After months of verbal sparring over everything from the ESPN layoffs to the state of sports television and sports media as a whole, Stephen A. Smith and Dan Le Batard spoke face to face.
Le Batard appeared on The Stephen A. Smith Show on Wednesday, and the two friends and former ESPN colleagues were able to squash whatever perceived beef existed as a result of their back and forth in the podcast space.
Beyond that, Stephen A. and Dan were able to have a broader-ranging discussion on sports media and how debate television has become the new industry standard.
Smith said flatly that from his perspective, Dan has always had a holier-than-thou approach.
“You do seem to be a bit sanctimonious, man,” he said. “I’m not going to use the word hypocritical, because I think that’s harsh and I don’t think you deserve that, especially from your buddy who is me.”
“I think that’s fair criticism of me,” Le Batard responded. “I appreciate that you were gentle with the downgrade from hypocrite to sanctimonious. It’s why I wanted to have this conversation with you because when you were talking into the microphone without me here it was hypocritical. So here it can merely be sanctimonious.”
Part of Stephen A.’s issue with Le Batard’s comments in recent months has been that Dan has always thrown shade at others when offering a broader critique of the industry as a whole, but hasn’t at least acknowledged the role he himself played in the rise of sports debate TV.
“I am not guiltless here. I am not an innocent,” Dan said. “I was able to do some of the zagging at least in part because others are taking sports so seriously that there’s always a lane for something other than, ‘Do you think the Jets are a favorite this year, let’s argue about it.’ Or, ‘Let’s argue about Dak’s last press conference.'”
“I just think there are ways without it being lowest common denominator,” he continued. “There are ways to elevate that discussion.”
Stephen A. responded by saying that Le Batard is holding the industry to an unreasonably high standard.
“Some people may know if they’ve listened to you long enough, they don’t truly know how brilliant you are,” Smith said. “I’ve known you for 30 years. You are a brilliant brother. And you are incredibly conscientious and caring and compassionate. But you’re also self-righteous. And what happens, Dan Le Batard, is this: When you, from a cerebral perspective, are up here (Pointing to the top step) and you’re expecting other people to be up here, you’re not appreciating that you’re up here!”
“Why don’t you see that and look at it from that lens instead of saying, ‘Damn, this is really pathetic. These people really got a problem, and it’s really degrading the quality of our industry,'” Smith added.
Dan said Stephen A. pointed out a glaring blind spot in that Le Batard’s arrogance is unlikeable.
“It would explain why it is that so many people have a problem, not unlike with Bill Maher, they think an asshole is lecturing them. And it bothers them,” Le Batard said.
