Let’s face it, ESPN’s Skip Bayless is nothing but a troll.
The Baltimore Ravens have Super Bowl rings to show for their efforts during the 2012 season. Bayless’ favorite target of criticism, quarterback Joe Flacco, has a Super Bowl MVP title, $120 million contract and a 2014 Corvette to show his importance to a franchise that can call themselves champions.
Regardless of what the Ravens do on the field, Skip Bayless can’t keep his mouth shut, and the Ravens continue to make him eat crow.
Unfortunately, during a time where many cable bills often equal car payments, people in Baltimore (and around the country) have to pay $6 per month just for ESPN’s programming. ESPN does some great things, but continuing to employ someone who is nothing short of a troll for ratings is a black eye for the network. Is Bayless a waste of money? Absolutely. However, the network makes $7.2 BILLION per year before they even tap into their advertising revenue. Bayless and his “hey, look at me, I’m trying to be relevant” antics are something this company can afford to keep on the books even though for some reason they had to cut hundreds of jobs a month ago.
As the Ravens reported to training camp on Wednesday, linebacker Terrell Suggs, a frequent opponent of Bayless’ on First Take once again stood up for his quartergback.
“[Joe] doesn’t have to do any talking, all he has to do is flash his ring,” Suggs said when asked about thoughts on the national media’s perspective of Flacco. “I think his resume speaks for itself, and I don’t think myself or Joe need to do any more talking concerning that.”
Bayless must have saw that as a challenge to just how long he could keep his mouth shut.
On Wednesday, Flacco met with the media and said, “I can’t really complain at this point. We won last year, I have a lot of money [laughter], or I’m going to get a lot of money, and we’re going to win football games. That’s the way it is around here. That’s what we’re going to get used to and that’s what we want to be used to, is winning football games. We’re not going to apologize for acting like a good football team.”
Bayless responded by saying on First Take (quotes courtesy of BaltimoreRavens.com):
“I can’t say that I blame Joe Flacco for basically flaunting all the money he’s about to be paid right now,” he said. “To the victor goes the spoils. He did it, man. He played sensationally throughout the playoffs, but I’m here to say that I don’t think Joe Flacco is going to be flaunting his money about mid-season because I think that Flacco and what’s left of his Ravens are in for a rough ride.”
Then, he continued.
“I’m sorry Ozzie, you bet the ranch on Joe Fluke-o and I think he’ll turn back into Joe Fluke-o at some point this year…. Talk big now Joe, because you won’t be able to talk big later.”
The only fluke that Bayless should be concerned with is how he’s still employed. There are far more deserving people who should actually be opining about sports instead of of keeping vendettas against certain teams going even after they’ve been proven wrong time and again.
So, Baltimore, this is where you come in! Let’s not give this talking head the attention he is seeking and continue to let the ratings drop on First Take. Note that we have nothing against Stephen A. Smith; this is all about Bayless.
Bayless will continue to float out nuggets throughout the season to anger Ravens fans. Instead of reacting, let’s just not even address him. I will assure you that it’ll never happen on this site again, it’ll never happen on our Facebook again nor will I ever personally do it on my Twitter account.
Baltimore, take the pledge to never acknowledge Skip Bayless again. This isn’t an effort to have him lose his job; it’s just to create awareness that people in Baltimore don’t give a crap what he says.
Sign the Boycott Skip Bayless pledge here!
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