That Was the Last Straw
CINCINNATI, Oh. — With 5:58 to play in the first quarter of a highly anticipated Monday Night Football matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Damar Hamlin collapsed to the turf. The first responders at Paycor Field gave Hamlin CPR as he was in cardiac arrest before being taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Hamlin’s life is still up in the air and the world is praying for Hamlin. I, myself, struggled to fall asleep last night, thinking about his condition.
Here are the reactions of many athletes and people in the sports world last night.
Skip Bayless, a longtime sports analyst for ESPN and FS1, and famous for his outlandish takes had this to say about the matter.
Now, to Bayless’ credit, he finishes the tweet by saying that the game “seems so irrelevant.” However, it’s not the content of his message that is disturbing—he’s only speaking the facts. It’s the timing of it. Bayless tweeted the message 5 minutes after Hamlin was escorted off the field in an ambulance as teammates and fans were grieving. And the reaction from the world was no different than mine; many fans called him “sick” for thinking about the rescheduling of the game at such an urgent, scary moment in time.
With Hamlin’s life still riddled with uncertainty (he was resuscitated twice, and is only relying on 50% of the ventilator for his breathing which are good signs), I send my thoughts and best wishes to him and those around him. Until then, let’s lighten the mood and re-examine some of the infamous Skip Bayless’ most outrageous takes.
5. Tebow over Kobe
In this clip, Bayless and Stephen A. Smith debate about whether or not Kobe Bryant is overpaid. Bayless points to Bryant’s performances in game 2 and 4 in his most recent playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder—games in which he scored 20 and 38. He argued that Kevin Durant is a “snail” and that he shouldn’t have been able to “lock down”—though he still averaged 29 points in htose two games—Kobe, apparently making the Black Mamba “a waste of $27M.”
The most outrageous part of the take, however, is when Bayless argues that Tim Tebow, who was never selected to a pro-bowl in his career as an NFL quarterback, deserves to be paid more than Bryant and LeBron James.
Smith refutes Bayless’ take by saying, “You have to be able to play, and be box office.” Referring to Tebow, he says, “You can’t be box office, but can’t play.”
4. LeBron not Top 5
Here is the first of several outrageous Bayless takes against LeBron James—arguably the greatest player of all time. In 2012, Bayless made a list of his top 5 current NBA players. LeBron James, who was in his prime, and coming off of his first NBA championship, was left off the list.
Here were his rankings.
Dwyane Wade
Kevin Durant
Kobe Bryant
Dirk Nowtizki
Carmelo Anthony
James was also coming off of his first MVP, and was far more proven than Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant. Plus, Kobe Bryant was entering the twilight of his career, and had just come off one of his most inefficient playoff performances ever.
It’s safe to say that James has done nothing but prove Bayless wrong in the last decade.
3. 52-year old Jordan vs Lebron
The LeBron slander continues. In 2015, Bayless and Smith were asked about a hypothetical 1v1 matchup between 52-year old Michael Jordan (who hadn’t played in the NBA in over a decade) and 31-year old, dominant, LeBron James. Bayless said, “you know, he might just be able to,” referring to Jordan beating James.
Smith retaliated by saying, “LeBron is the best player in the world, and you’re saying that a 52-year old man who hasn’t played in the NBA in a decade— it’s just disrespectful.”
It’s safe to say that Bayless’ took his typical “LeBron-hate” takes a little too far on this one.
2. RG3 Will be Better than Rodgers
I couldn’t find the full video of this one, but at 1:57 in this video below, you will hear Bayless advocate for Robert Griffin III being better than Aaron Rodgers when its all set and done. Rodgers came into 2013—when the segment occured—as a Super Bowl champion, a one time MVP, and a three time pro-bowler. Griffin III was coming off a strong rookie year.
Though Griffin showed promise in year one, looking at their careers now, Bayless’ take was an incredibly foolish one. Rodgers has won three more MVP’s and been nominated to 7 more pro-bowls. Griffin on the other hand, spent six more years in the league as a journeyman, riddled by injuries everywhere he went. He only started 27 more games after his rookie year.
1. Johnny Football over LeBron
“The Houston Texans and the eight other teams that passed on Johnny Manziel will forever forget passing on [him].”
“Johnny Manziel will pretty soon change football life in Cleveland, Ohio.”
“One day, Johnny Manziel will become even bigger in the city of Cleveland than his buddy and business partner LeBron James ever was to the city of Cleveland.”
“One day, the connection of Johnny Manziel and Josh Gordon will heat up.”
Not much to say here. Manziel ended up being arguably the biggest bust of all time, while LeBron James is the GOAT to many. It’s safe to say that Skip shouldn’t go all in on an unproven prospect against LeBron ever again.