Stephen A Smith Says NBA Players Have Told Him They Would Feel Unsafe Playing In A City Like Memphis

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Ha, my aunt (stepmom's sister) used to work at the management of Oak Court Mall back in the early 00s. We used to go there a bunch and get all kinds of free food

Add her to the list of people I know who left and never came back, she left around 2010 for Harrisburg PA, then around 2015 they moved to St Louis and been there since (Belleville IL on the other side of the Mississippi from StL but you can catch the train in/out of StL and her and my uncle work in StL city, and their son is a drummer in a jazz band in StL)...

The stuff that is "starting" to shift to Mississippi per your description, started that shift many years ago. You can't be from Desoto because people from Desoto can tell you that "shift" isnt new. I got plenty of stories about Southaven, Horn Lake, Olive Branch, Hernando, Walls...

It's been happening of course, but now it's starting to kick even more into overdrive. It's not just Memphis either, but the things that used to be in Germantown and those other whiter suburbs as well are moving. Carriage Crossing is a good example of that.

The unfortunate part about it for a lot of people is that Mississippi police are more strict and on your ass compared to Mississippi, which is why you see people joking about where you'd be better off committing crime.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Is it changing the convo? Sas is parroting talking points from "sources" aka Google Search AI overview results which specifically deal with people NOT FEELING SAFE

He parroted those same talking points that had already been out there about the city for years under the guise of something even more nefarious going on that's not said out loud.

The goofiest part about it is that he invoked Jimmy's name to only end up using a talking point that had came out months after he turned down a trade going there

The FBI director's comments about the city didn't come out until last month.

 

[CrimsonTider]

Can y'all stop with this crime shyt? Thieves are robbing millionaires in blind L.A., London, Toronto, Manchester, Dallas, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona etc yet athletes are still clamoring to play in those cities.

If you wanna say Memphis isn't a fun place for a rich person then fair enough but all that other shyt is bogus considering those guys are situated in gated communities completely isolated from the hoods and rough neighborhoods.

And of course Jimmy's white-identified ass was the one saying that shyt.

This nikka here has never stepped a foot in Memphis

 

[hood b. goode]

 

[CrimsonTider]

Again more than like the conservatives and right wingers who he hangs out with.

Crime is not a political issue dummy

No one that has family and shyt going for them wants to be around random acts of crime

 

[RennisDeynolds]

This is dead accurate.

 

[The_Sheff]

Naw he definitely brings up having a daughter whenever he gets into issues involving families or social issues.

She wasn’t on tv with him but he definitely brought her up numerous times.

 

[RedBull]

I see nothing wrong with this. It’s dope. Giving his daughter a platform enhances everything, mainly her.

 

[br82186]

Crime is not a political issue dummy

No one that has family and shyt going for them wants to be around random acts of crime

Conservatives and right wingers frame it as one you fccking retard

 

[Shadow King]

This doesn’t apply to me, because I know Memphis and once knew a huge chunk of the city inside and out...

You got nikkas in here talking bout Memphis has no nice areas who never even been to Memphis. Them the nighas you need to be coming at lmao...

Where exactly are you from? I've spent time, real time, everywhere from Millbranch to Westwood to the South Third corridor, specifically The Belts, Kansas, Florida, etc.

Been up thru Hollywood and Frayser Blvd. The avenue currently known as "Range Line Rd" used to be called Hollywood Blvd, spent plenty of time over on Clifton Ave...

Someone in here mentioned how Memphis doesn't have an amusement park as entertainment----->but it used to, it used to have Liberty Land. I'm old enough and familiar enough with Memphis to recall these things, as well as Peabody Place downtown which was a huge deal many years ago when it opened...

I've eaten everywhere from Rendezvous to Jack Pirtle's, I haven't been to Memphis in 8 years but I know the city fam, this aint some random nigha talking who never been there...

The main point of contention in this thread, is the assertion that Memphis doesn't have nice areas. I'm someone who has spent plenty of time there, I can't let nikkas get off with that!

Fair enough on saying I sound hypocritical, but I'll point out that the context in me calling Memphis overrated was, I believe, because people were shytting on California cities allegedly not having enough black people...

I wouldn't live in Memphis again, the safety would only be an issue for rearing my kids there, but that isn't a real consideration because my kids won't grow up there. I wouldn't live in Memphis again because it lacks the attributes I look for in a home, and I'm also not a huge fan of Southern cities. I'd have to go down the list a ways before I get to "safety"...

I think my overrated comment was also about statements inflating its cultural significance. Memphis' cultural weight meant more pre-1980. Its cultural weight today in the last 45 years, is minimal, its more about what it "was", than what it "is"...

