What Was Stephen A. Smith Doing In The Cowboys Owner's Box With Jerry Jones?
The ESPN star’s anti-Cowboys persona faces scrutiny after a friendly pregame moment and a high-profile seat.
ESPN star Stephen A. Smith has made his hatred for the Dallas Cowboys a huge part of his persona. Part of the reason he and Skip Bayless rose to prominence was their constant bickering about the Cowboys. Bayless is a major Cowboys sycophant and Smith routinely trashes the team.
It made sense; Smith grew up in New York and worked for many years in Philadelphia. Those are the home cities of two of the Cowboys' NFC East rivals, the Giants and Eagles.
But it seems it may all just be an act by Smith, at least based on evidence from Monday night's game in Dallas between the Cowboys and Cardinals. Before the game, Smith exchanged a warm greeting with Cowboys star CeeDee Lamb.
That pales in comparison to what ESPN cameras showed on the broadcast during the game. Following a Jake Ferguson fumble in the second quarter, the broadcast showed Smith hanging out in the Cowboys owner's suite with none other than Jerry Jones. Smith sat with a blank look on his face, rather than cheering for the Dallas turnover, as you'd expect a hater to do.
Funny enough, Smith left shortly after the Ferguson fumble, with Dallas trailing 10-0 and struggling to get anything going. On the ensuing Cardinals drive, the Cowboys forced a punt, blocked the kick, and recovered the ball in the end zone for their first score of the game.
Perhaps Smith's presence was the problem for the Cowboys, since the Cardinals shut them out until Smith left the owner's box and Dallas immediately scored a potentially game-changing touchdown right after he left.
Either way, Smith has got some splainin' to do.
The ESPN star has made several guest appearances on General Hospital, but it's possible the best acting of his career has come in the form of pretending to hate the Dallas Cowboys.