Poker Writer
After being arrested last week for allegedly running an illegal poker game, former NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas made light of the situation on a livestream. Fellow on-screen talent Stephen A. Smith wasn’t amused. Arenas’ joke referenced Smith’s talk show, “First Take,” which prompted the ESPN sports analyst to take him to task for being too flippant about a serious situation.
Arenas had appeared on “First Take” a few weeks before his recent arrest, in which he was booked for running an illegal raked poker game in his Encino, Calif., mansion. He has downplayed the arrest and joked about the fact that he’s not the only “First Take” guest to find himself in legal trouble recently. While livestreaming himself playing College Football 26 video game, he quipped:
Stephen A., man. We gotta talk, brother! Because it ain’t a damn coincidence that everybody you know going to jail! Hey, Stephen. Everybody, man…Y’all see that? Everybody. What? No, no, no, I ain’t saying nobody snitching. I’m just saying, hey, man. You know how to pick ‘em. Stephen, you know how to pick ‘em, man. I’m gonna just be honest. It’s like the Madden curse!
The former NBA All-Star referenced other members of “First Take,” such as Shannon Sharpe, who have been in legal trouble recently.
Smith did not find the situation as amusing as Arenas. Known for his fiery opinions, Smith went off at Arenas on his podcast, imploring him to take the charges seriously:
I need you not to play around. My brother, I don’t want to see you in jail. At all. It’s not a good look. It’s nothing to laugh about, it’s nothing to joke around and think it’s funny when the feds come raiding your home. I don’t want to see that. I don’t want to hear about anything like that.
He continued, discussing how the charges could greatly damage Arenas
I can assure you anyone who wants to do business with you, and I’m one of those people, ESPN, Underdog, a whole bunch of sponsors and advertisers, we don’t want to see that. Anybody that knows anything about you and your knowledge of the game and your ability to articulate and deliver your positions, my brother, you are a special talent. We don’t want to see that.
Poker On ESPN
Smith remained focused on Arenas himself throughout the nearly 10-minute rant on the podcast. He did not delve into the details of the charges and stayed clear of any poker discussion. ESPN rarely touches the subject these days.
Recently, ESPN has embraced a heavy focus on sports betting following widespread legalization and the launch of ESPN BET in late 2023.
But despite the large increase in ESPN’s attention to sports betting, poker-centric programming has gone the other direction. ESPN broadcasted the World Series of Poker from 2002-2019. Those shows are an oft-cited factor in the “poker boom” as a mainstream audience became aware of poker for the first time.
Poker players even received cameos on other ESPN programs, such as when 2013 Main Event champion Ryan Riess served as a guest picker on “College GameDay.”
Holy cow. @RyanRiess1 is the celebrity guest picker on @CollegeGameDay. Great exposure for poker.
— Rob Edwards (@RobertDEdwards) December 7, 2013
But the 2019 Main Event ended up being the final one on ESPN. The broadcaster opted against renewing the rights. Since then, poker has been largely absent from the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports. ESPN’s web coverage only briefly touched on this year’s Main Event result, filed under “other stories” after Michael Mizrachi won it.
Image credit: Keith Allison (license)
