If you’ve been in Dallas for long enough, there’s a good chance you know Skip Bayless, not just as a talking head on the endless parade of groundless repartee known as “1st and Ten” on ESPN, but also as a pseudo-controversial Dallas-area sportswriter.
Bayless wondered, groundlessly, in his book “Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the ‘Win or Else’ Dallas Cowboys” whether Troy Aikman was gay.
Aikman reportedly called his lawyer immediately after hearing the claims, wondering how much it might cost him to put a beat-down on the author.
In 2008, Bayless suggested that the US should cease participation in any Olympic Games, suggesting instead US-only games, believing that athletic talent was concentrated too greatly in the country.
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Bayless said that Lance Armstrong was not on the list of greatest athletes of all time because “cycling doesn't test enough athletic talent or skill.”
His nicknames for various athletes—“Team Obliterator” for Terrell Owens, “Tony Romeo” for Tony Romo, “Kevin Gar-not” for Kevin Garnett and “Lebrick” James—are a nod to flimsy attempts at humor and a manifestation of shortsighted opinions that belie the fact that Bayless was once thought of as one of the country’s best sports journalists.
And, if you watch enough ESPN, the frequency with which he uses them is enough to make you want to jab a screwdriver in your ears.
These are only a few reasons why Skip Bayless has become the ultimate love-him-or-hate-him figure in the zeitgeist of American sports.
But the disdain for the former Dallas Morning News and Dallas Times Herald writer is not limited to frustrated viewers.
The receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson and currently known as Chad Ochocinco took aim at Bayless in a recent Twitter update, saying “Skip Bayless is a dried up yogurt raisin with no sports background!!!! He gets a check for saying the dumbest ----!”
While I’m not sure what a dried up yogurt raisin is, the conviction with which Johnson—Er, Ochocinco--said it makes me think I probably should; and it’s hard to think there’s no validity to his sentiments considering that Bayless once said that the NBA’s regular season was more exciting than March Madness.
The tweet is just part of what has been a long onslaught against ESPN, who ran afoul of the controversial receiver when they began, as he said, “getting out of hand with the disrespect!!!!”
Ochocinco went on to say that he was “going to Bristol after mini camp.”
Earlier in the week, Ochocinco had said that he wanted to “beat up” radio personality Mike Golic.
No word as of yet if ESPN has purchased the rights to what would be an intriguing handicap bout between the three.
