Stephen A. Smith Says It’s “Cruel & Unusual Punishment” To Deny Athletes Sex | Sports Takes & News | TooAthletic.com
In the era of “sports bubbles,” one commentator feels sorry for these athletes, calling it “cruel and unusual punishment” that they have, in effect, become celibate. As you might have guessed, this commentator is ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, and, not too many people’s surprise, his take is so far off the mark, that it almost didn’t make any headlines after he said it.
Kemah Siverand was released last week by the Seattle Seahawks after he was caught trying to sneak a female companion into his team hotel room during training camp. The undrafted rookie went so far as to supply his “friend” with team apparel to help her move about the hotel undetected; a move that crashed and burned, leading to the end of his tenure with the Seahawks. However, the move did not draw any sympathy from ESPN’s loudest and most ill-informed commentator.
Always looking to bring the conversation back to the only sport he knows anything about, Stephen A. Smith joined the ESPN morning show Get Up Friday and shared these thought: “These athletes, particularly in the NBA with the bubble and now the NFL, have been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment … The fact of the matter is this is a very difficult time that they’re living in right now. To sit up there and say they have to refrain from activities, per-se, is a huge struggle and we cannot minimize that.”
https://twitter.com/stephenasmith/status/1293553171156041728?s=20
Smith admitted that something wrong was done by Siverand, however, the punishment didn’t fit the crime, as he put it, “I think if there’s anything that qualifies as a forgivable offense to some degree, assuming no body’s been harmed … if there’s anything that requires a level of compassion and understanding and forgiveness, this would qualify … I think it’s important to say that.”
Stephen A. Smith was a basketball writer first, and his sources have always been players first, with very few stories leaked to him by front office executives. As a result, his opinions tend to bend heavy towards the players’ point of view; making this take understandable, especially since he has voiced it before, and will likely do so again.
Putting aside the fact that an undrafted rookie cornerback was selfish enough to throw away a chance to play with the Seattle Seahawks, what Smith and so many other commentators like him are forgetting is that the Coronavirus is a game-changer for sports. If you want to see what things would be like without bubble rules, just look at MLB, who is having a hard time having a full schedule of games played on day-to-day basis. The NBA Bubble is so effective that there are talks that the league might use it for all of next season to help ensure games are not missed in mass and that just as importantly, players stay healthy. If that means that players need to go without sex, then tell the likes of James Harden to put a strip club inside the bubble so athletes and go “relax” in a way that those without an imagination need to.
https://twitter.com/Nas2four/status/1293677034321752070?s=20
Playing professional sports is privilege, and as such, sacrifices are often required of athletes. If it is too difficult for MLB, NBA or NFL players to give us sex, then they can opt-out of their contracts and go find real jobs that pay a lot less than they can make as athletes. Unless and until they do that, giving us sex may be required for a while because the billions of dollars at stake for their fellow players and their employers depends upon them adhering to the rules. Otherwise every player is going to be forced to get real jobs, and they will know who to blame when they need to.
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Stephen A. Smith Says It’s “Cruel & Unusual Punishment” To Deny Athletes Sex | TooAthletic.com