We’re going to have some fun on Friday’s edition of PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio. Then again, we almost always have fun. This Friday, we’ll have more fun than usual.
For starters, there will be a school’s out vibe to the show, because I’ll be taking a two-week vacation from radio as soon as Friday’s broadcast ends. Making the smell-ya-later edition even more fun will be the opportunity to delve in detail into some strong comments made about yours truly by Stephen A. Smith on his SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio program on Thursday.
Smith took umbrage with my story from Thursday regarding his strong criticism of NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith’s alleged propensity for litigation. Stephen A. Smith didn’t seem to have a problem with 99 percent of what I wrote, but he strenuously objected to the suggestion that he was fed by the league office the argument that DeMaurice Smith is wasting player money by the same person or persons who fed him the “Tom Brady destroyed his cell phone” story only hours before Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a decision in Brady’s case that upheld the four-game suspension by focusing heavily on the destroyed cell phone, which prior to the Stephen A. Smith report had never been mentioned by anyone.
We invited Stephen A. Smith to join the show and hash things out, because I’m confused by his position that only people in the media who write specifically about the media are authorized to criticize things someone in the media says. I’m also confused by his apparent belief that all reporters and columnists and hot-take-generators are “colleagues” who should never criticize each other, fairly or not, in any setting. He declined the invitation, with a text message to PFT Live producer Rob “Stats” Guerrera that Stephen A. Smith has authorized us to use on the air.
So we’ll be playing excerpts from Smith’s 12-minute rant on the issue during Friday’s show, and I’ll be providing my reaction to those remarks. We encourage Stephen A. Smith or anyone else who is so inclined to listen to the show to dial up Sirius 213, XM 202, NBCSportsRadio.com, the NBC Sports Radio app, or any of the various stations that carry the program.
It starts at 6:00 a.m. ET and the full show re-airs at 9:00 a.m. ET.