Fox Sports is getting ready to pay noted contrarian Skip Bayless over $25 million over four years to go on television and yell about sports. That’s only slightly more depressing than ESPN paying him slightly fewer millions to yell about sports on their airwaves.
How could that be possible? Paying a 64 year old man $25 million dollars to give antagonistic opinions about sports sure does make it seem like there was a glitch in the makeup of our modern society, if not a total sign of the apocalypse.
And maybe you could forgive Fox for preparing to pay Bayless for what amounts to the cost of purchasing a small island if he was some kind of revolutionary thinker or brilliant mind. As seen throughout the Western Conference Finals, that really isn’t the case.
Thanks to BroBible, here’s some of Bayless’ hot takes that have gone up in flames so far in the series…
Before the series even began, Bayless said the Thunder probably wouldn’t even win a single game.
Not sure the Thunder can win a single game against the Warriors.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 13, 2016
Wrong.
After going up two games to one, Skip declared the Thunder were in commanding position.
Man, was my prediction of Golden State in five WRONG. Thunder now in commanding position to get to their second NBA Finals.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 23, 2016
Wrong.
Then he spent most of Game 6 trolling the Warriors, saying OKC would easily win the game and Golden State was melting before our very eyes.
Just hard to fathom how poorly a team that won a record 73 games is playing with its season on the line. Just looks intimidated.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 29, 2016
OKC wins by at least 15. Durant is 0-6 from three. That will change. When it does, this crowd will blow the roof off that arena.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 29, 2016
The back-to-back MVP just cannot get it going and keep it going. That's why this game again teeters on getting out of hand.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 29, 2016
Steph misses wide-open three and Draymond gets the rebound and misses a layup. Two stars, coming up so small. That should do it.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 29, 2016
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
One of Bayless’ favored tactics is playing both sides of the fence – picking a team to win before the series (Golden State) and then dogging them throughout. That way his takes can be “correct” no matter the outcome even though he flip-flops so much it would make him a perfect candidate in a presidential election. (Please Lord don’t give him any ideas… oh well, I guess it can’t be worse than what we have now, right?)
So I finally jumped aboard the bandwagon of my hometown team – I'm from OKC but was Spurs fan long before Thunder came. Then THAT happened.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 29, 2016
In all seriousness though, this is what is most distressing about the rise of Skip Bayless. Now, an entire generation of aspiring sportswriters and broadcasters have seen that the easiest way to fame, success, and a whole lot of money is to have the loudest and most obnoxious voice in the room, no matter how wrong about things you always turn out to be. That’s why we’ve already seen Bayless knock-offs given national platforms and likely will continue to do so.
Since Bayless’ analysis in the Western Conference Finals has been so far off base, maybe he should just focus on what he does best – trolling LeBron James.
I can't wait to talk about the way LeBron celebrated the Game 6 clincher in Toronto as if he'd just won the NBA championship. 10am E, ESPN2
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 29, 2016
That’s what it looks like when someone “stays in their lane.”
UPDATE: And just for good measure, here’s what Skippy tweeted during Warriors-Thunder Game 7.
For all that late GSt flurry, still doesn't feel like Steph & Klay will be able to overcome OKC, which again looks like the better team.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 31, 2016
….
….
WRONG!
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