It shouldn’t be hard to figure out how Dan Le Batard feels about some of his former colleagues at ESPN.
Spoiler alert—he has a great disdain for what Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless have done to sports television. Yes, Le Batard looped in Smith when the subject of Bayless was broached during an episode of the South Beach Sessions podcast in March, however, only the former made an appearance.
So, it didn’t come as a surprise when Le Batard offered his thoughts on the impending divorce of Bayless and Shannon Sharpe, as the latter reached a buyout agreement with Fox Sports and will leave Undisputed after the NBA Finals.
Le Batard starts his rant by explaining that Bayless and Smith, for better or worse, are symbols for what has become of sports talk television.
“Skip Bayless has had two monster runs,” Le Batard said Friday. “It’s hard to recreate what he created. He’s a beast. He’s an argument and a take beast. He eats three meals a day… and exercises three hours a day—crazy. And just takes the rest of the time and devotes himself to nothing else because it’s hard to stay relevant in that game. And he’s 70. But now, I could make the argument and would make the argument, Skip needs Shannon right now more than Shannon needs Skip because it’s gonna be hard replacing Shannon Sharpe on that show. Go ahead. Good luck finding whoever it is that you’re gonna put opposite all of what that represents.”
"I could make the argument — and WOULD make the argument — Skip needs Shannon right now more than Shannon needs Skip, because it's going to be HARD to replace Shannon on that show." – Dan on Shannon Sharpe leaving Skip Bayless and FS1's Undisputed.
📺 https://t.co/01QulqPzCm pic.twitter.com/6nJEXv4ysA
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) June 2, 2023
While Le Batard may very well be right, Fox Sports has put the future of Undisputed in the hands of the 70-year-old Bayless. According to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, Bayless will have the “final say,” with the network granting him carte blanche to handpick his new teammate. If you think Bayless’ act wears thin on audiences, just imagine how it must be for the person who sits across from him.
And as Le Batard points out, good luck to whoever that next person may be. And at this point, the line to work with Sharpe is probably a heck of a lot longer than the line to work with Bayless.
