“Undisputed” cohosts Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe ratcheted up their tension to red alert on Wednesday ― this time over stricken Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin. (Watch the video below.)
Sharpe missed Tuesday’s “Undisputed” after Bayless’ awkward tweet about Hamlin went viral, prompting outrage from online critics and players.
“No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game – but how?” Bayless tweeted after Bills safety Hamlin dropped to the turf in cardiac arrest during a Monday game against the Cincinnati Bengals. “This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome … which suddenly seems so irrelevant.”
Some speculated that Sharpe skipped out on Tuesday’s Fox Sports show in protest, and he did little to dispel that on Wednesday’s installment.
“There has been a lot of speculation of why I wasn’t on-air yesterday, and I won’t get into speculation or conjecture and innuendo, but I will say this: In watching that game on Monday night, what happened to Damar Hamlin struck me a little different,” said Sharpe, a Hall of Fame tight end who won three Super Bowls. “As a brotherhood in the NFL, when injuries happen, and we know injuries are a part of the game… but I’ve never seen anybody have to be revived and fight for their life on the field.
“… Skip tweeted something and although I disagree with the tweet, and hopefully, Skip will take it down.”
Bayless interrupted, and the friction between the two escalated.
“Timeout, timeout, I’m not going to take it down because I stand by what I tweeted,” Bayless said.
“I cannot even get through a monologue without you interrupting me,” Sharpe replied. “... I was just gonna say, Skip, I didn’t want yesterday to get into a situation where Damar Hamlin was the issue. We should’ve been talking about him and not getting into your tweet. That was what I was gonna do, but you can’t even let me finish my opening monologue without you interrupting.”
Bayless appeared taken aback by the mere mention of his social media post, for which he had apologized shortly afterward. “I was under the impression you weren’t going to bring this up because nobody here had a problem with that tweet,” Bayless said.
“No,” Sharpe replied. “Clearly, the bosses wanted you to offer an explanation.”
Sharpe and Bayless eventually moved on to LeBron James, the New York Post reported. Their tiff followed a quarrel over NFL quarterback Tom Brady’s longevity last month. Bayless noted that Sharpe’s career ended at a much younger age than the 45-year-old Brady and that he was not nearly as talented as Brady. Sharpe fumed over Bayless getting so personal.
Hamlin, who had to be resuscitated on the field, remains in a Cincinnati hospital in critical condition.