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Here we go. This is the Skip Bayless Show, episode 79. This, as always, is the un-Undisputed. Everything I cannot share with you during Undisputed, and I hope you are enjoying, maybe even loving, the new Undisputed as much as I am. Today, I will take exception to something that my brother Stephen A. Smith said about me. And today...
I will tell you about the original architect of the Dallas Cowboys who recently passed away. His name was Gil Brandt, and he was simply the most intriguing, captivating character I have ever known in all my history of covering sports. And today, I will answer several of your questions, including why Deion Sanders will never, ever be the head coach ever.
of my Dallas Cowboys. But first up, as always, it is not to be skipped. I'm going to preface everything I'm about to say with the fact that I cannot impress upon you how much I love Stephen A. Smith. He is my brother. He will always be my brother. It's almost hard to explain the bond
that was created between the two of us because we worked together so long in so many places in so many ways. We went to battle with and against each other so many times. We were under fire so many times that the bond got deeper and deeper and deeper. I experienced the greatest moments many of in my career face-to-face with Stephen A. Could I see us reuniting one day? Sure I could.
But when he revises history about early first take, I'm going to respond. When he says that I told the truth about something, but not the whole truth about that something, then I am going to tell the utterly complete truth about that something as I'm about to do right now. So on the debut show of the new Undisputed week ago Monday,
Richard Sherman and I, Richard being my new teammate, we gave the backstory. We gave the behind-the-scenes background of what really happened during our epic clash that took place on March the 7th of 2013. March the 7th of 2013. Very briefly,
First Take was doing a half-hour show in the afternoon on top of the two-hour show in the morning. We were auditioning for a new potential slot in the afternoon on regular ESPN as opposed to the morning show, which was on ESPN2. We were one day away from finishing that six-weekish run in the afternoon on regular ESPN. The show floated 2:33, 3:30. Again, just a half hour.
And on this fateful day, Richard Sherman was to be our guest. Richard was slightly late, though, getting mic'd up for the show. He did have his earpiece in, but his mic wasn't quite set. And we came on live, and my producer said in my ear, you got to vamp. Just give him a few seconds, maybe a minute. I start vamping about how
Richard Sherman says he's already better than Darrell Rivas. I don't see it, not yet. I said something to that effect. And Richard could hear it, but wasn't seated and ready to respond. So we asked Richard when he did get seated some football question. Of course, he just went off on me. He came after me. As he told me on the debut episode of Undisputed, he told me off camera also,
I just pissed him off. And you piss off Richard Sherman, you're gonna get it right between the eyes. That's how I would have operated in his shoes, and that's what I got, so to speak, both barrels, right between the eyes. The background to this was that first take at that point was on probation. And so all of a sudden, as we're auditioning for an afternoon spot that Stephen A. badly wanted, and I don't blame him for that,
I knew in the back of my mind, oh my God, we could be in trouble here. An incident is arising in which I'm going to try to for once in my career defuse. I'm not going to fight fire with my usual fire because I'm going to try to avoid and save, avoid and save.
I tried so hard not to engage with Richard Sherman, which obviously is not the usual me. So we talked this through. We were able to chuckle about it on our debut episode of Undisputed. And then Stephen A subsequently, I'm pretty sure it was on his podcast, made the case that I was a big reason that we were on probation. He also took some blame on himself
because he had been suspended, he said, over some remarks he'd made about the Ray Rice situation. Well, it's true he was suspended, but just for the record, that happened a year and a half after Richard Sherman happened. So that suspension had nothing to do with us being on probation at this point, March the 7th, 2013. I'll get to the why of it in just a moment.
But Stephen A. is saying that the bosses at ESPN did not like my Tim Tebow coverage, and that was a reason, if not a big reason, that we were on probation in March of 2013. By the way, my Tim Tebow coverage happened two football seasons back, two back, in 2011. And again, Richard Schoen happened March the 7th of 2013.
So I'm going to quote Stephen A. Again, I think it's from his podcast. He says, "That's the part that Skip left out. I wasn't the only reason that probationary period per se, for that probationary period per se, it existed because the network wanted to make sure that our show wasn't one that just generated ratings, but one that didn't cause them embarrassment and shame."
Stephen A goes on to say, "The public had accused Skip Bayless of being a caricature of himself. And even though Skip was very proud of his Tim Tebow coverage, the bosses weren't necessarily enamored with it." And Stephen A goes on to say, "Now, I didn't want to talk about Tebow every day." Stephen A joined me full-time late in that football season of 2011.
