Traina Thoughts: Stephen A. Smith's Chargers-Chiefs Breakdown Is Filled With Fake News

Stephen A. Smith tried to break down Chargers-Chiefs and it was comical.

1. There's really nothing like trainwreck television.

Stephen A. Smith tried breaking down Thursday night's Chargers-Chiefs game on First Take, but ended up embarrassing himself by saying he was looking forward to watching Chargers tight end Hunter Henry because of "how he's played this year" and "how effective he's been." Yes, the same Hunter Henry who tore his ACL in May and HASN'T PLAYED THIS SEASON. Wait, there's more. Smith said he was looking forward to Henry's matchup against Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson. Yes, the same Derrick Johnson who the Chiefs let go of in March and is currently a free agent. 

And all this came after Smith said he was going to "keep an eye on" Chiefs running back Spencer Ware. Ware is listed as doubtful with shoulder and hamstring injuries. 

This was basically performance art.

2. I hadn't mentioned the stupid Steph Curry story in Traina Thoughts this week because it's ... stupid. The trend of Player X says something dumb and the media going crazy and then Player X saying he was kidding and just wanted to prove a point is just lame. The player acts like he put one over on the media because they report the player's ridiculous theory as if he was being serious, but the media still gets its page views, clicks, downloads and video views, so really, who is winning here?

Anyway, I'm mentioning it today, because there was one positive to come out of Steph Curry saying that nobody ever landed on the moon. His words caused Pardon the Interruption hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon to melt down during Wednesday's show. Both hosts passionately pleaded for athletes to stop denying science and facts, but instead of being powerful, the segment was funny because it was so over the top (even slavery and the holocaust were mentioned). Kornheiser really went bonkers, saying "This is anti-intellectual, it's anti-science, it should embarrass you, it should embarrass your families, it should embarrass the fine schools you went to, it should embarrass the NBA." 

Good. Grief.

3. This week's SI Media Podcast is a Year in Review edition with John Ourand of Sports Business Journal and Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. We discussed the biggest sports media stories of 2018, revealed our breakout stars, talked about the best and worst trends and looked ahead to what to expect in 2019. You can listen to the podcast below or download it on iTunes.

4. It was the slap heard round the world Wednesday night when Hornets owner Michael Jordan got frustrated with Malik Monk after Monk ran onto the court to celebrate teammate Jeremy Lamb hitting a go-head shot with 0.3 seconds remaining.

5. Phrasing is important.

6. This caused quite a stir when I tweeted it Wednesday night. Foolishly, I just assumed most people were familiar with this clip, but I was wrong. So, if you've never seen it before, enjoy.

7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of the Dolphins' wild win against the Patriots on Sunday, the NFL put together this compilation video of each team's best game-winning touchdown ever.

Traina Thoughts is the best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina. Get the link to a new Traina's Thoughts each day by following on Twitter and liking on Facebook. Catch up on previous editions of Traina Thoughts right here.And make sure to listen to and subscribe to the SI Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina.

IN CLOSING: The NFL announced yesterday that the 2020 draft will take place in Vegas. The over/under on players, front office people and media people arrested that weekend is 4.5.