Everything is good now on the set of Undisputed according to Shannon Sharpe. The Hall of Famer was on Mad Dog Unleashed on Wednesday and was asked by Chris Russo how things are between him and Skip Bayless after some very contentious moments were caught on camera.
Sharpe said that despite a rough patch, their relationship is pretty good. It was always important to him to prioritize the overall health of their relationship over recent events.
“I wasn’t willing to throw the two months that Skip and I, we disagreed a lot, sometimes I think things went over the line,” he said. “I didn’t want that, and so I appreciate everything Skip had done for me. Bringing me there, giving me an opportunity to show that I was more than a football player. I could talk about more in the sports world than just football. So, I wasn’t willing to throw that away. Skip and I just needed to get into a room and talk, and calmer heads prevailed.”
One of the more talked about moments of the prolonged low point came in December, when Shannon Sharpe accused Skip Bayless of disrespecting him in order to make a point about Tom Brady. Sharpe said he realized in that moment that Bayless and he could not debate the same way Bayless debated with Stephen A. Smith on First Take.
“Skip and I don’t have the type of relationship that Skip and Stephen A. Smith had. Because Skip and Stephen A. came from the same world. Both writers, both journalists. They see what they see through the journalists’ eyes. I’m an ex-athlete, I see things through an athlete’s eyes. We see things differently, that’s why we work on the show.”
He told Russo that he laid down ground rules with Bayless. They could argue, but he wanted “the color between the lines”. That would help to avoid future conflict.
Shannon Sharpe says that a big part of the reason that the relationship healed is that he felt heard and respected by Skip Bayless. He said he thinks everyone could see that their arguments on Undisputed were becoming personal and that addressing it has helped re-focus the show.
