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Marcus Spears: Arguing With Stephen A. Smith Like Arguing With Family

“Being on First Take with Stephen A just reminds me of what I did with my dad, uncles, family members, and best friends”

Ricky Keeler

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Marcus Spears has been one of the rising stars at ESPN since he joined the SEC Network in 2014. He has had the chance to not only talk football on First Take and Get Up, but other sports as well and he appreciates that ESPN has allowed him to talk about both football and basketball on some noteworthy shows. 

Spears was a guest on the latest episode of The Dave Pasch Podcast and he said that he is glad that he is not known as ESPN as just a guy who can talk about football.

“I do TV just like I did when I was talking to my dad and my uncles about football and basketball. I think that’s the one thing First Take and Get Up allowed me to do was to talk more than just football. I never wanted to be pigeonholed into not thinking that this is just a football guy and that’s the only thing he does.

“Football is my passion. It’s what I love,” Spears continued. “It’s something that I have my 10,000 hours in. I understand the game. I have a ton of respect for the game. I have a lot of relationships in the game. I played basketball growing up, was very highly-recruited, so I understand that game on some fairly high levels as well.” 

When Spears is on First Take with Stephen A Smith, he told Pasch it reminds him of the debates that he has had with his family in the past and those arguments helped prepare him for facing off with Smith about the hot topics in sports: 

“Being on First Take with Stephen A just reminds me of what I did with my dad, uncles, family members, and best friends. It’s a debate show like we like to call it because we are politically correct, but it’s really just an argument show. To get your opinion across, you argue. When I was arguing or debating with my uncles and with my dad, obviously they didn’t think I knew anything about what I was talking about, but it got me ready for that arena.

“I think it really starts with respect knowing that you are entering his domain. But, Stephen A knows that I’m not afraid to go toe-to-toe and touch every topic. When we disagree, we disagree.”

One of the reasons Spears respects Smith is that he enjoys the fact that Smith will defer to the athlete he is debating with for their knowledge rather than trying to prove he knows more about the game than they do: 

“If you watch Stephen A , he defers a lot to your expertise whether you are a former NBA or NFL player. I think he never tries to go toe-to-toe with football acumen when it comes from actual experience. He goes at it from a reporter standpoint and I say a lot of times, even from a fan standpoint because Stephen A, whether you love him or hate him, he does give a perspective of a sportswriter and also a fan. We can grill him about how bad the Knicks have been….Ultimately, when you watch when I’m on or Ryan Clark’s on or Dan Orlovsky, he defers to your football knowledge as a former player. That’s not a knock, but we respect him for that.” 

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Dan Le Batard: ‘Does Sports Media Care if Interviews Are Done Well?’

“An exclusive interview with Ja Morant, who hasn’t talked to anybody after his controversy, is going to get eyeballs, so it doesn’t matter how good it actually is.”

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Mike Greenberg had praise for Jalen Rose this week. He said that no one but his ESPN colleague could have handled the interview with Ja Morant that has been airing on the network. Dan Le Batard has the exact opposite opinion of what he saw.

“What I saw was soft and didn’t seem to serve anybody except ESPN,” Le Batard said on his Thursday show. “This seems to be a lot of people around the economy of basketball and Ja Morant orchestrating an interview so Ja Morant can move onto the next stage of his branding.”

Whereas Greenberg thought the shared experience of an NBA career made Rose more likely to get answers from Morant, Le Batard said it created a problem. He accused Rose of letting Morant get away with using “talking points” in lieu of answering any actual questions about the string of erratic behavior and disturbing incidents the Memphis Grizzlies star has been involved with.

It wasn’t the only interview that Dan Le Batard pointed to. He noted that Pat McAfee’s interview with Aaron Rodgers may have drawn an audience of nearly half a million, but very little substance was offered.

“Does anybody in the audience, in sports fandom, or even, at this point, in sports media companies, care in a real and legitimate way whether the interview is done well or not?”

He added that the standard has changed for these interviews because the goal has changed. They are no longer about journalism as much as they are about branding, particularly in the case of ESPN’s exclusive interview with Ja Morant.

“An exclusive interview with Ja Morant, who hasn’t talked to anybody after his controversy, is going to get eyeballs, so it doesn’t matter how good it actually is,” Le Batard concluded. “All you need, if you’re the media partner, is please get me the famous guy to sit down.”

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Jomboy, Aaron Boone Partner For Weekly Podcast Appearance

“I thought it was a really interesting opportunity, and a cool idea. These guys have been innovators in this business and they’ve built a massive, young following.”

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It isn’t unusual for a professional sports team to partner with a local radio station for weekly interviews with team personnel. Even though Jomboy Media is a digital outlet, it didn’t stop the company from inking a deal to have Yankees manager Aaron Boone on one of its signature podcasts.

In a move announced Thursday, Jomboy Media has signed a deal for Boone to appear on its popular Talkin’ Yanks podcast — hosted by founder Jimmy O’Brien and Jake Storiale — once a week throughout the baseball season.

“I thought it was a really interesting opportunity, and a cool idea. These guys have been innovators in this business and they’ve built a massive, young following,” Boone told The New York Post. “I think Jimmy and Jake are both really good guys. And they’re passionate about what they do, and they love the Yankees. And, sometimes they’re a little misguided and it’s my chance to set the record straight every now and then.”

Previously, Boone had a weekly spot on 98.7 ESPN New York’s The Michael Kay Show, which reportedly paid him six figures.

“It’s going to be really fun and it kind of goes with the changing landscape of media,” O’Brien said. “The fact that two fans can create a show and in five years get to the point where they get to ask questions to the manager of the Yankees and bring whatever insight we can get out of that to our audience — it is pretty wild, a little surreal.”

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Sports Media Reacts to Aaron Rodgers Telling Adam Schefter ‘Lose My Number’

“Here are some of the best responses from Schefter’s sports media colleagues to the tweet.”

Jordan Bondurant

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Quarterback Aaron Rodgers appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday and revealed that if he gets his way, his time with the Green Bay Packers is done. He intends to play for the New York Jets in 2023.

Rodgers told McAfee that the hang-up lies with Green Bay, which is trying to determine the appropriate compensation for trading for a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Rodgers also revealed that he had an interaction with ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter. Schefter, who was obviously digging as much as he could to get the scoop on what was going on with Rodgers’ future, texted Rodgers trying to confirm the information he had.

“I didn’t respond to Dianna Russini I think her name is,” Rodgers said. “But I would say the same thing that I told Schefty. Lose my number. Nice try.”

Upon hearing Rodgers’ account, Schefter followed up with a screenshot of Rodgers responding exactly how he said, and that sent social media into a whirlwind.

Here are some of the best responses from Schefter’s sports media colleagues to the tweet:

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