Stephen A. Smith ‘going for max engagement’, fans claim after First Take star unveils controversial sports cities list

STEPHEN A. Smith has been slammed for leaving one of America’s biggest cities off his list of the best sports towns in the US.

On a special live broadcast of First Take from the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago, Smith jumped up and down as he shared a special edition of his regular segment Stephen’s A List.

X /FirstTake

X /FirstTake

“You know something since I was here at the NABJ, I decided to do a special Stephen’s A list just for y’all, the top five cities in the United States,” Smith said on Friday.

Smith then rattled off his rankings revealing the reason for each.

The First Take host listed Houston as number five for his best sports cities in the U.S. list.

“You know what they got with the Astros, you know what they got in the Rockets and H-town can’t be ignored,” Smith said.

Smith then revealed that Philadelphia ranked at number four on his list.

“This what we’re talking about: Philadelphia 76ers, Phillies, Eagles, etcetera. We can’t ignore that rabid town,” Smith said.

New York City came in at number three on the 56-year-old’s list.

“You know I ain’t going to forget that okay, New York City is New York City, the Yankees, the Mets, the Knicks, even the Brooklyn Nets damn it, Smith said.

Coming in at number two on the First Take host list was Chicago .

“Now look when you got teams losing as much as they lose and fans still show up in this freezing a** temperature you gotta give love to the city of Chicago,” Smith said.

Last but not least Smith revealed his number one sports city in the United States as Boston .

“You got the Red Sox, you got the Patriots, the reigning defending NBA champion Boston Celtics,” Smith said to a chorus of boos from the crowd.

Fans rushed to social media to slam the list with some claiming he left out a major city.

Stephen A. Smith's journey through media

STEPHEN A. Smith is now the face of ESPN and an executive producer on First Take having initially started working for the company back in 2003.

Smith has held various roles with the network, including hosting radio shows, SportsCenter contributions, and appearing on NBA Countdown.

He was a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1994 to 2010.

His began as an NBA writer before becoming a general sports columnist.

Before that, Smith worked as a reporter with Winston-Salem Journal, the Greensboro News, and the New York Daily News.

“SAS knows leaving LA off the list will get max engagement,” one fan said, adding a laughing emoji.

“Bruh how do you rank Houston over Los Angeles??” questioned a second.

“Coastal and big city bias,” claimed a third.

“Where is Los Angeles?”

FAN FLACK

Stephen’s A List is a recurring segment during First Take where he ranks his top five picks for a range of sports topics.

And his cities list isn’t the first time he’s been slammed after sharing his choices.

Earlier this year, Stephen A. named his top five duos in sports history .

Smith anointed Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen as his best duo in sports history.

However, the sports media star’s list took a turn when he didn’t have a single NFL duo in the rest of his rankings.

Stephen A. ranked Shaquille O’Neal and the late Kobe Bryant as the No. 2 sports duo and the women’s basketball coach-player combination of Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes as the No. 3 duo.

Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabaar were ranked fourth and NHL legends Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier were ranked fifth.

The First Take panel of host Molly Qerim and analysts Shannon Sharpe , Jeff Saturday, and Perkins went berserk over the rankings.

Qerim directly told Smith, “This is suspect and it’s a little biased. This is supposed to be all sports, I see four basketball.”