Friday, January 22, 2010

Why is Steve Smith in Australia?

Carolina Panther WR Steve Smith has been in Australia this week watching the Australian Open tennis tournament. He sat in American John Isner's box for a match this week and got interviewed on ESPN by Pam Shriver (a couple of alert "Scott Says" readers first have pointed this out to me -- I didn't see it live -- but it's true).

Isner, who is from Greensboro and is a Panther fan, told reporters after his match (which he won) about Smith: "I didn't know him before this. Somebody told me... he was coming to town. He had heard of me before. He's a tennis fan. He was coming with his buddy. I immediately jumped at the opportunity to give him a credential and whatnot. Met him about five or six days ago. Hit it off since then. He's watched every one of my matches. I've watched him a million times. Kind of cool to have him in my corner."

(Here's an online story by Greg Couch, a friend of mine who is in Australia, about Isner's match and Smith's presence there).

Smith isn't the highest-profile receiver in Australia watching tennis, either. Terrell Owens -- i.e. T.O. -- has been watching Andy Roddick's matches and others and Twittering about them regularly on his account.

Feel free to insert your own joke here about how these two wideouts have plenty of time on their hands while 4 teams are still battling it out in the championship games Sunday. But being a tennis guy myself, I think it's pretty cool they've gone Down Under to watch some of the world's most underrated athletes.

Smitty is something of a Renaissance man in terms of sports, too -- he doesn't just like the basic ones. He's a soccer guy, too, having gotten interested in it while coaching one of his kids.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

whoa - what a disappointment to see your column pop-up after hearing of the layoffs at the CO this week.

Maybe next time...

Anonymous said...

How do you and Soreneson still have a job?

Anonymous said...

You've obviously never lost a job. Who wishes that on anyone? What a horrible thing to say.

Matt said...

Well, I'll be the lone reader so far to say that I can appreciate that the Carolinas have a few pro athletes that appreciate a broad spectrum of sports, and something else besides handguns. Sure, it's not as sensational, but it's rather nice having headlines devoid of guys like Plexico Burress and Gilbert Arenas for a change.

Jennifer said...

I agree with Matt...

Just what is the big deal that Smitty is down under watching a tennis match?

I mean the Panthers arent in the playoffs so why cant he go and do what he wants to?

I'm sure Isner appreciates the support from one athlete to another...especially being a Panther fan himself!


Kudos to Smitty for showing everyone that football isnt the only sports related interest he has.

Obviously for all the haters, I would suppose this means his ego is in check since it is tennis?

Anonymous said...

Obv Smith sucked so bad and was a non-factor he is checking into playing Aussie football aka soccer where being only 5ft tall is actually an advantage plus he runs pretty good and may help them win their Kangaroo Bowl.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was neat to see Smith in the box watching the match - the commentators did not say anything about him - we just saw him and realized who he was. Scott's blog was fine and just his comments - anyone can chose to read them or skip them if they don't want the fluff - it is a blog! The not so nice comments are a waste of space and just make things more negative. Go out and get a life. Thanks for nothing!

viagra online said...

He is in Australia to watch some kangaroos and talk a bit with Cocodrile Dundy, what a stupid question man!