Every year Alabama head coach Nick Saban always brings in a multitude of guest speakers to talk to his teams about football, life and business. Saban has brought in people like Kobe Bryant, Herm Edwards and even iron Mike Tyson. But the latest speaker may have provided some of the best wisdom of any of the previous.
First Take commentator Stephen A. Smith.
It’s been well documented how highly regarded Alabama is to Smith as he has praised the crimson tide on numerous occasions on his show.
He was also famous for picking Alabama against the entire field of college football to win the national championship back in 2017 and was nearly correct. But even with Smith’s praise of the crimson tide he will always keep it real and say exactly what is on his mind.
Even though he was a guest Smith still cheekily asked the team about their lopsided national championship loss.
✂️ 𝐁𝐀𝐌𝐀 𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐑 ✂️ @stephenasmith joins us for Season 2️⃣ Episode 2️⃣ this Wednesday!#BamaCuts #RollTide pic.twitter.com/CFV99KkZxJ
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) August 12, 2019
And following in the same vein of Stephen A.’s brutal honesty, he also took the time to discuss life lessons and what the real world will be like after college.
“There’re a lot of kids out here and you think the world cares about you,” said Smith. “The world (doesn’t) give a d*** about you. Let me be very very clear in what I’m saying, the world does not give a d*** about you it doesn’t give a d*** about me. You are a commodity or you are a liability.”
Every DAMN body needs to hear this. And that even includes the Alabama Football Program. pic.twitter.com/VkcxhyDIPm
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) August 12, 2019
As harsh as it may sound right off the bat, for most people out there this statement is very true. The real world isn’t fair and the sooner you learn that the more prepared you may be when it knocks you down. More than 80 percent of the players in that room will not make it to the NFL. They will not sign million-dollar contracts and continue to play the game they love so to hear this sort of message is important.
Even for the members of the team who will continue in the pros, this lesson can still be applied. The NFL is a cutthroat business. If you don’t produce you get thrown to the side for someone who can and as much as they say they care about you it isn’t often the case.
You simply cannot put a price on the value of these kinds of lessons because they can be applied to nearly every facet of life and that’s what Saban wants his players to take away from every one of these guest speakers.
*Get the BEST Alabama football insider information, message board access, and recruiting coverage today! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our subscriber only content!*
Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
