FanHouse SkipBayless

Jamal Anderson went from seventh-round afterthought to 1,800-yard rusher during the Falcons' 1998 Super Bowl run. He would play three more injury-plagued seasons before leaving the game to carve out a post-NFL career niche as a television analyst, most recently with ESPN's Cold Pizza 2.0.

The accusation that Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison shot a man outside his North Philadelphia bar is extremely disturbing, and if it's true, Harrison deserves to suffer serious consequences.

But there's one thing that Harrison has been criticized for that is completely unfair: Opening that bar, as well as an auto garage, in that North Philly neighborhood.

Yesterday on ESPN, Skip Bayless and Sal Paolantonio both criticized Harrison for going back to his old neighborhood, referring to it as unsafe and dangerous and saying that Harrison deserves scrutiny simply for being there at all. They couldn't be more wrong for that.

Apparently, the ESPN yukkety yuks in charge of this year's Masters programming were right to leave Chris Berman at home (preparing for the NFL Draft, no doubt). The Network has been internationally televising the tournament since 1993, but this was the first year it covered it domestically. In addition to the first two rounds, ESPN also carried the Par-3 Contest, the first time the event was ever put on the teevees.

And it went better than anybody could've imagined:

The broadcast of the second round Friday was the most-viewed golf telecast on cable, producing a 3.1 rating. It's the first time either of the first two rounds of the Masters has drawn a 3.0 rating. Coverage of Thursday's first round produced a 2.2 rating. ...

"We are very excited about both the broadcast and new media results from our initial domestic association with ESPN," Masters chairman Billy Payne said. "This expanded reach, along with our other initiatives, significantly helps us with our goal of growing the game of golf."

The next logical question is how can ESPN expand their coverage going forward. Which, for fans who don't respond particularly well to the Skip Bayless-ing of the sports news landscape, raises all sorts of concerns.

Luckily, Augusta National, unlike professional sports leagues, doesn't care about money. There's a reason we get to watch The Masters with "limited commercial interruptions." It's because the green-jacketed mafia feels the commercialization of their little event somehow sullies its good name.

Of course, the net worth of Augusta's members is well into the billions of dollars (Bill Gates is in the club), so it's not like they're looking to make a quick buck . Whatever, thank God for really rich old white dudes.

Yesterday Tiger Woods won his 64th career PGA Tour event and his third victory of the 2008 season. Unlike the beatdown he administered at Torrey Pines earlier this year, the Arnold Palmer Invitational came down to the final stroke of the tournament.

Woods had been shorting putts all day and hadn't made a putt of more than 20 feet all week. Which is why it makes perfect sense in Tiger World that he would drain a 21-footer on his final putt of the tournament to beat 45-year-old journeyman Bart Bryant by one stroke.

The notion of any golfer, even Woods, going undefeated in 20-something starts is insane. Except that I don't think anybody -- even Skippy Bayless -- would be all that shocked if it happens.
Sorry, No Photos

ESPN's Skip Bayless has carved out a niche for himself as the last man standing who doesn't think that Tiger Woods is God, but after Tiger's incredible performance yesterday, Bayless might finally be caving:

This morning on ESPN2, Bayless reiterated his oft-stated argument that Woods is "the greatest front-runner ever," although he said that he means that in a positive way. (I've heard Bayless make this claim several times and never thought it was intended as a compliment.)

And then Bayless said, "To put this in perspective, after he won the recent match play, I gave him a 5 on a scale of 10 because he averaged beating only a 6 seed in that tournament. But yesterday's performance? Wow! I give it a 9 on a scale of 10 and I would have given it a 10 if it had been a major championship ... Tiger Woods, to me, has officially become the greatest putter in the history of golf."

I think Tiger is going to break Sam Snead's record for career victories and Jack Nicklaus's record for major championships. But neither of those are as difficult as what he's now accomplished: Winning the approval of Skip Bayless.

Mark Madden is to Pittsburgh sports radio what the Black Plague was to Europe in the late 1340s. But not as funny. The former WCW color commentator has made his living the last decade or so belching inanities on Pittsburgh radio's ESPN 1250. His shtick is a tired and predictable one, popularized by Skip Bayless: be contrarian -- even when faced with irrefutable facts -- and DO IT AS LOUDLY AS POSSIBLE.

The objective, obviously, is to get ratings, and that's exactly what Madden has done. Even at the expense of his integrity. Apparently fame, however regional, comes cheap these days. Which explains his long history of picking fights with local athletes.

It's worked with limited success. Madden was fired from WTAE-TV's Action Sports Sunday for his colorful remarks about several Steelers players, and more recently, he was very close to losing his radio gig for his controversial on-air behavior. Interestingly, when faced with the possibility of getting canned, the tough-guy radio persona gave way to the dutiful employee more willing to acquiesce than the French in World War II.

Madden has also feuded with Hines Ward, Jerome Bettis and Franco Harris, further bringing into question his credibility.

Notes on a trip to the Super Bowl.

At ESPN's Super Bowl headquarters in Scottsdale, I told Skip Bayless of ESPN First Take that I thought it must be hard to always be the guy who has to come up with the contrary argument on every issue. But Bayless looked surprised that I was suggesting that he tries to be argumentative.

"I'm not looking for contrarian arguments," Bayless said. "I'm just saying what I think. I try to be the conscience of our show. Everybody tends to overreact to the news of the night. I try to sit back and see the bigger picture truth. You can ask anyone I work with, I'm going to say what I feel."

Bayless has been a frequent subject of criticism among bloggers, but when I asked him what he thinks of blogs, he said he doesn't read them. "I'm afraid I don't have any perspective on that," he said.

In fact, Bayless said he has a general policy of not reading anything anyone writes about him.

"If I read everything people write about me, I would go crazy," he said. "If I'm not already."

The structure of First Take is such that Bayless spends his mornings debating a revolving roster of opponents, from Jemele Hill to Jalen Rose to the 2 Live Stews. But Bayless says his toughest adversary is former NBA player Greg Anthony, whom he described as "well-versed in a wide range of sports," "confident on the air," and "astonishingly stubborn."

Sounds like a good description of Bayless himself.

I can't think of a better way to bring some much needed seriousness to the discussion of race and sports than to stick Skip Bayless in front of a camera. Amazingly, the Detroit News' Rob Parker out-Baylesses Bayless, calling Tiger Woods "one of the most sorry athletes in this country," presumably because Eldrick said Kelly Tilghman's now-famous "lynching" comments were a non-issue.

Bizarro Skip then has to defend common sense and reasoning, which must produce all kinds of cognitive dissonance. Anyway, here's the visual proof:



Oh, yeah, Golfweek probably should've rethought the idea that putting a noose on the cover was good marketing. Oddly, the public mistook "cutting edge" for "extraordinarily offensive." Didn't see that coming.