According to Skip Bayless, he was a really talented basketball player, hampered by a high school coach who didn’t like him, and had no issue with Jalen Rose mocking his amateur career. Take that for what it’s worth.
Two weeks ago, former First Take host Jay Crawford joined the Awful Announcing Podcast. And during his appearance, Crawford recalled Rose’s famous last words to Bayless on First Take, asking, “Did you average 1.4 points as a senior in high school?”
Rose was back on First Take the next day, where according to Crawford, Bayless opened the show by offering the hundreds of thousands of people watching, an explanation as to why his scoring average as a high school senior was so abysmal. Even after Crawford questioned the decision, he was told, “this was so important to Skip that we didn’t know if he’s gonna do the show today if we don’t do this.”
After Rose sat through Bayless’s explanation of why he averaged 1.4 points per game as a senior in high school, Crawford said First Take decided they weren’t going to have the former NBA player back on the show.
“I don’t know if Skip ever gave that edict,” Crawford said. “It was just what producers on the show were telling me, ‘Jalen’s been on the show for the last time.’”
On the latest episode of The Skip Bayless Show, however, the former First Take mainstay and current host of FS1’s Undisputed refuted a lot of what Crawford said on the Awful Announcing Podcast. According to Bayless, prior to Rose bringing up his 1.4 points per game scoring average, he knew the stat was gaining traction on Twitter, but agreed with showrunner Jamie Horowitz that he shouldn’t address it on the show. Rose, however, was not part of that conversation and chose to question Bayless about his scoring average.
“I couldn’t respond the way I usually do,” Bayless claimed. “Because I had told our showrunner, Jamie, I would not respond. So I was blindsided and caught off guard by it. And Jamie thought I did the right thing…but he said, ‘Why don’t you sit down with Jalen, talk through it with Jalen and maybe you guys can talk it out on-air tomorrow.’”
Bayless and Rose agreed they would talk through it the next day. And when the next day came, Bayless says Rose attacked him again. Despite feeling blindsided once again, Bayless claims he took the ribbing in stride and did not ban Rose from First Take.
“Trust me on this, in no way shape or form did I ever say Jalen Rose can never come back on First Take,” Bayless insists. “I did not care. Trust me on that. I never said a word. Maybe Jamie banned him from First Take, I have no idea. But I never heard anything about that.”
During the Awful Announcing Podcast, Crawford did say he wasn’t sure if the edict came from Bayless, he only remembers being told Rose would not be back on First Take. Whether that mandate was maintained throughout Bayless’s tenure on First Take, we can’t confirm. Obviously, Rose would eventually make many appearances on Stephen A. Smith’s version of First Take, until being laid off by ESPN earlier this year.
While Bayless claims he wasn’t the one harping over his scoring average on First Take, he did spend a lot of time on his podcast attempting to explain the stat away. According to Bayless, he was athlete of the year in eighth grade because of his basketball talent. He was voted MVP of his basketball camp the summer before ninth grade. And even in ninth grade, he led, or came close to leading, his AAU team in scoring. But Bayless’s talent did not lead to a playing career in the NBA, it did not lead to a college scholarship. Instead, it led to him averaging 1.4 points per game as a senior in high school. So how did such a promising basketball career get derailed?
“Then came tenth grade, and then came a legendary coach at my high school,” Bayless said. “I don’t know why, but he just did not like me…and right away, he demoted me and demoted me and demoted me some more. He destroyed my confidence.”
Bayless gave many more details about his derailed high school basketball career on his podcast, about 20 minutes worth of details, if you’re interested. But ultimately, we just really appreciate his interest in the Awful Announcing Podcast.
