OXFORD – Famed ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith will be in attendance at No. 17 Ole Miss’ key matchup against No. 7 LSU tonight at SJB Pavilion, Ole Miss announced Wednesday morning. Smith, who hosts “First Take” and “The Stephen A. Smith Show” as well as serving as a commentator on various sports, confirmed his trip to Oxford during “First Take” Wednesday morning.
“As you know, I talked some mess about Ole Miss,” Smith said. “ … And there were folks that dared me to come down there. And I promised them that I would. So I am showing up tomorrow night. I will be in Oxford, Mississippi.”
When former Ole Miss football head coach Lane Kiffin was in the midst of weighing potential coaching options – he ultimately chose LSU as his next stop – Smith referenced on “First Take” that Black athletes might not opt to choose Ole Miss in recruiting battles.
“I’m (gonna) bring it home, all right? He’s in Oxford, Mississippi. OK? Let’s get this out (of) the way. … You all can’t say it … The brothers ain’t trying to come to Oxford, Mississippi for the most part, compared to Gainesville or Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Let’s just call it what it is.
“ … I’m not saying that you don’t have Black players and stuff like the other team, of course you do. … But I’m just talking about, from a recruiting standpoint, in terms of longevity, establishing a sustained level of success for many, many years to come, when you (are) going up against Alabama, when you’re going up against Georgia, when you’re going up against teams like that. Ole Miss? I don’t have that kind of faith.”
College sports analyst Paul Finebaum, who was on “First Take” with Smith when he made the comments, offered a response during “The Paul Finebaum Show,” saying that the use of historical views of Mississippi in the present day was unfair.
“I realize a lot of you did not see what Stephen A. said, but he clearly made it racial,” Finebaum said. “He clearly said, in his words, that ‘the brothers’ do not want to go to Oxford, Mississippi, which has I think been proven to be completely incorrect. I’ve been to Oxford a million times, and I think it’s terribly unfair to bring up echoes of yesteryear, of the 60’s, and try to portray Oxford as that type of place today. It’s not. The South has changed. … To dump on Oxford while saying that Gainesville and Baton Rouge would be utopia was just baffling to me.”
Ole Miss women’s basketball coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin also took exception to Smith’s comments, and the two had a conversation on the “The Stephen A. Smith Show” in January. At the end of the segment, Smith told McPhee-McCuin he would come to a game when his schedule permitted. He referenced the previous agreement between the two on Wednesday’s “First Take”, saying he “promised (McPhee-
McCuin) I would be there. I’m showing up.”
“This place is full of love, support,” McPhee-McCuin said “My family, we love it here. So, when you said, ‘The brothers don’t want to come to Oxford, Mississippi’ I’m looking around like … ‘I’m a sister. There’s a lot of melanin on my team. There’s a lot of melanin in this department from top to bottom. … We do understand what the reputation is (in Mississippi), but at the same time, people come here and they fall in love, just like I did. And so, we were offended. … You didn’t say, ‘Lane left because of personal situations.’ You said he left because it was an easier job. And … I don’t know if I can agree with that.”
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