The uniformly exaggerated statements of ESPN’s Skip Bayless are something of a marvel.
Beyond the fact that there’s a tangible desire for ratings behind his “opinions”, there’s something else. There’s this sort of…self assurance. Skip Bayless, I imagine, wakes up in the morning, goes to work, gets make-up put on him, goes to a production meeting, puts on his “face”, and prepares. Oh, how he must prepare to look straight into the camera, passed the coffee table, and directly into the eyes of a Bayless-worn yet insatiable viewing audience. For goodness sake, the man (along with fellow…i don’t know “debater”?…Stephen A. Smith) has something huge he’s about to say.
Except it’s not huge. It’s nothing new. Bayless has surprised us so many times with his clear hinting towards the fringe that we’ve decided it’s becoming predictable. Go watch any Paranormal Activity again. You know every sequence in the movie, but you’ll be damned if it doesn’t still scare you.Thatis what listening to Skip Bayless is like. We essentially know what’s coming, we know it’s not worth the second look, but here we are.
But it’s that self assurance.
I’m OK with a guy getting on TV and putting on a glorified shouting match. It gets viewers. It pays the bills. My problem is with the fact that Bayless often seems like he really believes in what he’s saying. Now, that may not be stuff-randomly-flying-across-the-room scary. But, it’s up there.
Skip has long seen himself as some sort of psychologist, having hones his craft by watching guys play a game for a few hours. Bayless’ self assurance has invaded television sets and has been convincing people that they, too, are perhaps sports psychologists. It seems like every other guy by the water cooler (yes, the water cooler. We all work) has some inferential analysis they have made on a player based on a jump shot he missed.
Bayless recently showed off his lack of a self-correction when he made his thoughts known on Kevin Durant. Specifically, KD’s off season training habits have caught Skip’s attention. It seems that Durant is training, as he did last off season, with Lebron James in private sessions during the summer.
I would have preferred it if Bayless had a problem with Durant’s shoes. Instead, lo and behold, Bayless has a problem with Durant and James training together. Bayless claimed that Durant was letting James “own” him and that KD needs to “wake up”. Again with the inference. Again with Bayless’ steady belief that he can use vague statements to break down the mental working of the professional athlete.
So, the two best players in basketball (deal with it, folks) are training together, testing each other, and we’re supposed to believe that Lebron is somehow using these sessions to keep KD under his umbrella of influence? Not buying. Probably never will buy it.
Here’s why: the product’s the same. Bayless provides the same all-nonsense, no common sense approach to just about every “opinion” he has about a sports topic. He meanders between actual facts (thank goodness for news) and perplexing thoughts based on some adulteration of said facts.
As it turns out, you can in fact have a wrong opinion. Go figure.
If you’re interested in KD’s response to Skip, here is what he wrote to him on Twitter:
Mohamed Abdihakim is a journalism student at Florida Atlantic University. He is a Phoenix Suns fan, who is not prepared for the possibility of Nash winning a title in a Lakers jersey. Mohamed is also a contributor at “Les Snobs”. Interests include International basketball, Mad Men , and blues music. Twitter handle: @Abdi_hakim
