Fox Sports personality Skip Bayless’ entire career in sports media is built on performative dishonesty. He’ll settle on a take and simply refuse to budge from it despite all evidence to the contrary.
On Tuesday night, we saw exactly how those objectively horrendous takes form in real time.
During Game 2, Warriors guard Gary Payton II suffered a fractured elbow as a result of a dirty foul from the Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks. With Payton already in the air, Brooks made no attempt at the ball and caught Payton squarely on the head with the follow through. Payton fell awkwardly on his arm, which caused the injury. Brooks was ejected on the play, and honestly, should face a suspension.
Gary Payton II suffered a fractured elbow in GM2 after this foul by Dillon Brooks.
Steve Kerr: “Brooks broke the code.”
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) May 4, 2022
That was as clear cut a Flagrant 2 foul as you’ll find in the NBA, but Bayless’ initial reaction was that it was a soft call … a “travesty!” He erupted with an all-caps meltdown over the ejection, claiming it was a make-up call for Draymond Green’s controversial ejection in Game 1.
WHAT??!!! ABSURD!!! THAT WAS BARELY A FLAGRANT 1. NOW DILLON BROOKS IS EJECTED??? IS THIS SOME KIND OF WEIRD MAKEUP CALL FOR THE DRAYMOND FLAGRANT 2??? THIS IS A JOKE. I DIDN'T WANT DRAYMOND EJECTED, LET ALONE THIS TRAVESTY.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 4, 2022
And this is where Bayless’ takes are so disingenuous. He may have had an initial reaction before the replay and fired off an all-caps tweet. But it wouldn’t have taken much to admit, “Oh, yeah, Brooks got all of Payton’s head. I see it now.” Instead, Bayless continued with the take that Brooks merely brushed Payton, and that the NBA is about to be ruined for calls like that.
You cannot take stars out of big playoff games. That’s barely a Flagrant 1 in my book. He brushed him across the back of the head, give me a break. More @Undisputed, now on FS1 https://t.co/xi7SQMrKYW
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 4, 2022
Like, the man broke his elbow and got hit on the head.
“Brushed him.”
Bayless was essentially telling fans to ignore what their eyes were showing them. Thankfully, the take did not go over well with NBA fans.
