…At The End of The Day

NORTH CAROLINA (BASN) — Before I start, let’s give our brother, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist and Fox Sports radio host Stephen A. Smith, a graduate of Winston-Salem State University, a loud round of applause for being the first sports reporter to reveal that LeBron James was going to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

Even though Stephen A. jeopardized his journalistic reputation by publicly reporting James’ destination and “decision” before anyone else, it was ESPN’s Chris Broussard, a former Cavs beat writer, who has been given all of the credit for breaking the story.

While ESPN continues to award and celebrate Broussard, whom I considered “the fake Stephen A.” due to his verbosity, it was Mr. Smith, who had the inside scoop that stunned and startled the sports world.

With Stephen A. leaking the story before ESPN’s one-hour LeBron-athon special with freelance reporter Jim Gray, many other jealous journalists claimed Smith lacked credibility and was practicing yellow journalism.

They even questioned his “reliable” sources and suggested that he was simply trying to throw himself in the public spotlight by reporting this ridiculous “LeBron leaving Cleveland for Miami story.”

But in a 24-hour news cycle that includes athletes blogging, twittering, You Tubing and face booking, Stephen A. Smith, the former ESPN employee, was exactly right.

LeBron was and did decide to join forces with D.Wade and Bosh in South Beach.

Now, the “Heat” is on!!

So let’s give Stephen A. his props for being the first to report the story that will forever change the landscape of the NBA.

History was made. And Smith was the first to reveal it.

Sorry Chris Broussard, the truth is out.

And it came from a reliable source.