Stephen A. Smith Tries To Turn Lane Kiffin Rumors Into A Race Discussion, Naturally
Stephen A. weighs in on the Kiffin situation, like a moron
While the odds-on favorite to add racism to the Lane Kiffin rumors was ESPN's Ryan Clark, it was the man who can do no wrong at the four-letter network, Stephen A. Smith, who played the race card as the drama continues to build around the Ole Miss head coach.
With all signs pointing to Kiffin being undecided about his future and whether it involves continuing to coach at Ole Miss or taking his talents to LSU or Florida, Smith and the ‘First Take’ crew jumped in on the conversation that is dominating the sports world.
Rather than focusing on the pedigrees of each university or what the NIL programs look like at each stop, which is all that matters in today's age of college football, Smith not-so-subtly called the state of Mississippi and its residents racist.
"I'mma bring it home, aight," Smith said on the ESPN airwaves, poetically. "He's in Oxford, Mississippi, okay?…"Leave it to me, I'll 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."
In other words, Smith doesn't believe black athletes want to come to Mississippi. He seems to be under the impression that today's Mississippi operates as it did in the 1960s, which is ludicrous and disrespectful to the state as a whole.
Smith then tried to sweep his blatantly racist comment under the rug by bringing up recruiting prowess. Going from ‘Mississippi is too racist to have sustained success’ to ‘it’s not a recruiting hotbed' is certainly a choice.
Finebaum didn't directly respond during his appearance with Smith on ‘First Take,’ but did attack his comments head-on during his radio program later in the day on Wednesday.
"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, ‘the brothers do not want to go to Oxford, Mississippi,’ which has 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, the 60s, and try to portray Oxford as that type of place today. It’s not. The south has changed. You can make your own interpretation, but to dump on Oxford while saying Gainesville and Baton Rouge would be utopia was just baffling to me."
Baffling is certainly one word to describe Smith's comments; ridiculous and moronic fit the script as well.
The Kiffin situation in Oxford is fascinating, given that it is entirely unprecedented. You have the head coach of a 10-1 football team, one win away from a guaranteed home CFB Playoff game, at worst, who appears to be entirely undecided about whether he wants to leave that situation and begin a new journey elsewhere.
While the uncertainties about Kiffin's next move are practically endless, I can confirm that a general thought of race isn't playing a factor in his decision. I'm not confirming that through any sourcing; I'm confirming that because I have a functioning brain.