Stephen A. Smith Heckled at the 2009 NBA Draft: The Final Chapter. June 29, 2009
Posted by mb in Deadspin Hall of Fame, saving the world, stephen a. smith heckling society of gentlemen.1 comment so far
Deadspin H.O.F. Class of 20??
I am quite pleased with the way this turned out. There wasn’t a lot of great footage from the draft itself, as 1) I only had one beer beforehand and 2) this was a remarkably dull draft, and so inspiration was in short supply. But the other stuff… yeah, I’m happy. I marvel at how draining an experience this was — work has been very time intensive lately, and doing this at all involved sacrificing some sleep and some brain cells. I’m also stunned that everyone from NBA Security seemed to know who I was — and that they were also quite cordial and complimentary. And more people than ever went up to me — sometimes when I didn’t have the sock on or camera out — to shake my hand and meet the Stephen A. heckling guy. People wanted pictures. Very surreal.
Allow me a rant: The NBA, in its infinite wisdom, sold fewer than 400 day-of tickets Thursday. My guy got there at 7:30 am, only to be denied along with the overwhelming majority of people who showed up. I cannot begin to understand why, at a venue that seats over 3000 people, you’d suddenly reserve fewer than 400 tickets for actual fans who get on line early in the morning — taking days off from work, in many cases. It’s not like this is the Oden-Durant year, or the LeBron year (tickets were much, much easier to get a hold of the LeBron year). The NFL Draft works largely because it’s a populist event. It takes great pains to do well by its fans. It’s impossible to imagine the NFL giving away almost 90% of its tickets to corporate interests. The NBA Draft will never have that stature so long as it treats its fans this way during its one genuinely interactive event of the year. End of rant.
I cannot thank John Moe and folks like him for appealing to Deadspin to help a puppet out, Deadspin for putting out an APB for tickets, and this dude for answering the call and making his extras available. Also, do you like the Mets? You should read this blog. A good man writes it.
More thoughts on this video later this week. Oh, and yes, I wrote and performed the song — words and music (hooray, Apple Garageband!). Oh, and yes, this really is the last SAS NBA Draft heckling video.
twitter: @hecklingsociety
Thanks to all. June 26, 2009
Posted by mb in not necessarily the knicks, stephen a. smith heckling society of gentlemen.1 comment so far
Yes, There Will Be a Fourth (and Final) Stephen A. Smith Heckling Video. June 11, 2009
Posted by mb in special projects, stephen a. smith heckling society of gentlemen.3 comments
So yeah. We are aware that Stephen A. no longer works for ESPN. We are aware of his amazing Twitter page, and we even made Deadspin aware of some fun developments there.
We are also aware that some of you are curious about what, if anything, we’ll do this year.
Here’s the deal: We’ll do a video of some sort. This year’s “Stephen A. Smith Heckled At the NBA Draft” video will be rather different, owing largely to the lack of Stephen A. to heckle. It will also be the last, for the same reason. But it’s also just time to call it. We have traversed a lot of territory – groundbreaking whimsy, triumphant perfection, dark explorations of fate – and we’ve accomplished a lot of productive silliness. But just as all good things must come to an end, they also cry out for proper closure. So: One more video.
What form will this video take? We’re still figuring this out.
But we will make an effort. Stay tuned. Oh, and follow us on Twitter, won’t you? @hecklingsociety
Floness! February 23, 2009
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So the story is this: I worked somewhere near Rockefeller Center. One day, I walk home past the rink, pondering the collapse of the global economy (as I’m wont to do), and there he is.
He was unreal. I came back with a camera a few nights later, just knowing the odds were good that he’d be there again, and I took a few minutes of footage. He needed to be shared with the world. And he needed a theme song.
The words came to me quickly, and the tune followed. And so here, courtesy of a still camera with movie functionality and the miracle that is Apple GarageBand, is Floness. Long live Floness!
Barack Obama and Blazing Saddles: An Experiment in Viral Videomaking October 11, 2008
Posted by mb in media, not necessarily the knicks, stephen a. smith heckling society of gentlemen.2 comments
I set this up largely because the xenophobic ranting and raving of John McCain and Sarah Palin’s less educated supporters was beginning to sound awfully familiar. Great comedy is somehow illustrative of real live events; the very best comedy is prescient as to real live events to come. Hats off to Mel Brooks, and to the makers of Apple’s iMovie software.
So now I wonder: Is this the sort of video that could become a one or two million-hit wonder? I think it could, and in relatively short order. I’ll start pushing the marketing of this thing on Monday, and we’ll see how far it goes. I think it just might be even bigger than the drunk Met fan with the cups on his head. We shall see soon enough.
