The Masters isn’t your everyday sporting event. There are certain words that can’t be said during any other golf tournament. And there are certain expectations of the broadcasters. But something unusual happened last week when Marty Smith drew the ire of golf fans online for his fashion choices while covering the event for ESPN.
In particular, his decision to wear Air Jordan sneakers with a suit while conducting interviews at Augusta National was criticized by viewers online. Some said that wearing sneakers with a suit was always a bad decision, while others said that it was a fashion faux pas at a place as dignified as Augusta National.
After sitting on the criticism for a week, Marty Smith responded in a lengthy post on social media detailing why he wore the Air Jordans and why it was so important to him personally to do so. The initial post that Smith references was deleted, but there is other commentary online that addresses his footwear at Augusta.
Long post here …
When I was kid in Giles County, Southwest, Virginia, Appalachia, we didn’t have much. We were blessed with love and family and faith, but not material things. Granted, I never wanted for anything, but only because my parents worked to the bone.
My father… https://t.co/STTJl9EcE2— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) April 17, 2025
Smith’s full post can be read in its entirety below.
Long post here … When I was kid in Giles County, Southwest, Virginia, Appalachia, we didn’t have much. We were blessed with love and family and faith, but not material things. Granted, I never wanted for anything, but only because my parents worked to the bone. My father worked tirelessly to keep the lights on and food in our bellies. Stacy and I didn’t know what we didn’t have. We had love. But we also knew the value of a dollar.
And when I was in 8th grade I really wanted Air Jordan 5s. We’d gotten WGN on cable TV and I watched MJ religiously every damn night. I thought Michael walked on water. I know him now, and I still do. He captivated me in a way no one else ever had. The fire. The passion. Not backing down from anything. Ever. Always delivering. (Sometimes I dream… that he is me…) I wanted the Cement 4s the previous year, in 7th grade, but daddy wouldn’t buy them. Crazy to spend $150 on sneakers, boy. He told me if I wanted them, to save my money and buy them myself. Work for it. Show me.
So the next summer, summer of ‘89, I did. I bailed hay all damn summer with my football buddies and saved my money. Busted my ASS. Got stronger. Didn’t settle. And I went to Foot Locker and stood in line and bought the original White Fire 5s.
And I carried them to school. I wouldn’t put them on my feet until I was inside school, because I didn’t want the clear polymer on the sole to soil bronze or brown. My father was so impressed. I had earned daddy’s favor, not just that I worked for the right to buy the shoes, but that I had so much care for them once attained.
I turned 49 yesterday. Nothing has changed. Yes, I have a little more scratch, but I care so much for those shoes. The inspiration from MJ. The favor from my father. The literal sweat and the blood and passion to earn the goal.
I don’t know much. Mock me. It’s fine. But I do know several Augusta National members. Real men and women who appreciate real men and women. Grinders. The Entreprenuerial spirit. And I bet if I told them that exact story, they’d shake my hand and appreciate the sentiment.
I’ve been mocked, ridiculed, slandered due to the post below. Patrons yelled at me all day Sunday at the Masters for wearing Js. I get it. It’s fun to use social media platforms to ridicule things that we don’t understand. To deflect. When it’s not your life, you share snide perspective, chuckle, scratch your nuts and move along.
I stayed quiet on this for days. But it ate at me. Context is everything. Contemplated. Processed being mocked for being Southern and having a unique haircut and wearing suits that fit well.
Ultimately I’m proud of my Air Jordans. Every pair in every context. They say so much about my journey and my inspiration. In some small way, they’re what drive me to be great.
Really now, who looks bad wearing Air Jordans? It’s perfectly fine. Let’s not compare wearing a pair of very high class sneakers to an amateur golfer wearing a hat with upside down letters and relieving himself in Rae’s Creek or whatever it was that Jason Day was doing with Malbon golf last year. If he is a sentimental guy about wearing Air Jordans, more power to him.
How many viewers at home even noticed the footwear choice of Marty Smith and then cared enough to tweet about it? As for people on the grounds at Augusta making fun of him, probably every one of them would change places with the ESPN reporter if they could. If the Masters truly had a problem with this, he would be banned just like Gary McCord for saying the greens were covered with bikini wax in 1994 or Jack Whitaker for calling the patrons a “mob” during a playoff in 1966.
But if the green jackets are fine with it, why should anyone else take issue with something that looks good and feels good for Marty Smith?
