With Fox Sports now being the #1 network for all sports content ahead of ESPN, Skip Bayless is sure to keep his show at the top of sports debate. With former NFL player and analyst Shannon Sharpe taking a buyout from Fox Sports to move on from Undisputed and ending his tenure with Fox Sports and Skip Bayless after seven years, the question became, who will replace Shannon?
With all of the speculation going around with going with someone from inside of Fox Sports (Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Rob Parker, Lesean McCoy, Joy Taylor and Emmanuel Acho), none of those analysts would work. What we must understand is Skip Bayless is competitive and trust me, he wants to beat his former show and network in ESPN.
While people attack Skip for never being an athlete, it doesn’t take playing sports to be competitive. Skip knows one thing, how to draw ratings, how to keep people talking about him and “his” show. It would only be fitting he brings in Richard Sherman, a man that he had a past with over a decade ago.
Those who are avid sports fans know of the interview when Skip Bayless was with ESPN on First Take and Richard Sherman was hitting his stride as a dominant defensive back in the NFL. Richard Sherman and Skip Bayless went at it on national television for millions to see. Why would you think any less of these two men teaming up for the business and growth of their careers and to bring millions to their televisions and tech devices to watch them debate Monday through Friday?
We all know Skip Bayless has outrageous takes, but it’s who he is, it’s his truth and it surely isn’t scripted in anything he says or does. Was his Damar Hamlin tweet controversial? Many sports fans would say yes, others would say he was in a journalistic mindset at that moment. People felt he should’ve been more empathetic to what happened that night between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals. He wasn’t necessarily wrong, it was bad timing when you think about it.
Was Skip’s attack on Shannon Sharpe when comparing careers of Shannon and Tom Brady out of hand? Most would say yes, especially since Shannon Sharpe is no scrub, is a SuperBowl champion and a Hall of Fame tight end. He’s on most people’s top 5 list of best tight ends of all-time after Travis Kelce and Tony Gonzalez.
What Skip Bayless does is keep sports fans glued to him and paying attention to him. You can not like him for what he says, his takes but he keeps people talking about him and what he does on social media and what he says on your television screen day after day.
He’s been in the business over 30 years and one thing he’s great at is garnering attention. Which is why he’s paid well and he surely has no complaints with living in Los Angeles compared to Bristol, Connecticut (trust me there’s nothing in Connecticut, I lived there for four years in college).
There are a myriad of sports fans wanting and waiting for this new tandem of Sherman and Bayless to implode. Guess what? It’s not going to, trust me. Their checkered past will be the headline for the next few weeks, it will take a few weeks to get in a flow with energy and how the show goes. By October, they will hit their stride and they’ll be off and running and trust me, the majority of us will be tuning in to see what happens.
Bayless knows what draws ratings and keeps people watching. He knew the only way Undisputed will keep its viewership is by bringing in someone who knows sports and will debate him the way he needs to. If you need a lesson in keeping people’s attention, Skip Bayless is your man, believe me. It’s why I respect him for who he is. We forget, he’s a totally different man when the lights and cameras turn off.
Skip Bayless has been a huge component in growing people’s careers (Stephen A Smith and Shannon Sharpe being prime examples). If Skip Bayless doesn’t leave ESPN, it doesn’t open the doors for Alan Hahn, Jay Williams, Monica McNutt, Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins. Let’s also be mindful of how Stephen A admires and considers Skip “a brother,” along with fellow sports analyst Joy Taylor giving Skip high praise for helping her grow her career at Fox Sports.
Love or hate Skip Bayless, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. The only way it ends for Skip is on his terms and when his wife says it’s time to fade into the California sunset. Get your popcorn ready because on August 28th, Undisputed returns and it surely will, with a bang…
