You’ll always know when Stephen A. Smith is heated. On Friday, the ESPN personality allowed his anger to boil over while reacting to the New York Yankees’ decision to hold a lengthy press conference to discuss their new facial hair policy.
The Yankees announced on Friday that they have finally updated their long-standing facial hair policy. “After great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward,” owner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement on Friday. “It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”
Although Smith is an unapologetic Yankee fan, he wasn’t particularly upset about the policy change itself. Instead, he was annoyed about the club dedicating an entire 20 minutes of press time to the subject. “A 20-minute press conference over facial hair? I mean, what a disgrace,” Smith exclaimed on ESPN.
He continued, “I couldn’t believe it. I’m a Yankee fan, you know I’m a die-hard Yankee fan. I’m trying to keep my cool. You understand what I’m saying? But I mean, damn. You ain’t won a World Series title since 2009. You ain’t been to one since then until last year—you got romped by the Dodgers. And facial hair is a reason there was a press conference?”
The Yankees did make the World Series last season but haven’t hung a banner since their championship in 2009. This lack of recent success adds a layer of frustration for fans like Smith who expected more focus on the team’s performance rather than their grooming policies.