So he says, now, I didn't want to talk about Tebow every day, but to be fair to Skip, it did elevate the popularity of the show to some degree. What? To some degree? In the end, says Stephen A., the bosses weren't too happy with it, and that's where the probational period came from, too. So I thought Skip left that out, so I wanted to make sure I highlighted that.
Stephen A., I love you, man, with all my heart and soul, but that is just so wrong. To all of the above, I say baloney. Baloney. Now let's deal with the facts. I was first taken by Tim Tebow the night he literally ran over my Oklahoma Sooners. I grew up loving them in Oklahoma City, but he ran them over in the second half of the national championship game down in Miami.
And by the way, quick plug for Netflix. There's a new documentary out that I have watched with my wife, Ernestine, called "Swamp Kings," about Urban Meyer, now with Fox Sports, and Tim Tebow when they were together at Florida. The Gator years of Urban and Tim, it is enthralling. I'll tell you why it was so captivating. My wife, Ernestine,
After the first episode, I said, "We don't have to watch any more of this. Let's watch whatever she had in mind." She said, "No, I'm into it." "You are?" "She's not the biggest sports fan." "No, I'm into it. I'd just as soon keep watching episode two." So on we went. It's four episodes. It's worth your time. But my point is, it wasn't until after that national championship game
that I saw the video of Tim Tebow's halftime speech. And that's when I sat back and said, "Aha! That's what happened to my Sooners. He happened. That force of nature that was Tim Tebow."
You've seen the video, I think, the speech. It's not the one after Ole Miss. It's the one at halftime of the national championship game when he pushes through the ring of players. He pushes all the way through and gets into the middle and just loses his mind. We're going to take the ball. It scared me, and it raised goosebumps all over my arms because it was 7-all at halftime, and suddenly –
It was 24 to 14 Florida. So we got outscored 17 to 7 in the second half, and it was a lot about Tebow, and it was a lot about Percy Harvin. But in the end, it was about Tebow throwing a jump pass to David Nelson for the winning, what became the winning touchdown. Tebow threw for 231 that night. He ran for 109 that night. He just ran it down our throats. Emotion can win football games, and this guy,
He didn't go to the U, but he was a hurricane. He was a one-man hurricane in Florida at Miami. So before the draft in 2010, I planted my flag. I called my shot. I said, hey. By the way, I'd watched Tim Tebow in his final college game in the Orange Bowl throw for 482 yards to Aaron Hernandez and Riley Cooper, but 482 is 482, and I thought,
Okay, so I said on first take, plant and flag. Hey, I am going to take Tim Tebow. If I have a pick late in the first round, I'm taking him. He's never going to make a Pro Bowl, but I'm going to let him run his college offense, Urban's offense, and he will win games in the NFL. And voila, guess what happened? Josh McDaniels took Tim Tebow with the 25th overall pick.
in that 2010 draft. And if Josh McDaniels had not gotten fired halfway through Tebow's rookie year, Tebow's NFL career might have been a whole different story. I mean, for all I know, he might still be playing in the NFL because Josh, who's no dummy, loved Tim Tebow even more than I did at that point.
But he did get fired. Tim did get into three games at the end of his rookie year, and he lit it up. He threw for 308 yards against the Houston Texans with a big comeback win at home, just for the record. So it was in early 2011 football season that a man named Jamie Horowitz took over first take. Stephen A. knows him. I'm pretty sure Stephen A. loves him.
Jamie Horowitz took one quick look at the ratings, saw the spikes four times a show created by the debate segments, and he blew up and blew out what was left of Cold Pizza, the first show I was on, New York. It had been moved up to Bristol, Connecticut, to the mothership of ESPN and rebranded as First Take.
Jamie blew it up and said, let's go wall to wall, two hours. That show on, obviously, 10 Eastern to noon. Let's go two hours of all debate. And a lot of people at ESPN thought it was a career ender for Jamie Horowitz. In Denver, there was a new regime. John Fox coached John Elway as the GM.
