Skip Bayless and Jalen Rose had one of the most famous incidents on 'First Take' over a decade ago when the NBA veteran jabbed at the sports debate host for averaging 1.4 points per game during his senior year of high school.
That awkward encounter led to Rose getting banned from becoming a guest on the ESPN debate show, according to former 'First Take' host Jay Crawford who spoke on the "Awful Announcing Podcast" on Oct. 25.
The 2012 'First Take' incident happened after Bayless poked at Rose for not winning any titles in the NBA. Rose responded by mentioning Bayless' high school points average and calling him "Water Pistol Pete Jr.," implying that he was a lesser version of his NBA idol, "Pistol" Pete Maravich.
"I remember Jalen Rose had a problem with Skip and ultimately Skip with Jalen over the Pistol Pete Water Pistol Pete comment," Crawford said.
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Crawford said the incident caused clear discomfort at ESPN, and even said that producer Jamie Horowitz allowed Bayless to start the next day's show with a monologue explaining why his high school scoring average was only 1.4 points.
While Crawford thought this wasn't appropriate, the producers told him that Bayless may have not done the show if he weren't given the airtime to defend himself.
I said immediately, 'We're not doing this. Like there's no way we're going to do this.' And I was told, 'Oh, no, we're doing this. This is so important to Skip. We don't know if he's going to do the show today if we don't do this,'" Crawford said.
Crawford said that it was after that where Jalen became a "banned guest" from 'First Take,' though he's not sure whether that was due to Bayless' commands.
"At that time, Skip had that kind of power on 'First Take.' Because again, the show was taken to heights we had never reached and Skip was the guy that took us there no question about it. I don't know that Skip ever gave that edict and that was just what producers on the show were telling me: Jalen's been on the show for the last time," Crawford said.
Bayless has faced a lot of criticism lately, with reports saying that many sports media personalities have not wanted to work with him. However, Crawford was complementary of Bayless and spoke highly about his off-camera personality.
"Skip is one of the most likable guys in real life that you would ever want to meet. He's soft spoken, he's thoughtful, he's considerate, he cares about his coworkers and friends," Crawford said. "In general, I think that Skip is well liked by his coworkers. That was my experience with them. I never had an ill word with Skip during our nine years plus together ... Now, I was getting a little tired of the Tim Tebow show. And that was you know, all product of skip and ultimately that's why I said I had to get out. But I never resented Skip for that. It never affected our personal relationship. And again, the Skip Bayless you see on TV is completely different from Skip Bayless in real life. Quiet, kind, thoughtful, considerate. A good guy, a really good guy."
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