ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith has never been afraid to voice his opinion, no matter how controversial or jaw-dropping. On a recent episode of ESPN’s “First Take” the loquacious Smith discussed the NFL and its owners.
His first words were, “the NFL has no desire to give Black coaches a chance,” and that toxic environment isn’t created by just the teams, but the league as well.
“The NFL, because of their pervasive tendencies, has essentially given a license to black [executives/head coaches] to sit up there and say, Let me look for every black candidate I can find. Because, guess what, y’all ain’t trying to give them a fair shake. Y’all ain’t trying to give them a fair opportunity. So let me make sure I do it. That is the environment that has widely been created by the teams. … But it certainly has been created by the league.”
A Civil Rights Issue?
Smith even called it a civil rights issue, because stadiums are being built with publicly allocated funds. He believes the owners created this conundrum themselves.
He wasn’t done ranting, as he’d go on to say the following:
“Which is why you now have civil rights activist meetings where Roger can tell you what the numbers are, telling you how pervasive the situation is. Telling you how desperate things need to be done to address the situation. And remember, it is a civil rights issue. Because public funding contributes to the new stadiums. Twenty-plus since 1997. The NFL teams, the vast majority of these owners have brought this on themselves.”
Flores Says No To Separation Deal
New developments keep arising in the Flores suit. Brian Flores said on HBO’s “Real Sports” that he declined to sign a separation deal with the Dolphins when he was fired. Flores claims that the “agreement would have really silenced me.”
Flores has said the agreement would have prevented him from filing any lawsuits or speaking badly about the team to the media.
His lawyers say Flores left millions of dollars on the table, which proves his integrity in the matter and the authentic goal to get justice and change the systemic culture that has plagued NFL hiring practices.
“It wasn’t about the money,” Flores’ lawyer told Bryant Gumbel. “If it was about the money, he would have signed it. What he did instead was file the lawsuit so he could help other coaches now and in the future.
To find out more about how Brian Flores’ legal team caught the Miami Dolphins slipping, click here.
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