Saintman2884
Hall-of-Famer
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2003
- Messages
- 17,788
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I remember reading an online article or YT feature that suggested Bayless departure from ESPN was more then a tad bit bitter, acrimonious, and that many of his then-ESPN colleagues wouldn't be sad or too broken up to see him leave. I've heard more then a few rumors circulating over the years, even as far back as the early 80's when he was a Cowboys beat reporter for the Dallas Morning News that he was egotistical, snotty, swarmy and at times, could be very difficult to work with.I thought (maybe hoped?) he left 4 or 5 years ago.
It's more accepted now, but 35-40 years ago, his assertive, obnoxious "fanboy" reporting style of journalism didnt exactly win him friends with more old-school, professional sports journalism who believed more in the idea of impartiality, objectivity and less implicit bias inserted towards their interview subjects and columns.
If you compare Bayless form of journalism in regards to a former beat reporter/columnist like Randy Holloway of the Dallas Morning News, while Holloway could be boastful, proud and over-hyping Dallas Cowboys during his career, he still maintained a pretense, a decent modicum sometimes of journalistic credibility and fairness in calling out and criticizing Cowboys FO and ownership when they screwed up. Bayless, by contrast ,sometimes comes across like a barely-containable "fan boy" in that Jerry Jones entire ownership tenure had been mostly error-free and spotless. Bayless' mindset of what he perceives the Cowboys to be yearly in terms of expectations and success is still stuck somewhere in the mid-90's. I don't think or believe he will ever truly accept that their at best, a good team every 2-3 years, they win a NFC EAST title, then lose in WC or Div. rounds, then go flat and become mediocre or terrible for another 5-6 years. He believes that before he eventually dies, Jerry Jones will somehow will the Cowboys to another SB appearance and win based around his dictates alone and prove Jimmy Johnson wrong after over 30 years he could do it by himself.