Stephen A. Smith insists Allen Iverson was not intoxicated when the former NBA star went on his infamous “practice” rant in 2002, and Smith defended Iverson in the most Stephen A. Smith-way possible on Friday morning.
During the latest edition of the insufferable “First Take,” Smith spent more than five minutes ranting about how close he is with Iverson. Apparently a 45-minute chat with Iverson on Friday led Smith to the conclusion that there is no way the information about the “practice” rant in Kent Babb’s new book is accurate.
“That’s a flat out lie,” Smith said. “Allen Iverson was not drunk the day he had that press conference about practice.”
How does Smith know this? Because there’s no one in the universe that knows Iverson better than Stephen A., of course.
“I’ve known Allen Iverson for 19 years,” Smith said, as transcribed by Eric Goldschein of Sports Grid. “Allen Iverson and I speak every week. We spoke this morning for 45 minutes. I might know a thing or two about basketball. I might know a thing or two about a long of things. I know a hell of a lot more about Allen Iverson. I challenge any journalist to tell you they know him better than I do.”
For a second there, I almost thought we were watching that awesome Stephen A. Smith spoof that was on “Saturday Night Live” a while back. This guy can’t possibly take himself seriously.
