After the relationship between Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe appeared to be on the brink, the Fox Sports hosts had a private meeting.
Last month, their relationship was reported to be at an all-time low after Bayless and Sharpe had several heated arguments on-air. That included the biggest blowup of their more than six years together on Undisputed. But Sharpe recently joined Chris “Mad Dog” Russo’s SiriusXM radio show, and said his relationship with Bayless has improved after a heart-to-heart.
“A lot of times, Mad Dog, people look at things like you can have 15 great years, and somebody has a bad moment, and they are willing to throw all of that away,” Sharpe said. “I wasn’t willing to throw the two months that Skip and I, we disagreed a lot, sometimes I think things went over the line. I didn’t want that, and so I appreciate everything Skip had done for me. Bringing me there, giving me an opportunity to show that I was more than a football player. I could talk about more in the sports world than just football. So, I wasn’t willing to throw that away. Skip and I just needed to get into a room and talk, and calmer heads prevailed.”
Sharpe further noted how appreciative he is of the opportunity to host Undisputed, claiming more people recognize him from his Fox Sports show with Skip Bayless than they do from his 14-year career in the NFL. But that appreciation appeared to waver in recent months, as Sharpe sounded fed up with Bayless on several occasions.
Sharpe accused his co-host of disrespecting his NFL career and he even skipped an episode of Undisputed last month, seemingly in protest of Bayless’s untimely tweet about Damar Hamlin’s life-threatening injury during Monday Night Football. And when Sharpe returned the next day, he and Bayless had one of the most uncomfortable arguments in sports debate show history. But six weeks later, Sharpe claims his relationship with Bayless is on the mend.
“We’re great,” he told Russo. “Skip and I don’t have the type of relationship that Skip and Stephen A. Smith had. Because Skip and Stephen A. came from the same world. Both writers, both journalists. They see what they see through the journalists’ eyes. I’m an ex-athlete, I see things through an athlete’s eyes. We see things differently, that’s why we work on the show.
“The thing that I conveyed to Skip is that, ‘Look, we can disagree, but I want the color between the lines. I don’t want the disagreements to go outside of the lines.'”
Russo asked if things did go outside the lines with Bayless and Sharpe added, “Yeah, it did. I think everybody thought that.”
[SiriusXM]
