# Why are Skip Bayless, etc. not liked? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 19, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-skip-bayless-etc-not-liked/842019 "2019-10-19T23:42:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-skip-bayless-etc-not-liked/842019/21 "2019-10-22T13:30:26Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > It just dawned on me that what these guys are doing fits the literal definition of trolling. That’s exactly what they’re doing. They’ll get up there and deliberately say something on national TV intended to agitate a certain section of fandom, and then let the people who have been trolled call in all agitated, and then argue with them, etc… It’s not productive, it’s not insightful and it’s not informative. I don’t find it entertaining either- it’s like watching someone poke a caged animal with a stick. I’d much prefer to watch Skip Bayless go to some kind of town hall meeting full of some team’s hardcore fans and see if he talks as much BS in person as he would on the TV show. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-skip-bayless-etc-not-liked/842019/22 "2019-10-22T16:09:38Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’d much prefer to watch Skip Bayless go to some kind of town hall meeting full of some team’s hardcore fans and see if he talks as much BS in person as he would on the TV show. This sounds like a fans reaction to Ted DiBiase making fun of their small town in the old WWF days. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-skip-bayless-etc-not-liked/842019/23 "2019-10-22T20:02:11Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > This sounds like a fans reaction to Ted DiBiase making fun of their small town in the old WWF days. Maybe… wasn’t too much of a Million Dollar Man fan, so I don’t recall that. My point is that these guys are often loudmouthed and inflammatory from the safety of their show, and I have some suspicions that they’d be less so if they weren’t merely bloviating on TV, but were saying those things to actual fans face-to-face. Not that the fans would beat them up or anything, but it’s basically a variant on the idea that otherwise normal, decent people will do/say assholish things on the internet because it’s “not real” somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-skip-bayless-etc-not-liked/842019/24 "2019-10-22T21:11:31Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Maybe… wasn’t too much of a Million Dollar Man fan, so I don’t recall that. > > My point is that these guys are often loudmouthed and inflammatory from the safety of their show, and I have some suspicions that they’d be less so if they weren’t merely bloviating on TV, but were saying those things to actual fans face-to-face. Not that the fans would beat them up or anything, but it’s basically a variant on the idea that otherwise normal, decent people will do/say assholish things on the internet because it’s “not real” somehow. [There is a scientific theory about this.](https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19) ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-skip-bayless-etc-not-liked/842019/25 "2019-10-22T22:02:25Z")
> [@Yankees\_1996\_Champs](#): > > Entertainment is in sports journalism. > > Sports and entertainment is intertwined, now, it is part of an industry. So is news and entertainment. Doesn’t mean I like it. I want my sports journalism to be informative and insightful not necessarily entertaining. I want my sports journalism to make me a better educated fan - I find the sports I watch to be more than entertaining. I don’t need some over the top personality dropping ‘hot takes’ for my entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-skip-bayless-etc-not-liked/842019/26 "2019-10-22T23:12:26Z")
There are a number of reasons I barely listen to sports talk. One is the prevalence of the “hot take” and the trolling. A second is the repetition. A third is the sheer number of commercials. That’s not to say that there can’t be good sports talk shows that are both entertaining and informative. I’d be happy to watch PTI if I remembered (the time zone difference means the replay is on at a weird time for me on a lesser cable channel), for example, but you couldn’t pay me to watch something like First Take. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-skip-bayless-etc-not-liked/842019.md?page=1)