Skip Bayless

Skip Bayless is a Hater! Skip Bayless is a jerk! Skip Bayless is bitter! Skip Bayless is Angry! Skip Bayless is a lot of things, most of them would be considered unsavory, and yet he is probably the most talked about, well known commentator in all of sports. Most of that is because he is mentioned by more athletes than any other sports commentator since Howard Cossell. 

Just recently Lebron James, arguably the biggest name in the NBA talked at length about Skip Bayless, saying that Bayless inspires him, because Bayless' comments about James have been so harsh that he works harder in workouts just to prove Bayless wrong. Never has a sports commentator had that much power.

When Shaquille O'Neal retired last week he was asked about his relationship with commentators/reporters, which given Shaq's media-savvy nature was overall favorable, except in the case of Skip Bayless, when Shaq said he wanted to "kick Skip Bayless' ass"

So what is it that Skip is doing that can anger and inspire some of the biggest athletes to ever play in all of sports?

One thing Bayless does is simple, he tells the truth. In a time when professional athletes are coddled and surrounded by "Yes Men" and most analyst just talk about what a "super job" they are doing, Bayless is very honest with them, more times than not, he never says anything just to be insulting, he points out the obvious, that fans see, but commentators rarely point out because they know that player, or it would jeopardize the relationship they have with that player, and may result in not being able to do an interview with them later. Skip Bayless just doesn't care about that kind of stuff, he calls things as he sees them, and like it or not he's right about 90% of the time.

Another reason is simply a byproduct of the format of his show 1st and Ten, a show in which Bayless debates the topics of that particular day. Bayless sits across from another report/athlete/commentator or sometimes even rapper, and the two debate. However, the person sitting across from him is nearly always a typical reporter, (Steven A. Smith being a regular on the show, that is an exception) coddling the players, being the "Yes Men" so they can still get that interview with Terrell Owens or Lebron James. As harsh as Bayless' words are, they come across as more harsh, because he is sitting across from the type of reporter that the athletes love, making Bayless' comments really sting.