While engaging in their banter of varying degrees of entertainment, sports utility, and truthfulness in some cases, On a segment with fellow LeSpychophant Brian Windhordst and Stephen A. Smith , JJ Redick was doing his job of carrying the water for LeBron James but decided to slight Smith and his basketball acuity by taking a cheap shot at his alma mater, HBCU Winston Salem State University.
For those who may be unaware, Smith played basketball at WSSU under legendary coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines, but his athletic career was derailed by a knee injury.
Since Reddick began appearing on First Take several months ago, there have been many people who have enjoyed the back-and-forth he has engaged in with Smith, however this exchange crosses the line and the latest example of Reddick’s verbal refuse. His comments reeks of elitism and is reminscent of a take SWS sports analyst Doug Gottlieb’s view on HBCU which he spewed when Travis Hunter chose Jackson State over Florida State. Reddick’s comment that Smith doesn’t understand athletic mortality is demonstrably false because Smith’s athletic career was adversely affected by a knee injury. What is clear is that if Stephen A. Smith attended Masters College or Florida Gulf Coast, Reddick would not have taken a swipe at those institutions. There were some who singing Reddick praises, citing his alleged stringent defense of Ja Morant and to these people I would caution them to better be able to see what is right in front of their faces. The Ja Morant portion was the least empassioned portion of his monologue and was just a setup for what he really wanted to say. If you will recall that the anger and the slamming of the hands on the table didn’t happen until he talked about politicians and gun control, two topics that had nothing to do with Morant.
Redick has apologized but in the words of the great philosopher Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, he can take that apology, turn that sumbitch sideways and stick it straight up his candy ass.
