Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless picked up where they left off a decade ago when Bayless made his return to First Take on Friday.
In many ways, Stephen A. Smith has given Skip Bayless a lifeline to what has been a dying media career. After several years at FS1 across from Shannon Sharpe on Undisputed, Bayless drove his partner away. And in many ways, Sharpe outshined Bayless after Undisputed‘s demise… at least until he ran into his own personal problems that led to his own ESPN departure.
For his part, Skip Bayless has had to deal with accusations of impropriety of his own during his time at FS1, although the lawsuit filed by a former hairstylist with allegations against Bayless and others was ultimately settled. Bayless had his own fledgling podcast and had been making appearances with Gilbert Arenas before making his sudden ESPN return. But he was welcomed back with open arms by Smith and First Take. And on his SiriusXM Straight Shooter show, Stephen A. Smith explained why he felt he owed Skip Bayless the favor.
“It doesn’t matter what has happened in my career on First Take on ESPN, the fact is it wouldn’t have happened without his support. Skip was fighting all those years, those couple of years I was gone, it was Skip that was fighting for me to be back. And when I got back and was restricted to radio by ESPN, it was Skip that was fighting to have me on First Take. And when we first started off it was on Wednesdays and I was limited to the first segment of hour number two of First Take on Wednesdays. And it was that that ultimately materialized into me coming on for the whole show every Wednesday and thereafter ultimately he fought for me to be on permanently,” Smith said.
“I thought that it was only right that now that I’m blessed and fortunate enough to be in the position that I’m in that I took the opportunity to show my appreciation while also making great television at the same time by reminding everybody where it all started. There’s a lot of things been mentioned and a lot of opportunities that have come a lot of people’s way courtesy of First Take but it didn’t start with me. It started with Skip Bayless… I wanted to remind everybody that when you see me bringing on people, it’s an extension of what Skip started,” Smith added.
Judging by the appearance and the reaction, it’s likely not going to be the last time we see Bayless on First Take. Smith has built First Take with a rotating crew of analysts featuring everyone from Chris Russo to Chris Canty to Ryan Clark to Cam Newton. It’s hard to not see Bayless becoming a featured weekly attraction, especially once we get to the fall and the show does their required Dallas Cowboys talk during NFL season.
Even though it was billed as a one-time appearance, it’s clear just how much Smith and Bayless mean to each other and the chemistry they have together is unmatched amongst all the individuals ESPN has tried to replace Bayless with over the last decade… for better or for worse when it comes to the overall state of the industry.
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