In what has become a time-honored tradition, Skip Bayless commemorated the Dallas Cowboys’ upset defeat at the hands of the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card round last weekend by…posting a video of himself throwing away his Cowboys gear.
During the latest episode of The Skip Bayless Show, the Undisputed co-host opened up about his latest disposal of Dallas apparel, which he said helped ease the pain of another crushing Cowboys loss.
“I just sat there. I was so blindsided, I was so dumbfounded. I was so knocked on my a**,” Bayless said of the 48-32 defeat. “I was so sucker punched that all I could think of was, ‘I gotta get this out of my life.’ I told my wife, Ernestine, ‘Get your camera ready. We’re going to do another trash can video because I’m going to throw out everything with Dallas on it that I own. I’m gonna get rid of everything Cowboy in my house.’
“And I stacked it all up and I looked at it and I said, ‘You know what? I don’t ever want to be humiliated like this again. I’m done, man. I need a new team. I need a new trustable cause to pour all my heart and soul in.’
“And I marched into the kitchen. And I threw the whole pile of it down on the chair and one by one, I fired it into that trash can. By the way, that was one take — they’re always one take. You can ask Ernestine. And I went swish, swish, swish, swish, swish. I think there were eight or nine items, I don’t know. All my pain went into that trash can.”
Despite the impressive nature of seamlessly throwing nine shirts and hats into a trash can like Steph Curry at the free throw line, Bayless’ explanation soon took a dark turn.
“It was either that for me or jump out the window,” Bayless said. “So I threw all my Cowboy life into that trash can.”
Well then.
Is there a performative aspect of Bayless repeatedly throwing away his Cowboys gear after high profile losses? Of course. But give him credit for remaining committed to the bit. Even if none of this actually went down the way he claimed it did, the idea of him turning to his wife and letting her know that it’s time to film another trash can video and then being impressed with himself for not being thwarted by its automatic lid makes all of this worth playing along with.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.