Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown. Stephen A comments on his former ESPN colleague Skip Bayless leaving FS1’s “Undisputed” and the impact that he has had on the television landscape. It is expected that “Undisputed” will continue without Bayless.
Support the show: http://www.youtube.com/@stephenasmith
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
It was reported yesterday by The New York Post that
my former ESPN colleague, my friend Skip Bayless, will be
leaving f s once Undisputed at the end of the summer.
Skip has been with FS one since twenty sixteen after
spending twelve years at ESPN. He arrived at FS one
the co host Skip and Shannon's Undisputed, a debate show
(00:36):
with Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharp, who left
the show last summer to join First Take. Various co
hosts include Rachel Nichols, Paul Pears, Richard Sherman, Keyshawn Johnson,
and Michael Irvin. They've sat alongside Skip Bayles since Shannon left,
but as the reports have said, they've had some rating struggles.
(00:57):
I'm not about to get into that. I'm not going
to play that game. Skip Bayless and I have not
spoken in a long time. He's on that side of
the defense. I'm on this side of defense. But as
I've stated on many occasions, as I've stated months ago
(01:19):
to Dan Lebertard, in response to Dan Lebertard and something
that he had said in terms of me wanting to
destroy Skip Bayles's who. He ultimately retracted that statement in
fairness to him. I don't root against my colleagues and contemporaries,
and certainly not my friends. I just root for me
(01:41):
to be more successful. Being on first take and wanting
to be number one doesn't mean I wanted Skip Bayless
to fail, doesn't mean that I want to see him
out of the business and out of the profession. And
with the news coming down that he's departing from FS one,
(02:03):
I have not called them. I'm not going to because
I know what this moment must be like for him.
They can put out in all the stories that they
want to Skip Baylor's has a bowload of energy, and
Skip Baylor's doesn't want to walk away from anything. He lives, eats,
(02:28):
and breathes sports. I don't know anything. I haven't called
and asked anybody anything. What I know is that there
is no way on earth that I can imagine him
walking away. And I was watching some folks talk the
(02:48):
other day and including Marcellus Wilely, I form a colleague
at ESPN, and he had mixed emotions because obviously he
likes Skip but doesn't like skin trolling tendencies throughout the years,
but Ski was always nice to him. He's fond of
Skip et cetera, et cetera, So he had mixed emotions.
(03:10):
There were others who expressed the same thing. For me,
it's sad, sadness because I can't imagine that this is
a happy time for him. There's a lot of positive
things going on in my career and the place that
(03:30):
I'm in, Skip Bayless has a lot to do with that.
Who knows where I'd be had he not put me
on first take. Yes, we catapulted and we elevated and
(03:51):
we became number one together, and that's true, but it
doesn't happen if he doesn't push to make it happen.
I'm not gonna speak for Shannon Sharp. He can do
that on his own, but I will quote him and
what he has said to me on numerous occasions. No
(04:14):
matter what happened with him and Skip Baylor's, he's not
gonna let six years be ruined by six months. Well,
he's not gonna let six months ruin what transpired between
them over six years. It's real, real easy for folks
(04:36):
to pounce on whatever their perception is of what happened,
would Skip n FS one, But what I would ask
you to consider is the industry itself outside of sports,
Think about what has transpired in this world. Think about
(04:57):
how every team, to every company, whatever it is that
you want to pick and choose or whatever, the spin doctors,
the PR departments and everything else. No matter what you say,
there's always plausible deniability. We've diminished ourselves as a society
to a point where you can have the facts right
in front of you, and all that matters is to
(05:18):
spin attached to those facts, depending on which side of
the hole you fall on on any particular subject. So
what has ultimately born from all of that is debate.
It's different perspectives and different opinions coming out, and a
lot of times what I think people miss when they're
(05:41):
talking about this industry, they're talking about a Skip Bayless
or me or somebody else and trolling and using words
like that. Well, number one, you're forgetting history. You're forgetting
that Skip Bayless was as in LA and Dallas and
(06:01):
Chicago in various other places that he had a journalism
career spanning decades. You're forgetting that although he would take
the positions that he take, and yes he was a
bit excessive with you know, Tim Tebow, and clearly accessive
(06:21):
with Lebron James and clearly excessive with various other things.
You're forgetting what that bred. You're forgetting the fact that
it opened the floodgates for others to debate him, for
others to get their equal opportunity to provide their perspectives
on certain matters, so they could speak their piece and
(06:43):
ultimately elevate their profile. You're forgetting the fact that ultimately
it was able to breed a new line of work
in business, creating business opportunities for all of us. Think
about your podcast, think about television, think about sports talk radio,
Think about Mike and a mad Dog, think about Jim Rohme,
(07:06):
think about all of these folks. I'm not saying it's perfect.
I'm not saying it's always right. Hell I'm not even
saying and denying that this. Sometimes I left myself scratching
my head. Skip Bayless knew how I felt, whether it
was t Bow or Troy Aikman or Lebron James or
whatever the case may be. But so what, at the
(07:28):
end of the day, that's how you felt, Here's how
I felt, Here's how you felt, Here's how you felt.
