A Northwest Classen High School graduate, Bayless, 64, has a new debate opponent in former All-Pro receiver Shannon Sharpe in “Skip and Shannon Undisputed,” which will air 8:30-11 a.m. weekdays on FS1, beginning Tuesday.
“I loved my time at ESPN,” Bayless said last week in a telephone interview. “I have many, many close friends there, starting with Stephen A. Smith, who is my brother and will always be my brother. But I never thought that I was as good a fit at ESPN as I was at Fox.”
Bayless is well familiar with Fox Sports as a contributor to “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” and Jim Rome's “The Last Word” in the early 2000s.Too tight of a reign
Bayless said he thought ESPN, owned by Walt Disney Company, kept too tight of a reign on him and Smith in their heated debates on ESPN2's “First Take.”
“I didn't think I could give all of me on ESPN, especially after we had a couple of instances on ‘First Take' that put us on so-called probation,” Bayless said. “In the last 6 1/2 years, I was only able to give about 75 percent of me. Fox is obviously ‘The Simpsons' and ‘The Family Guy.' Not that the boundaries are any wider — there is still out-of-bounds, which I have always honored — but I think we can get a little deeper on topics.”
Bayless is counting on more support from Jamie Horowitz, president of Fox Sports National Networks, who enticed him to jump ship for a reported four-year deal worth close to $6 million annually. It was Horowitz, while at ESPN, who turned “Cold Pizza” into “First Take,” a full-time debate show, and boosted Bayless' career.
“He changed my life and my career at ESPN,” Bayless said. “A whole lot of people at ESPN around the water coolers said that show would fail quickly. We quickly doubled our ratings, tripled and quadrupled our ratings and it became one of the great success stories in the history of that network.”
New debate foe
Bayless is excited to be taking on Sharpe, who won three Super Bowls in his 14-year NFL career with the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens and occasionally filled in for Smith on “First Take.”
“Remember Sterling Sharpe was the greatest trash-talker in the history of the NFL,” Bayless said. “I can't wait because he is as full of himself as Stephen A. is a full of himself. They have some things in common on the air in that they have big opinions, big personalities and both big hot buttons to react, or overreact to things I say, which is find with me.
“And Shannon has thrown down the gauntlet, and I'm not exaggerating this, he wants to kick my butt everyday, and I welcome him to try.”
Thunder observer
Bayless has always paid a lot of attention to the Thunder, his hometown's NBA team. He said wasn't surprised that Kevin Durant left the franchise for the Golden State Warriors spurred by his distaste for Westbrook, whom Bayless said will never lead the Thunder to an NBA title as long as he's the primary decision-maker.
“Kevin had a chance for maybe the more logical choice to stay one more year in Oklahoma City. I thought it was extremely telling that he said. ‘Nope, I'm not.' My interpretation of that was that Kevin Durant was telling you that he had finally concluded once and for all that he could not win a ring with Russell Westbrook as his primary decision-maker and that he wanted to go where the ball moved as well as it does as in any franchise in the country, in Golden State, and he wanted to be part of an unselfish basketball team. ...
“I think Kevin just said, ‘I want to be part of that.' Obviously, he's not getting any younger after his 10th year now. He said, ‘I want to maximize my chances to win a ring' and I have absolutely no problem with that as far as Kevin is concerned.”
Bayless expects Westbrook will excel, no longer having to share the spotlight with Durant.
“I think Russell has a chance to average a triple-double next year without Kevin in the way. I think Russell has a chance to win multiple MVPs in Oklahoma City, but I don't know that they have as good a shot obviously to win a championship.”
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“I loved my time at ESPN,” Bayless said last week in a telephone interview. “I have many, many close friends there, starting with Stephen A. Smith, who is my brother and will always be my brother. But I never thought that I was as good a fit at ESPN as I was at Fox.”
Bayless is well familiar with Fox Sports as a contributor to “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” and Jim Rome's “The Last Word” in the early 2000s.Too tight of a reign
Bayless said he thought ESPN, owned by Walt Disney Company, kept too tight of a reign on him and Smith in their heated debates on ESPN2's “First Take.”
“I didn't think I could give all of me on ESPN, especially after we had a couple of instances on ‘First Take' that put us on so-called probation,” Bayless said. “In the last 6 1/2 years, I was only able to give about 75 percent of me. Fox is obviously ‘The Simpsons' and ‘The Family Guy.' Not that the boundaries are any wider — there is still out-of-bounds, which I have always honored — but I think we can get a little deeper on topics.”
Bayless is counting on more support from Jamie Horowitz, president of Fox Sports National Networks, who enticed him to jump ship for a reported four-year deal worth close to $6 million annually. It was Horowitz, while at ESPN, who turned “Cold Pizza” into “First Take,” a full-time debate show, and boosted Bayless' career.
“He changed my life and my career at ESPN,” Bayless said. “A whole lot of people at ESPN around the water coolers said that show would fail quickly. We quickly doubled our ratings, tripled and quadrupled our ratings and it became one of the great success stories in the history of that network.”
New debate foe
Bayless is excited to be taking on Sharpe, who won three Super Bowls in his 14-year NFL career with the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens and occasionally filled in for Smith on “First Take.”
“Remember Sterling Sharpe was the greatest trash-talker in the history of the NFL,” Bayless said. “I can't wait because he is as full of himself as Stephen A. is a full of himself. They have some things in common on the air in that they have big opinions, big personalities and both big hot buttons to react, or overreact to things I say, which is find with me.
“And Shannon has thrown down the gauntlet, and I'm not exaggerating this, he wants to kick my butt everyday, and I welcome him to try.”
Thunder observer
Bayless has always paid a lot of attention to the Thunder, his hometown's NBA team. He said wasn't surprised that Kevin Durant left the franchise for the Golden State Warriors spurred by his distaste for Westbrook, whom Bayless said will never lead the Thunder to an NBA title as long as he's the primary decision-maker.
“Kevin had a chance for maybe the more logical choice to stay one more year in Oklahoma City. I thought it was extremely telling that he said. ‘Nope, I'm not.' My interpretation of that was that Kevin Durant was telling you that he had finally concluded once and for all that he could not win a ring with Russell Westbrook as his primary decision-maker and that he wanted to go where the ball moved as well as it does as in any franchise in the country, in Golden State, and he wanted to be part of an unselfish basketball team. ...
“I think Kevin just said, ‘I want to be part of that.' Obviously, he's not getting any younger after his 10th year now. He said, ‘I want to maximize my chances to win a ring' and I have absolutely no problem with that as far as Kevin is concerned.”
Bayless expects Westbrook will excel, no longer having to share the spotlight with Durant.
“I think Russell has a chance to average a triple-double next year without Kevin in the way. I think Russell has a chance to win multiple MVPs in Oklahoma City, but I don't know that they have as good a shot obviously to win a championship.”
-newsok.com
