When it comes to Bayless, just hit Skip
By now, most sports fans are aware of who Skip Bayless is. I won't go over his entire resume, but he most recently spent a few years on ESPN's First take, getting owned on a daily basis by Stephen A. Smith.
These days he can be seen on FS1, once again, getting owned on a daily. This time by NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe.
If you don't know who Bayless is, I envy you. If that is the case, I'll just say the guy likes to make bold predictions. And he's right about as often as a weather reporter in Antarctica predicting no snow in the dead of winter.
For those who do (and for those who luckily don't), he once said that Kevin Durant wasn't a top five NBA player. And that Andrew Bynum (I'll give you kids a second to look him up) is better than Dirk Nowitzki.
Done shaking your head? No? Good. Here are some more of his lowlights.
Prediction 1:
Wrong. Next.Derek Fisher will prove to be a much better NBA head coach than Steve Kerr.— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) June 10, 2014
Prediction 2:
(Looks up the interwebs to see if Johnny Manziel is bigger than Lebron James in Cleveland.) Shocking, LBJ still reigns in Ohio. He is called The King, after all.Johnny Football will one day be bigger in Cleveland than his buddy LeBron ever was.— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 9, 2014
Wrong again.
Most recently, Skip Bayless, dubbed "Baseless" by Stephen A. Smith (for obvious reasons), tweeted this nonsense about the genius play Boston Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens drew up.
Here's the play.
Here's the nonsense:
That last Celts play was NOT DRAWN UP FOR AL HORFORD. That was about the 5th option and they barely got the ball in before 5 seconds. Embiid switched. Desperation lob to Horford on Covington. Doubt that was "Brad Stevens genius," as good a coach as he is.— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 6, 2018
Former Nets assistant and all-around basketball guy Steve Jones Jr. saw what the rest of us did:
That’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works. The “genius” was in the design to know they were switching, have no one on the weakside to set up the lob with no help behind it. https://t.co/8iKliHZfnI— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) May 6, 2018
Don't want to take Jones' word for it? OK. How about we ask Matt Howard - former Butler Bulldog who who suited up for Stevens from 2007-2011.
We actually ran, essentially, the play you saw last night a few times 7-8 years ago on late game or late shot clock side-out. People who don’t think Horford was the primary option proves the great design of this play. https://t.co/7znXDMuD3g— Matt Howard (@MHoward54) May 6, 2018
Hmmm, the play Matt Howard is referring to, looks oddly familiar. Doesn't it?
I hope you're all sitting down for this bit of breaking news: but Skip Bayless was wrong. Again.Brad Stevens has been letting that thing marinate since November 2009 pic.twitter.com/aDTEfthWsk— PickandPop (@PickAndPopNet) May 6, 2018
(Cue the dramatic sound effects.)
Fun, slightly-related side note:
Anyone watched Bayless actually talk sports? Inevitably, before he spits a stultifying soliloquy, he takes a deep breath. It's what poker players call "a tell." It's what screenwriters call "foreshadowing." In other words, it's a dead giveaway that he's about to say something asinine.
He takes those deep breaths, in my opinion, because even he knows that he's on the cusp of blowing out more hot air than Khaleesi's dragons.
Only difference is, people care when dragons spit fire.
One thing remains a certainty: Skip Bayless isn't going anywhere.
And that's fine. By all means, make your paper.
But that doesn't change the irony that his first name is Skip. Because, at the end of the day, that's what we should all do when he starts talking: hit skip.
Follow Edward Babaian on Twitter: @bojixbabaian
Photo Credit: New York Post
