Stephen A. Smith fires back at Joey Logano over NASCAR criticism

In the long-running human argument over what constitutes a true athlete, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith and NASCAR champion Joey Logano found themselves trading public barbs last week — each accusing the other of motives that reveal more about the media age they inhabit than about racing or basketball. Smith dismissed NASCAR drivers as athletes on his podcast; Logano suggested the comment was engineered for clicks; Smith responded by invoking thirty years of dominance as proof he needs no such engineering. The exchange is less a debate about sport than a mirror held up to a culture where