The 2016 NBA Finals may have ended Cleveland’s sports championship drought, but there was another curse exorcised in Oakland last night: Skip Bayless’ tenure at ESPN.
Bayless is taking his talents from the Worldwide Leader in Sports to the fledgling Fox Sports network, where he will be paid a princely sum to join other Bristol castoffs like Colin Cowherd. With ratings barely making a dent in the sports marketplace, Fox is hoping Bayless’ inflammatory rhetoric will get people to tune in, if just for the outrage and spectacle of it all.
Bayless has earned a reputation for being one of the most controversial figures in sports media over the past decade, mainly because his shtick involves spouting nonsensical opinions and getting into arguments with First Take co-host Stephen A. Smith.
No one escapes Skip’s crosshairs if it can create debates on Twitter and get his name in the headlines, but no athlete has felt Bayless’ wrath more than LeBron James. I mean, anyone that says Johnny Manziel would be more beloved in Cleveland than the King is obviously looking for attention, right?
Well, now that the "Embrace Debate" era in ESPN looks to be winding down, Skip's coworkers are finally getting to share their pent-up opinions about his brand of sports talk, and it hasn't been pretty. After the Finals ended last night — with LeBron winning the MVP, by the way — multiple ESPN and sports media pros took to Twitter or TV to give Skip a salty sendoff as he travels to Fox.
It started with Scott Van Pelt’s not-so-subtle advice to “find a new act”:
Scott Van Pelt is forever my favorite. The statement to end all statements to LeBron haters. pic.twitter.com/qnrWCFObVH
— J.C. De Leon (@jcdeleon1) June 20, 2016
Next, came Danny Kanell with some grade-school shade:
Bye, Felicia https://t.co/qpeK5LcRpw — Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) June 20, 2016
Then came resident MLB guru Keith Law with some harsh parting shots:
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) June 20, 2016
The twitters are alive with the sounds of old hot takes coming back to haunt their makers — keithlaw (@keithlaw) June 20, 2016
Even NFL Network staple Rich Eisen got in on the Skip roast with a pretty solid left hook:
And the best part: @KingJames ends @RealSkipBayless career at ESPN that he built by trolling on him by shutting him the F up.
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) June 20, 2016
Good luck, Fox!
Via: BroBible
