Top ESPN basketball analyst Stephen A. Smith was instigated by a fan to play solitaire during game 4 of the NBA final between Indiana Pares and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The blurred picture quickly went viral on social media, even attracting Smith’s attention, who admitted that he was holding some solitaires during a timeout.
“Yes! He is me. Who would have thought … I can do multitasks. Especially during the timeout!” Smith posted on X. “Hope you are enjoying the NBA final. It is now 7 games, peeping!”
His post earned a “community note” – a feature on X meant to address misinformation – added reference: “Stephen A. lying” and “This photo was taken during the gameplay, not during a timeout.”
Many members of the national media have made an open hold about this small and no-nBA finals. The journey of Indiana and Oklahoma City in the middle of summer is not much in anyone’s wish list. But this has been an incredibly entertaining final, so he was upset to play solitaires with Smith rather than naturally watching the Internet troll game.
Which leaves me with this question: Has we not all done this?
Spains that pay attention are less than now. Data suggests that most sports fans watch live games with your phone for easy communication with friends or as a second screen experience. When you have a phone in your hand, it is always urged to open it and distract your brain for a few moments.
For Stephen A, the escape is solitaire. For my father, this panda is pop. For my younger brother, it is a full amount of tiktok – no matter what it is on TV.
If Smith was using the ESPN BET app instead of Solitaire, it could have turned into a viral advertising campaign. But the fact that he has distracted himself with a single card game has all made everyone online in weapons.
How many professional basketball games Smith has participated in? Thousands? You have to guess that it is close to the 100 NBA final game so far. I am not going to blame him for not sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time. Sure, it is his job to watch and analyze the game. But no one is looking at him to break the breaking of every occupation of a deep X and O.
You can remove your eyes from the game for a few minutes – timeout or not – and still a great idea what is happening.
