A Moment with Stephen A - January 13th, Hour 2

Stephen A. Smith, joins to talk about his new book, Straight Shooter - A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes out next Tuesday. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our two Sean Hannity's show toll Free. It's eight hundred
and nine four one Sean. If you want to be
a part of the program on this Friday, We're gonna
take a little, a little break, much needed break from
everything that's going on with top secret, classified information, hypocrisy,
medium mob insanity, and we're going to talk to our friend.
It's an honor, it's a privilege. It's a pleasure to

(00:20):
have in studio somebody who's a really genuine, genuinely a
great friend of mine, somebody I have enormous respect for,
but we are friends. He's taken a lot of crap
for that, more than I've had to take for being
his friend. I don't know why Stephen A. Smith is
with us. Uh. You got your new book out. It's
called straight Shooter. Yeah, a memoir of second chances and

(00:44):
first takes. And by the way, I want everyone to know,
it's available on Amazon dot com, Hannity dot com, bookstores everywhere.
And now, before I get into this book shocked me
and I read it cover to cover, and I'm I
don't get shocked often. My first question is when did
we first get to know each other? Because I don't remember.
I'm trying to think, listen. Um. During two thousand and

(01:07):
nine when ESPN let me go, Um, I was doing
I was on the circuit, you know, Fox and the SNBCC,
and I was all over the place, and I was
doing interviews because I was thinking about a career that
expanded beyond the world of sports. And you know, I
used to be on ABC Radio and stuff like that.
And then you had me on and you defended you. Yes,

(01:28):
you did, well, you did that. That is true. You
absolutely defended me with some of the controversies that I
had been involved in the years that followed. But at
that particular moment of time, i go on the air
with you, and I'm going back and forth with you
about my opinions. What you like. Wait a minute, this
guy's not off his rocket some left wing zella or whatever.
And you found out that, Listen, I'm I'm an independent. Yeah,

(01:49):
I've got some left wing views about things, and I've
got some things and I'm conservative about and so all
of a sudden we could have a discussion and it
was an agreed to disagree kind of relationship without there
being any kind of animosity. And from that point forward,
we've always kept in touch, we've always communicated, and you've
always invited me on your shows. And here's here's the
thing that shocked me about the book, and where I
don't get shocked that often. I we never had that

(02:13):
time to sit as friends and talk about life. And
I read this book. I will tell you I teared
up another number of times. I had no idea about
how how hard your life was when you were young,
the adversity that you had faced, the challenges you had
to overcome, and now I admire you that much more

(02:34):
for it. Let me let me give an example for
in this book, because I read that you had left
been left back twice. Yes, in fourth grade, third grade,
I got left back. What happened? I got left back
in third grade that June, I went to summer school,
and then I got promoted to the fourth grade. And
then after I went I completed the fourth grade. I

(02:54):
got left back again, and this time held back for
the entire fourth grade year. Right, Okay, Now this is
where it gets really harry for me, and that is
that you hear it over here a conversation between your
mother and your father, and that conversation is your dad
pretty much dismisses you is dumb and stupid, and get
over it. This is just the way it's gonna be.

(03:15):
And then your mom heard it and realized that you
had heard it. She was talking to him in the kitchen,
and we had a backporch just a few feet away.
The door was closed, but the window was open, and
I was sitting on the back porch crying because the
kids in the neighborhood were all laughing at me because
they found out I got left back and I was
the only one on the block that got left back,

(03:36):
and so I was pretty embarrassed. And I went to
the back porch and while I was sitting back there sobbing,
my mother didn't know I was back there. My father
didn't know I was back there, and they were in
the kitchen just a few feet behind me with the
door shot. Obviously they didn't see me. And my father
looked at up and he was like, he just ain't smart.
Just get over it. You just got to accept it.
That's you don't have it. Just just live with that.

(03:57):
I mean, that's devastating. It was that emotionally devastating. You
start the book out in your introduction talking about the
day your mom dies and talk about that day and
the difference between your mom and dad in terms of
the impact in your life and your dad. You actually
ended that introduction by saying, because of him, I've never

(04:17):
taken more than three drinks in a week in my life.
I've never smoked or done drugs, including marijuana what are
referred to on my show as the weedy I never married,
partly because I'm usually on the road for well over
half the year, but mainly because I never wanted to
dishonor my marital vows just placed into your dad. So

(04:38):
talk about the day your mom dies in your relationship
with your dad. My mother died June one, twenty seventeen.
It was opening game for Golden State Cleveland Cavaliers that series,
and me to this day is the most devastating thing
that ever happened to me. My mother was my everything.

