Skip Bayless is on ESPN2's "Cold Pizza" Monday through Friday and his online column appears twice a week on ESPN's Page 2. Prior to his work at ESPN, Skip had worked in San Jose, Chicago and Dallas as a sports columnist and reporter.
Q: Where did you get your start in journalism?
A: I grew up in Oklahoma City, and in my junior year of high school I
was taking an AP English class taught by the journalism teacher at my school. In the class we had to do a book report and I did one on Y.A. Tittle, the former quarterback for the New York Giants. A few days later my teacher asked to see me after class and asked if I would want to do a column for the paper… I had no idea how to write and I didn't know where this writing ability came from. I decided to write for the paper and senior year, my teacher entered me in a scholarship contest unbeknownst to me, the Grantland Rice Scholarship at Vanderbilt University, where it is awarded each year to one student and I won.
The day before I had to declare whether I would accept the scholarship, someone from Vanderbilt called and asked if I would accept the scholarship. I thought of just going to Oklahoma like everyone else from my high school but this was something I could not pass up so I accepted the scholarship.
Q: You have been on radio and are currently doing work for Cold Pizza and Page 2, but is writing still your first love?
A: Absolutely. I feel writing is the most rewarding. When ESPN asked if I wanted to do "Cold Pizza," I said I needed a writing outlet so something was set up with ESPN.com where I would write something once a week. The ability to write and let your thoughts evolve forces you to come to grips with what is in your subconscious. When that translates into going on the air for radio or television you become more eloquent and thoughtful and quicker on those other two mediums.
Q: Out of all the cities that you have worked in, what city has been the most interesting or unique?
A: I loved the fans in Chicago. I hated the weather, but everyone born there thinks it is the greatest city in the world. The passion the fans have for their teams is unmatched by any city, even New York City. Chicago is a Bears town, a Wrigley Field town, a Big Ten town, and it was a Michael Jordan town…. The city translates into writing where you can push different hot buttons every day. There is never a slow news day in Chicago. When the teams are bad there is still such a passion for them.
Q: What do you feel will be Marquette's biggest plus from going into the Big East?
A: I will say that Marquette will benefit from the expanded media coverage because it will put the school on a bigger level of exposure.
Q: After all of your years in sports, if you were able to hypothetically sit down with any four people dead or alive, who would it be?
A: Tom Landry (former coach of the Dallas Cowboys) — I covered him in Dallas but he still remains a very mystical, aloof figure to me. It is amazing how someone who is so elusive and brilliant can hide behind this hidden façade as an offensive genius… He conflicted so much with his players because he was such a religious man, I would just have liked to have gotten to know him better.
Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson (former Cowboys linebacker)— He is such an outrageously, brilliant, hilarious man. He snorted coke during Super Bowl XIII while his Cowboys were losing to the Steelers. He is now an anti-drug evangelist and is still a very quick, funny, smart man who remains one of my all-time favorite interviews. He was such a gifted athlete but he annihilated his body because of drugs. He was such a gifted athlete that Lawrence Taylor wore No. 56 because of him.
Michael Jordan — I don't agree with all of his off the court business but he is as fascinating as anyone to talk to. He was the greatest performer who performed on the biggest stage. I would look forward to all the late game stories he would tell as long as he kept it to basketball.
Barry Bonds — He's a fascinating person, gifted beyond gifted, steroids or not. He performed on queue with such a "Watch this and I'll do it ability" in one of the toughest parks to hit a home run out of. He is a very bright guy and despises the media because he feels they reflect him negatively.
Q: What venue do you look forward to going to most every year?
A: The Masters are just the greatest event each year… everything stays exactly the same each year. The fans contribute to that too because it is always the same fans each year, they know where to park and the whole drill. Every year when I go to the Masters it feels like a rite of spring.
This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on August 29, 2005.