“Bayless came to me in a parking lot…I need you” Stephen A. Smith gets candid revealing Skip Bayless’s attempt to hire him for First Take
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Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless
Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless are one of the best duos in sports history to debate around anything related to sports or even an athlete. There is no doubt in their ranking and also in the level of content they generated together but unfortunately, they had to split up because of unfavourable conditions. Skip Bayless used to run First Take all alone and had many guys debating with him but that wasn’t enough for the company as the ratings were down. But Stephen A. Smith’s addition got it all good as they were soon topping the charts up. They were the best sports show as fans enjoyed them going against each other in any way possible for any topic they discussed.
Recently sitting alongside JJ Redick on The Old Man and The Three podcast Stephen A. Smith opened up about him joining the First Take and quoted: “Skip Bayless comes to me in a parking lot. He says, ‘I know you’ve got your plans, you love the NBA, you love being out on the road, you love being in the locker room. But I need you. I’ve done all that I could do to take this as far as I could go, I need you to do this for me, please.’… I thought about it took my time and those were clearly my best options. They weren’t about to give me my own show anything like that at the time… Alright I’ll do it. One month later we were number one and we have been number one ever since.”
Stephen A. Smith though also mentioned how 2012 changed it all for them. Further speaking about his chemistry with Skip Bayless he said: “We always had the chemistry. Skip and I used to work at Fox together… They did a pilot with Skip and I because Skip and I used to debate all the time and we never agreed on anything.” They never agreed with each other and that’s what brought in the fans as they enjoyed the never-ending debates and wanted more of it. But Smith also claimed that all that time he always respected Skip’s stance and takes too.
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Reunion and break apart of Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith
Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless knew together they can make it big and they have got the job done. As both of them now have millions of fans and their own shows and podcasts. Stephen A. Smith speaking about their time together also brought in a piece of past dating back to 2000 when they wanted to work together and said: “When the opportunity finally came, and he approached me in that parking lot, that was what he brought up. ‘This is unfinished business. We were supposed to do this 12 years ago, but here we are again and this is our opportunity. Stephen A., I need you to do this for me.’”
But that didn’t age well and they had to split up as Skip Bayless and ESPN were not able to land on great negotiations of course on both the ends as Stephen A. Smith referring to the break apart emotionally said: “Never. The only time anything came close to that was when I knew he was leaving before he told me, so I confronted him… When he confessed to me what had transpired between his negotiations with the company, I understood why he couldn’t tell me in the immediate moment.”
Fans are sad and heartbroken listening to the story. As maybe they hate them individually but as a duo, they were the best out there and even today are. Stephen A. Smith has taken control over First Take while Skip Bayless joined Shannon Sharpe on Undisputed on Fox Sports.
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Ritik Malik
(1743 Articles Published)