(04:58):
We were very very close, very ti and because of
the relationship that I had with my father, because of
the kind of man that he was, it put in
an ordinate amount of responsibilities on her shoulders and the
resentment that I had. You know, with my sisters, the
difference between us is that they looked at his infidelity
and a womanizing us stuff like that. My biggest thing

(05:21):
was he didn't pay bills and he left the onus,
that responsibility on the shoulders of my mother. So my
mother would work sixteen hours a day, seven days a week.
She'd work at Queen's General Hospital, and then go from
Queens General Hospital right over the Endtigrant Central Parkway, right
down the road to a nursing home and she'd work
from seven am to eleven pm, seven nights a week

(05:41):
for twenty straight years, with one week's vacation. And to me,
we had to do She had to do that because
of what he didn't do. And so for me to
get to a point where my career was ascending and
I was able to do things for her that I
never would have dreamed that I would have been able
to do, and for her to have her life cut
short after a lengthy battle with cancer. It was seven years,

(06:04):
seven years, seven year battle with cancer. And then I
had been at the house that night, My sisters were
around or whatever, and we just thought that we knew
she was transitioned into some degree, but we thought, you
know what, she divided whatever. So I went home to
go get some sleep, knowing I was gonna come back
in the morning, and I live about forty five minutes away.
And I pulled into my driveway at my sister, come
and get back here, now, that's all she said. And
I didn't even park, I didn't even change. I just

(06:27):
turned right back around and I drove home. And by
that time she was gone. And I saw my sister
Abigail spooning and hugging her, and I just saw her
that laying the emotionless, and I just collapsed on the
bed and I crumbled, and I don't even remember how
long I cried. And I remember that for the next year,
the year and a half, there wasn't a day that
I didn't cry. And I was just devastated. All the
time going TV. I remember one time you interviewed me

(06:50):
about something everybody and I was very good at being
in the moment and handling my business. But the second
I got alone, all I could think about was her. Misery.
Just couldn't I just couldn't get out of my head,
seeing her motionless and knowing that she was going. What
didn't make sense to me is that your mom wanted
your dad next to her. Yes, And he spent most

(07:13):
of this night where she's passing, watching I believe the
Golden State Warriors against somebody, Yes, and barely going up
there and even saying holding her hand. Correct, Yeah, that
was that was him. I'm quite sure in his own
way he believed he loved my mother dearly, but the
selfishness never escaped him. In my estimation, it was difficult

(07:33):
for me to say, because it's not like I didn't
love my dad. I wish he was better. But the
damage that his inactions, the damage that his irresponsible behavior
caused the family, especially her, was really something that resonated
with me. And you know from the night that she
passed away. I mean it was even the time before that.
It was a couple of months before she passed. My

(07:55):
sisters in our huddle and we look at him and
we sent him down. He's like, she needs you by
Hassai and he said, you know West Indian accs and
stuff like that. All of you don't know your mother
the way. That's right. He's from Saint Thomas. You know,
my mother and father were from Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands.
He was really from Antigua, but they lived they was born.
She was born in Saint Thomas. They were both raised
in the Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands. All my relatives are

(08:16):
from the West Indies, and he said, all of you
don't know your mother the way that I do. He said,
she's not sick, it's all in act. And I looked
at him and I got in his face and I said,
what the F did you just say? I said, she's sick,
she's dying. And he looked me dead in my face.
He said, I got it, I understand. And I said,
what do you mean you got it? Your daughters all
for your daughters a city right here. They just told you.

