When Stephen A. Smith vented his frustration at the 'cheating' Astros and discredited their 2017 World Series

American sports television personalities Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman famously berated the Houston Astros in 2020. The duo addressed the sign-stealing scandal and the Astros' World Series Championship victory on ESPN's talk show "First Take."

Calling out the Houston Astros for getting out of that mess a little too easily, the pair singled out some players for not taking accountability. With tensions running high on set, Steven A., in particular, tore into the Astros with a scathing assessment of who he believes should have lifted the 2017 World Series trophy.

“That championship trophy that’s at Houston is bogus. You’re not champions! Now, I am not saying the Yankees are champions or Dodgers are champions, but you’re behind ain’t no d*mn champions, you’re cheaters!” said a seething Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take.

Stephen A. also went on to claim that the sign-stealing scandal helped the Astros win Game 7 of the 2017 American League Championship. In a series where the Yankees were scoring comfortably, it was shocking to many that they weren’t able to score once. Stephen A. knew exactly why, though!

“Because the pitchers are being alerted, you know, the pitchers are working out a scheme because they got technology in the outfield telling you, you understand, what pitches to look out for as batters for the Houston Astros. This is what was going on!” Stephen A. Smith said.

Kellerman agreed that either the Yankees or Dodgers probably deserved the championship.

“Just acknowledge it, either the Yankees or the Dodgers got cheated out of the World Series by the Astros,” said Max Kellerman.

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Stephen A. Smith is a man of many talents

Apart from being one of America’s most popular sports radio hosts and journalists, Stephen A. was also quite the actor back in the day.

He made his acting debut on the ABC soap opera "General Hospital" in 2007. The 55-year-old Bronx native also made his movie debut the same year in Chris Rock’s film “I Think I Love My Wife.”

"Stephen A. Smith Returning to ‘General Hospital’ http://soapoperanetwork.com/2017/08/general-hospital-welcomes-back-espns-stephen-a-smith" - Soap Opera Network, Twitter

Stephen A. broke into the ad and commercial space in 2014 with his appearance in a series of Oberto all-natural beef jerky commercials as "The Little Voice in Your Stomach."

"Hey Y'all, check out this video by Oberto Beef Jerky: http://obr.to/mNgbIz" - Stephen A. Smith, Twitter

Stephen A. was also a basketball player in college and received a scholarship to attend Winston-Salem State University in 1987. He went on to play under Hall of Fame coach Clarence Gaines.