STRAIGHT SHOOTER

America's most popular - and polarizing - sports media icon dives deep into his life and career in this memoir, explaining who he really is and what he really thinks in ways that he can't address on television.

Stephen A. Smith has never been handed anything. Today, he's the highest-paid personality on ESPN, the sports entertainment network so large and influential it's known as "The Mothership." But he grew up in Hollis, Queens with a loving mother and very little else. The son of Caribbean immigrants and youngest of six children, he had to fight for everything, from time in the house's one working bathroom, to enough cereal to fill his bowl. As a basketball player at Winston-Salem State University under Hall of Fame coach Clarence Gaines, he wrote a column for the university newspaper arguing that his own coach should retire due to health issues. He hustled and rose up as a sports columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer in the 90s, started appearing on ESPN in the mid-2000s, and got his own show there in 2005, which he hosted while continuing to write for The Inquirer, sometimes filing stories on his BlackBerry between other assignments. He was unceremoniously fired by ESPN in 2009, decided to work even harder, and was rehired in 2011. In 2012, he began appearing on ESPN's flagship debate program First Take. With his razor-sharp intelligence, lack of fear to tell it like he sees it, and long history of fighting for himself, it was the perfect fit, and he's never looked back.

In Straight Shooter, Stephen A. explains exactly how he climbed to the top of a media empire. This entertaining and revealing memoir addresses sports -- the defining focus of Stephen A.'s life and career -- but also touches powerfully on his childhood, family, and fatherhood, bringing readers behind the First Take desk and into his mind. From his own experience, he writes about knowing your value, spotting opportunities, building relationships, owning your brand, and promoting what you do best. Blending the provocative with the personal, this book is about how he overcame the odds by harnessing his integrity.
As Stephen A. says: "You can criticize me. You can crucify me. You can love me. You can hate me. Just don't make the mistake of calling me inauthentic, because you'd be a damn liar."

Smith rose from beat reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer to become the face of ESPN and its most important on-air personality. He is star of the number one morning sports talk show, First Take. He is also the host of the Stephen A's World, a daily show on the ESPN+ streaming service, and SportsCenter with Stephen A. Smith during the NBA season. Smith has more than ten million followers across social media platforms, and his opinions on sports and sports-tangential topics create near-daily headlines in the media.