Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
When Stephen A. Smith accepted Skip Bayless\u2019 invitation to reunite on-air for the first time in nearly a decade, thoughts of whether the famed \u201cFirst Take\u201d sparring partners could pick up where they left off nine years ago immediately bubbled up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the sudden, the reality hit me, \u2018Gee, what if it\u2019s not the same? What if it\u2019s awkward or it feels like it\u2019s something that was a relic of the past that we could never reach back and re-launch?’\u201d Bayless recently told The Post.<\/p>\n
The \u201ctrepidation\u201d Bayless, 73, felt as he prepared to host Smith, 57, as the first guest of \u201cThe Skip Bayless Show\u201d evaporated moments after the pair exchanged pleasantries through the cameras.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just immediately felt like we were still on the air together, like I had done this yesterday and the day before and the day before. It felt completely, utterly normal from moment one,\u201d said Bayless, who exited FS1 last summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say it\u2019s like riding a bicycle, yeah, it was like riding a bicycle, except it was like riding the greatest bicycle ever built in sports media in a heartbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n
From their \u201cinstant rapport\u201d during an early 2000s appearance on Jim Rome\u2019s \u201cThe Last Word,\u201d to their reconnection at the Worldwide Leader, where \u201cPardon the Interruption\u201d appearances led to a \u201cFirst Take\u201d team-up in 2012 upon Smith\u2019s return to the network, that \u201csomething special\u201d between Bayless and Smith was on display Monday when the pair took a long-awaited stroll down memory lane on Bayless\u2019 program.<\/p>\n
During the near 60-minute conversation \u2014 which has since eclipsed more than 900,000 views on YouTube \u2014 Bayless and Smith covered an array of topics such as the current state of the Lakers, if Aaron Rodgers is considered \u201coverrated\u201d as his anticipated free agency decision looms and, of course, Smith\u2019s five-year, $100 million contract extension with ESPN that was announced last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was [an] easy conversation,\u201d Bayless said. \u201cThere was not a hint of awkwardness whatsoever, at least, I can\u2019t speak for him, but at least for me it wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The road back to this reunion hadn\u2019t been without some bumps.<\/p>\n
Bayless left ESPN in 2016 for a lucrative contract at FS1 and appeared on \u201cUndisputed\u201d for eight years. The relationship between the two became frayed following comments Smith made on JJ Redick\u2019s podcast in 2022.<\/p>\n
Smith claimed that Bayless had pleaded with him to co-host full-time as ESPN brass wasn\u2019t thrilled with the ratings for \u201cFirst Take\u201d \u2014 which was originally \u201cCold Pizza\u201d \u2014 shows that were spearheaded by Bayless.<\/p>\n
Bayless was \u201cblindsided\u201d by the comments, which he adamantly shot down on his self-titled program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last thing in the world that was on the table was we need to save our ratings,\u201d Bayless told The Post. \u201cNo, I just wanted him to be my partner so I didn\u2019t have to have a new partner every single week.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 I just wanted Stephen A. because I knew it was magic and that I could wake up every morning, expecting magic from Stephen A.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith, who had been covering the 2022 NBA Finals in Boston between the Warriors and Celtics, traveled to see the West Coast-based Bayless, where they ironed out their differences in a scenic setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe flew out here, it must have been right after the Finals because it was the Sunday of the U.S. Open golf final round at Brookline in Boston,\u201d Bayless said. \u201cI\u2019m a big golf fan and I gave up watching about five holes of the U.S. Open on the back nine to go sit with him out by the pool here in our gated community and we hashed it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bayless wasn\u2019t sure if anything would be gnawing beneath the surface when he taped with Smith following the widely publicized rift.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe go back on the air the other day, and I didn\u2019t know if there would be any lingering hurt feelings over that but there weren\u2019t, it was just like the great old days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bayless felt that \u201ccompetitive warmth\u201d from Smith for one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were together for a long, long time, and we did a whole lot of television and radio together, a whole lot, so I just immediately felt that competitive warmth that I always felt with him, where it\u2019s like a brotherly competition based on love, built on love and respect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While Bayless \u201cabsolutely would\u201d host Smith again, there is one thing he\u2019d do differently.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had me on as a guest [on his radio show], I don\u2019t know maybe 10 or 15 times, and that was the first time where I was the moderator, and I don\u2019t like being the moderator because it sort of takes away your ability to debate because someone has to stay a little neutral to change the subject and bring up the next topic and it\u2019s like, how far can I go if I take issue with him? I can\u2019t go too far with it because I\u2019ve got to move this along at some point, and we usually trust or depend upon the moderator to do that,\u201d Bayless said.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 It\u2019s the first time I got thrust into the moderator role and I must tell you, I didn\u2019t love that. I need a referee,\u201d he continued with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Although the path to this moment followed challenging times \u2014 Bayless was named as a defendant in a bombshell lawsuit filed by a former hairstylist in January and has denied the allegations \u2014 he is still in awe over how seamless the reconnection with Smith transpired.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, [my wife] Ernestine made a point after, she said it\u2019s like you have an old friend that you maybe lost some touch with from high school or whatever, and maybe you haven\u2019t talked to that old friend for 10 years, and for whatever reason, maybe it\u2019s Christmas or a birthday, you reconnect via phone, and as soon as you get on the phone with them, even though you both have a little trepidation about, is this going to feel awkward? You feel like you never left, you just spoke to them yesterday,\u201d Bayless said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how I felt with him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic When Stephen A. Smith accepted Skip Bayless\u2019 invitation to reunite on-air for the first time in nearly a decade, thoughts of whether the famed \u201cFirst Take\u201d sparring partners could pick up where they left off nine years ago immediately bubbled up. \u201cAll of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":240334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-240333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240335,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240333\/revisions\/240335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}