They did not love Tim Tebow, whom they inherited. So they went with Kyle Orton to start that football season, as you might recall, and they went one and four. There was a lot of public pressure to at least give Tebow a chance, and they said, okay, let's throw him into the fire and watch him burn up. This was at Miami. Tim Tebow won that first start in overtime. All of a sudden, Jamie Horowitz is telling me and us that,
"We cannot do enough Tim Tebow." Jamie Horowitz pushed harder and harder to do as many Tebow topics as we could within the two-hour timeframe of Undisputed. Nobody but me and Jamie believed in Tebow, so it was easy to have a parade of ESPN analysts come through First Take to tell me topic after topic how crazy I was. And I stood my ground, as I always do.
and I fought back, as I always do. Caricature? I don't know. Come on, Stephen A. Did you read three people on Twitter called me a character? A caricature? I don't know, because there was no schtick involved in all those shows we did on Tim Tebow. Not once did I paint my face orange. Not once did I ever wear a Tim Tebow jersey on air. I never rode into the studio on a literal bronco as in a horse.
There were no props involved whatsoever. I was just me, extremely emotional, extremely passionate, fighting back, defending myself, topic after topic. What we were doing was revolutionary. Nobody at ESPN had ever seen anything quite like this because Jamie's saying debate works for two full hours, and Jamie is saying wake up,
The numbers show you that the audience turns over every 15 to 20 minutes. So Jamie's saying repeat topics because it's a new audience and it's a new audience and it's a new audience through your two-hour show. What was the hottest story in all of pro football times 10? It was Tim Tebow, what he was starting to do, making miracles with the Denver Broncos.
Stephen A. says the ratings improved to some degree. Are you kidding me? They went through the roof day after day after day through the roof. We started doing numbers the likes of which no studio show will ever again do on ESPN2. Remember, we weren't on the regular ESPN, on ESPN2. And we basically rode the coattails of Tim Tebow and his miracles that he continued to make late in games because...
My favorite quarterback stat is QBR. And all I know is that in all those games Tim started that year for the Denver Broncos, he led the NFL in QBR in the last five minutes of games. As Eric Mangini said on first take in those days,
It's funny how he gets more and more accurate late in games, close games. He did. He got deadly accurate when it mattered. We did a number after the miracle Tebow worked against the Bears. I don't know how he did it. Game should have ended, but he pulled it out. We did a number that I dare say will never again be touched on ESPN2 by a studio show.
And the showrunner, Jamie Horowitz, is saying more, more, more Tebow. I'm just going along for the ride. I'm doing what I do. We're going to do another one? Okay, tee it up. Let's go. I wasn't pushing for it. Jamie was pushing for it. He took a dead-in-the-water 1-4 team, did Tim Tebow, to a division title. And you'll remember the home playoff win over Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers with an overtime loss.
touchdown pass to Demarius Thomas? You know the story. I couldn't make this stuff up. It is still the single most amazing run to me in NFL history. I was nominated for an Emmy off that run. A music video was commissioned by Jamie Horowitz and created by the great DJ Steve Porter that won the National Webby Award. You might remember it.
All he does is win. All he does is win. All he does is win, win. I just went along for that ride, but it was a great ride. So Stephen A acts like I was delusionally proud of my Tebow cover, like I should be ashamed of it? No, no. I staked it out, planted flag, stood my ground. Tebow backed me up. But yes, Stephen A is correct about one thing.
The bosses at ESPN were initially uncomfortable with everything first take, with everything. I'm talking about the two bosses at the time, John Skipper and his right-hand man, John Wild Hack, both big fans of Stephen A. These are older white men who wanted, or at least envisioned, more conservative, what I call, pipe-smoking conversation on television.
Again, what we were doing was revolutionary because I'm not for everyone. I can be all too real and all too raw and all too explosive on television. But I'm smart and a lot of times I see things coming before they come. I call a lot of shots. I hang in. I back it up. And I'm often proven right. That might be my gift on television if I have one.
John Skipper was just sort of shocked by what he saw on television. He pulled me aside one day. He said, man, you get so worked up. He says, I can see the veins popping in your neck, the veins popping in your neck, he told me. And I'm saying, John, it's real. It's not an act. It's as authentic as you can get. Yeah, but you got to tone it down just a little bit.
