He does not publicize it much, but in recent years, after the final game of the NBA Finals, Stephen A. Smith takes a vacation. He works his tail off as a personality on ESPN's First Take, a radio host on ESPN Radio 98.7 FM New York and an NBA insider on general ESPN coverage during the majority of the calendar year.
At the end of June, he drops it all for a vacation. And he keeps his destination on the down low.
Smith also unplugs from Twitter. This was his last tweet before this year's hiatus:
@teddysanders1 Thank You my man. I really do need it
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 20, 2014
And with that, one of the most recognized faces in sports media disappeared for about two weeks. Smith was absent during the NBA Draft and the start of free agency (wondering why you've been seeing so much P.J. Carlesimo?).
On Thursday night, minutes before the clock struck midnight, Smith returned to Twitter. He did so in nonchalant manner, coming back into his account with a criticism of American Airlines:
This flight from Miami on @AmericanAir is just disgraceful. Sitting on the plane for 2 hours. Paperwork hasn't arrived! Just damn ridiculous
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 4, 2014
There is a lot of confusing content in this tweet. Why is Smith on a plane waiting for paperwork? For the pilots to have clearance to fly? Why is he leaving Miami during free agency? How was his vacation?
Maybe the only takeaway we should have is Smith is back in our lives, free agency is among us and Smith has some current connection to Miami.