That's how you look at it. I'm listening to people
talk and it's like, oh my god, he's falling on
his face. He's this, he's that because of ratings or whatever.
And I'm like, I think he's seventy three. Hein's some
(07:54):
thirty year old that flopped after one year. He's been
doing it for over forty and he's transitioned and transcended
throughout the years. Is he perfect? No? None of us are.
Is he always right? Hell no? Are there things that
(08:16):
most of us would have done differently than him? Fine?
But what I'm not gonna do ever is talk about
him like he's failed. There comes a point in time
(08:37):
when at a specific place, it ain't your time anymore.
It doesn't even mean that it's over. It doesn't mean
that he won't have a podcast, It doesn't mean that
he won't get another show somewhere else. It doesn't mean
that we've heard the end of SKIP but leaving FS one,
if it is the end, it's not a failure. And
(09:00):
if he moves on to something else, God bless him.
I know a lot of people were expect them to
hear something from me, you know, celebrating it. I'm not
celebrating it. I'm on first take. My goal is always
(09:22):
to win. All of our time is up. I'm a
black man, make no mistake about it. I know it's
gonna come to an end for me. Someday. Nothing lasts forever.
I'm under no illusions. I hope in the end, when
(09:42):
all is said and done, my career will be as
long as Skip Bayless's career has been. You know, when
you love somebody, you don't always have to agree with them. Hell,
you don't even always have to like them or like
some of the shit they do. But what you don't
(10:05):
do to celebrate when, at least in the crevices of
your own mind, you're imagining that they're in pain. I
hope that's not the case for Skip Bayless. I hope
that this is what he wants. I hope that he's
got additional plans, and when it's time for us to talk,
(10:26):
he'll call and let me know. He's a different cat.
You don't bother him, You let him reach out to
you when he feels good and ready is I know him,
I've known him for decades, but I can't imagine that
these times are real easy for him. I just wanted
to speak on it a to let everybody know I'm
(10:52):
not happy if he's not happy as it pertains to
his situation. And number two, I won't speak against him again.
He wasn't always right. We didn't always agree. Matter of fact,
(11:15):
most of the time ninety nine percent of the time
we disagreed. But where I am, where I've been, and
especially where the hell I'm going with the stuff I
got planned coming down the pike in a matter of months,
(11:36):
none of its possible. If Skip Bayless doesn't extend that
help in hand and brings me on first take. I'll
never forget that. I never have I never will. You
want to hold onto something that I have to say
(11:58):
about Skip Baylor's hold on to that
It was reported yesterday by The New York Post that
my former ESPN colleague, my friend Skip Bayless, will be
leaving f s once Undisputed at the end of the summer.
Skip has been with FS one since twenty sixteen after
spending twelve years at ESPN. He arrived at FS one
the co host Skip and Shannon's Undisputed, a debate show
(00:36):
with Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharp, who left
the show last summer to join First Take. Various co
hosts include Rachel Nichols, Paul Pears, Richard Sherman, Keyshawn Johnson,
and Michael Irvin. They've sat alongside Skip Bayles since Shannon left,
but as the reports have said, they've had some rating struggles.
(00:57):
I'm not about to get into that. I'm not going
to play that game. Skip Bayless and I have not
spoken in a long time. He's on that side of
the defense. I'm on this side of defense. But as
I've stated on many occasions, as I've stated months ago
(01:19):
to Dan Lebertard, in response to Dan Lebertard and something
that he had said in terms of me wanting to
destroy Skip Bayles's who. He ultimately retracted that statement in
fairness to him. I don't root against my colleagues and contemporaries,
and certainly not my friends. I just root for me
(01:41):
to be more successful. Being on first take and wanting
to be number one doesn't mean I wanted Skip Bayless
to fail, doesn't mean that I want to see him
out of the business and out of the profession. And
with the news coming down that he's departing from FS one,
(02:03):
I have not called them. I'm not going to because
I know what this moment must be like for him.
They can put out in all the stories that they
want to Skip Baylor's has a bowload of energy, and
Skip Baylor's doesn't want to walk away from anything. He lives, eats,
(02:28):
and breathes sports. I don't know anything. I haven't called
and asked anybody anything. What I know is that there
is no way on earth that I can imagine him
walking away. And I was watching some folks talk the
(02:48):
other day and including Marcellus Wilely, I form a colleague
at ESPN, and he had mixed emotions because obviously he
likes Skip but doesn't like skin trolling tendencies throughout the years,
but Ski was always nice to him. He's fond of
Skip et cetera, et cetera, So he had mixed emotions.
(03:10):
There were others who expressed the same thing. For me,
it's sad, sadness because I can't imagine that this is
a happy time for him. There's a lot of positive
things going on in my career and the place that
(03:30):
I'm in, Skip Bayless has a lot to do with that.