(08:38):
They just told you. And he said, they're not you,
they're women. So he wouldn't listen to my sisters say
the same thing that I said, because they were women.
And you know, it's just it's just an example of
the many, many things that you know, I had to
deal with and growing up, because on one hand, you
got this man that you want to respect you and
you want to love you, and you want his approval.
But on the other hand, I'm a young man who

(09:01):
dearly loves my mother, my four oldest sisters, than I
have these five women who are strong willed black women
who raised me to be who I am, who deserve
all the credit in the world for what I've been
able to achieve and accomplish in my life. I want
to explain that in a minute, because there's a story
behind that. But over hearing that conversation what your dad said,
the exact words were, he's just not that smart. He'll

(09:24):
never succeed. Just accept that, Yes, I believe. In the
next day, you wrote about how your mom took you
to see the movie Grease, something she'd never do. That
to me was pretty hard to hear. It was hard
for me to read that. The way it read it was,
I thought you got back left back twice in the
fourth grade, but it was third grade. Then you went
to summer school. But then you got left back in

(09:46):
the fourth grade and held back in it had to
repeat the fourth grade. And then there was this guy
I don't remember his name that you talk about in
the book that brought you and your mom into school. Yeah,
and started telling your mom. Now you had figured out
at some point they didn't have the word for it
at the time. You were dyslexic. Okay, so and that's
what we know, that's real. Yeah, they didn't know it.

(10:08):
Then correct they didn't have that name that correct, But
this this school principal, person, teacher, whatever it was, mister Caravan. Okay,
he brings your mom in and says, uh, this kid's
smart as hell. I said, he gets bored easily if
he's not interested in that topic. He's not interested. Find
something he's interested in and watch what happens. He will

(10:30):
be a start out a direct quote quote. You definitely
did read the book. I read the book. That's exactly
what he said, and how right he was. It was.
It was life changing because he was a teacher that
had the power to fail me or past me or whatever.
And he set my mother down and he said, he drifts,
he said, when he's bored, he doesn't hear you say.
People think he doesn't comprehend. No, he never heard you

(10:53):
because he's not listening. It went in one hand out
the other. He can't tell you what you said because
he paid no attention to it, he said, because that's
how he gets he said, But when you find something
that he's interested in, make no mistake. And here's the
interesting part. I was interested in two things. I was
interested in sports and I was interested in politics, but
not as a politician. I love the issues. I loved

(11:14):
watching debates. I love to watch. Whether it was meryoral figures,
it was goodtorial figures, it was text me and give
me so much, or your bass all the time. It's
not bus it's I'm usually right showing I'm usually right
to just tell the world I'm usually right. But it's okay.
Then there was a moment where, man, this is rough stuff,
where yeah, I guess your sisters were giving you a

(11:36):
hard time and you were you were the accident. Yeah,
they were just played around. They please you know, because
I'm the youngest six. My older sister, Linda is ten
years older than me. My sister Allen is eight years
older than me. My brother, my late brother that died
in the carcad in the nineteen ninety two, he was
nine years old than me. So he had Linda at ten,
Basil at nine, all In at eight. My sister Abigail
was six years old. It's six years older than me,

(11:57):
and Carmon is four, so four year years separated me
from common. So they used to be like, you know
what you're you weren't attention to you, you were an accident,
blah blah blah. My mother said, oh, you shut up.
He was the only one who was on purpose when
they figured out that this was a reading your shoe
and it just didn't have the name dyslection. Then a

(12:20):
number of people, including your sisters, I believe, in your life,
they made it their business to get you up to
speed terms of reading. Primarily my oldest sister Linda. Linda
was brilliant valedictorian in school um, and she was somebody
that would sit me down and and literally taught me
how to read. And then on the side, when i'd

(12:41):
go for my friend Ronnie Robertson's house, who lived right
around the corner from me, His older brother Tiver was
also very brilliant, and they would they wouldn't collaborate with
one another, but separately they both worked on me overcoming
my reading comprehension impediment. And that was when I was
able to really really take things to any And then

(13:01):
you starting radio, yes, and you make your way into television.
By the way, I made more than you were. My
first job, you made fifteen grand I made nineteen. Yes,
that was the newspaper, though for me fifteen thousand and
one was the first one degree. And then you went
to the Philly Inquirer. Philly Inquirer was after the New
York Daily News as a high school reporter for fourteen months. Uh,

(13:22):
and then you had your first stint on TV and
then then very well and you went two years being
off TV. Well, that was ESPN in two thousand and nine.
I mean I started off in television at CNNSI in
nineteen ninety nine. I went to Fox Sports in two
thousand and one. I ended up at ESPN in two
thousand and three, and in two thousand and nine, ESPN
decided to let me go over a contract dispute. And

(13:43):
so after when you know when that happened, Um, you know,
I was. I was out of a job from that
that May to that February. And then after that, um,
I came back on and I was doing radio, and
then I did radio for a year for Fox Sports Radio,
and then they brought me back to ESPN radio, but

