• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Baltimore Sports Today

Baltimore Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Football
    • Ravens
    • Redskins
  • Baseball
    • Nationals
    • Orioles
  • Basketball
    • Mystics
    • Wizzards
  • Capitals
  • Soccer
    • Blast
    • D.C. United
    • Spirit
  • Colleges
    • George Mason
    • George Washington University
    • Georgetown
    • Howard
    • Johns Hopkins
    • Morgan State
    • Towson
    • University of Maryland

Stephen A. Smith Attempts To Clarify Shohei Ohtani Comments

July 13, 2021 by The Spun Leave a Comment

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith is no stranger to making headlines because of his hot takes. But the veteran analyst went a bit too far when speaking about Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani during First Take on Monday.

Ohtani has taken the baseball world by storm this season, excelling both as a hitter and pitcher. He’s even drawn comparisons to all-time great Babe Ruth. Simply put, Ohtani’s become the new face of MLB (at least at the moment).

Smith admires Ohtani’s greatness, but is bothered by one aspect – and unfortunately, it has nothing to do with his game.

Smith told listeners on Monday he thinks it’s bad for baseball that its newest face of the league “needs an interpreter so you can understand what the hell he’s saying.”

Stephen A Smith saying that Shohei Ohtani, responsible for the 10 highest viewed regular season games this year and what will likely be the most watched HRD ever, shouldn’t be considered a face of baseball because he needs an interpreter. Kindly piss off

pic.twitter.com/NlCXPGxKFj

— Brain (@brian_slosh) July 12, 2021

As expected, Smith’s Ohtani comment has been met with heavy criticism. And, as you may have also expected, he took to Twitter to attempt to clarify what he said.

“My segment on Ohtani this morning, on First Take, people are misinterpreting what I’m saying,” Smith said on Twitter. “I’m not talking about the state of the game, baseball itself. Baseball’s a great game, a great sport. And some of the greatest players in the world are foreign players. … Ohtani is the second coming of Babe Ruth, okay?

“That’s not what I was trying to say. I’m talking about the marketability and the promotion of the sport is exactly what Sports Illustrated essentially alluded to in their article last month when they talked about 28 percent of the players in Major League Baseball are foreign players.

“A lot of them need translators. You know Spanish, it could be Mandarin, Japanese. The list goes on and on. If you are a sport trying to ingratiate yourself with the American public the way Major League Baseball is because of the problems you’ve been having to deal with, in terms of improving the attractiveness of the sport, it helps if you spoke the English language.”

Take a look.

On my earlier comments about Ohtani pic.twitter.com/FM0vnDDXBB

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 12, 2021

Unsurprisingly, Stephen A. Smith isn’t willing to issue an actual apology, which he absolutely should feel obligated to give.

Shohei Ohtani is the face of baseball and he doesn’t speak much English. Who cares? He’s one of the most exciting baseball players of this generation.

You can catch the Angels’ slugger compete in the 2021 Home Run Derby Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

The post Stephen A. Smith Attempts To Clarify Shohei Ohtani Comments appeared first on The Spun.

Filed Under: Redskins

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Bears part owner Andrew McKenna dies at 93
  • George Santos’ constituents call for him to resign during D.C. protest
  • Missouri executes man who said he was 1,800 miles away during killings
  • Off-duty NYPD officer dies after being shot while trying to buy car
  • Suspect in Dallas Zoo monkey theft says he’ll do it again if released, docs allege

Categories

  • Baseball
    • Nationals
    • Orioles
  • Basketball
    • Mystics
    • Wizzards
  • Capitals
  • Colleges
    • George Mason
    • George Washington University
    • Georgetown
    • Howard
    • Morgan State
    • Navy
    • Towson
    • University of Maryland
  • Football
    • Ravens
    • Redskins
  • Soccer
    • Blast
    • D.C. United
    • Spirit

Archives

Our Partners

All Sports

  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • CBS Baltimore
  • Forgotten 5
  • NBC Sports Washington
  • Maryland Sports Blog
  • OurSports Central
  • PressBoxOnline.com
  • The Baltimore Sun
  • The Baltimore Wire
  • The Sports Daily
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today
  • Washington Post
  • Washington Times

Baseball

  • MLB.com - Orioles
  • MLB.com - Nationals
  • Baltimore Baseball
  • Birds Watcher
  • Camden Chat
  • District On Deck
  • Federal Baseball
  • Last Word On Baseball - Nationals
  • Last Word On Baseball - Orioles
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Nationals
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Orioles
  • Nationals Arm Race
  • Orioles Hangout

Basketball

  • NBA.com
  • WNBA.com
  • Amico Hoops
  • Bullets Forever
  • High Post Hoops
  • Hoops Hype
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball
  • Pro Basketball Talk
  • Real GM
  • Wiz Of Awes

Football

  • Baltimore Ravens
  • Washington Redskins
  • Baltimore Beatdown
  • Baltimore Gridiron Report
  • Ebony Bird
  • Hogs Haven
  • Last Word On Pro Football - Washington Commanders
  • Last Word On Pro Football - Baltimore Ravens
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Ravens
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Redskins
  • Our Turf Football - Ravens
  • Our Turf Football - Redskins
  • Pro Football Rumors - Ravens
  • Pro Football Rumors - Redskins
  • Pro Football Talk - Redskins
  • Pro Football Talk - Ravens
  • Redskins Gab
  • Ravens Wire
  • Redskins Wire
  • Riggos Rag
  • Total Ravens

Hockey

  • Washington Capitals
  • Elite Prospects
  • Japers Rink
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • Stars And Sticks
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Baltimore Blast
  • Black And Red United
  • Last Word on Soccer - DC United
  • Last Word on Soccer - Spirit
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • Big East Coast Bias
  • Busting Brackets
  • Casual Hoya
  • College Football News
  • College Sports Madness
  • Fourth Estate
  • GW Hatchet
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Diamondback
  • The Hilltop
  • The Hoya
  • Testudo Times
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in