(NewsNation) — ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith joined NewsNation’s “CUOMO” on Tuesday to discuss the sport’s hottest topic: New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge broke his record 62nd home run, Tua Tagovailoa’s controversial head injury and reports of systemic abuse in women’s sports.
Smith said the American League Judge’s record 62 home runs should come without an asterisk and said Dolphin’s handling of Tua Tagovailoa’s head injury meant “someone should be fired.”
Smith said when he heard about the new report detailing systemic verbal and sexual abuse within the National Women’s Football League, it “didn’t surprise me at all… because we’ve been hearing about this story for too long.
“The shutdown didn’t last weeks or months, it lasted years,” Smith told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo. “Think about what’s happening in Michigan State. Think about what’s happening in other places where you see young women being molested, young women being groped, touched, sexually assaulted. We’re finding out more and more about this.”
Smith called the Miami Dolphins’ handling of Tua Tagovailoa’s head injury “terrible” and called for someone to be fired after the incident. controversy.
“And this is a problem I think the Miami Dolphins have, you have a coach in Mike McDaniel who is a first-year coach, he’s done an amazing job, we don’t want to accuse anyone of doing anything wrong on purpose,” Smith said. “But doubling, ‘we handled everything right, we didn’t do anything wrong. I’m fully signed off with what procedural issues we are following.’ No. Can’t do that based on what we see here.”
Moments before Smith joined Cuomo, Judge scored his 62nd home run of the season, passing Yankees legend Roger Maris for the most home runs in a single season in American League history. However, many believe Hakim should be considered the all-time leader in both leagues, considering every National League player to hit more than 61 home runs in a season did so while on performance-enhancing drugs.
Smith said it was clear that Judge’s record didn’t need the asterisks like National League players Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, but added it felt hypocritical for media pundits and league officials to criticize records set by those taking performance-enhancing drugs. .
While I always criticize people who say that asterisks need to be attached to these other people, not to say that it doesn’t, but you are the network, you raise the money. You’re the league, you’re raising the money,” said Smith. “Then after you’ve put together the money and the hype and all the hype that comes with it, then you want us to forget about Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. I do not like it. If you want to accept it and take the money, then take everything that comes with it. Place them in the Hall of Fame, just put an asterisk next to the name and call it a day.”