(14:04):
they prohibited me from being on television. But that changed.
We'll pick it up, We'll pick up the story from there.
Stephen A. Smith as well, what an incredible I mean,
he's starting at with a deficit. That's you know, your
own father thinks you aren't gonna make it. You're not smart,
You're stupid, just accept it. And now one of the
biggest stars in all of sports radio and television. He's

(14:26):
now out with his own memoir, A Straight Shooter, A
Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes. It's a phenomenal book.
It'll bring tears to your eyes, and it'll make you
cheer for this guy more and more as you get
to know and see what he went through and how
he's been able to turn his life into this great success.
There's a lot for everybody to learn, including yours. Truly,

(14:47):
I've learned a lot in this book. All Right, we
continue our buddy Stephen A. Smith in studio with us today.
Straight Shooter, A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes.
You can get it at Amazon dot com, a first
print edition, Hannity dot Com, bookstores everywhere. Don't you have
signed copies on premier Yes, you know what so, I
can't believe it's Straight shooterbook dot Com. But I cannot

(15:07):
believe I still have my right arm I signed personally
signed twenty five thousand signatures. I got your beat. I
did eighty you did eighty thousand. Wow. Straight Shooter of
Books dot com. I think I think that I would
hide from Simon the shoes if they can't, you could
question did I not do eighty? Yes, your own person

(15:29):
is Oh my lord, we love dearly. All right, quick
break right back more with Stephen A. H and an
incredible life story on the other side. If you missed
any of Sean Show Today, catch up tonight on demand
at seven ten wore dot com slash podcast, Sean Hannity

(15:49):
talks to the people involved in the top stories of
the day every day. Sean Hannity is on all Right
twenty five to the top of the hour. Steve A. Smith.
In just a second, I want to remind you are
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As always, Stephen A. Smith really doesn't need an introduction.
Uh we His new book is out Straight Shooter, a
memoir Second Chances and First Takes. You told another story,

(17:18):
So we go through this whole evolution in your life. Man,
you have such a painful childhood. What admiration I have
for your mom? We've talked about we have similar moms.
My mom was a prison guardwork in sixteen hours a day,
seven days a week, just like yours. Um, I didn't
have the stress that you had with your father. And
that's tough, and that really was those words that you

(17:38):
heard were brutal. But you overcome this, you find sports
as a passion. You start looking. I think you mentioned
names like Brian Gumbelum and you met Brent Musburger. I
think you mentioned Howard Howard speaking Mum, I love Howard, Cosellwood,
Muhammad aldis. No, there's no better, nothing better. And then

(18:03):
you run into a situation. You're you're playing basketball yourself
in Winston Salem, yes, okay, and you have a coach
claiming his big house games like like a second father
to the year legend. Okay, something happens to the coach
with his health. Yeah, I could not believe what I read.
I could not believe you did this. He has some

(18:26):
health issues. I don't know what it specifically was. I
thought it was mild strokes. Somebody said it could have
been cerebro POLSI I don't know what it was. But
sometimes he would show up the practice and games with
a patch over his eye and he would you know,
he would lose conscious. To somebody to be like semi
conscious at at particular moment at a time. So I
was a member of the basketball team. I writing for
the school newspaper, and I said, I always would sit

(18:49):
in this office and talk with him. I loved him daily,
always will, and you know I would talk to him
and I said, coach, you need to retire. You're not healthy.
And we got into a little argument about it. He said,
I don't give a damn what you say. Shut the
f up and get the hell out of my office
right now. I said, coach, I'm dead serious. I'm not
gonna watch you collapse on the sidelines and stuff like that.

(19:11):
You got a long life ahead of you. Add something here.
You really had a genuine fear he would die. Yes, yes,
I did. A lot of us did on the team.
We didn't know. It wasn't educated. We just looked went
by what we were seeing from him. And so I
said to him, right for the school newspaper, I said,
I'm going to write a story that you need to retire.
And he said to me, you know, I don't give

(19:32):
a what you right, you get the hell out of
my office. Or I said, okay, I said, you got
a problem with that. He said, do what you want
to do. And I went and I wrote the story
about how he needed to retire, and so so many
people would take giving me heat about it. Oh my lord,
you got You got teammates that were praying that all
and lose my scholarship. You had coaches that wanted me going.
The chancellor of the school. He later denied that he

(19:53):
had any recall of it whatsoever, but he wanted to
be going or whatever. And folks showed up to his
office one day and Coach Gaines said, leave alone. He said,
he looked me in my face, told me what he
felt and why, and he got my perspective. And then
he went and he wrote it, he wants to be
a journalist, this is what comes with it. Leave him alone.

