Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless have been on the air together for over six years now. When Bayless decided to leave ESPN, he handpicked Shannon to be his broadcast partner. Overall, Undisputed has been a massive success thanks to the dynamic these two have. Although Skip is the old guard of hot-take merchants, Shannon offers a unique perspective as a professional athlete. Moreover, he is wildly entertaining, and fans love hearing him talk on the show. However, all that glitters isn't necessarily gold, especially given recent events.
In the span of what felt like back-to-back weeks, Sharpe and Bayless found themselves at odds. Firstly, we had the incident in which Bayless said Tom Brady was better than Shannon. Many found this to be completely tasteless, and it led to a very interesting fallout. Secondly, we had the Damar Hamlin incident. Shannon took issue with Skip's tweet about the Hamlin medical emergency, which led to an on-air argument. These instances had some calling for Sharpe to leave Undisputed. Although, in an interview with Adam Schein, Sharpe made it clear he is sticking by his guy.
Shannon Sharpe Talks Skip
In Sharpe's eyes, what he has with Bayless is very much like a marriage. As he told Schein, he didn't want to let those bad few weeks erase what is otherwise a great relationship. "I wasn’t gonna allow two bad months to ruin six years of a great working relationship," he noted. "We have a great working relationship." Moreover, Sharpe made the revelation that he and Skip aren't friends outside of the show. Although, this has nothing to do with his appreciation for his work partner. "I think it helps our relationship on-air that we are not that close," Sharpe said. "He doesn’t know what I’m thinking and he doesn’t know what I’m going to say."
It is good to see that Skip and Shannon are going to continue their show together. Ultimately, it would be a real shame to see Undisputed end. While the fans wanted to overreact, Shannon seems to have a plan. However, if he does decide to leave Skip at some point, he will be fine on his own. Be sure to let us know what you think of Sharpe's comments, down below.
[Via]