Stephen A. Smith vs. Skip Bayless

[dsvitak]

So...anyone have any thoughts on this?

Stephen A. pretty much claims that First Take wasn't **** until he got there.

Skip Bayless is .... REALLY unhappy with this take.

Thoughts?

[ThatSeventiesGuy]

Truly a case of Stupid Take Machine vs. Stupider Take Machine. And I can’t decide which is which.

[BBGiovanni]

I think they should be set adrift in a rowboat with one oar.

[jumpSeat]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

Stephen A. pretty much claims that First Take wasn't **** until he got there.

Stephen A. is a legend in his own mind.

Originally Posted by dsvitak

Skip Bayless is .... REALLY unhappy with this take.

I suspect he's mostly playing along 'cause D = R(P) squared. [Drama equals Ratings equals bigger Paydays].

[kq76]

Originally Posted by BBGiovanni

I think they should be set adrift in a rowboat with one oar.

Agreed.

I like to think I generally don't wish people to lose their jobs, but I so wish SAS wasn't on ESPN anymore. It's too often that I'd watch something if it wasn't for him. If he's in the thumbnail, I'm not clicking. If he comes on, I'll turn it off. I just can't stand the constant yelling. I don't understand how some can.

And there was a stretch where I listened to Bayless and Sharpe, but I can't listen to them anymore either. It's the same, yelling for the sake of yelling.

A perfect example is I caught part of a video yesterday with SAS yelling at Barkley simply for wearing glasses and it went on so long it was bizarre. I just don't understand, there's nothing of value with this.

[Leo_The_Lip]

I no longer watch any sports talk on ESPN or most anywhere else these days, for all the reasons you others have given. I do watch Boomer and Gio each morning for the New York scores and reporting (I haven't lived there for 36 years, but the teams are my favorites).

I'm also thankful that I get Peacock for free and can catch Dan Patrick in the mornings. He and his crew are still civilized and interesting. He brings back the glory days of ESPN for me.

[Syd Thrift]

SAS has shown his ass lately with trying to tell NBA vets that he understands the game better than they do but they’re like two peas in a pod. I don’t even bother with ESPN anymore because I don’t want to accidentally watch any of his crap and, well, I don’t even know where Skip is now and that’s OK with me.

[vrobx1]

I thought it was funny when Skip used the terms "reckless inaccuracies" and "shocking fabrications" to describe Stephen A's comments.

If anyone is an expert on reckless fabrications and shocking inaccuracies, it is definitely Skip.

Sent from my SM-J337VPP using Tapatalk

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

SAS has shown his ass lately with trying to tell NBA vets that he understands the game better than they do but they’re like two peas in a pod. I don’t even bother with ESPN anymore because I don’t want to accidentally watch any of his crap and, well, I don’t even know where Skip is now and that’s OK with me.

Ditching cable led to dropping ESPN, and I basically haven't missed it. That includes the Sunday broadcasts, those were so bad I wouldn't even bother with Mets games. I watched a replay the other night on MLB.tv that wasn't bad with the current crew, but it's sure not enough to make me pay cable money to see the rest of their "content".

[Antonin]

Mr Smith is a clown. Period, end of story, "full stop," as our British cousins say.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

SAS has shown his ass lately with trying to tell NBA vets that he understands the game better than they do but they’re like two peas in a pod. I don’t even bother with ESPN anymore because I don’t want to accidentally watch any of his crap and, well, I don’t even know where Skip is now and that’s OK with me.

"Has shown his ass" is going to make its way into my word usage. Love it!

[damientheomen3]

These guys are two of the largest pimples that caught sports commentary up with the direction that most general discourse has gone over the past decade. In my experience though I've seen friends who used to watch them to hate on them start taking the better approach of not giving them the view/attention in the first place, hopefully more of that happens and the newer forms of sports media that don't focus on who can say the stupidest thing the loudest leads to the retirement of the hot-take sportscaster.

[Antonin]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

"Has shown his ass" is going to make its way into my word usage. Love it!

That's an expression my late mother used.

[Marinersfan51]

Stephen A seems to understand his place in the sports entertainment landscape as the guy who yells and has an uninformed opinion about everything, but can be entertaining about it. He's a clown, but he knows it and embraces it.

Skip just figures out what the hottest takes are and shoots them off, but he can't even sell that he believes them or that he is just being a goofball on TV.

I don't enjoy either one, but Stephen A will occasionally have an entertaining clip while Skip never does.

[Pelican]

That’s it - the yelling. I sometimes agree with him, sometimes not. His opinions are never insightful or unique. He seems to think that by raising his voice, glowering, acting the fool, talking over others, that he will “win” an argument. What a joke to call it “Pardon the Interruption”, when it’s all interruption and no pardon. More heat than light, as my Dad would have said. Obviously some see entertainment value in the spectacle, in the same way as pro wrestling, where you know none of it is real and the performers are faking it.

[Syd Thrift]

I just don't see any personal value in drama purely for drama's sake. The older PTI with Wilbon and Kornheiser saw them joke around and occasionally make some hot-ish takes for the sake of argument, but I never get the sense that SAS is actually interested in argument but instead in making his opinion heard and then agreed to. He disassociated himself with Max Kellerman because, frankly, Kellerman was too smart for him, and I see the same sort of disassociation with Pat Bev (who will be a pretty popular analyst once he retires, I think) and JJ Reddick, all because they expose him as a blowhard and a hedgehog.

Fortunately there is lots and lots of sports media out there to consume that doesn't feature garbage like this. I listen to SI's Open Floor podcast, which has guys making... takes, but also a lot of relatively sane analysis. Real Ones with Raja Bell is another one I like - it's a little takier but a lot of the time at leas you can understand where the takes are coming from outside of I AM YELLING AND I DEMAND THAT YOU HEAR ME YELL. For the NFL there's Around the NFL and whatever Doug Farrar and/or Greg Cosell are up to nowadays.

TBH I find SAS/Skip Bayless to be sports for people who never played the games that are being tracked and who don't want to think too hard.

[BaseballMan]

I miss the days of getting off work and after sports center there was Roy Firestone interviewing some Legend or maybe Bob Costas talking to some player.
Not saying they were the best but they do something SAS and Skip don't.
They actually listen to the interviewer and not wait to promote their view or opinion.
Somewhere along the line it stopped being about the interviewee and about the interviewer.
I agree with you guys. I don't like it.

[Leo_The_Lip]

Jim Rome still has a daily show.

Jim Rome. The original half-wit.

[swoboda]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

.....I don’t even bother with ESPN anymore ....

Same here, and if you had asked me ten yrs ago I would have said that's not possible.

[Antonin]

Originally Posted by Leo_The_Lip

Jim Rome still has a daily show.

Jim Rome. The original half-wit.

Yeah, I forgot about him. I used to listen to sports talk radio on one of the Cleveland stations, and after the local braying idiots they had Rome's show. He was really obnoxious. I don't listen to any more radio sports talk shows.