In case you haven’t heard, Charles Barkley cannot stand Skip Bayless. And let me tell you, it goes way back. The root of this deep-seated hatred can be traced back to a charity game where Skip was the celebrity coach. Now, why on earth would this seemingly harmless event be the cause of such animosity?
Well, let’s get the whole story and break it down for you.
Recently, Bayless shared a memorable encounter with Barkley during an appearance on the podcast Pardon My Take. Bayless recalled a charity basketball game where he served as a celebrity coach to share Barkley’s hatred towards the sports analyst.
“Magic would come, Bird would come, Charles Barkley would come. And occasionally I was asked to be a celebrity coach of a team, but I would actually have to make substitutions with the players,” Bayless said.
So one year, Charles was on my team. I tried to introduce myself to Charles before the game, and he was uninterested in whoever the hell I was, and yet I did have to take him in and out of the game.”
“I leaned over and said, ‘Charles, you want to go back in? I’d like to try to win the game.’ And he said, ‘Brother, I want to win the game too, but my s*** hurts.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, fine’. And I put. Rex Chapman in place of Charles, and Rex Chapman hit the game-winner,” he added.
During the recent episode of Pardon My Take, Skip Bayless revealed that Charles Barkley was unable to play in the charity game due to health issues. Barkley grew frustrated with Bayless, causing tensions between them to escalate. Bayless shared that his family was concerned about the feud, fearing that some fans might take Barkley’s comments too seriously.
“It got so bad that my wife Ernestine and her mother started to take it very personally because their point to me was that there might be one psycho out there who listens to Charles and idolizes Charles and decides to do Charles’ bidding and take you out,” Bayless said.
And so, that’s how this fierce rivalry began. It all started with a charity game that turned into a personal vendetta. Charles Barkley’s hatred toward Skip Bayless stems from that fateful day when Skip took his competitive nature a little too far.
Flip to the next page to watch Skip Bayless speak about his rivalry with Charles Barkley…
