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Stephen A. Smith has rubbed plenty of people the wrong way with his Hot Takes over the years—a list that includes retired NFL guard Kyle Long, who issued a public apology for drunkenly confronting the talking head at a Super Bowl party to defend Jay Cutler.
Kyle Long spent the entirety of his NFL career with the Chicago Bears before injuries forced him to call it quits after seven seasons, and he was tasked with protecting Jay Cutler for the vast majority of the games he suited up for during his time with the franchise.
Cutler had plenty of critics when he was playing for the Bears, and Stephen A. Smith certainly fell into that category when you consider he labeled the quarterback “a complete waste of space,” “a joke,” and “useless” during the multiple rants his performance inspired.
It’s kind of hard to argue Smith wasn’t correct in his assessment of the QB based on how his tenure in Chicago ultimately panned out, but it’s easy to understand why Long would feel the need to back his teammate. However, he definitely regrets the manner in which he attempted to defend Cutler’s honor.
During a recent episode of Green Light with Chris Long, the retired lineman issued a mea culpa while recalling the time he decided to confront Smith after getting tipsy at a Super Bowl party—the kind of encounter he says still randomly pops into his head when he’s trying to go to sleep.
Here’s his recollection of what went down:
“I was at the ESPN party at the end of the year; I think it was the Super Bowl and obviously I wasn’t playing and I was hammered.
I was young. Stephen A. Smith—tremendous at his job—got me going one year because of some things he said about Cutler. I was like, ‘I have to white knight for my quarterback.’
I was like 12 beers deep at the ESPN party and I saw him and I walked up and I put my paw on his shoulder and I was like, ‘Hey, Jay Cutler says hello.’ I thought I was so slick in the moment.
He gave me that look like, ‘You are a f—ing idiot,’ and since that day, I’ve been hoping for an opportunity [to apologize].”
Let he who has not done something they regretted after pounding a dozen beers cast the first stone.