Stephen A. Smith touts credentials, tells Derek Carr to 'check yourself' over fight challenge

The Stephen A. Smith hype machine caught a boost of adrenaline when, out of nowhere, Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr appeared to challenge him to a fight.

Carr, mad that Smith’s “First Take” partner Max Kellerman had the gall to criticize him for his play this season, definitely wanted a go at Kellerman. Or at least he said he did when asking UFC boss Dana White about setting up a cage match with the ESPN host via Twitter on Wednesday.

The implication is that other “clown” noted here is Smith.

Smith takes his cue

Smith pounced at opportunity of being slighted to amp on the volume on his brash media machine.

Smith took the stance Thursday that he, like Carr, has the right to make a living. And a large part of that living comes via criticizing athletes. A valid point, by Smith.

Tuna fish and Kool-Aid

Of course his stance wasn’t delivered quite so simply. He went on an almost two-minute rant to deliver the message on his radio show complete with references to drinking Kool-Aid and eating tuna fish as a struggling young journalist before listing all of the credentials that give him the right to criticize.

He thew in a “Derek Carr, you need to check yourself” for good measure.

All good for Stephen A. Smith

This, of course is all good for Smith and “First Take.” He’s not genuinely upset with Carr. Far from it. He’s stoked at the content on the relatively slow off week before Super Bowl Week after the noise from the NFL’s conference championships has died down.

He even balked at odds laid not making Carr nearly big enough of a favorite in a hypothetical fight on his Twitter account.

So if Carr’s intention was to cause problems for Smith, he has failed. His fight challenge just provided Smith with more stuff to yell about.

For Smith and his bottom line, that’s always good news.

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