Phawker: Stephen A. Smith loses Inquirer column

How quickly does this story evolve into an issue of race?

 

I agree it shouldn't be a race issue, but with the way the Inquirer is handling this, it soon will be...

You don't want him around, fire the guy... They did it to Aldridge, they can do it to Stephen A.

Has anyone ever heard of a columnist being demoted to GA? It's just too stupid for words. If you want to keep him, keep him. If you want him gone, fire him...

 

Depends how long it takes Al Sharpton to get there.

 

There is a 0% chance he will "accept the reassignment." No wayyyyyyyyyyyy.

 

The memory may be rusty, but years ago, Mike Madden was bumped down to GA at the Globe when Dan Shaughnessy started as a columnist.

And Smith should be ashamed of some of the stuff he's turned in lately. He's been phoning it in for a long time while people lost their jobs left and right at the Inquirer. The fact that they even kept him in the first place is a disservice to the people whose jobs could have been kept.

 

Agree on all counts... Smith deserves the blame, but Philly is still being very stupid about how they've decided to handle this...

 

Oh, maybe not, but he will. draw. this. out.

You can tell dude is selfish. Last year, people were dropping like flies in that newsroom. Instead of saying, "Hey, I make good money at ESPN, let me take a pay cut/buyout/help some people keep their jobs," he didn't.

Was he obligated to? No. Would most decent human beings help out their fellow man? Yes.

Anyway, SAS laughed his way to the bank while others had to take severance and face uncertain futures. I'd love to know if any of those folks still are unemployed. I would hope not.

I lost a lot of respect for him then. A guy like Aldridge, who was cut at first but then hired back, gracefully accepted his fate. He didn't protest, stomp his feet, make a public scene like THIS.

SAS does not get it.

 

I don't know if that's fair... I understand all of your points, but it might be unfair to blame the big-ticket guy for layoffs.

There are people in Denver who blame Paige for some of the layoffs and undoubtedly there are people in Philly who blame Stephen A. for their layoffs. I think ultimately the paper holds the responsibility.

Should he have quit when the column became priority No. 3 or No. 4? Yes... But when he didn't, it becomes the responsibility of the paper to get rid of him...

 

This very newspaper did this with its TV columnist a few weeks ago.

Why should columnists get tenure? If the paper can get a better columnist, or does not want as many columnists, or realizes the columnist is better as a reporter, so what?

 

You and I know there is a difference in the situations.

Woody was not mailing it in. He is back in Denver, doing his writing from there. As much as his salary may be responsible for people losing their jobs, there's a reason why less are raising a stink.

Stephen A already was mailing it in at the time of the layoffs. He was doing the TV show, had just started the 1050 radio show, was involved in everything else. The union negotiations were well publicized. It was getting ugly. He had plenty of warning as to what was going down.

Yes, the Inquirer had a responsibility to pull the plug, and they canned the wrong guy last year (Aldridge). At least they brought him back. Holding off on it for another year has made it uglier than it would've been if they'd just taken their medicine last year, fired Smith and then bumped Aldridge up to columnist.

 

I agree with all of that - in theory. For better or worse, Stephen A. is a famous dude, a "personality." You can demote your TV guy, fine...to demote a celebrity is another thing entirely.

And the Inquirer knows that, even if it has currently decided to publicly pretend as if it thinks nothing is amiss.

 

Oh, I agree that Paige is not to blame for the Denver layoffs. He's been one of my favorite columnists since I was in college... He's been very good since he went back to Denver and that paper was nowhere close to being what it was when he was there... Whatever they're paying him, he's worth...

I also agree that Stephen A. has been phoning it in for a long, long time... I agree that they should have canned him last year and promoted Aldridge.