(20:14):
What was the net result, Well, I stayed on scholarship
and we just moved forward. And then ultimately a few
years later, he was pushed out by some alumni members
who I'm still salty with because I thought they were
very shady and how they went about dealing with him.
They didn't deal with him on the up and up,
and considering what he had meant to that institution being

(20:36):
here for over forty five years, winning a national championship,
being a perennial powerhouse, the black men that he had
brought to HBCUs and a contribution that he had made
to so many of our lives because it wasn't just
about the sports. You could be a great athlete, that
the great, great player, but Coach Gaines was the kind
of person if that is all you were about, he
did not want to talk to you outside of the
basketball court. You had to be about something more than that.

(20:58):
And when in my case, I wasn't great on a
basketball court, plus I was perpetually injured, but he looked
at the contribution he thought that I would have off
the court, and that's why he talked to me all
the time and he embraced me. Let's go back to
the teacher. The first identified you had this gift, this
brilliant so, this passion, and that you in fact were
smart as hell, smarter than anybody knew, and that you

(21:19):
would be a star. Because it's interesting, and I talk
a lot about this on the program, and for some
people that's a little repetitive, but you know, I studied
Latin in high school. The Latin derivative for education is
to bring forth from within and what this man was
identifying to you and your mother is what he saw
in you a gift God gave you, which is like me,

(21:41):
you have a big mouth, but you have a passion. Well,
I have a passion. I got behind the radio microphone.
That was it, game over, checkmate. That's all I wanted
to do. Period. I was done. There was nothing else
I was going to pursue. So you found it in sports,
and once you entifighted it, it was like a rocket ship.

(22:02):
It was a rocket ship because what happened is is
that he was a social studies teacher and he would
see how my interest, my fervor, and my knowledge would
seem elevated with certain subjects compared to others. So he
was like, you're interested in this, why is it this way?

(22:22):
And I like this bores me. And he figured out
that my you know, whatever level of excellence I put
forth was contingent on what I was passionate about. And
so when he said that to my mother, it was like, wow, Okay,
now I took that. Well, I'm passionate about sports. Then
I coupled that with the insults that still resonated with

(22:44):
me coming from my father. So all of a sudden
he was a Yankee fan. Now I'm watching baseball, and
I know base mention, Greg Nettles, Chris Chambliss, and Ron Gidrey,
Goose Gossage and all of these guys. So I'm studying
and I'm watching a game, and all of a sudden,
before long, my father's like, what the hell is going
on here? He ain't as dumb as I thought he was.

(23:06):
This dude is telling me about what's going on in sports.
He described, Your father would sit there. Why did he
throw a Why did he throw a fastball? Should have
thrown a slider? Why did that idiot swinging this pit?
Why did that third base coach wave the run of home?
Which that great in him more than anything he could.
Because this whole point is, you ain't the manager. You
got one job, right, How is it that you can't

(23:26):
do that one job keep this dude from getting thrown
out at home? How could you mess that up? So
my father was real big on those things, and he
was passionate about it. Well, in order to sit up
there and debate with him or exceed his level of knowledge,
I had to really study the game. And so I
used to watch these games and watch him over and
over and over again, and it got to a point

(23:48):
where I knew what everybody's job description was, and that's
how I mastered the sports. So when he would come
back and say this picture made that mistake, I said, no,
Dad actually didn't make that mistake. That particular hit that
he was throwing the ball against. He always susceptible to
the slider. That's why he threw the slider. The mistake
that he made was throwing the fastball because he was
waiting for that pitch. That's and my father, what the
hell is going on here? He said, well, why the

(24:09):
hell that this guy can't He can't even hit a
single bowl. Dad. He always swings and he always pulls
the ball. So what they do is they take the
second basement in the shortstop and they lean him over
to the left because they know he's gonna pull the
ball at all times. If he just lays off of
it a little bit, it'll get him side, it'll go
to the other side. And he sort of he was like,
what the hell is going on? I can't believe this,
And he would tell my mother, I can't believe what's

