Skip Bayless responded to what he described as Micah Parsons’ “profanely savage and scathing tweet,” which was aimed at the 72-year-old Undisputed host.
The 24-year-old Dallas Cowboys All-Pro linebacker has had his fair share of run-ins with the media this past calendar year.
He bashed NBC Sports’ Rodney Harrison for what he perceived to be over-the-top criticism of New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson, who he passionately defended later in the season. Parsons then defended his own quarterback, Dak Prescott, and called out media bias against his Cowboys. But it didn’t stop there. He was constantly unhappy with the Cowboys’ media coverage throughout the season, to the point where he pushed back on “fake analysts,” who celebrate that Dallas always comes up short.
That’s all that to say that the moment when Parsons called out Bayless for being a fake Cowboys fan had been brewing for quite some time. Parsons, unlike Jared Goff, wasn’t able to ignore Bayless. And it finally boiled over to the point where Bayless called out Parsons on social media, insinuating that the all-world defender is only good for one thing: podcasting.
You just a hating ass mf who mad I ain’t want to do your show?! Where was all this when you were on my nuts wanting me to come on your show every Tuesday!! You lame asf skip real shit, fake ass cowboys fan!! https://t.co/gVHOSwoR4Y
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) January 19, 2024
It took a while for Bayless to respond, but he finally did. And he chose his podcast — The Skip Bayless Show — to do so. But before he could react officially to Parsons, he blamed the Cowboys for him contracting COVID.
“Moments after — I can barely speak about it — that all-time Cowboy disaster at the hands of the Green Bay Packers, I fired off a barrage of tweets, one of which was, ‘I can’t wait for Micah Parsons’ podcast tomorrow. That’s what he does best,'” began Bayless. “I was beside myself. I was distraught. I was discombobulated. My psyche was annihilated, and that was just one of a barrage of tweets aimed at my Dallas Cowboys, who let me down in ways never, ever before imagined.
“So, as you might know, I have consistently criticized Micah Parsons for his podcast — too much, too soon. I love Micah as a player, but I don’t love it, especially when he criticizes other teams and other players. It’s too much, too soon. My question has been from the start, Micah: do you want to be a commentator or a game-wrecker because you cart before horse? First, you game wereck. First, you establish your Hall of Fame career path. First, maybe you win one ring, then you can podcast, then you can make commercials, and then you can be whatever you want to be. But first, you establish who you are as a football player — something you haven’t yet done — even as we speak.”
In 2023, athletes took over sports media. And while Bayless’ outdated belief that Parsons should focus on solidifying his football career before branching out into media ventures like his podcast has been uttered repeatedly, it’s likely here to stay for the foreseeable future.
“Again, I get extremely emotional over Cowboys losses,” continued Bayless. “I get over emotional, I’m the first to admit. But remember, this was the worst collapse, to me, in NFL playoff history under the circumstances. The circumstances are that my team has not been to an NFC Championship Game in now 28 years. Obviously, hasn’t been to a Super Bowl in 28 years since that 1995 season. And all of a sudden, into our laps fell the two-seed; that meant two home playoff games to get an NFC Championship Game in Jerry Wolrd, in which we had won 16 straight games…I love our position. I loved our chances. And I still can’t even comprehend what happened…
“During said collapse, Micah Parsons registered his worst pass rushing numbers of his career…Micah Parsons managed to pressure the quarterback one time against Green Bay with zero sacks, one solo tackle, one assisted tackle, and zero tackles for loss, the worst combined pass rush stats of his career. And I’ll remind you that a year ago, down the stretch — final six games of the regular season — Micah faded; they had only a sack and a half those last six games. This year, down the stretch —the final seven games, including the Green Bay game — he had two and a half total sacks. He faded. He frankly disappeared. And he deeply disappointed.
“Little did I know that Micah, as I was tweeting, was adding insult to injury because he childishly ducked out right after the game, did not speak to the media, and did not subject himself to any postgame questions from the media. And here I hoped that this would be the year that Micah would emerge as a team leader — maybe the team leader as the best player on the team. How wrong I was about Micah Parsons…Micah should’ve owned that loss. He should’ve been leading the charge to the media to own that loss, to speak for his teammates, instead of leaving all of them to speak for them…”
The next time we heard from Parsons was his tweet aimed at Bayless.
“OK, Micah, you take your shots, and I appreciate your shots because it’s well within your right to take them,” said Bayless.
In short, the response entailed Bayless initially praising Parsons excessively, being disappointed by a canceled show appearance, and suspecting Dak Prescott interfered.
Bayless response reignited the feud between him and Parsons. We’ll have to see if Parsons ultimately chooses to respond.
