Skip Bayless recently offered a candid look at Stephen A. Smith’s early experiences with Twitter during their time together on First Take, shedding light on how the platform occasionally affected live broadcasts and on-air dynamics.
Bayless, speaking on The Sage Steele Show, recalled that while the show maintained its signature heated debates, there were clear rules for keeping tensions professional. “No punches pulled, but none thrown,” Bayless said. “You can’t get to the point where you get mad and want to throw punches.”
However, he noted that Smith’s approach to social media sometimes complicated that balance.
“In the early days of Twitter—and I don’t know if he still does it—he would just, in the breaks, read his phone,” Bayless explained. “If he read one response that said you just got your a** kicked on national television, then we’d come out of break, and go into the next one and he’d be in this surly foul mood.”
These moments were often noticeable on-air to Bayless, prompting him to intervene. “I’d say, ‘What are you doing? It’s not that big a deal. It’s okay. Let it go,’” Bayless added.
Bayless admitted he, too, engaged with Twitter but found a way to make it work for the show. “I would get up in the mornings and read the overnight responses just to see what was hot,” he said. “They would lean on me to program the debates and pick the hottest topics, and it was revealing to me.”
While Twitter could be a useful tool for gauging audience interests, Bayless warned about the potential pitfalls.
“There’s always that one comment,” he said, laughing. “‘Your hair looked awful yesterday. Do you have plans to get it cut anytime soon?’ It can be brutal, and for the rest of the day, you’re thinking about your hair.”
Smith, Bayless noted, was particularly susceptible to this kind of one-off criticism, which occasionally disrupted his focus during the show.
Bayless said he felt blessed to be able to work alongside both Smith and Shannon Sharpe during his tenure on ESPN and FS1 respectively. Despite skepticism from industry insiders, Bayless said First Take defied expectations in the ratings.
“We were told by a lot of people in the hallways in those days that this would be career suicide for everyone involved,” Bayless said. “The rest is ratings history.” The show’s success, particularly with NFL coverage, surprised even the team itself. “Nobody turned it off,” Bayless recalled, highlighting how the program captured audiences across time slots.
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