Shannon Sharpe is clearly doing just fine since leaving Undisputed nearly a year ago, but he still has regrets over the argument that led to his split with longtime cohost Skip Bayless.
In an interview with Cam Newton released Friday, Sharpe opened up about the emotions he still feels about the end of his time at FS1 and the way Bayless hurt him on his way out.
“Maybe it was a combination of things. Maybe there were some things I should have done differently. Maybe I should have just like had a conversation with Skip. Before it even got to that point, maybe said something differently,” Sharpe said. “I don’t know, It’s really hard to say. I just think that after seven years and you’re with somebody … it’s easier to grow apart than grow together.”
In December 2022, Sharpe and Bayless let a debate about Tom Brady in his last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers boil over into a personal spat. After Sharpe called Bayless out for an unwillingness to ever criticize Brady, Bayless punched back by proclaiming that Brady was a better NFL player than Sharpe and that Sharpe was in fact jealous.
When Sharpe tried to check Bayless’ temper by reminding him that they had a real relationship while Brady is just an athlete they cover, Bayless snapped at Sharpe to put his glasses back on, clearly crossing a line.
“If somebody else had said what Skip said, I wouldn’t have batted an eye,” Sharpe told Newton on Funky Fridays. “But we’re supposed to be teammates. And I think that’s what hurt me more than anything. My teammate, that’s what he thought of me.”
While many sports fans dislike Bayless, Sharpe said he often defended his partner and held him in high regard. Despite that, Bayless disrespected him when it mattered most.
“At that point in time, here was a guy that I had stood up for,” Sharpe explained. “And in that moment, to think that because I said that Tom Brady wasn’t playing well, and he wasn’t playing well and I think [being honest is] one of the things people like about me … I was just disappointed in how it (was) handled. I thought the situation could have been handled better by management.”
The two continued cohosting Undisputed together until last summer, when Sharpe departed the network.
Sharpe hopes he and Bayless can make up some day.
“I was visibly upset, because if somebody had told me that he would have said that to me, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Sharpe said. “But I think one day we’ll sit down and have a conversation.”
While Sharpe has expressed these feelings in the past, it is clear that even a year after leaving and nearly two years since the debate over Brady, the Club Shay Shay host still is hurt by how it all played out.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.