Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless are a gift from God, and we should all just consider ourselves lucky to have witnessed it.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Smith and Bayless reunited publicly on the latter’s podcast this week. They had plenty to discuss. Their 2016 divorce, their near reunion in 2020, their personal feuds, Shannon Sharpe leaving FS1 for ESPN and Bayless now being without a TV home. But they didn’t touch on any of those topics. Instead, Bayless and Smith played the hits. Tim Tebow, LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Cowboys and even Aaron Rodgers.
The recycled topics and discussions were enough to make Bayless’s wife teary-eyed, she said as much on the latest episode of Skip vs. Ernestine. And they were enough to convince Bayless that his chemistry with Smith can only be explained as a gift from God.
“I think what came clear from it was that the chemistry that we had and still have, is so special that you could pick it right back because it’s truly from God, to me,” Bayless said. “It is God sent, God blessed. You can’t fake it. You can’t teach it. You can’t coach it. You can’t force it. It either happens or it doesn’t.”
Don’t try telling that to Dan Le Batard, who previously accused Bayless and Smith of ruining sports television. That assessment may have been harsh, but Smith and Bayless did change television, and their chemistry is undisputed. But it wasn’t on display through their mini reunion on The Skip Bayless Show.
Bayless and Smith appeared friendly on this week’s podcast, but there was no unique chemistry or energy akin to what they exuded together on First Take a decade ago. It was a mundane conversation on predictable topics. Maybe this is what they needed to break the nine-year-old barrier that kept them apart since 2016. Maybe the next show will be livelier. Or maybe, the magic just isn’t there for Bayless and Smith anymore. God giveth and God taketh away.