An Unexpected Distinction October 5, 2008
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I googled the SASHSG today (you’ll get an idea of why tomorrow) and I found something totally unexpected. We’ve been mentioned in Wikipedia! Not in our own entry (we’re not that bigtime) but, curiously and delightfully, in the entry for “heckler“. Observe:
At the NBA Drafts of recent years, many fans have gone with heckling ESPN NBA analyst and host of, Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, Stephen A. Smith. Most notably, The Stephen A. Smith Heckling Society of Gentlemen heckles him with a sock puppet dubbed as Stephen A. himself.
How crazy is that? I have no idea who did this — it literally could’ve been anyone — but thanks to whoever it was.
An Appropriately Tearful Farewell to the Friggin’ Cathedral of Baseball September 22, 2008
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Childish? Yes. Immature? Yes.
Howard Stern, some Andrea Peyser wannabe and a short film of a sleeping Met fan. September 20, 2008
Posted by mb in media, not necessarily the knicks, stephen a. smith heckling society of gentlemen.1 comment so far
Only in America. A few days ago, I post this video I took during the fourth inning of the Mets-Braves game at Shea last Saturday. It involves a sleeping, probably quite drunk Met fan falling victim to a prank by some of his friends — a prank that turns into something truly special somewhere around the seven minute mark. I send the link to a few places — Fanhouse, Always Amazin — and it catches on. Eventually Deadspin gets a hold of it (I’ve decided to give them a bit of a vacation from getting things directly until Bert Blyleven makes the Hall of Fame.) And by Thursday morning, the video has 33,000 hits.
The next day, my friend Scott tells me that he just heard the video mentioned on Howard Stern… for a good two or three minutes. And that Stern really, really talked it up. And sure enough, it’s all true:
And then the Daily News got involved. And then by Friday, we’re over 150,000 hits.
What a country!
Meanwhile, a rather unfortunate wannabe opinion journalist condemns the video in amNY, which — as my friend Brian observes — is a newspaper so good, they literally cannot give it away for free. Here is a taste of future Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Barker:
The video is both mesmerizing and sick: The whole time I’m watching this, I kept asking myself why are they doing this, why am I watching this and where is the Shea Stadium security? (In all fairness, a Shea usher does show up at the end of the video to put an end to the shenanigans.) …I’m not sure what exactly this video means, other then that the Mets bullpen has been so dreadful to watch lately that it’s much more entertaining to torment an inebriated fan. What it also means is that, for now, Mets fans are in major contention for the biggest sickos in New York, although they don’t have a lock on the honor.
Of course, the article demonstrates no effort to learn what actually happened. I took some time to e-mail Ms. Barker, and her editors. From that missive:
I am a big believer in constructive criticism. To that end, I only offer this: Either a quick query to the person who posted the video, or a perusal of the posts to the video by commenters, including friends AND relatives of the sleeping fellow who have checked in, would have revealed that a) the people stacking the cups were his friends, b) the guy was fine and c) the guy found it absolutely hilarious upon waking up, joking with fans around him as they explained what happened and signing autographs for the people who had posed with him. I am generally suspicious of articles that do not quote a single individual, as all readers should be. This is why. The further absence of perspective displayed by you was striking — I tend to think that stacking a cup on a sleeping friend’s head is not akin to Jets fans literally sexually assaulting female fans in Gate D. Perhaps my view is skewed by my stubborn reluctance to trivialize sexual assault. (I also, given still recent world events in Iraq and elsewhere in the world, would be loathe to trivialize terms like “torment”, particularly in newspapers. This is, perhaps, a character flaw on my part.)
As an opinion writer, you are still a journalist. As such, some exercise of journalistic ethics would be appropriate in the future. Make a call. Write an e-mail. Ask a question. Do the research. Find out what actually happened. You strike me as a not-incapable writer who could blossom into something not putrid, rather than an even more journalistically bankrupt version of Andrea Peyser. Keep working on it.
No response yet.
Who knows how far this video will go. But I’m just glad that thousands have gotten to share in what was, honestly, a very funny (and harmless) moment involving a guy who proved to be a very good sport.
Update: Apparently, the video was also featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Friday night, and in the LA Times. Unreal.
Bert Blyleven, I understand. August 22, 2008
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For the two people who asked: Yes, I’ve been watching, and no, no, I don’t know exactly what else the Stephen A. Smith Heckling Society of Gentlemen is supposed to do.
Oh well. I hope it was worth the Matt Leinart nomination that had absolutely no chance of success.
A new low? August 8, 2008
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It’s come to this, folks: Stephen A. Smith, stripped of his radio show, has to post an MP3 file to his blog and call it a podcast.
There are no words. Ooh, except these: I’ve been thinking about sad music I could’ve used in the 2008 Draft video to encapsulate his plight. I particularly lament Kanye West’s “(I Always Knew They’d Try To) Bring Me Down” (feat. Brandy) and Three Dog Night’s “Easy to be Hard” as missed opportunities.
Free SAS.
