Stephen A. Smith

When you think about advertising, it's understanding that whether it's newspaper, radio, or television, you have to know how to advertise, how to market, because ultimately, everything comes down to ratings and revenue or ratings and subscribers and revenue, whether it's newspapers or radio or television.

When I was at the 'Philadelphia Inquirer,' I was promoted nine times in my first 13 years. I ultimately went from general assignment to beats on St. Joe's and Temple, to backup writer, to NBA writer, to NBA columnist, to, ultimately, in 2003, to general sports columns.

I came up in this industry at a time where you had to be a journalist. You had to break stories. You had to break news to elevate your career, to get to a certain point and a certain level in this business, before you even had the license to give your opinion, especially if you were a black man.

Corporate America doesn't give a damn about you. It does not care about your feelings. It wants productivity, and whoever doesn't produce is going to be pushed out, and the way is going to be paved for somebody else to step into your shoes who can do the job.

My first newspaper job was a high school reporter for the 'New York Daily News.'

Everyone that knows me knows I'm about winning.

While winning may not always personify the Big Apple, attitude certainly does. Players get called to the carpet. So do coaches, managers, executives, owners, and anyone associated with them. No one is safe.

No one on the planet Earth is going to be able to look at me on television and say that I'm a liar. It will not happen.

I can't stand people who look into the camera and look into the eyes of millions of people and wax political correctness.

Maybe, instead of putting our standards on other people, we should be very reticent, apprehensive, and deliberate and methodical in choosing whom we choose to elevate in the eyes of the public as role models.

Money is here to be made in America. - for those with the ability to earn it legitimately. The exception appears to be when you're young, gifted, and black. There are always questions when the three intertwine.

There is nothing worse than being mediocre at a whole bunch of different things.