Generally, I think Stephen A. Smith is a loud-mouthed clown who has made his national bones as a hot take artist. First Take is a trashy program, and it provides virtually no redeeming value. But to quote Dumb & Dumber, then they go and do something like this and TOTALLY redeem themselves. Maybe not redeem, but at least they made me laugh.
Screamin’ A has been going after Trent Baalke and Chip Kelly for a while. He spent time in Philadelphia, and has been on Kelly dating back to the Eagles. But in light of the 49ers struggles and Baalke’s reported role in the departure of Jim Harbaugh, he has been laying into Baalke with a vengeance.
On Tuesday, he went at it again, and while it’s the same thing over and over again, he did at least offer a gem that I think might be able to have some staying power. He talked about how Baalke let his ego get in the way, resulting in Jim Harbaugh’s departure. In discussing it, Smith screamed about how Baalke, “assisted with Ned York, or coached Ned York into helping boot Jim Harbaugh out the door!”
He goes on to talk about how Harbaugh is succeeding and the 49ers stink. Par for the course. But the minute he said Ned instead of Jed, I cracked up. It’s silly and means nothing, but I just couldn’t help but cracking up. That’s what you get with a 1-9 team, I suppose.