Interview: Former ESPN and now Fox News Will Cain - Still A Fan, but not hyping the Dallas Cowboys.

Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
You know, there's no way in hell I'm gonna let
you off the hook, will Kine and let you get
out of here without switching to sports for a second
and talking to you about your Dallas Cowboys. Now they
ain't do a damn thing this offseason. Then get Derek Henry,
let him get away to Baltimore. Okay, then from Tennessee
instead of grabbing him. You gotta sign Michael Parsons. You

(00:33):
gotta sign Ceede Lamb, you gotta sign Dak Prescott. I mean,
it's gonna happen again. Will y'all are gonna fall again,
your Dallas Cowboys? How are you looking forward to this
fall knowing that the inevitable will soon arrive? That black
cat is running around that franchise, and well.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
There it is. There's the line, the black cat run
around your friend. I you know my thing is, I
tell you the truth. I have never felt less enthusiastic
about a Cowboys season in years, and especially when they're
not bad. They're pretty good. But you want to want

(01:16):
one of the reasons of why I'm not enthusiastic. I
don't think Gerry has to worry about this because the
Cowboys are America's team and they're a national franchise, but
we are spoiled in Dallas, stephen A. I've got a
World Series championship that I'm resting on. I've got an
NBA Finals appearance. I saw you in Dallas for the
one lone victory of the Dallas Mavericks though in the finals.

(01:38):
Now signing Klay Thompson and with I think the best
player in the NBA and Luka Doncic, I have my
Texas long runs making the college football semi finals, and
I have the Dallas Starts making the Final four in hockey. Literally,
I'm on a heater in Dallas, and the Dallas Cowboys
lack of enthusiasm is because, hey, everybody else has given

(01:58):
me what I need. Were you Cowboys? Where are you?
Jerry Jones? And you're right, they did nothing this offseason.
Ceedee Lamb's not in training camp. I'm not as worried
about Derrick Henry because I am in the camp of
don't pay running backs big money. Uh So we'll see
about Rico Dowdell and running back by committee. But I

(02:18):
am worried. Man. They're not gonna be bad. They're gonna
be you know, they're gonna be a playoff team. But
the question they've always been I love it this one game.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
I love it this way. They're gonna be just good
enough to tease fans in the thinking they're gonna be relevant,
and they go plumb it. But I still believe that.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
I I always he's you know, Dak. I can't quit Dak.
I try, I try to quit him, but I keep
coming back. You know, I think he's a top ten
quarterback in the NFL. I know he's a top ten
quarterback in the NFL, and I just think at some
point that that level of quarterback has got to break
through when you're sitting on this many shots, you know,
first round, second round, sooner later you break through. Right

(03:04):
sooner or later, this comes up aces for Dak. I
have to think that's true. Stephen.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
That listen, man, Before I let you get on out
of here, this is my very last question. I'll be
remiss and neglecting to bring this up. You left ESPN,
You're at Fox, You're on Fox and Friends on the weekends.
You know, you're guest hosted tims on other shows. You've
got your own podcast. You're doing some big things.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Man.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
I'm real proud of you, man, and I know you
know how you know shaky it was for you in
terms of you trying to decide which direction you wanted
to go in and what you wanted to do. How
do you feel about your career right now where you
are and the kind of strides you appear to be
taken in your career? How are you feeling about yourself
right now?

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Are you asking me if I regret leaving you in ESPN? Like,
how am I feeling having made the decisions? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (03:53):
No, of course that would be yes. Of course that
would be yes. What else?

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Go ahead? Well, I'm gonna tell you something. You know what,
my favorite thing about First Take is right now, how
much fun you're having. You need to have fun? You
you you? Fun is fun, and sometimes back in the
day it was you know, I loved I loved what
I did on First Take with you, because truth is,
we did have fun. We were fun on the Cowboys debates.

(04:19):
We had we could poke it together, but we also
had depth and I think we were having some conversations
back on the first Take on First Take back in
the day that just didn't happen in America and aren't
happening today. America not in that way, and I missed that.
I do miss that. And to your point, that's what
you're doing on the Steve Nay Smith Show, and that's
what I want to do on the Will Kane Show.
We don't have enough in that in America now of

(04:40):
people of disagreement coming together and and you know, you
and I, man, we would go at it and the
minute was over, we'd reach our fists across the table.
You know, we just would it. That's because we were,
in my mind, because we were men, and then we
then we'd have fun. But I'm real happy to be
where I am. I love Fox and and I do

(05:01):
miss talking more sports. I want to talk more sports.
But I also understood how important this moment was in history,
starting in twenty twenty, all the way through where we
are today, and I wanted to take that on a
little more on the nose, a little more directly. And
I would venture to say, I bet you feel the
same way. And that's what you're doing with the Steven A.
Smith Show. You know, you get the opportunity to participate
in this because if you think about what's happened in

(05:23):
the past month, I mean, quite honestly, we're locked. It's
like every week, maybe every half a week, it's been
like a history making event in news, you know, an
assassination attempt, pushing out Joe Biden, selecting Kamala Harris, the
debate over and over. It's like, I've got to be
in that. I need to be in that, And I'd
like to think that you and I are two unique

(05:44):
individuals in providing a conversation around that. It is just
all too wanting in America. And so I'm happy with
the choice that I may. I miss you, I miss sports.
I'm happy with where I am and where I am
in the conversation in America.