Michael Smith

Michael Smith was an American sports journalist who was best known for co-hosting ESPN's statistics-themed sports show "His & Hers" (2014-). Born and raised in New Orleans, Smith always had an interest in sports. He attended Loyola University in his hometown, where he majored in mass communications, while learning the newspaper business hands-on by working as a copy-editor and sports reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Smith earned his B.S. from Loyola in 2001, and soon after graduation moved to Boston to cover the Patriots for the Boston Globe. Smith worked as the Globe's Patriots beat reporter for three years, thus honing his reporting skills in one of the country's most sports-hungry media markets, before joining ESPN in 2004. After joining ESPN Smith appeared on a number of the network's most popular shows, including "Pardon the Interruption" (2001-) and "Around the Horn" (2002-). He soon became a familiar face to ESPN's diehard audience, offering expert analysis on a wide range of sports, most notably the NFL. In 2007 Smith was able to put his journalism skills to good use when he became a correspondent for ESPN's investigative journalism series "E:60". Smith worked as one of the series' many correspondents for three years, before launching a new series in 2011 called "Numbers Never Lie" (2011-14). As the co-host of the metrics-themed series, Smith and his co-host Charissa Thompson analyzed the hidden numbers behind every major game, with the show serving as a companion of sorts to the sports world's growing number of stats wonks. ESPN retooled "Numbers Never Lie" in 2014, giving the show a new name, "His & Hers," and a new co-host, Jemele Hill. Together as co-hosts of "His & Hers," Smith and Hill discussed sports statistics in a more general way, thus broadening the show's appeal to include the more casual sports fan.