Skip Bayless is finished with his “First Take” tenure and gone from ESPN altogether, but Fox Sports 1’s newest host recently revealed to TheWrap that his old show nearly ended for good long before his departure from the Worldwide Leader in June.
Naturally, it was an infamous tussle with a famous football player that nearly brought the whole franchise crashing down.
“I loved my 12 years at ESPN,” Bayless began his recent reminiscing during a rare interview. “And I loved working with Stephen A. [Smith] — and trust me, it’s hard to even talk about it, because I miss him.”
“But the truth was, I never quite fit on a Disney-owned network. And it’s not that I was ever a shock jock — I just like to go a little deeper in my arguments than [ESPN] was comfortable with,” he continued. “I like to take on athletes who have issues with me.”
For the most prominent example of such a thing, cue up the Richard Sherman incident from 2013, in which Bayless and his guest awkwardly sparred throughout the entire segment. Actually, we’ve done that for our readers — watch the condensed video above.
Regardless of which version one watches, you’ll hear the trash-talking Seattle Seahawks cornerback become quite personal in his attacks against the former newspaper man, including taking shots as harsh as this ultimate claim: “I’m better at life than you.”
“That was the time that I thought ESPN should have supported me,” Bayless told us. “Our show took a big hit over it to the point that there was some discussion upstairs of pulling the plug on ‘First Take.'”
“First Take” is no small property, for the record — the former “Cold Pizza” became one of the network’s top performers and most important platforms. In other words, to scratch it would have been unprecedented. But anything to protect the Mouse House.
While the series remained on air — and still does, sans Bayless — the damage was done. Bayless has new bosses now — ones that he believes would welcome such a raw moment.
“Now I’m with people who believe in me, who support me, and if Richard Sherman attacked me, I would be much more comfortable attacking back,” Bayless said. “And furthermore, my superiors would love it, because it would be authentically — genuinely — great television. That’s the difference between the Disney-owned network and the Fox network.”
That declaration may be put to the test very soon.
“We are looking forward to having Richard on in the first couple of weeks of our new show,” Bayless added.
So it is truly out with the old, and in with the new for Skip. The laser-focused Tim Tebow advocate is only looking forward, and not back at all — even literally.
“I haven’t watched one second of ‘First Take’ since I walked off that set,” Bayless told us, adding the following about his replacement: “I know Max [Kellerman] off the field. I like him, I wish him well.”
Now it’s all about “Undisputed” and his new partner, Shannon Sharpe; that series debuts Sept. 6 on Fox Sports 1. If you don’t tune in then, readers should surely set their DVRs for Round 2 with Richard Sherman. As another famous NFL blabbermouth once said: Get your popcorn ready.
Check back here soon for more from TheWrap’s conversation with Fox Sports’ newest star.
8 Times Skip Bayless Haters Stuck It to Departing ESPN Blowhard (Photos)
As Skip Bayless makes his exit from ESPN, he leaves behind a legacy of fan rage and controversy. From his hot-take tweets to his televised morning rants, Bayless has made a living riling up sports fans on topics ranging from his worship of Tim Tebow and the Spurs to his constant needling of LeBron James.
Turns out it's not just fans who are annoyed with him. As he says farewell to the Worldwide Leader, we look back at the times when the athletes and media with whom Bayless shared the sports world bit back.
Several guests who dropped in on"First Take" for an interview ended up going after Bayless. In 2012, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban spent a whole segment attacking Bayless' hot takes on the NBA. "You guys like to talk in complete generalities where no one can question you," Cuban said to Bayless' face. "You don’t ever use facts. You don’t ever use substance."
Earlier in 2012, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs called in to the show and quickly got fed up with Bayless' leading questions, eventually demanding he "be an analyst, don’t be a douchebag."
In 2013, Seattle Seahawks star Richard Sherman, registered his irritation with Bayless' claims that the cornerback's skills weren't in the same league as those of Darrelle Revis. When Bayless tried to bait Sherman into talking about Revis, Sherman called him "ignorant, pompous, and egotistical," and said when Bayless suggests Sherman is nowhere near Revis' level that loses credibility. "No, I don't,I gain it," responded Bayless in sports media's most unmerited mic drop.
Immediately after LeBron James won his third NBA championship, against Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors, Bayless wrote a series of tweets declaring that his favorite team, the Spurs, would have beaten James and his Cavaliers. This was too much for even fellow ESPN pundit Danny Kanell to take, as he responded to Bayless' tweet with a simple message: "Bye, Felicia."
Danny Kanell's ESPN Radio partner Ryen Russillo spoke at length on Bayless' last day about how no one at ESPN was allowed to openly disagree with him on any topic, and that Bayless got mad at other pundits at the network who challenged him. "When you disagree with Skip, it’s handled a different way," Russillo said. "A lot of us are just like, whatever. So that’s why we never bring it up."
Other sports media figures joined in on the Bayless pile-on. NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen tweeted that the best part of LeBron James' NBA Finals victory was that the basketball star "ends [Bayless'] career at ESPN that he built by trolling on him by shutting him the F up."
Also following Lebron James' NBA Finals win, ESPN NFL analyst Mark Schlereth retweeted a hot take from Bayless made in 2014, declaring that the now unemployed Johnny Manziel "will one day be bigger in Cleveland than his buddy LeBron ever was." "Good call!" Schlereth quipped.
The biggest swipe against Bayless came on SportsCenter, during which Scott Van Pelt dedicated his take on the Cavs' NBA Finals win to calling out LeBron critics who "have made your living ripping him." It didn't take much between-the-lines reading to see that Van Pelt was referring to Bayless. "Find a new ax to grind," the anchor said.
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The sports commentator has angered players and fans with his rants, and after LeBron James’ NBA Finals victory his media peers had enough too
As Skip Bayless makes his exit from ESPN, he leaves behind a legacy of fan rage and controversy. From his hot-take tweets to his televised morning rants, Bayless has made a living riling up sports fans on topics ranging from his worship of Tim Tebow and the Spurs to his constant needling of LeBron James.
Turns out it's not just fans who are annoyed with him. As he says farewell to the Worldwide Leader, we look back at the times when the athletes and media with whom Bayless shared the sports world bit back.