Who knows where I'd be had he not put me
on first take. Yes, we catapulted and we elevated and
(03:51):
we became number one together, and that's true, but it
doesn't happen if he doesn't push to make it happen.
I'm not gonna speak for Shannon Sharp. He can do
that on his own, but I will quote him and
what he has said to me on numerous occasions. No
(04:14):
matter what happened with him and Skip Baylor's, he's not
gonna let six years be ruined by six months. Well,
he's not gonna let six months ruin what transpired between
them over six years. It's real, real easy for folks
(04:36):
to pounce on whatever their perception is of what happened,
would Skip n FS one, But what I would ask
you to consider is the industry itself outside of sports,
Think about what has transpired in this world. Think about
(04:57):
how every team, to every company, whatever it is that
you want to pick and choose or whatever, the spin doctors,
the PR departments and everything else. No matter what you say,
there's always plausible deniability. We've diminished ourselves as a society
to a point where you can have the facts right
in front of you, and all that matters is to
(05:18):
spin attached to those facts, depending on which side of
the hole you fall on on any particular subject. So
what has ultimately born from all of that is debate.
It's different perspectives and different opinions coming out, and a
lot of times what I think people miss when they're
(05:41):
talking about this industry, they're talking about a Skip Bayless
or me or somebody else and trolling and using words
like that. Well, number one, you're forgetting history. You're forgetting
that Skip Bayless was as in LA and Dallas and
(06:01):
Chicago in various other places that he had a journalism
career spanning decades. You're forgetting that although he would take
the positions that he take, and yes he was a
bit excessive with you know, Tim Tebow, and clearly accessive
(06:21):
with Lebron James and clearly excessive with various other things.
You're forgetting what that bred. You're forgetting the fact that
it opened the floodgates for others to debate him, for
others to get their equal opportunity to provide their perspectives
on certain matters, so they could speak their piece and
(06:43):
ultimately elevate their profile. You're forgetting the fact that ultimately
it was able to breed a new line of work
in business, creating business opportunities for all of us. Think
about your podcast, think about television, think about sports talk radio,
Think about Mike and a mad Dog, think about Jim Rohme,
(07:06):
think about all of these folks. I'm not saying it's perfect.
I'm not saying it's always right. Hell I'm not even
saying and denying that this. Sometimes I left myself scratching
my head. Skip Bayless knew how I felt, whether it
was t Bow or Troy Aikman or Lebron James or
whatever the case may be. But so what, at the
(07:28):
end of the day, that's how you felt, Here's how
I felt, Here's how you felt, Here's how you felt.
That's how you look at it. I'm listening to people
talk and it's like, oh my god, he's falling on
his face. He's this, he's that because of ratings or whatever.
And I'm like, I think he's seventy three. Hein's some
(07:54):
thirty year old that flopped after one year. He's been
doing it for over forty and he's transitioned and transcended
throughout the years. Is he perfect? No? None of us are.
Is he always right? Hell no? Are there things that
(08:16):
most of us would have done differently than him? Fine?
But what I'm not gonna do ever is talk about
him like he's failed. There comes a point in time
(08:37):
when at a specific place, it ain't your time anymore.
It doesn't even mean that it's over. It doesn't mean
that he won't have a podcast, It doesn't mean that
he won't get another show somewhere else. It doesn't mean
that we've heard the end of SKIP but leaving FS one,
if it is the end, it's not a failure. And
(09:00):
if he moves on to something else, God bless him.
I know a lot of people were expect them to
hear something from me, you know, celebrating it. I'm not
celebrating it. I'm on first take. My goal is always
(09:22):
to win. All of our time is up. I'm a
black man, make no mistake about it. I know it's
gonna come to an end for me. Someday. Nothing lasts forever.
I'm under no illusions. I hope in the end, when
(09:42):
all is said and done, my career will be as
long as Skip Bayless's career has been. You know, when
you love somebody, you don't always have to agree with them. Hell,
you don't even always have to like them or like
some of the shit they do. But what you don't
(10:05):
do to celebrate when, at least in the crevices of
your own mind, you're imagining that they're in pain. I
hope that's not the case for Skip Bayless. I hope
that this is what he wants. I hope that he's
got additional plans, and when it's time for us to talk,
(10:26):
he'll call and let me know. He's a different cat.
You don't bother him, You let him reach out to
you when he feels good and ready is I know him,
I've known him for decades, but I can't imagine that
these times are real easy for him. I just wanted
to speak on it a to let everybody know I'm
(10:52):
not happy if he's not happy as it pertains to
his situation. And number two, I won't speak against him again.
He wasn't always right. We didn't always agree. Matter of fact,
(11:15):
most of the time ninety nine percent of the time
we disagreed. But where I am, where I've been, and
especially where the hell I'm going with the stuff I
got planned coming down the pike in a matter of months,
(11:36):
none of its possible. If Skip Bayless doesn't extend that
help in hand and brings me on first take. I'll
never forget that. I never have I never will. You
want to hold onto something that I have to say
(11:58):
about Skip Baylor's hold on to that
Host
Stephen A. Smith
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