Stephen A. Smith returns to Sports Columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer

Stephen A., the man known as "SAS" in this report, has returned to his position as sports columnist with the Philadelphia Inquirer. At what cost? Stephen A. must agree to squash his political views at other media outlets. (mainly Fox News, MSNBC and the TODAY Show) WHAT???

Source: Richard Prince Journalisms Stephen A. Smith's sports column appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday for the first time in more than two years after Smith agreed to the Inquirer's demand that he remove political opinions from his Web site and agree to stop espousing them on cable news shows.

Smith's agreement to the Inquirer's ethics policy — which he contends has not been applied to other news employees — applies "until the dispute is resolved by an arbitrator," Bill Ross, executive director of the Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers Association of America Local 38010, told Journal-isms.

While the capitulation, however temporary, silences Smith's views on politics, it also removes the Inquirer's rationale for not running his column.

"I'm glad the employer has done the right thing and published SAS column," Ross said via e-mail. Smith "continues to scan the sports landscape, and will continue to produce top notch columns for the Philadelphia Inquirer, that no doubt will attract readers back, who have stopped reading due to SAS long absence."

In today's column Stephen A. writes about the possible retirement of Philadelphia Seventy-Sixer Allen Iverson. Iverson voted to start by the fans in Sunday's NBA All-Star in Dallas will not be attending the game due to the illness of his daughter.

-Now that Allen Iverson has elected to skip Sunday's NBA All-Star Game, reports circulating throughout the league have him retiring soon. According to those close to the Answer, there's no truth to that. But considering the personal issues that Iverson has endured of late, combined with how they have affected his willingness to play, we have to wonder: Is it time for Iverson to call it a career? It's a legitimate question, now more than ever. >> Read more of the column


Stephen A. Smith continues to host his own daily sports talk show on Fox Sports Radio. He will pick up another affiliate on March 5 at WHEN-AM in Syracuse, NY. The station will drop Don Imus and replace him with Smith.