#IDon'tHeartSkipBayless

Those of you who have watched ESPN First Take are quite familiar with Skip Bayless. For those of you who don't know, ESPN First Take is a sports debate show that features Skip Bayless vs. various opponents ranging from reporters/analysts to current athletes. I watch this show on a regular basis and each time I do I find myself more and more frustrated with Bayless, as he seems more and more willing to say just about anything to stir up a response. Now I understand it's part of his job to make the show interesting and entertaining, but as a "journalist" he's just taking it too far.

The biggest problem I have with Skip Bayless is his inconsistency when judging athletes. On what seems to be a daily basis he finds a way to bring Lebron James into the conversation in order to criticize him, primarily focusing on his late game struggles. This is fair criticism seeing as it's no secret that Lebron has had his share of issues dealing with late game pressure. Skip also absolutely loves Tim Tebow, because even though he generally plays quite poorly for three quarters, he then steps up in the fourth to win a lot of games. So based on this criteria it is safe to assume that Skip's criteria for being a great player relies predominantly on their play at the end of games, and on winning, which is fair.

The problem then is that he doesn't always use this aspect of a player's game to evaluate him. Bayless continues to promote Tony Romo as an elite QB, claiming that he does in fact have a "major clutch gene". To see if Romo really is clutch I did a bit of research. Since becoming a starter he has had a problem leading his team to victories late in seasons (or in other words when the pressure is at its highest), resulting in a regular season record of 9-13 in the months of December and January. In addition to this record Romo has amased himself only one playoff win in all these years. So while following the criteria Skip uses when evaluating the likes of Lebron and Tebow, I fail to see how Romo lives up to that "elite" rating. Could it be that he is biased due to his history as a columnist for the Dallas Cowboys? Maybe. But something certainly doesn't add up.

Skip's new favorite victim is Russell Westbrook, point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite having a career year (24.3 ppg, 5.4 apg, 4.5 rpg, 46.6 FG%) and helping to lead the Thunder to the top seed in the Western Conference, Westbrook finds himself being constantly labeled as a problem. Bayless focuses solely on the decreased number of assists Westbrook has this year, ignoring the fact that it is mostly the result of increased playmaking ability of teammates Kevin Durant and James Harden. I don't know about you, but to me it seems ludicrous to ridicule a guy who's playing as well as Westbrook is.

I could put up with all of Skip's nonsense if it stopped at poor evaluation of talent. After all, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The last straw that makes this man completely insufferable as a sports journalist is how often he resorts to personal attacks and other unprofessional behaviors. If he wants to criticize Chris Bosh for not being aggressive enough or Lebron for not being clutch enough, that's perfectly fine. I'm a diehard Heat fan and I acknowledge both of those problems. But he then degrades his own argument by resorting to school yard bullying, often referring to Bosh and James as Bosh Spice (referencing a member of the Spice Girls) and Queen James respectively. He doesn't reserve personal attacks for athletes only, but even goes after fellow members of the media. A stand out example was last summer when Skip claimed that NBA analyst Chris Broussard "sold his journalistic soul" and let his feelings get in the way of his work. This may seem rather mundane but to a journalist that is the highest of insults.

All in all I understand that everyone is entitled to their opinion and that at the end of the day Bayless needs to keep the show entertaining since it is a business after all. But there is a line and Skip Bayless has crossed it far too many times. He criticizes just for the sake of it, and he often resorts to personal attacks that make him seem like a petty child. As I stated before I watch First Take on a regular basis, but I can say with 100% certainty it is not because I enjoy listening to Skip. He is an insult to sports journalism as he often displays his lack of knowledge regarding the topics he is debating. ESPN should be ashamed that they allow someone such as Skip Bayless to have a show on their network and need to seriously consider going in a new direction for that show. #TakeSkipOffTheAir