Hope this doesn’t make you regurgitate your lunch all over the office, but we’re hearing that ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith (don’t call him Screamin’ A!) is lobbying Bristol brass for a column in ESPN the Magazine - and it looks like he’s about to win. Sources say that Smith, who decided he would rather quit the Philly Inquirer than accept a demotion from columnist to reporter, is going to begin writing a front-of-the-book column for the Magazine. By re-establishing himself as a columnist, sources say, Smith hopes to regain some of the credibility he lost when his TV show tanked and he was clowned at the NBA draft (ok, that last part is a joke). Smith, who back in the 1990s was a pretty good columnist (especially on the NBA), unfortunately got wrapped up in becoming a ‘personality’ at ESPN, and the quality of his work in Philly fell off considerably. Also, he famously mailed in a column via Blackberry, which did nothing to enhance his image.

Stephen A. Smith detests ‘Screamin A’ nickname (Sports By Brooks)