Marcus Spears has been one of the rising stars at ESPN since he joined the SEC Network in 2014. He has had the chance to not only talk football on First Take and Get Up, but other sports as well and he appreciates that ESPN has allowed him to talk about both football and basketball on some noteworthy shows.
Spears was a guest on the latest episode of The Dave Pasch Podcast and he said that he is glad that he is not known as ESPN as just a guy who can talk about football.
“I do TV just like I did when I was talking to my dad and my uncles about football and basketball. I think that’s the one thing First Take and Get Up allowed me to do was to talk more than just football. I never wanted to be pigeonholed into not thinking that this is just a football guy and that’s the only thing he does.
“Football is my passion. It’s what I love,” Spears continued. “It’s something that I have my 10,000 hours in. I understand the game. I have a ton of respect for the game. I have a lot of relationships in the game. I played basketball growing up, was very highly-recruited, so I understand that game on some fairly high levels as well.”
When Spears is on First Take with Stephen A Smith, he told Pasch it reminds him of the debates that he has had with his family in the past and those arguments helped prepare him for facing off with Smith about the hot topics in sports:
“Being on First Take with Stephen A just reminds me of what I did with my dad, uncles, family members, and best friends. It’s a debate show like we like to call it because we are politically correct, but it’s really just an argument show. To get your opinion across, you argue. When I was arguing or debating with my uncles and with my dad, obviously they didn’t think I knew anything about what I was talking about, but it got me ready for that arena.
“I think it really starts with respect knowing that you are entering his domain. But, Stephen A knows that I’m not afraid to go toe-to-toe and touch every topic. When we disagree, we disagree.”
One of the reasons Spears respects Smith is that he enjoys the fact that Smith will defer to the athlete he is debating with for their knowledge rather than trying to prove he knows more about the game than they do:
“If you watch Stephen A , he defers a lot to your expertise whether you are a former NBA or NFL player. I think he never tries to go toe-to-toe with football acumen when it comes from actual experience. He goes at it from a reporter standpoint and I say a lot of times, even from a fan standpoint because Stephen A, whether you love him or hate him, he does give a perspective of a sportswriter and also a fan. We can grill him about how bad the Knicks have been….Ultimately, when you watch when I’m on or Ryan Clark’s on or Dan Orlovsky, he defers to your football knowledge as a former player. That’s not a knock, but we respect him for that.”
