Skip Bayless has made millions of dollars by trolling the bejeezus out of sports fans and athletes. This is a well-established thesis. But the light bulb as to the game being played daily by Bayless, First Take, and ESPN really came on during Cavs-Bulls Game 4 yesterday.
Bayless unleashed a torrent of tweets regarding the end of the game bashing LeBron James for everything, as he’s made a national television career out of doing.
Cavs are going to have to start making 3s to get back in this. Any Cav but LeBron, who's 6-38 from 3 in playoffs.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 10, 2015
That was an extremely ill-timed charge by LeBron James.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 10, 2015
That buzzer-beater didn't make up for the dozens he has missed in his career, but it sure helped.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 10, 2015
But then after LBJ made the game-winning three pointer, Bayless said this:
Thank you, LeBron. Picked Cavs to beat Bulls, get to Finals. Needed that from you.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 10, 2015
Wait a minute… if Skip Bayless has made a career out of criticizing LeBron James for every move he makes, dissing his lack of a “clutch gene,” and what have you… why in the world would he pick LeBron and the Cavaliers?
It’s easy: so he can have it both ways! LeBron succeeds and Bayless looks like a genius for picking the Cavs. LeBron fails and Bayless looks like a genius for being his most vocal critic. This is what one would call playing both sides of the fence. It’s like voting for a Democrat and a Republican so you could say you were right on all of the issues.
Bayless and ESPN have perfected the art of playing both sides and hedging their bets. Don’t believe me? Take a look at Bayless’ filp-flopping on Kevin Durant over the years. And what about Derrick Rose? Here’s Skip’s most famous take on the Bulls star:
DRose, who made 34 mil for playing 10 games last 2 yrs, now more interested in protecting legs for after-basketball life. Just sickening.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) November 12, 2014
HOW DARE YOU, DERRICK ROSE! HOW DARE YOU HOPE TO LIVE A PRODUCTIVE AND HAPPY LIFE THAT IS NOT FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT!
And Skip earlier this postseason:
Haven't seen this much emotion from DRose in long while. At least he's showing he REALLY CARES after missing so much injury time.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) April 24, 2015
He doesn’t care about basketball! Now he really cares about basketball!
Are we to believe that Derrick Rose had some kind of Skip Bayless inspired epiphany? Here’s Skip on how Derrick Rose could give the Bulls a chance to beat the Cavs:
AGAIN: This DRose surgery no big deal. Will be fine. Now gives Bulls legit shot to beat Cavs in playoffs.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) April 8, 2015
And Bayless’ official prediction:
Cavs in 6.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 4, 2015
It doesn’t take a MENSA member to figure out how this will play out… if the Bulls beat the Cavs, Bayless could say he knew it all along, that a healthy Derrick Rose was Cleveand’s biggest obstacle and that LBJ would lack the “clutch gene” once again. And if the Cavs beat the Bulls, he can cling to his “prediction” that he always had faith in James and the Cavs. It’s a classic hedging of the bets.
But in a misguided attempt to present Skip Bayless’ sports opinion with life and death seriousness, Bayless and ESPN will continue to thump their chests in saying he believes everything he says and that the faux sports debates aren’t just a fabricated attempt to produce ratings. But the truth is that Skip Bayless makes millions of dollars not just to debate Stephen A. Smith, but to debate himself. Skip Bayless makes millions of dollars to have opinions on everything, when it’s really opinions on nothing.
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