(24:30):
going on here. One more story about your mom to
her obviously passing away. Is when you got fired. She
kicked your ass, Yeah she did. She put you in
your place. Yeah. By the way, I wish I knew.
She sounds so much like my mother. I love it.
Jennifer's not even listening. You should be listening, Jennifer. I
believe it a lot. She didn't know you that well,
but she would have loved the relationship that you and

(24:54):
I have because my mother. This is the thing, and
this is what I try to tell a lot of
folks about a lot of African Americans, a lot of
black people in this country. You might have a lot
of people voting Democrat. That is not what goes on
in our home. Our homes are very, very conservative. My
mother want to hear about your rights. Yeah, you gotta
write the chef the hell up and do what the
hell I tell you to do, or your father's gonna

(25:15):
whip your behind. That's where you ain't got the rights here.
You get rights when you get grown. This is what
we're gonna do. Yeah, we're gonna budget now, We're not
gonna just spend Excuse me, what do you mean spend? Spencer?
You have the money, is what's going on here. My
mother was a stickler for all of those things. You know,
you got gay rights, transgender, all of this other stuff. No,
my mother's household, she want to hear none of that.
It's my household. Boy, that was going out on the streets,

(25:36):
going out on the streets. But in this household, we're
a Christian household. Okay, this is the way I might
be episcopalian. I'll allow you to be non denomination too,
but that's about the level of flexibility that we're gonna
have in this house. Get the hell over. It isn't
the way it was gonna be. My mother didn't play.
She didn't play at all. There was no compromise. And
so my mother was that of that ill because she

(25:56):
was that type of person. So when I got let
go by ESPN, I come home and I'm laying down
in my bunk bed where I grew up. And my
mother was always good about she one of my I know,
she knows. I loved my toasted bagels with a little
extra butter and some scrambled eggs, and my hot tea
with milk and sugar and stuff like that. Oh man,
that's what I loved. Little Teddy Bear too. She did
not but she didn't have to. That was my teddy bear,

(26:18):
that food. Right. So I'm in now in this one
particular day, as I write in the book, it's a tray.
It's a tray of the food and the tea and
some orange juice, and on there's a handheld mirror. And
I was like, what is this? And she said, I'm
wondering when you're gonna take a moment to look at yourself.
It's real easy to point the finger at what they did,
or what about what you did? And then she went

(26:39):
in on me about times that she overheard me on
the phone and I was being cynical about the bosses.
I was being cynical about decisions that was made. I
would push back and argue a little bit too much.
I was never in supported or disrespectful, but I was.
I made life a bit uncomfortable. And she was like,
you're not a Boston You don't like people telling you

(26:59):
what to do and talking to you like that. She
was like, why should they want you if you're going
to cause them that kind of headache? When are you
going to look at yourself? And that's what she said
to me as he walked out the room. Is nothing
not gonna say quick break more with Stephen A. Smith.
On the other side, Straight Shooter, a memoir of second
chances in first Takes. It's on Amazon dot com. We

(27:19):
have a big link on Hannity dot com and by
the way, Straight Shooter book dot com if you want
an autograph copy. Want to remind you this is the
gift of all gifts. I wish I'd thought of this company.
It's called Legacy Box. We have a special website set
up for you. It's Legacy Box dot com slash Hannity.
It's very, very simple. If you take a few moments,
you go up in the attict, you go in the garage,

(27:42):
you go on your closet, you go in your basement.
You find all family photos you can find. You find videotapes,
you find cam quarter tapes, you might even have film reels.
And our friends at Legacy Box, you pour it right
into the box, they take it, they digitally preserve it
in perpetuity. It's a great gift for your entire family.
You get the originals back and then think about this,

(28:03):
many many generations from now. Your great great great great
great great great great grandchildren will know what you look like.
I would love to know my great great great great
great grandparents. Look like anyway you're gonna love Legacy Box
for your whole family. Just go to their website Legacy
Box dot com. Slash Hannity take advantage of this exclusive offer.
Even stephen A. Smith is gonna do it. We'll continue

(28:23):
on the other side up Neck Star Final round up
and information Overload. Our Stephen A. Smith is with us.
His new book is out man. This is a great book,
Straight Shooter, a memoir of second chances and first takes.

