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Skip Bayless: ‘I Get Cancelled Every Other Night on Twitter’

I keep arms length from Twitter, from the reactions. I tweet, but I don’t read.”

Ricky Keeler

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Skip Bayless
Courtesy: @SkipBayless on Instagram

Skip Bayless has been in the sports media business for decades and he has gotten the chance to see firsthand how the industry has changed. When he started, there wasn’t much talk radio, no debate shows, and no internet for that matter.

On his podcast, The Skip Bayless Show, Bayless was asked by a fan in what ways has coverage of sports changed when he first started covering them to what it is today. He said he might someday write a book about that subject, but he thought back to a time when he covered the Dallas Cowboys and how easy it was to talk to players.

“When I first got into the sports media business, print dominated. Daily newspapers were king… When I first started covering the Dallas Cowboys (1979), I would go out to their practice field at lunchtime when the players were available and it was like I was entering a multiplex of theaters. I just had my pick. I could go to the Roger Staubach movie or the Charlie Walters movie or the Too Tall Jones movie or the Drew Pearson movie. I had movies to watch everywhere I wanted…I would fill my notebook every lunchtime.”

One of the things that made it easy for Bayless was that newspapers were a way for the athlete to control their message and the only outlet to get statements across.

“They were all happy to talk 1-on-1 as long as I wanted. If you wanted to meet them after practice, meet them at their house in the evening, they would do it because you were all they had as an outlet. If they wanted to make a statement, there was no Internet. They had to make the statement to you into your newspaper and hoped that you got it right and presented it the way they wanted it to. If they wanted to make a public image, it had to come through your feature story, your column that you wrote about them, you can make or break them through your coverage. They knew it and they catered to it. Those were some of the greatest lunchtimes in my life.

“Now of course, it’s about the Internet. Now players can control their message and carefully craft their image through the statements they post and the pictures that they post. Newspapers are a thing of the past. There’s still a place for newspapers and there’s still a place for reporting, but it’s not like it used to be. 

When Bayless was a writer, he mentioned the amount of letters he would get on a daily basis and most of the messages he received back from readers were of a positive nature.

“I used to get 20-30 snail mail letters a week. I would get more than anyone else would because I was outspoken. I would answer everyone of them by hand.” 

In this era of social media, Bayless knows the vitriol that he gets, whether it is from something he says on FS1’s Undisputed or his podcast. He doesn’t consume it all directly, but he knows about most of it.

“Now I’m told that I get cancelled every other night on Twitter. I’m told by my wife Ernestine who does monitor this that if I consumed all the evil aimed at me on various social media platforms. Sometimes she will read me some of them just for our amusement. If I actually allowed into my psyche all the misinformation, all the out-and-out lies she sometimes reads to me, if I let it all sink in, I’d wind up in a straightjacket on some funny farm somewhere and I don’t have plans to do that just yet. I keep arms length from Twitter, from the reactions. I tweet, but I don’t read. Someday I’ll write a book on all of the above because I’m just touching tips of the iceberg.”

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Saquon Barkley to WFAN’s Tiki Barber: “Don’t Feed Into the B.S.”

Barkley said any narrative that he chose to go to Philadelphia over staying with the Giants is incorrect because New York never offered him a contract.

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Logo for the New Heights podcast and a photo of Saquon Barkley

Former New York Giants and current Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley made an appearance this week on New Heights, the podcast hosted by Travis and Jason Kelce. In addition to several football related topics, Barkley spoke about his war of words with WFAN host and former Giants running back Tiki Barber.

After Barkley signed with the Eagles on a three-year, $37.5 million deal, Barber said that Barkley was “dead to us,” referring to New York Giants fans. Barber has said those comments were more about what the fans were thinking and were “tongue-in-cheek.” Barkley came back at Barber on social media and said he was a “hater” since he came to New York.

In explaining what made him upset about Barber’s response, Barkley said he didn’t think it was right to be attacked by a former player.

