Fred Smoot Hangs Out With Gilbert

Gilbert hangs with Fred Smoot, goes to World Team Tennis matches to hang with Mark Ein. (By Lawrence Jackson - AP)

So it turns out that Fred Smoot, Gilbert Arenas, Clinton Portis and Shawn Springs all live in the same Great Falls neighborhood. That’s what Smoot told the Junkies yesterday morning, anyhow. Must make for some lively block parties, at the very least.

“Well, you know, Gilbert’s one of them guys, he’ll just stop by your house, see what you’re doing,” Smoot said.

Hmmm. Gilbert just stops by Fred Smoot’s house to see what he’s doing? Interesting. I would have guessed the universe would implode if Gilbert spent an afternoon hanging out in Fred Smoot’s mansion, but I guess not.

“I actually need to stop to stop by his house,” Smoot continued, “because I rode by his house not too long ago and I think he put an oasis in his backyard, he’s got his pool and his waterfall back there….I seen a piece of mountain in his backyard the last time I passed through there. So when they finish carving into that mountain, I can go back there and see what he got going.”

Right. A mountain. Oh, did I mention that Chris Knoche was on ESPN980’s Sports Reporters on Wednesday, and he said that he heard from a kid on the work crew that Gilbert’s putting three bull sharks in a massive aquarium that’s part of his new million-dollar outdoor pool complex, which, like Smoot said, features a waterfall, as well as a grotto? And before you say, “it doesn’t really cost $1 million,” I talked to another NFL player in recent days who was telling me about his $700,000 pool project.

More highlights from Smoot’s appearance on on yesterday’s show:

On his energy bar: “It’s all organic. I made this bar mostly out of honey, and it don’t have a lot of preservatives or calories in it, that’s what i tried to cut out of it.”

On his social life: “I settled down man. See, c’mon, Fred Smoot, when you first met me I was about 20 years old. C’mon, now I’m 28, 29. C’mon. As time goes on we get older, we make better decisions.”

On his girlfriend’s race: “She’s from South Carolina, country girl….Actually she’s a tweener, she’s what I call a tweener, play as a linebacker and a D end. You know, her mom’s white, her dad’s black.”

On her profession: “She’s a lawyer. You know, I had to get somebody who could actually equal my talking. You know, that was one thing I had to do.”

On whether he could discuss any topic: “Yeah, point blank, I think I could.”

Ok, on gas prices, then: “I could talk about it, man. It’s awful, man. I could tell you like this man: today it take a hundred dollars for me to get from Virginia to Washington, D.C. I got to start commuting.”

On Arenas’s new deal: “He’s worth every dollar, man. I think over the years he’s proved to be one of the best point guards by far in the league. And more than a point guard: he’s a scorer, he can play off the ball, he can play defense, and I think the Wizards did keep their guys together. If you want to make a run, you’ve got to keep your guys together.”

On his high school career: “I had a play where the other team was kicking a field goal and I went to block it. Instead of blocking it, I caught the field goal and ran the field goal 90 yards. Listen to me, I had to win money from Gregg Williams by going to get the high school film and showing him this play. He didn’t believe it. He didn’t believe I actually caught the ball after the field goal kicker kicked it, I ran past him, caught the ball and ran 90 yards.”

On his future on reality television: “Hey man, I need to be working on that. You know, I had actually met with Comcast not too long ago talking about some projects, and hopefully we can get one on the way. You know, I need to get my own show, though. I need to go around D.C. and just do regular jobs.”

On his personality: “Well, you know, I like to be more than a football player. I think with athletes, a lot of people don’t get to meet the real us….Me, I’m gonna be Fred Smoot 365 days a year.”

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