Chicago Cubs: Arrieta forced to defend himself

The accomplishments of Chicago Cubs’ ace Jake Arrieta have been nothing short of superhuman. Does the descriptive use of the word superhuman mean something dark, perhaps mysterious? Thanks to the environment created by Major League Baseball, we are now firmly planted in an era that can’t acknowledge dominance without suggesting that it came at the hands of something illegal.

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Some time back, I wrote an article calling out Al Jazeera for outing athletes for PED use from a single source that later recanted his testimony. Regardless of the questionable sourcing, Al Jazeera took no responsibility for the damage they were causing while the athletes involved were left to rebuild their tarnished image.

Fast Forward to right after Arrieta’s second career no-hitter, professional blow-hard and morally compromised Stephen A. Smith took to his usual soapbox to spout off about a subject he has absolutely no understanding in.

"“I’m just looking at it, and I’m saying to myself, alright, I’m not going to accuse you of using performance-enhancing supplements, drugs, whatever you want to call them, but I will say that you shouldn’t just be laughing at those who are looking at you and saying, ‘Excuse me, what the hell is going on here?’” ~Stephen A. Smith"

For three hours a day, Smith and his partner in crime Skip Bayless toe the line of decency to find new ways to offend the intelligence of the five or six people that still make the mistake of watching ESPN programming. Stephen A. Smith may cover sports and write about it, but he is as much of a professional journalist as I am a presidential candidate.

By beginning his ill-conceived statement by saying, “I’m not going to accuse you of using performance-enhancing supplements, drugs, or whatever you want to call them”, Smith in fact accused Arrieta of using them. To the viewers, that qualifying statement planted a seed in their minds and anything stated after that wouldn’t matter.

Stephen A. Smith, along with many personalities working for that network, have become less concerned with covering news as they are making it or stirring it up.

Take a look at some of the sensational claims that Stephen A. has made, and tell me he isn’t an attention-seeking troll looking to make waves. On separate occasions, Smith has subtlely suggested that Chip Kelly is a racist, that he doesn’t like hockey because he believes they still have ties, and insinuated that Michael Sam would be a distraction for coming out as a gay man in the NFL.

These are somewhat tame compared to some of the opinions he has had. Skip Bayless kept the theme going with his stance on Arrieta.

“I also have no sympathy for him, because he’s a victim of …He’s a victim of those who came before him and adamantly shook their fingers at us …”. ~Skip Bayless.

At first glance, I was stunned by the claim that he couldn’t find any sympathy for a victim, but it then reminded me of Stephen A. Smith’s biggest pile of a “quality journalistic viewpoint”. Smith discussed, in detail, and I’m paraphrasing, how he instructed the females in his home to not provoke a negative, physical reaction from a man.

Now I may have missed the day in college where they taught us that victim-shaming is ok. It doesn’t take a professional to know that what he has been doing for years on that show is off-base and irresponsible. There is a certain decorum required when speaking about sensitive issues, but it clearly doesn’t apply if you’re looking for shock value.

Next: Montero heads to the DL

Stephen A. Smith spoke about Jake Arrieta in generalities and covert language, Arrieta is left to pick up the pieces. I can only ask that we stop treating this as qualified analysis and call it what it is, gossip.

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