I DON'T KNOW. IT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING ON COLD PIZZA IN NEW YORK CITY. IT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING IN THE SHADOWS ON FIRST TAKE, 2007, 2008. THESE ARE ALL AT THE MOTHERSHIP IN BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT. SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN. I'VE BEEN THERE FOR FOUR YEARS, RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSES, BUT NOBODY HAD NOTICED BECAUSE
we had four little segments within the confines of the bigger cold pizza, which had been rebranded First Take. So all of a sudden, we were getting noticed because we were skyrocketing in the ratings. But slowly but surely, John Skipper and I think John Wildhack came around, thanks to their number three, Norby Williamson. Still a good friend of mine, big proponent and fan of Stephen A's, but Norby was the one
who slowly but surely persuaded them, convinced them to open their eyes and see what was happening, that at first take had become a pretty great watch and that there was no schtick involved. There were no stunts involved. There was nothing fake or phony or fraudulent about it. I had called my shot and I was backing it up. And I thank publicly Norby for that. Now, fast forward, if you would.
through an entire another football season and into the off season of 2013, our afternoon show audition while on probation. Now we're coming up to the Richard Sherman episode. The biggest reason we were on probation, actually the reason we were on probation was something that Rob Parker said about Robert Griffin on first take. This was in December of
of 2012. So in December of 2012, Rob, as a contributor who occasionally came in to sit with us on First Take, made some remarks that unfortunately got him fired. He was let go. And I hated it. I was in the middle of it. I didn't know what to do about it. But maybe because of the old uncomfortability with First Take, I don't know.
But the point was that the Stephen A. episode with Ray Rice, what he said and got suspended for it, didn't happen until another year and a half later. So Stephen A. took some blame that he didn't need to take. It was the Rob Parker remark. You might remember it's about cornball brother Robert Griffin. That got us into the trouble at that point. Jamie Horowitz, still the showrunner,
called a staff meeting for a couple of hours after one of those shows in December, and he flat-out told us that John Skipper, the head of ESPN, wanted to pull the plug on first take, stop it cold, end it, after Rob Parker, but that the advertising people had finally talked him out of it. But it still left us on probation and on the thinnest ice
as we did get our shot with those half-hour shows, six-ish week run afternoons on regular ESPN. So that's why we were on probation, not because of Tebow coverage, my Tebow coverage of a whole year and a half earlier. No. And by the way, let me get that logic straight if I could. So Stephen A. is suggesting we're on probation because...
I called my shot, I defended myself, I got nominated for an Emmy, and I helped create the biggest ratings in first take history on ESPN2. We're on probation for that? Seriously? Stop. Now fast forward to late 2015 when Jamie Horowitz was at FS1 out here in Los Angeles and was trying to hire me as my contract was running out.
The day before Thanksgiving, a Wednesday of course, I got home from Bristol to New York City where my wife Ernestine was in our apartment there. And I walk in and she says, "Why did you do this? Do what?" She said, "Look what I have." And I'm looking around and there's flowers everywhere. There were six dozen roses. Six dozen roses?
I said, "I didn't do this. I don't send flowers for Thanksgiving. Birthday, yes. Christmas, yes. Anniversary, yes. But not for Thanksgiving." Six dozen roses, so we scrounged around and we finally found the card, and it was from the president of ESPN, John Skipper. And the card very cleverly said, "One for every month I was not smart. One for every month I was not smart," meaning
He had known for six months that my contract was coming due, and he had dragged his feet to make me the kind of offer that would keep me at ESPN. So here we went. John had me to his home in Wilton, Connecticut. We sat and talked, and he made me a terrific offer at that moment.
He offered to pay me exactly what Stephen A. was making at that moment, down to the penny, exactly. And within two days after that, Jamie Horowitz, out here at FS1, had offered me a whole lot more. I left ESPN in part because of the money and in part because I owe Jamie Horowitz for changing my life and changing my career by rebuilding First Take around me
and going all debate for two hours. You want to talk about risking? That was a plunge. And here I am. Stephen A. Smith, I love you, man. I really do with all my heart and soul. But that is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help me God.
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and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash Bayless. Just go to Indeed.com slash Bayless right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash Bayless. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. Let's get to your questions. This is Brian from St. Louis who asks,
Is Deion destined to be the Cowboys head coach? That is a good question. I got a good answer. Big N-O. Jerry Jones is the star of the Dallas Cowboys. Deion Sanders is his own man. Of all the humans I've ever known, he is as much his own man as anyone I've ever encountered in the world of sports, or for that matter, out of the world of sports.
