Stephen A. Smith is a poster boy for the current era of Shout TV. It used to be that to succeed in journalism or broadcasting, one had to write well and/or speak well. Smith's rise to prominence at ESPN is a sign of how far journalism quality has fallen at that network. Smith may have solid thoughts and opinions and may "tell it like it is", but he has minimal journalism and broadcasting skills and thus, has no business being in that job. Smith has poor command of the English language. He writes poorly, speaks poorly and shouts "street" rather than speaks English. I guess ESPN feels it has to compete with the shout shows on the news networks by hiring rubes like this. I feel sorry for quality journalists like Dan Patrick and Bob Ley who are masters of their craft, but are now being surrounded by shout merchants like Smith. Like most trends in the television industry, this trend toward Shout TV will too pass.