they can flop on the ball and line up again on 4th down. Maybe that's what he meant.

Yes, I'm aware of the strategy, and that's what the other reporters on Sports Reporters were saying (i.e. they should have tried the kick on third down, so if the snap was bad, they could get another snap). When it came time for SAS to add his two cents, he made the point that they should have tried the field goal on third down so they could re-kick on fourth down if they missed it.

I distinctly remember the comment, because it was so blatantly ignorant of the game of football. I've never heard him make an intelligent or insightful point about any sport except basketball, and his delivery is irritating enough that I don't particularly enjoy his basketabll analysis, either.

ETA: And, for the record, I always thought the Sean Salisbury bully act was tacky; I just figured it was also a bit of a put-on, too.