TL, DR: if you’re a baseball fan, then you know that Japanese pitcher/slugger Shohei Ohtani is one of the most amazing MLB players to come along in a while. His English is slightly better than my Japanese, but he still needs an interpreter to communicate effectively during media interviews, and Smith seems to think that speaking English without an interpreter should be a prerequisite for being a baseball star. So basically it’s the old “if you’re gonna come to this country, learn to speak English.” Right. Glad to see he’s getting his ass handed to him by pretty much anyone with a Twitter account. With a little luck, Smith will be collecting unemployment next week.
Reminds me of the stupid shit that IndyCar driver Takuma Sato had to deal with after he won the Indy 500 in 2017:
Smith remarkably predicted the Finals incorrectly 6 straight times in a row. Even if one were to only use a coin flip, the chances of getting all six wrong is 1.6%.
As I’ve said before, the difference between clowns like Shaq, Barkley, Shannon Sharpe and Deion Sanders - and clowns like Bayless and Smith - is that the former at least earned their credentials by having played pro sports. Bayless and Smith’s opinion ought to be worth no more as a pundit than yours or mine.
I’ve never in my life heard Shaq say anything remotely as stupid or offensive about basketball as twenty things Smith or Bayless will say in a solid week of playoff games.
I don’t think this is even remotely fair to Sharpe or Sanders. And probably not to Shaq or Barkley either, but I’m not as familiar with their commentary. Sharpe/Sanders may be useless, but they’re not actively, painfully stupidly intentionally trolling their audience.
My advice for anyone who catches Smith (or Bayless) on TV is to take whatever opinion or prediction they have and assume the opposite is true. If you do that, you get some great information about sports.
Fuck him hard with a sideways elephant dildo.
He’s always been an unsufferble prick, but this is beyond the motherfucking pale. Kick his ass off any media he is in.
FUCKING RACIST!!!
And no “I have reviewed my comments and I am sad they have caused pain” or such shit.
Kick him to the curb.
And, just to make it worse, if possible, to such a force of nature and nice guy like Ohtani. NOBODY, who isn’t a racist, cares if he speaks Japanese or even Braille or communiated by farts.
Roger Angell, Herbert Warren Wind and perhaps one or two others might like a word with you.
ETA - Huh - kinda dumb Discourse feature - if you quote the previous post, their quote-box disappears when you post, and then getting castigated, cruelly, with an edit emoji.
Hasn’t people who can’t speak English playing professional American baseball been a thing since the 60s? And Japanese players since the 90s, why bring it up now?
I gather Smith’s complaint is that Ohtani isn’t “just another MLB player” - he’s a rising star, poised to be the poster child /ambassador for the sport. He’s young, good-looking, modest, disciplined, has a cheery demeanor, and above all, he pitches and hits like nobody’s business. But Smith thinks that’s not enough.
