Straight Shooter. A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes. Stephen A. Smith.
You may know Stephen A. Smith as the fast talking, hard driving, often bombastic debater, and national sports pundit on ESPN for both television and radio. Now after three decades in the business it was time for Smith to tell his life story.
Stephan A. Smith has led an interesting life. This is undoubtedly the biggest take away from reading Smith’s memoir: Straight Shooter. Among other topics, we learn about his upbringing in Queen’s New York, his close relationship to his mother and siblings, his estranged arrangement with his father, the development of his burgeoning career and ascension to national prominence at ESPN. It is a collection of the good, the bad, sometimes ugly experiences of Stephen Smith but also the perseverance to overcome and succeed. He reveals the triumphs achieved throughout his career and the setbacks within his work and personal life as well.
We learn about Smith’s early life in Hollis Queens. It was not an easy upbringing. Despite having two parents around in his life and a host of older siblings (Smith was the youngest child) he still suffered from poverty and insecurity. The father was in his life, sometimes out, but the two never seemed able to connect. This appeared to be the case among his siblings as well with their father. His mother was forced to work double shifts as a nurse upon qualifying for the role later in life. Smith talks about going without for much of his childhood even though his mother made as many sacrifices as possible to put children first. This act was not lost on the author and he writes about a very strong bond especially between himself and his mother.
Naturally, his brother’s sudden and tragic untimely death was devastating to the family. It is revealed how much his brother believed in the author and his abilities. There are predictions of how Stephen A. Smith would become a star in the media, perhaps even bigger than the all-time greats like Howard Cosell or Jim Nantz. Smith reveals that he did not visit the grave of his older brother until the prophecy was nearly realized as an employee of ESPN some eleven years later. Perhaps this added pressure for Stephen A. Smith to become a success at the highest level driving him to reach beyond the expected.
Smith makes a strong case for the movement of debate tv programming over traditional one on one interviews. He writes of being very proud of the accomplishments made on the show First Take. Afterall, this the program that kind of solidified his career, if not resurrecting it, at ESPN. He pays tribute to former partner Skip Bayless for targeting him as a co-host. The chemistry they shared was nearly irreplaceable. This was soon discovered not long after Smith started working with Bayless’ successor. Despite the lack of on-air chemistry between Smith and Max Kellerman, the shows ratings were near or at the top during the day time slot. He reveals that even after Kellerman was moved on to other opportunities within the network, that the show continued to thrive with a slew of frequent hosts who appeared on designated days of the week.
Smith admits that he is a workaholic. His focus throughout his professional life and career has been to push himself through work as much as possible. It was not until his recent bout (December 2021) with the Covid-19 virus that he came to a revelation about his overdoing it at the office. Smith writes about how being ill with the virus, which he claimed was a near death experience, changed his outlook on work and his life. He vows to make changes in the way he approaches work and prioritizes how he spends more time with family and most importantly for himself.
Smith claims near the end of the book that “we have not seen anything yet.” While he talks of reconfiguring his work to life schedule in order to spend more time with family and friends but especially his beloved daughters, there still seems to be a fire burning to do even more within his work life. The author divulges that he would aspire to a late-night talk show host ala Arsenio Hall or Jimmy Kimmel. He also seems to have an entrepreneurial spirit to develop a production company. He provides what he considers to be helpful advice for himself and others aspiring to forge ahead in their careers and that is finding as many colleagues to help formulate a team where each is willing to look out for one another and gain as much as they give.
The content of the book is at times gripping and compelling. Reading about the relationships at home, at school and at work is a powerful view of the man and his character. It does help if one has spent time watching his show and even followed the tracks of his career. There are times in the book where certain work transactions were a bit overstated. One example was that entire country was probably not as obsessed with shortcomings or wrongdoings that he went through such as his dismissal from ESPN in 2009 or the ratings of his shows during his reign on First Take. While the latter stages of the book included thoughtful introspection on his life, the excitement of the book seemed to simmer a bit from the earlier years. All things considered this manuscript of two hundred and sixty-five pages highlights a lot of intriguing details of a successful media personality that seems to make him more genuine and likable than the persona often portrayed on screen.
· You may like to read this book if you are a fan of Stephen A. Smith or First Take
· You may like to read this book if you like reading about ESPN employees and topics.
· You may like to read this book if you seek stories of successful people in the media.
Read more about the author on Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephenasmith
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