“I love seeing NFL guys, I love seeing OGs, I love seeing you guys, you have a platform, this is a place where you know ball, you can talk, you can educate fans,” Barkley said. “Maybe use that time to show, ‘Maybe this is why Saquon is going to Philly’ … the business side of it, use that to show, I’m not saying you got to have loyalty to me because I don’t care for that, to be honest, but you are an ex-NFL player, an ex-NFL athlete, don’t feed into the B.S., let fans do that, they’re supposed to do that, they’re emotional.”

Barkley said any narrative that he chose to go to Philadelphia over staying with the Giants is incorrect because New York never offered him a contract.

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Joe Buck Misses Calling Baseball But Says He’s Already Called it for “A Lifetime”

“People go, ‘Do you miss calling baseball?’ — I did it for 35 years, that is a lifetime in broadcasting…I feel like I put my time in.”

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Credit: Richard Shotwell AP

Longtime sports broadcaster Joe Buck gave up calling baseball when he made the switch to ESPN and, while he says he misses the sport, he’s called 35 years’ worth of the sport. On the latest edition of Nothing Left Unsaid with Tim Green, Green asks his former broadcast partner about the lack of baseball in his life. While Buck says he misses parts of baseball, he doesn’t miss all of it.

“People go, ‘Do you miss calling baseball?’ — I did it for 35 years, that is a lifetime in broadcasting…I feel like I put my time in. I did 24 World Series — that’s a lot, 24 more than I ever expected to do on national television. What I do miss is calling the game for the home crowd. I do miss the local stuff, where you go into the booth, and you’re the Cardinal announcer, and when the Cardinals win, ‘Yay,’ and when the Cardinals lose, ‘Boo.’ When you do the network stuff, it’s like death by 1000 cuts. It’s, ‘you hate my team, screw you,’ and it gets in your head and it takes a little bit of the fun out of it…I don’t miss the stress that comes with all that, but I do miss calling baseball for [a local team]…You show up, you’re not just there for an organization, but for their fans, and you’re kind of rooting along with them. That’s fun. And so, I miss that, but as far as the national stuff, I don’t miss a lot of that.”

Buck reiterated points he made months ago on 810 WHB with Jason Anderson. “I miss doing local baseball. I miss putting on a headset and being the eyes and ears of Cardinal fans, Royal fans, Rangers fans, whatever,” Buck said back then. “That’s more fun than being Switzerland and getting all the junk that comes with it.”

He stopped calling baseball when he and longtime football partner Troy Aikman moved from FOX to ESPN to call Monday Night Football. While he said publicly that he would miss calling the World Series, he also said the 2022 World Series would have been his last anyway. Buck says he may one day feel compelled to call baseball again, though, saying, “I’ve never said that before, but I just feel like I’m 53, basically 54, [and] I think it’s too early to say nevers at this point in my life. I think at some point, I’ll get the itch again.”

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Former Red Sox Pitcher Jonathan Papelbon Joins Roster of ‘Foul Territory’ Hosts

“I am joining the Foul Territory podcast full-time, no more guest spots…I’m coming in and I can’t wait to pop a bottle on this year’s baseball season.

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The already-stacked roster on Foul Territory just got its closer. Jonathan Papelbon, formerly of the Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, and Philadelphia Phillies, announced today that he was joining fellow former All-Stars A.J. Pierzynski, Todd Frazier, Adam Jones, Lorenzo Cain, Brock Holt and Jason Kipnis on the show.

The podcast also features former MLB Network host Scott Braun and former 11-year MLB catcher Erik Kratz.

“I am joining the Foul Territory podcast full-time, no more guest spots,” Papelbon said in a video posted to his X account. “Whether it’s a big Ohtani gambling scandal or me giving you baseball gambling winners…I’m coming in, no bulls—-, real talk, and I can’t wait to pop a bottle on this year’s baseball season.”

Papelbon has been a contributor to the show in the past as a guest but will now join in an official capacity. He has also contributed to linear and digital content for NESN since 2021 and will reportedly head to the booth this year.

The former closer will join Alanna Rizzo on the Foul Territory network, who was brought on just a week ago to co-host the podcast’s live program, Fair Territory, with baseball insider Ken Rosenthal.

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