Skip Bayless

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Skip Bayless (born John Edward Bayless II on December 4, 1951 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), is a nationally syndicated American sportswriter. He can be seen on ESPN2's morning sportstalk show, Cold Pizza, and its afternoon show, 1st and 10. Bayless also writes regular columns for ESPN.com and its Page 2 section.

Contents 1 Schooling and family 2 Writing career 3 Radio and television 3.1 KTCK Sports Radio 1310 "The Ticket" 3.2 Cold Pizza 3.3 Allen Iverson controversy 4 Criticism 5 Bibliography 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Schooling and family

Bayless graduated from Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, on the university's Fred Russel-Grantland Rice Sportswriting Scholarship. While there he became a member of the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity. His brother, Rick Bayless, is a well-known chef.

[edit] Writing career

Bayless has written for The Miami Herald, The Dallas Morning News, Dallas Times Herald, Chicago Tribune, and the San Jose Mercury News.

Over his twenty year career, Skip Bayless has also written several books regarding the Dallas Cowboys. In Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the "Win or Else" Dallas Cowboys, Bayless created a controversy when he suggested that Cowboys' quarterback Troy Aikman was gay. This brought criticism upon Bayless for the innuendos concerning Mr. Aikman's sexuality as contained in the book. Aikman never addressed Bayless' claims, and has since married and had children.

[edit] Radio and television

Skip Bayless has occasionally substituted as host for syndicated radio program The Jim Rome Show. He has also previously contributed to ESPN as a recurring panelist on The Sports Reporters, NFL Prime Monday (now ESPN Monday Night Countdown) in the 1990s, and Jim Rome is Burning.

[edit] KTCK Sports Radio 1310 "The Ticket"

Bayless was the first voice ever heard live on the very popular Dallas radio station, KTCK Sports Radio 1310 "The Ticket".^{[citation needed]} During his and the station's first ever broadcast, he rightly predicted that KTCK would dominate the local sports radio market.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Cold Pizza

Skip Bayless is a co-host of Cold Pizza (with Jay Crawford and Dana Jacobson), wherein he debates ten of the day's hottest sports topics with a fellow sportswriter (formerly Woody Paige). These debates are reaired on ESPN in the afternoon under the title 1st and 10

On Cold Pizza, Bayless has repeatedly stated that field goals and extra point attempts (PATs) should be done away in the National Football League which often caused an argument with rival Woody Paige on Cold Pizza. This argument once went so far that New York Giants kicker Jay Feely was invited onto the show to guest host for the absent Paige and debate against Skip Bayless and his anti-kicking stance. After the Giants made the playoffs Bayless had to wear Feely's jersey on Cold Pizza on January 2nd, 2007.

[edit] Allen Iverson controversy

On Cold Pizza, Bayless made comments about NBA All-Star Allen Iverson, stating that his recent trade to the Denver Nuggets was flawed, and continued to criticize Iverson. Iverson then responded with an interview with ESPN where he asked, "Why does he hate me?". It has not been determined whether this interview was a skit or an actual interview.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Criticism

Bayless has recently been criticized for his vitriolic denigration of University of Illinois star Edward (Eddie) Arnet Johnson on The Jim Rome Show, whom he mistook for Edward "Fast Eddie" Johnson who was arrested on child molestation charges. Although other news outlets including The Chicago Tribune also fell into this trap, Bayless's perceived ignorance has been widely criticized. ^[1] Bayless was later named in a lawsuit filed by Johnson related to the incident and eventually reached a confidential settlement. ^[2]

[edit] Bibliography

• God's Coach: The Hymns, Hype, and Hypocrisy of Tom Landry's Cowboys, Simon and Schuster, 1990. ISBN 0-671-70581-4.
• The Boys: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys' Season on the Edge, Simon and Schuster, 1993. ISBN 0-671-79359-4.
• Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the "Win or Else" Dallas Cowboys, HarperCollins Publishers, 1996. ISBN 0-06-018648-8.

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2006-08-10-innocent-eddie-johnson_x.htm
2. ^ http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0112sunsnb0112.html

[edit] External links

• Skip Bayless at the Internet Movie Database