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Stephen A. Smith is a man of many talents.
The ESPN star is one of if not the most compelling morning show hosts. He’s a fantastic podcaster and, as we learned recently, a massive Swiftie.
But one thing that Smith is not, apparently, is an elite athlete.
The 55-year-old threw out the first pitch at Thursday’s game between the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays. And despite a confident walk up to the mound, the end result was nothing short of an abject disaster.
Perhaps overconfident, Smith decided to throw from the mound. Instead of traveling 60 feet, 6 inches to the glove of the catcher, Smith’s toss went about 45 feet before bouncing the rest of the way.
The pitch quickly and viral and Smith became the target of mockery across the internet.
But nothing could have prepared him for what would happen Friday morning when he showed back up on ESPN’s Get Up morning show.
“There’s no excuse. It was a choke job,” Smith said of the pitch.
ESPN even brought legendary rapper Snoop Dogg on the show to take a shot at Smith’s horrendous attempt at a first pitch.
“Stephen A. Smith, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for that pitch,” he said. “There’s not one athletic bone in your body by the looks of that pitch. That looked more like a bounce pass in basketball. You need some help, brother. (Show host) Molly (Qerim) can you help him? Somebody. That was bad, brother.”
All Smith could do was laugh. Because what defense did he really have?
Honestly, the lesson here is that you should never throw out a first pitch unless you’re 100 percent certain that you’re getting it to the mound.
But hey, maybe Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol’s mom could give him a tip or two.