Deion Sanders is nobody's puppet. He is not manageable by the owner/GM. He is not coachable. As Jerry was taught by the late, great Al Davis in 1989, 1990, "Jerry, you have to learn to coach the coach." Well, Al was a coach in the old AFL. He coached his coaches, and Jerry tried to coach Jimmy, as in Johnson, and you know how that story ended.
Deion, as a Dallas Cowboy, was never a quote-unquote son to Jerry Jones the way, say, Michael Irvin was or fast-forward to Ezekiel Elliott. Sons, treated like sons, not Deion. Would he work as the Cowboy coach in a vacuum? Oh, he would be sensational. I'm talking super bold, plural sensational.
I believe with all my heart and soul in Deion Sanders' ability to do anything in life, but especially to coach. College football, pro football, if he puts his mind to it, he will beat you. I used to say about Tom Brady, that's one man I don't bet against. Deion Sanders is another man I don't bet against. There is no way Jerry Jones would ever cede control and cede the spotlight to
to Neon Deion Sanders. Primetime, Coach Prime, no way. Jerry is the star in Dallas and will always be to the detriment of his puppet coaches.
For
$45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. This is Vin from New York who asks, is what Travis Hunter is doing as a two-way player harder than what Shoei Ohtani does, obviously, as a hitter and a pitcher? Hmm.
That is a great question. In fact, it's so great that I envisioned doing it on live TV in the barbershop that can be undisputed with Keyshawn, with Michael Irvin, with Richard Sherman. Fascinated by it. But I believe I have a good answer and the right answer. Skill-wise, it's a little harder for Otani to do what he does because to me,
As cliche as it sounds, hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports. It's why if you can hit it, as in get a hit, one out of three times, you'll be in the Hall of Fame. That's how hard it is to hit a baseball. Pitching a baseball at the highest level ain't easy either. You want to talk about skill level, to be able to throw it 100 miles an hour, or to take something off it and make it spin and curve fast.
duck and dart at 80 or 85 miles an hour while still, as they say, painting the black with pinpoint control. It's just hard, man. It is rare, rare skill level talent, skill level hand-eye. It's just so rare. I take nothing away from what Travis Hunter is doing because it is extraordinary, but still,
You have to go back to Babe Ruth to find somebody in the sport of baseball who could hit and pitch. Obviously, Babe Ruth pitched in Boston as a Brave, but then when he went to the Yankees, that was pretty much the end of that because they said, as good as you are at throwing the baseball, you could be the greatest hitter ever. And at that point, he became the greatest hitter ever. So what Travis Hunter is doing is actually...
extreme mirror image ability, but the abilities are sort of the same in reverse. You're running routes as a receiver. You have extraordinary speed and quickness and gymnastic ability to track the ball and get to the ball in the air.
You have extraordinary hands to catch the ball. And then you flip it around and you go mirror image. You can mirror the receiver's routes. You can anticipate. And you can beat the receiver to the football as Travis Hunter did in the flat as it looked like TCU was about to score another touchdown the other day when he snatched the interception. On sheer stamina, obviously,
What Travis Hunter did Saturday, what he's going to do through this whole football season, I assume, is off the charts. I've never seen anything like it in all my years of covering the sport of football. I don't go back to when they didn't have face masks and everybody was a two-way player. But 144 snaps in 100-degree heat in Fort Worth, Texas, it's impossibly great just on the stamina level.
just on the physical toughness level, to hit and get hit that many times in the heat. Never seen anything quite like that. But when we get to just the sheer talent level or skill level, I still have to give Otani just a slight edge. Again, you don't pitch, but every five days. Now he's hurt, obviously, but it's not nearly as grueling
to hit four or five times a night and then pitch every fifth day as it is to play 144 snaps in a college football game. I'm with Keyshawn on this. Travis Hunter has a real good shot at being the first overall pick in the draft just because he can do so much for a football team. He can change the way teams play, as Deion did as a cornerback. Deion dabbled at receiver. I know when I was there,
Deion came in '95 to the Cowboys from San Francisco, where he'd help push them over the top, obviously, to win a Super Bowl off the '94 season. In '95, the Cowboys won the Super Bowl, in large part because they had Deion and nobody else did, including San Francisco. But Deion just part-timed at receiver, and he was so gifted, he was so fast. Deion was a little faster than Travis Hunter. Deion was more 4'2", 40. This kid's 4'4"-ish.
