The Best News We've Received In This Town In A While

One of the posts I've considered writing, but totally procrastinated on was my distaste for Stephen A. Smith's Inquirer columns since he became a big shot at ESPN. Prior to becoming a multi media celebrity, I found his work pretty insightful...as long as he stayed away from hockey. However, since starting his New York radio show and short lived talk show, his columns seemed to lack much substance and seemed as if they were dictated to his secretary as he drove up the turnpike. Well, it appears I wasn't the only one dissatisfied with his work. I found the following on Deadspin.com and The700Level.com:

Inquirer sports columnist Stephen A. Smith has been stripped of his column and has been offered a job as a general assignment reporter in the Inquirer’s sports department, according to sources inside both the Inquirer and the Daily News. Things reportedly came to a head during a meeting last Friday, when Smith was told of his re-assignment. Smith reportedly told his bosses he would give them an answer when he gets back from vacation in two weeks.

Sources believe Smith’s column has been in the cross-hairs for some time. “There was a time when the powers that be were just happy to have somebody that’s on ESPN on the masthead,” says a source who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But I think the new leadership has been asking itself for a while now whether or not the columns [he] was turning in were justifying his [reportedly generous] salary. And I think they decided he wasn’t bringing his A-game.”

I, for one, will miss Stephen A's use of the exclamation point. If you read any of his columns lately, you know that he was running a one-man grass roots operation trying to bring back the "!" into the daily lexicon. Unfortunately for "!!!!" lovers around the world, he'll no longer be able to keep up the effort.