Xenophobe A. Smith

Another week, another controversy at ESPN. And it's from one who finds himself in a bit of criticism and for past remarks that are both racist and sexist.

Shohei Ohtani has been a must watch for this year. Power hitter and a pitcher is a good combo. A Bo Jackson type of thing but only doing one sport. He always has a translator with him and that did not sit well with ESPN's Stephen A. Smith (hate using the initial in his name). Smith basically went xenophobic on the Angels star this past Monday and said along the line of baseball being better if he spoke English. A lot of people on social media and within the sports world ripped him for those comments and rightfully so. He has since "apologized", but it adds another stain to past controversies.

Domestic violence is real. I do think there are ones who will fake it, but the Ray Rice incident in 2014 was real. The ex-Raven now is in a better place from reports. But Smith was downplaying why this was a big incident and saying some rather spicy takes that resulted in ESPN suspending him for a week. He's also said very sexist things towards a number of women. Whether it's Ayesha Curry, the US Women's soccer team, or even UFC and MMA women fighters, he puts himself in the crosshairs. Unfortunately, it's a ratings grabber.

Baseball definitely needs fixing. Question is, I'm not sure where you start. Market Ohtani. Get people to recognize some of these big name players that aren't the 70 year olds hooked on Viagra commercials. Ban the shift. Showcase more of the up and comers. There's not an easy solution.

I honestly question if Smith is knowledgeable about non-NBA sports. His football takes are bad. He makes it easy to know he doesn't follow a lick of baseball. ESPN keeps letting him off the hook. I don't know if they are afraid of punishing him because of various reasons, but something has to happen now. I can see him getting fired. I can literally see him saying something even worse. Disney and ESPN need to grow a spine and have a discussion with him. With all the stuff regarding Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor, all it is doing is making it easy to ditch the worldwide leader in sports. Ohtani is here to stay for now.