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ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith joined the Jeff Garcia pile-on Friday, which started after Garcia publicly questioned Smith’s colleague Mina Kimes.
Kimes criticized Jimmy Garoppolo’s efficiency towards the Green Bay Packers final weekend, though his workforce in the end received and superior to the NFC Championship Game.
“Garoppolo is the definition of being part of a group project that gets an A, while doing none of the work,” Kimes mentioned.
Jeff Garcia, a former 49ers quarterback, responded by saying Kimes doesn’t perceive soccer as a result of she has by no means performed the sport.
Kimes’ colleagues and the social media mob didn’t like that, and lots of wokes then attacked Garcia on Twitter. Smith, in the meantime, waited for First Take to share his opinion on the topic.
“Jeff Garcia – what he said about Mina Kimes was just ridiculous, and quite frankly, sexist,” Smith mentioned on First Take. “I’ve never played football. There’s [sic] plenty of men that are on television that are talking about sports that have never played football…but you’re going to point the finger at her — who I believe does a sensational job, and I’m very proud to have her as a part of First Take.”
Like accusations of racism, claims of sexism typically cowl for a claimant’s personal sense of disgrace. This time isn’t any totally different. If anybody has a historical past of creating sexist remarks in sports activities, it’s Stephen A. Smith.
In 2015, Smith accused feminine soccer gamers of taking part in poorly within the Women’s World Cup as a result of they didn’t need “to mess their hair.”
Last yr, Smith additionally mentioned he doesn’t assume girls ought to compete within the UFC. “I don’t want to see women fighting in the Octagon and stuff like that, but that’s just me,” he mentioned.
And Smith was particularly controversial when he waded into the difficulty of home violence and accused some girls of “provoking” males into hitting them.
“What I’ve tried to implore the female members of my family to do, is let’s make sure we don’t do anything to provoke wrong actions. Let’s try to make sure we do our part in making sure that doesn’t happen,” he defined again in 2014. ESPN later suspended him.
Look, we all know Smith is a hypocrite. He calls gamers unhealthy teammates, however he then turns round and works for years to have his former co-host, Max Kellerman, demoted. So him pointing fingers about sexism is hardly stunning.
Smith says there are many males who didn’t play soccer who discuss it. Well, kind of. The male pundits who by no means performed soccer are both hosts or hot-take shock-jocks. They aren’t NFL analysts like Mina Kimes is.
In reality, Kimes is the one NFL analyst at ESPN who isn’t a former NFL participant. Dan Orlovsky, Marcus Spears, Keyshawn Johnson and Ryan Clark all performed within the NFL at one time or one other. These NFL analysts at ESPN are paid to come back on the recreation — break down movie, focus on Xs and Os — as an skilled. That’s quite a bit simpler for former gamers to do than it’s for somebody who merely research the sport.
As we argued Thursday, Garcia’s feedback aren’t sexist. Garcia believes that individuals who have by no means performed soccer at a excessive degree mustn’t opine about those that have as an skilled. That doesn’t imply girls. It means all individuals who haven’t performed skilled soccer.
Stephen A., which means you too.
In shielding Mina Kimes from all types of criticism, her fellow sports activities media pundits show that they’re the sexists, not Garcia. They imagine that Kimes, as a girl, is incapable of dealing with even the mildest criticism.
Garcia by no means mentioned Kimes was mushy. But Stephen A. Smith, along with his historical past, most likely thinks she’s weak and anxious about her hair.
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