If You Want to Interview Emmitt Smith, Be Sure to Bring Your Checkbook

Emmitt Smith is the NFL career rushing leader, Dancing with the Stars champion, and an ESPN on-air butcherer of the English language. In a recent "Outside the Lines", Smith joined Page 2 columnist and author Jeff Pearlman, and Dallas Morning News columnist Jean-Jacques Taylor to discuss the the Cowboys' fondness for reclamation projects.

Not the first time the subject's been broached, but Pearlman wrote a book, "Boys Will Be Boys," that chronicled the Cowboys' teams of the 90s, both on and off the field. According to the DMN Blog's Tim MacMahon, Smith refused to be interviewed for it, so there was some underlying animosity heading into the OTL segment.

Awkwardness ensued. If you're too lazy to watch six minutes of relatively boring television, here are the Cliff's Notes: Smith supports the Cowboys and believes in giving people -- even Pacman Jones -- second chances, and Pearlman is skeptical of owner Jerry Jones' motives. Hardly riveting. But as the segment ends, Smith offers Pearlman this: "Jeff, keep selling books." Everybody laughs uncomfortably, and that was that.

But on his website, Pearlman fills in the details on his history with Smith:

I was sort of curious how this whole show would fly, because Smith is one of the few Cowboys who refused to speak with me for "Boys Will Be Boys." While working on the book I contacted his representatives on multiple occasions; asked through friends of friends; so on and so on-and was told that, these days, Smith only talks to book authors if he's paid handsomely. Perhaps I would have found this to be surprising were I not warned ahead of time by myriad ex-Cowboys that the post-NFL Smith had become gallingly greedy and self-centered. "Emmitt being Emmitt," they'd say. Oh, well. I moved on.

One of the comments on Pearlman's blog makes a valid point: "Jeff, I have always wondered why is it wrong for a subject of a book to ask for payment to be interviewed for a book that will generate profit for you and not for the subject? It seems as though Emmitt was being a tool, but can you blame a guy for not wanting to help (even indirectly) line the pockets of a random writer that hasn't "done anything" to help line his pockets?"

That doesn't change the fact that Smith was sort of an ass for telling Pearlman to "keep selling books", but, in general, it's a fair question. Whatever, Pearlman responds to all this on his site, but this seems like a dispute best settled Celebrity Boxing-style.