(28:46):
By the way Amazon dot com, Hannity dot com. If
you want an autograph copy, it's Straight Shooter book dot com.
It's not simple. You know, my son is your biggest fan,
although he can't stand it when you're going down on his.
Dallas Cowboys down a lot more in the days and
weeks to come, because they had a game Monday night
against Tampa Bay. But I want to see listen. I

(29:08):
like Tom Brady. That story never ends for me. I
always cheer for him. But I also like I'm a
Dak fan. Also, I think he's I think his time
is now and hopefully this year we'll see who he does.
So we could talk about all that but that's not
why I wanted this interview. After read, I thought this
interview was gonna be about all these wonderful people that

(29:29):
you know and and you know work with an interview
and talk to and and your life and career a
little bit. But this isn't really what that book is about.
To me. The book is really about you and about
how you were able to overcome all of that to
become this huge star. Everybody knows who you are. Everybody

(29:49):
And it was funny you mentioned at one point in
the book you might you hosted for Jimmy Kimmel. Is
late Night in my future? Yeah, and don't ask me
to be on your show because the answers no, please,
you'll come on if I watch you come on as
many times if I peer for you, you come on
my show, I would, but listen, listen. I like to
have a good time. Contrary to what people believe, I've
I've always wanted to do Late Night, but I've got

(30:10):
a lot of different aspirations, whether this radio's podcast, is
my production company or whatever. But I think that I've
I've been blessed and fortunate enough to be in a
position where I can have an impact and what I
try to do is just have an impact and encourage
people to be open to an abundance of that's what
you promised your mom that you would not write this
book until she passed away. That was a little weird

(30:32):
to me. I didn't know why. My mother was incredibly
private and she did not want everyone to know what
my father put her through. She did not want to
be alive when that happened. I think, so she asked
me in two the round, I think it was two
thousand and ten, going into two thousand and eleven. She
made me swear to her that I would never write
this book as long as she was alive, because she
knew I would talk about my father. I only have

(30:54):
two minutes left, and I want I want to take
this as an opportunity because I think this is such
a powerful life story. What do you say to young
people that go through adversity. There's a lot of people
that look up to you that are growing up in
either similar circumstances, maybe worse circumstances. There's a lot of
pain in this country, a lot of a lot of

(31:16):
there's a lot of violence. I keep talking about we
need law and order and safety and security if you
want people to pursue happiness. There's a lot of crap
going on, and but people look up to athletes, they
look up to people like you. My son looks up
to you. I don't know why, but it looks up
to you more than me. And but you have a
message for people, what is it to those to the

(31:37):
younger people that are facing challenges and things we can't
even imagine. Stop thinking that the world is against you.
No matter what we're going through in this country, no
matter what we're going through in this world, there's far
more good than bad. I wouldn't be where I am
today if it were not for so many people who
extended a help in hand. One of the things that
I bring up in the book is my time at

(31:58):
the Whitstessalem Journal. The entire staff was white, and I
remember their name, Steve Steve Man, Dan Loam and Terry Oberley,
Phil risk Shack and these guys, you know, Lennox Rawlings
and all these guys. They could not have been more generous,
They could not have been more kind, They could not
have been more giving of their time and their efforts.
If it were not for them, I wouldn't be here

(32:19):
and the same goals for Kevin Whitmer, the former sports
at the New York Daily News, and the Gary Howards
and the Mike Brutus of the world, and so many
other people that have helped me along the way. I
didn't get here just because of my skill set. I
had to develop those skills. Somebody had to help me
do it. Somebody had to see something in me, believe
in me, and then extend themselves in order to help

(32:41):
facilitate me being where I am today. That's everywhere. I
don't care who you are, I don't care where you
can go. There's always someone willing to extend themselves to
help you be your best self. And that alone should
be inspirational enough for you to want to be the
best that you can be, because you'll owe it not

(33:02):
just to yourself, but to them. And that's how you
make the world a better place, because it's not just
about getting to that place, it's about having recall and
remembering those folks helped you. I gotta go, I gotta
wrap things up. I love the book. I want everybody
to get a copy of it. It's called Straight Shooter,
A memoir of second chances and first takes. The one
and only Stephen A. Smith. Appreciate your man that. I

(33:24):
can't believe. We've been friends of us long, and I
didn't know a lot of this. Amazon dot com, Hannity
dot com, bookstores, everywhere else of next week, all right,
when we come back, we'll change gears, back to politics
and the other issues of the day.