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Stephen A. Smith: With Cowboys' record on crime, you have to wonder if police tribute was a ploy to 'steal headlines'
By Luke Morris
Triple-digit weather wasn't the only scorcher beating down on Dallas on Monday. ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith unleashed a barrage of hot takes against the Cowboys online and on TV.
Smith blasted the Cowboys' training-camp tribute to the victims of last month's ambush attack. The Cowboys had the families of the five slain officers join the team on the field at its practice in Oxnard, Calif., over the weekend.
But Smith suggested that the action seems a little out of place considering the number of scofflaws in the Cowboys locker room.
"It just took me back a second and I said, 'You know what, if you have so much respect for the law, why don't you try obeying it as an organization?' " Smith mused on First Take.
Smith took time to point out that he doesn't think the Cowboys were being insincere in the gesture and praised Dallas Police Chief David Brown's work.
But...
"Why don't you try milking headlines for what you do on the football field instead of the transgressions that continuously happen off the field?" Smith asked the Cowboys.
Smith continued that line of argument later on Twitter, comparing the Cowboys to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Stephen A Smith ✔ @stephenasmith
The @dallascowboys are the @realDonaldTrump(s) of the NFL. They always steal the headlines.
1:16 PM - 1 Aug 2016
Stephen A Smith ✔ @stephenasmith
Had a lot of good things on my mind for @FirstTake this AM. Then the damn @dallascowboys make news again. Just head to ESPN2 at top of hour
9:54 AM - 1 Aug 2016
"We need to fly straight and do right and make sure that we don't just practice this when a police officer in front of us who is a hero in our eyes based on how he handled everything in the aftermath of those shootings," Smith said.
"We want to extend this far beyond that particular date when we are locking arm and arms with police officers and bring attention to both sides, violence against police officers and on the behalf of police officers. But I'm saying in the case of the Dallas Cowboys, it needs to extend further than that because they're the Dallas Cowboys, and you need to convince us that you're not just looking to make headlines all the damn time."
Smith said that while he thinks the Cowboys were acting out of sincerity, he was concerned how an 'uber-critic" of the team -- not him, he points out, but we wouldn't be surprised if this person's name was an anagram for Stephen A. Smith -- would view things.
"What I'm saying is when one transgression after another, after another continually takes place with the same organization and you seem averse to the effects of it because you're stealing headlines because of it ... the abnormal cynic out there is going to look at you and they're going to say, 'How authentic were you in all of this?' Smith said. "Because you could have done what you did without gaining publicity for it. There was a way to do it without having everybody see it. But you wanted to make sure that you sent that message."
By Luke Morris
Triple-digit weather wasn't the only scorcher beating down on Dallas on Monday. ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith unleashed a barrage of hot takes against the Cowboys online and on TV.
Smith blasted the Cowboys' training-camp tribute to the victims of last month's ambush attack. The Cowboys had the families of the five slain officers join the team on the field at its practice in Oxnard, Calif., over the weekend.
But Smith suggested that the action seems a little out of place considering the number of scofflaws in the Cowboys locker room.
"It just took me back a second and I said, 'You know what, if you have so much respect for the law, why don't you try obeying it as an organization?' " Smith mused on First Take.
Smith took time to point out that he doesn't think the Cowboys were being insincere in the gesture and praised Dallas Police Chief David Brown's work.
But...
"Why don't you try milking headlines for what you do on the football field instead of the transgressions that continuously happen off the field?" Smith asked the Cowboys.
Smith continued that line of argument later on Twitter, comparing the Cowboys to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Stephen A Smith ✔ @stephenasmith
The @dallascowboys are the @realDonaldTrump(s) of the NFL. They always steal the headlines.
1:16 PM - 1 Aug 2016
Stephen A Smith ✔ @stephenasmith
Had a lot of good things on my mind for @FirstTake this AM. Then the damn @dallascowboys make news again. Just head to ESPN2 at top of hour
9:54 AM - 1 Aug 2016
"We need to fly straight and do right and make sure that we don't just practice this when a police officer in front of us who is a hero in our eyes based on how he handled everything in the aftermath of those shootings," Smith said.
"We want to extend this far beyond that particular date when we are locking arm and arms with police officers and bring attention to both sides, violence against police officers and on the behalf of police officers. But I'm saying in the case of the Dallas Cowboys, it needs to extend further than that because they're the Dallas Cowboys, and you need to convince us that you're not just looking to make headlines all the damn time."
Smith said that while he thinks the Cowboys were acting out of sincerity, he was concerned how an 'uber-critic" of the team -- not him, he points out, but we wouldn't be surprised if this person's name was an anagram for Stephen A. Smith -- would view things.
"What I'm saying is when one transgression after another, after another continually takes place with the same organization and you seem averse to the effects of it because you're stealing headlines because of it ... the abnormal cynic out there is going to look at you and they're going to say, 'How authentic were you in all of this?' Smith said. "Because you could have done what you did without gaining publicity for it. There was a way to do it without having everybody see it. But you wanted to make sure that you sent that message."
