Shannon Sharpe’s decision to leave Skip Bayless and his co-hosting gig at ‘Undisputed’ this week sent shockwaves throughout the sports media world.
Although Sharpe and Bayless had been known to have some issues, many assumed the pair had mended fences following their now-infamous Damar Hamlin tiff.
As it turns out – not exactly.
In addition to leaving ‘Undisputed,’ Sharpe is also reportedly taking his extremely popular “Club Shay Shay” podcast off Fox Sports.
So what led to this split? Why are Sharpe and Bayless suddenly breaking up?
Sharpe offered some clues on social media this week, thanks to an interesting set of tweets he chose to ‘Like’ on the platform.
It will be interesting to see where Sharpe goes from here. It’s worth remembering, the most popular sports personality in America sided with Bayless over him during the Hamlin situation.
And Sharpe has a well-known lingering beef with one of the best NBA players in the world.
How will all that influence rival sports networks’ perceptions of him? Time will tell.
As for Bayless, it remains to be seen whether this turns out to be a good or bad thing for him. As his recent mega-viral photo showed, he doesn’t need anyone to make him relevant. He is great at generating headlines, for better or worse.
Whoever sits opposite him is the B-side to his A-side, regardless of who that personality is.
Impressive stuff from the Tennessee Titans. https://t.co/UcMxtcHXrx
— Game 7 (@game7__) June 1, 2023
There’s a reason why Stephen A. Smith got his career revived by Bayless, and not vice versa.
Big picture, it will be fascinating to see who Fox Sports ultimately anoints as Sharpe’s successor.
Whoever it will be better be ready to accept the punishment that come standard with being Bayless’ sparring partner. Sharpe was okay with it at one point, but clearly somewhere along the way that changed.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
