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Stephen A. Smith mistakenly pronounces Arkansas legend Nolan Richardson dead
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Stephen A. Smith is very knowledgable about the NBA. But perhaps the ESPN personality (and potential future president) is too caught up in his feud with LeBron James to pay much attention to college basketball.
During a segment with former college coach Seth Greenberg on ESPN’s First Take on Friday morning, following Arkansas’s disappointing double-digit blown lead to Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night, Smith made an embarrassing mistake.
As you can see in the clip below, he claims legendary Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson, the architect of the famous “40 Minutes of Hell” system, is dead:
“He’s gonna be able to recruit better than anybody ever has there outside of Mr. 40 Minutes of Hell himself, the late great Nolan Richardson. God rest his soul,” Smith said somberly.
Smith started the next segment of the show forcefully clarified that he is aware Richardson is, in fact, very much alive:
If you know someone is alive, you don’t usually describe them as “late, great” or say things like “God rest his soul.”
But hey, who are we to say future president Stephen A. Smith is wrong? The late, great First Take host can do no wrong in our eyes. God rest his soul.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