I'm not cutting city size either, DMAs, GDPs, and measures of economic performance are based on metropolitan areas, not city. Nobody thinks Jacksonville is a bigger city than Miami, literally nobody says this, but your logic is that it would be considered such. The metro populations of Memphis and Hartford make them peers, as does the correlating measures that highlight this...

Lastly, you missed my point on the Hartford/Memphis comp---->Memphis wouldn't be 600,000 in New England because it wouldn't be given 300 mi² of land to achieve it the way it could in Tennessee. Hartford in Tennessee would be given hundreds of miles of room to expand before the city borders pop up...

You calling Memphis overrated in that context features all of the logic used to state why the hypothetical athletes in question would prefer those California cities and many othes over Memphis. We can pontificate on how literal "safety" is meant to be, but we do know as a fact that it is one of the more dangerous cities in the country.

And the thing is, the "nothing to do/no amenities" factor acts as a force multiplier for a city like that. Using my own state again, as much of a reputation as Newark has held, people rather be there than Camden or Paterson.

The same socioeconomic downturns hit all 3 cities, one still had other things that allowed it to hold up or recover better (transportation connectivity/service industries)...while also being the largest. So while all 3 are grimy, 2 of them have an inherent "ain't shyt to do/deal with but fuçkery" gene for the natives that can put your head on swivel more than the third.

The difference between a JAX-MIA comparison and a Memphis-Hartford one is that despite being 1/2 the size of JAX, Miami has a cultural and economic weight that allows it to act a national-level hub. Hartford is the "Miami" in this comparison by city proper and is not that. That same cultural weight allows Miami to be #6 by the metric you're using compared to Jacksonville at #38. The totality is much more lopsided.

Memphis in New England = Boston. Only one city in that small corner of the country can be that size. Hartford is more of a Baton Rouge than a Memphis.

We kinda had this debate already with the "Small Market Denver" argument but at least Denver is a true hub.

 

[murksiderock]

You calling Memphis overrated in that context features all of the logic used to state why the hypothetical athletes in question would prefer those California cities and many othes over Memphis. We can pontificate on how literal "safety" is meant to be, but we do know as a fact that it is one of the more dangerous cities in the country.

And the thing is, the "nothing to do/no amenities" factor acts as a force multiplier for a city like that. Using my own state again, as much of a reputation as Newark has held, people rather be there than Camden or Paterson.

The same socioeconomic downturns hit all 3 cities, one still had other things that allowed it to hold up or recover better (transportation connectivity/service industries)...while also being the largest. So while all 3 are grimy, 2 of them have an inherent "ain't shyt to do/deal with but fuçkery" gene for the natives that can put your head on swivel more than the third.

The difference between a JAX-MIA comparison and a Memphis-Hartford one is that despite being 1/2 the size of JAX, Miami has a cultural and economic weight that allows it to act a national-level hub. Hartford is the "Miami" in this comparison by city proper and is not that. That same cultural weight allows Miami to be #6 by the metric you're using compared to Jacksonville at #38. The totality is much more lopsided.

Memphis in New England = Boston. Only one city in that small corner of the country can be that size. Hartford is more of a Baton Rouge than a Memphis.

We kinda had this debate already with the "Small Market Denver" argument but at least Denver is a true hub.

I'm fine agreeing to disagree on some of this...

The only measurement that justifies Jacksonville (or Memphis, for that matter) as a larger city than Miami, is municipal population. There are literally ZERO other measurements that imply those two as larger cities than Miami, and its because we recognize city borders aren't static from place to place, and vary quite dramatically...

Memphis is a hub of the Mid-South, West Tennessee/NW Mississippi/Arkansas Delta region. Hartford is a hub as the political and financial center if Connecticut....

 

[Shadow King]

I'm fine agreeing to disagree on some of this...

The only measurement that justifies Jacksonville (or Memphis, for that matter) as a larger city than Miami, is municipal population. There are literally ZERO other measurements that imply those two as larger cities than Miami, and its because we recognize city borders aren't static from place to place, and vary quite dramatically...

Memphis is a hub of the Mid-South, West Tennessee/NW Mississippi/Arkansas Delta region. Hartford is a hub as the political and financial center if Connecticut....

Which means it ain't really hubbing nothing lol

The point is that Miami and Hartford aren't comparable as "smaller than less popping city X but more important". One is a world-class gateway city.

 

[Marlow Stanfield]

Seattle Grizzlies on deck

 

[Richard Glidewell]

elon must need slave labor for his data center somewhere in the near future.........and if the team moves it kills arena jobs........whole state about to be fukked up.......