As Skip Bayless makes his exit from “First Take” and ESPN, sports fans everywhere are purging themselves of the bile they feel towards one of the most controversial sports pundits of the 21st century. From his hot-take tweets to his televised morning rants, Skip 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. As he says farewell to the Worldwide Leader, we look back at the times when the athletes and media Bayless shared the sports world with bit back.
Several times on”First Take,” guests who dropped in for an interview would end up going after Bayless. In 2012, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban came on the show for an interview and 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 that year, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs called in to the show and quickly got fed up with Bayless’ questions, eventually calling on him to “be an analyst. Don’t be a douchebag.
In 2013, Bayless was on the receiving end of another attack from a guest. This time, it was Seattle Seahawks star Richard Sherman, who got irritated by Bayless’ claims that his skills weren’t in the same league as Darelle Revis. When Bayless tried to bait Sherman into talking about Revis, Sherman called him “ignorant, pompous, and egotistical,” and said that Bayless lost credibility when he said Sherman is nowhere near Revis’ level. “No, I don’t,” responded Bayless. “I gain it!”
Immediately after LeBron James won his third NBA championship, Bayless wrote a series of tweets that included declarations that his favorite team, the Spurs, would have beaten LeBron and the Cavaliers. This was too much for even fellow ESPN hot-take pundit Danny Kanell to take, as he responded to Bayless’ tweet with a simple message: “Bye, Felicia.”
Kanell’s ESPN Radio partner, Ryen Russillo, spoke at length Tuesday about how no one at ESPN was allowed to openly disagree with Bayless about 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 winning the championship was that the basketball star “ends [Bayless’] career at ESPN that he built by trolling on him by shutting him the F up.”
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, Scott Van Pelt dedicated his take on the Cavs’ win to calling out LeBron critics who “have made your living ripping him.” It didn’t take much between-the-line reading to see that Van Pelt was referring to Bayless. “Find a new ax to grind,” the anchor said.