But this kid, when the ball is in the air, it is his on offense or defense. That's what I love the most about him. But on just rare finesse skill level, combining 100 miles an hour with curveballs and changeups and to be able to hit a baseball as far and as hard and as consistently as Otani does, I'm going to give him slight edge. Quick aside before I get back to your question.
questions. Speaking of the Dallas Cowboys, a man I knew very well, Gil Brandt, passed away last week, age 91. One thing about Gil's life didn't surprise me. Of the holy trinity of the early Cowboys, Gil Brandt as the draftmaster, Tech Schramm as the president and general manager, and Tom Landry as God's coach, as I called him. That holy trinity,
Would you believe Gil Brandt lived 23 years longer than Tom Landry and 20 years longer than Tech Schramm because Gil Brandt was the ultimate survivor. He did die at 91, but in my career, I have never run across any character as fascinating as Gil Brandt. Just think with me for a moment.
He did not play high school football, didn't even play high school, let alone college or pro football. No high school football. I tracked that down for my first book on the Cowboys called God's Coach, 1989. Gil Brandt was a baby photographer by trade in Los Angeles when he began running errands for Tech Schramm, who was then running the L.A. Rams after moving up from
the head of public relations Tex had taken over as the GM of the Rams. He hired Gill as a gopher, then started letting him do a little bit of part-time scouting, liked his energy, liked his style, took him to Dallas to run the expansion Dallas Cowboys in 1960, who were pathetic, woeful, embarrassing, unwatchable. They didn't have big budget. They were nobodies.
but Tex did hire Tom, and Tex did bring along Gil. One thing led to another, and Gil started doing something nobody did at that point in the '60s. Nobody did it in the NFL. He started actually scouting college football players.
The rest of the NFL drafted out of what was called Street and Smith magazine. They just read about these kids and say, "Well, he sounds pretty good. I'll take him in the first round." Gill started beating the Bushes. Gill started hiring scouts all over the country. Gill started to get to know at every college, including those off-radar, the secretaries and the equipment managers and the assistant trainers
who could tell him the background of who could play and who could not play. Gil Brandt, because he knew what nobody else knew, because he had the right information gained through hours and hours of leg work and elbow grease work, he just put the time in. One of Gil's scouts once told me, Gil wouldn't know a football player if he bit him in the ass. That's what he told me.
Yet Gil was considered the draft master of the early Cowboys dynasty. And he was. Go back and look at his first round picks. One after another after another. Even taking Roger Staubach with a late round, I think it was a 12th round pick as a future pick. Roger Staubach simply became the greatest quarterback in the history of the Dallas Cowboys. All of a sudden, Gil Brandt was it. He was the man in the NFL.
As the Cowboys began to go to Super Bowls, they obviously won two out of five with Gill running the show. Gill helped make Tom Landry. Gill started to take over college football and college basketball because he got to know every coach in both sports. When school presidents began to look to hire coaches,
They went through Gill to find out about this guy and that guy. Gill became the clearinghouse for all coaches in college football and college basketball. This is a guy who came out to know a baby photographer. Right place, right time. America's team. Dallas Cowboys. Oh, Gill Brandt. He's legendary. And then the 80s happened. And Gill began to try to live up to being Gill Brandt. He reached farther and farther away.
for those diamonds in the rough in the first round, and he began to swing and miss. And on the football field, Tom Landry began to swing and miss a whole lot. Tom Landry fell all the way, as you recall, to 3-13, in large part because he just didn't have the players, in large part because Gil Brandt was no longer Gil Brandt, in large part because Gil got exposed. I had my battles occasionally with Gil.
But I also played a whole lot of golf with him. I really liked the guy. I was always in awe of what he made of himself coming from literally nowhere to everywhere. RIP Gil and RIP Tex and RIP Coach Landry. Next question is from Sky from North Carolina. Are you betting Diet Mountain Dew with anyone on the new Undisputed team? Hmm.
Very intriguing question that I don't have a great answer to yet, but my gut feeling is no. I do still drink one bottle, just one bottle per morning of Diet Mountain Dew, the breakfast champions, the nectar of the gods. I need my shot of caffeine just before the show starts, but I'm pretty sure I won't be betting dew anymore. I'm pretty sure that was a Shannon thing.
