Hour 3: Stephen A. Smith Blasts Eagles for Jalen Hurts Medical Scare

Craig Carton (0:01)

Hi, 357, Carton Show with Big Mac. Great to have you here.

You know, 30-some-odd years ago, when I was a young lad in Philadelphia, it was a random Wednesday night. My radio partner at WIP was a guy named Gary Cobb. He went by G. Cobb. And G. Cobb had a weekly television show called G. Cobb Show. G.

Chris McMonigle (0:23)

Cobb Show.

Craig Carton (0:23)

Pretty good day, right?

Chris McMonigle (0:24)

Makes sense.

Craig Carton (0:25)

And every now and then, me and this young, intrepid reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, covering John Cheney and the Temple Owls, would chop it up. His name was Steve Smith. Many years later, 30 years later, he's now Stephen A. Smith. Added an initial, lengthened his name. I'm just Craig Carton still. And he's an old friend and I'm a fan still. And he joins us here on the radio tape because as you might know, WFN has joined Sirius XM radio.

I'm not sure what channel we're on, but I know Ron Sirius XM.

Chris McMonigle (1:02)

Channel 94

Craig Carton (1:02)

There you go, Channel 94

And my main man Stephen A. Smith has a few minutes at his very busy schedule to join us this afternoon. Stephen, it's Craig and Big Mac. How you been, buddy?

Stephen A. Smith (1:14)

Craig, Big Mac, what's up? Craig, it's been a long time, man, but stop lying to the public. I've always been Stephen A.

Craig Carton (1:20)

What?

Stephen A. Smith (1:20)

I have not changed my name. My byline was that way since I was in college. That is absolutely not true. But other than that, you're telling the truth, man. It's good to see you. It's been a long time, my brother.

Craig Carton (1:29)

It has been a very, very long time. Good to see you and lots to talk about.

Stephen A. Smith (1:33)

Big Mac, good to see you, bro.

Chris McMonigle (1:34)

Yeah, thank you, Steve.

Craig Carton (1:35)

Let me just ask you real quick on the Philly thing. I think the NFL and the Eagles have a lot of explaining to do with this Jalen Hurts situation. I bring up Philly because obviously you covered the Eagles for a long time. You have filled up your roots, the Inquirer and all that. And I think, again, maybe we don't know all the facts yet, but if what I've read is what's factual, what they did to Jalen Hurts is completely unacceptable.

Stephen A. Smith (1:59)

Well, I would say the Eagles more so than the National Football League.

You know, the National Football League is over there trying to promote the game internationally. You're anticipating that the Eagles will be responsible enough to look out for their own star quarterback. He's in the hospital until 4 a.m. according to reports. He's instructed not to sleep at all through the night. Okay? And you're the Philadelphia Eagles. And somehow, he's cleared to play in London, England by doctors. And without any sleep whatsoever, you put him on a football field against the Jacksonville Jaguars. First of all, against anybody, because obviously, the issue was blood clots. We didn't know at that particular moment in time. And all likelihood is that they didn't know that the blood clots had spread to his lungs. But anytime you hear blood clots, you know that that's a serious enough issue. And even in the event that he's cleared by doctors, you still want to take precautionary measures to make sure, God forbid, that something doesn't happen to him on a football field. Because this is a violent sport.

It's not just the place where you're exerting a level of physical activity in terms of your cardio. But it's like a car crash collision. You're getting hit. And when something like that is what's happening, and you put Jalen Hurts out on the football field, and I think Howie Roseman has something to explain, I think Nick Sirianni has something to explain, more so than the league office, who's counting on their players, on their teams, to look out for their own daggone players.

Craig Carton (3:26)

Yeah, I feel bad for Jalen Hurts. He's a great guy, great competitor, but having not slept, having the blood clots, and then putting him on a plane for seven hours back from London to Philadelphia, there's a lot of people that have a lot of explain to you because the scariest thing about this, and look, we're New Yorkers. We root against Philadelphia, obviously. We want the Eagles to lose a lot of games, although I'm not a giant fan, I'm a jet fan. But the reality is that from what I've now post, read about this and pulmonary embolisms and all that stuff, that I don't claim to be an expert on, he literally could have died.