Skip Bayless Skip Bayless ( born John Bayless II on December 4 , 1951 ) is a sports journalist and television personality who is currently working for ESPN as a commentator . Bayless is featured on " ESPN First Take " , ESPN2 ' s daily sports talk morning program , where he participates in a daily debate segment with Stephen A . Smith . Bayless is based in Bristol , Connecticut , ESPN ' s home base , and has been since production of the predecessor of " First Take " , " Cold Pizza " , moved from New York City to Bristol . Prior to moving to New York full - time , Bayless was a sportswriter by trade , most recently working for the " San Jose Mercury News " in California . Schooling and family . Although he was born John Edward Bayless II in Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , his father immediately began calling him Skip or Skipper . The name stuck , and Skip Bayless was never called John by his parents . He eventually had his name legally changed to Skip . He is also the older brother of chef , restaurateur and TV personality Rick Bayless . Bayless attended Northwest Classen High School , and was a player on the school ' s basketball team that made it to the 1970 Oklahoma State Finals . According to Bayless he was a starter for the team , though this has been disputed by others . He averaged only 1 . 4 points per game , and didn ' t register any stats in the State Final . Upon graduation he was awarded the prestigious Grantland Rice Scholarship ( named for the famed sportswriter of the same name ) , and went on to attend Vanderbilt University . While at Vanderbilt , he majored in English and History and was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma . He is also a member of the inaugural class of the Vanderbilt Student Media Hall of Fame . Writing career . Bayless went directly from Vanderbilt to " The Miami Herald " , where he wrote sports features for two years before being hired away by the " Los Angeles Times " . There , he was best known for investigative stories on the Dodgers ' clubhouse resentment of " golden boy " Steve Garvey and his celebrity wife Cyndy and on Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom ' s behind - the - scenes decisions to start different quarterbacks each week ( James Harris , Pat Haden or Ron Jaworski ) . Bayless also won the Eclipse Award for his coverage of Seattle Slew ' s Triple Crown . At 25 , Bayless was hired by " The Dallas Morning News " to write its lead sports column , and two years later , the rival " Dallas Times Herald " hired him away by making him one of the country ' s highest paid sports columnists — prompting " The Wall Street Journal " to do a story on the development . Bayless was voted Texas sportswriter of the year three times . In 1989 , Bayless wrote " God ' s Coach " , about the rise and fall of Tom Landry ' s Dallas Cowboys . Following the Cowboys ' Super Bowl victory in 1993 , Bayless wrote " The Boys " , and following a third Cowboys Super Bowl win in four seasons , Bayless wrote the third and final book of his Cowboys trilogy , " Hell - Bent : The Crazy Truth About the " Win or Else " Dallas Cowboys " . Hell - Bent caused a stir over Bayless ' speculation , without providing any evidence , that Cowboy ' s quarterback Troy Aikman was gay . After covering the Cowboys through the 1996 season , Bayless chose to leave Dallas after 17 years and become the lead sports columnist for the " Chicago Tribune " . In his first year in Chicago , Bayless won the Lisagor Award for excellence in sports column writing and was voted Illinois sportswriter of the year . After a highly publicized dispute with the " Tribune " ' s executive editor , Ann Marie Lipinski , over limiting all " Tribune " columns to just 650 or so words , Bayless decided to leave Chicago and was immediately hired by Knight Ridder Corporation to write for its flagship newspaper , the " San Jose Mercury News " . While in San Jose , Bayless became a fixture on ESPN ' s " Rome is Burning " and in a weekly Sunday Morning " SportsCenter " debate with Stephen A . Smith , " Old School / Nu Skool . " ESPN hired Bayless full - time in 2004 to team with Woody Paige , then of the " Denver Post " , on ESPN2 ' s " Cold Pizza " and to write columns for ESPN . com . In 2007 , Bayless stopped writing columns to concentrate on his television duties , which included a spinoff of his roundtable discussions with Paige called " 1st and 10 " and the rebranded " First Take " . Radio and television . In 1994 , after leaving his radio show at KLIF in Dallas , Bayless helped start the city ' s first sports talk radio station , KTCK Sports Radio 1310 , " The Ticket . " , becoming the primary host on the 6 – 9 a . m . morning show for two years . As " the Ticket " became one of the country ' s most successful sports stations , the ownership decided to accept a lucrative offer to sell the station , and the new ownership bought out Bayless ' contract , ending his tenure . Bayless has occasionally substituted as host for syndicated radio program " The Jim Rome Show " . He has also previously contributed to " ESPN " as a recurring panelist on " The Sports Reporters " , " NFL Prime Monday " ( now " ESPN Monday Night Countdown " ) in the 1990s , and " Jim Rome is Burning " . For three years ( 1998 – 2001 ) , Bayless was a contributor at major championships for the Golf Channel . Skip was also a regular on ESPN Radio ' s first national show , " The Fabulous Sports Babe " , and later co - hosted a weekend show on ESPN Radio with Larry Beil . He was also a regular on Chet Coppock ' s show on Sporting News Radio . Cultural references . Bayless , along with Woody Paige and Jay Crawford , appeared in a cameo role in the film " Rocky Balboa " . The three are seen on their " First and 10 " segment discussing a possible fight between a retired Balboa and current heavyweight champion Mason Dixon . Bayless opines that Balboa " was completely overrated " and mocks his age . He appears in the ESPN " 30 for 30 " film " Pony Excess " , the story about the Southern Methodist University football scandal , covering the Mustangs while writing for both " Dallas Morning News " and the " Dallas Times Herald " . He also appears in the ESPNU documentary , " Herschel " , about famed Georgia running back Herschel Walker .