Shannon did start that on our first day together on the air, September 6th of 2016. Out of the blue because he had seen me drinking Diet Dew. He said, I'll bet you a Diet Mountain Dew, that blah, blah, blah. And I said, bet me a case. So we start betting cases. By my birthday, that first football season we were together, December 4th,
Shannon had to wheel out a whole giant cart of Diet Mountain Dew. Not that he paid for it out of his pocket. I'm pretty sure that was a company expense. But a whole cart full of Diet Dew because he was so far in the hole to me. I think that football season, he wound up minus 20 cases to me. And over the next... We almost made it seven years. So over the next six football seasons...
maybe it's five, yeah, six seasons together. So the next five seasons, including obviously the NBA, he wound up a minus 30 cases to me. So over our time together, Shannon Sharp was a minus 50 cases of Diet Mountain Dew. Just for the record, that's hard to do. But I think that's a thing of the past. So I will let that RIP. Thank you for that, Shannon.
This is Irving from Minneapolis. What is your official can't-change-it Super Bowl matchup and pick this season? Irving, I'm going to save that for Undisputed on Friday. I will tell you, though, I will give you a big hint. In the AFC, I am very intrigued by the Baltimore Ravens with Lamar, happy and paid.
I'm very intrigued by the weapons he now has. You know, Odell and Zay Flowers, Rashad Bateman coming back from injury, and Aguilar they signed on top of the ultimate security blanket for Lamar, his MVP season security blanket, Mark Andrews out of the University of Oklahoma. I'm very intrigued by the Ravens. Happy together. That offense is going to be difficult to stop.
Todd Monken, the Georgia coordinator, now running it. I only hear and see and feel good vibes coming out of that locker room. We have Josina Anderson on the show each week, and she told me on the air last week that that locker room, the vibe in it is reminding her of the Eagles locker room and vibe of a year ago. And I do not doubt that. I embrace that.
I just might run with that all the way to picking the Ravens, but I'll wait until Undisputed. On the other side, I've said all along, I see my Dallas Cowboys making it to the NFC Championship game at San Francisco and once again having their season ended by the 49ers for a third straight year. But I must tell you, the more I talk about the Cowboys on Undisputed,
The harder I look at the Dallas Cowboys on paper, the more I like them, maybe even love them. They're going to have the best defense in the National Football League. Stephon Gilmore was the missing piece to the corner, the puzzle at corner. On offense, Brandon Cooks, finally some deep speed to take some heat off CeeDee Lamb, who will emerge as a top 10 receiver.
maybe even top five. And I'll say it again, Deuce Vaughn will be a difference maker, a fire starter, a catalyst as a little tiny rookie out of Kansas State for Dak's offense. Do I love Dak? No, but I still like him. Do I love Mike McCarthy calling plays? No, but I'm intrigued enough, and he's done it before, and he did it all the way through a Super Bowl run for Aaron Rodgers.
given the fact it was Aaron Rodgers at his greatest, peak Aaron Rodgers, and it was 13 years ago. But I'm starting to second guess my early prediction of just NFC Championship game. You know, the harder I think about it, I'm going to save it for Undisputed, which brings me to our final question from Jones from Dallas. Jones from Dallas, who asks,
When are you going to pick my tweet for #UndisputedLive? It's a new feature we're running a couple times a show every day. You can chime in, pro or con, #UndisputedLive. Twice a show, I read three, four tweets. We see the memes. It's fun, it's funny, and I'm loving it. But wait a second, this is from Jones from Dallas?
Wait, is it possible this is from Jerry Jones from Dallas, Texas? Jerry, come on now. You have two radio shows a week in Dallas. You're the only owner, the only owner who actually conducts a press conference right after every game in either the hallway or in the locker room. You're the only owner who does that every single game. You are the most famous slash infamous person
owner in the history of sports, beyond George Steinbrenner. You are, Jerry Jones, more famous than any one of your players, and it's not even close. And you want me to pick your tweet on Undisputed? Come on, Jerry. Don't you get enough attention? Then again, Jerry, if you guys do go win this year's Super Bowl, I will pick your tweets twice a day, every day, on Undisputed.
Cross my heart and hope to die. That is it for Episode 79 of The Skip Bayless Show. Thanks to you for watching and/or listening. Thanks to Jonathan Berger and his All Pro team for making this show go. Thanks to Tyler Corn for producing. And please remember, undisputed every weekday, 9:30 to noon Eastern, The Skip Bayless Show, every week.