Stephen A. Smith’s “stay off the weeeeeeed” catchphrase has lost a bit of luster in recent years as the stigma surrounding marijuana slowly gets reduced. But the slogan made a prominent return to First Take Tuesday morning, only this time, it was Smith who had the phrase pulled on him.
— Local Man (@Whoabot) July 15, 2016
24 hours after going viral for his evisceration of Chris Paul, Patrick Beverley continued to shake up the sports media world on ESPN. Joining First Take again, Beverley got heated with Smith and JJ Redick over whether James Harden deserves a supermax contract from the Philadelphia 76ers.
According to Smith and Redick, Harden is no longer a $50 million per year player based on his deteriorating performance over the last two seasons. But Beverley strongly believes the 76ers guard still deserves the supermax. So strongly, that he encouraged Smith to get drug tested for believing otherwise.
“I got a question, because I know you like to point this out when people get caught doing drugs. Do they drug test on this show?” Beverley asked, appearing to catch Smith by surprise during the Harden segment.
Patrick Beverley hits Stephen A. Smith with his own "stay off the weeeeeed" pic.twitter.com/q2huowSheU
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“You need to be drug tested man! Get off the weeeeeeeeed man!” Beverley ranted over Smith’s assessment of Harden. “Get off of it, stop man, give that brother his flowers man!”
I don’t know whether Smith didn’t appreciate having his slogan stolen or if he was just tired of breaking down Harden’s disappearance in the playoffs, but the First Take host erupted in response to Beverley.
“Timeout,” Smith said. “We’ve spent years giving [Harden] his props. We’ve been giving him PROPS THE LAST DECADE! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT GIVING HIM HIS PROPS? WE SPENT THE LAST DECADE GIVING HIM HIS PROPS…Oh my god, we’ve given him nothing but love…HOW MANY FLOWERS DOES HE NEED?”
I encourage you to watch the clip because I don’t think the caps lock button did justice to how enthusiastic Smith was.
We’re just two days into Beverley’s ESPN tour and the NBA guard wasted little time in getting under people’s skin, just like he does on the basketball court as a fierce defender. But Beverley has offered bold and genuine opinions, which is exactly what the sports talk model hoped to generate before it became usurped by so many prefabricated takes.
