Charles Barkley’s opinion of Skip Bayless still hasn’t changed — and the latest development in their feud involved Barkley blasting the “Undisputed” host’s “asinine” take about Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots dynasty.
During a segment on Friday’s edition of “The Dan Patrick Show,” Barkley brought up a comment from Bayless where he allegedly said, “Bill only won championships because of Tom Brady.”
It’s unclear when Bayless made the comment that Barkley referenced, but he recently labeled Belichick — who parted ways with the Patriots following the 2023 season and hasn’t landed a job for the 2024 season — as a “glorified defensive coordinator” during a Jan. 25 segment with Keyshawn Johnson and Michael Irvin, according to Awful Announcing.
Charles Barkley blasted Skip Bayless for an “asinine” take about Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Screengrab via YouTube/Dan Patrick Show
The Brady-Belichick debate has emerged as the ultimate question about the era in New England that featured six Super Bowl titles, given that Brady left and won another with the Buccaneers while Belichick compiled a 29-39 record, including a wild-card loss after the future Hall of Famer left for Tampa.
Barkley told Patrick that he didn’t think the criticism aimed at Belichick “ain’t right,” since Brady didn’t coach the Patriots’ defense or special teams.
He added that Andy Reid, who recently won his third title since taking over as the Chiefs’ coach, has become “a great coach,” but Barkley questioned how many championships the 65-year-old would’ve won without Patrick Mahomes — who recently won his latest Super Bowl MVP award — at quarterback.
“When you get on television, our job is to be fair and objective,” Barkley said. “And we got some clowns on television now who are like, ‘Belichick is overrated.’ Dude went to nine Super Bowls. There’s nobody who went to nine Super Bowls who’s overrated.”
Patrick, at one point during Barkley’s answer, asked why the NBA Hall of Famer still watches shows such as “Undisputed,” and Barkley claimed that he doesn’t — and that people just send him clips of the “hot takes.”
Barkley’s hatred of Bayless has been well-documented.
Then, Bayless responded in July by calling Barkley a “clown” and saying on his podcast that he’d be his “dream debate partner” to replace Sharpe on “Undisputed” — since “all I’d have to do is let Charles go first and listen to him make a fool out of himself.”
Skip Bayless is pictured during Friday’s edition of “Undisputed.” Screengrab via X/@undisputed
And this time, during the interview with Patrick, Barkley used the phrase “hate him with every fiber” to describe his relationship — or lack thereof — with Bayless.
“Sometimes, he makes me want to gain weight back so I can hate him with even more weight,” Barkley told Patrick.
As the old adage goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words.
That explains why Sports Illustrated would, at times, forgo the words on its cover and let the image do the talking.
Perhaps the most iconic cover in the magazine’s history — voted as such in a 2014 poll — went sans headlines, readouts and captions after the 1980 U.S. men’s ice hockey team accomplished the Miracle on Ice.
Al Tielemans /Sports IllustratedBill Frakes /Sports Illustrated
“It didn’t need it,” photographer Heinz Kluetmeier said in 2008. “Everyone in America knew what happened.”
Since its inception in 1954, SI was not only a home for some of the greatest sportswriting in history, it was also a bastion of sports photography and imagery.
On Friday, it was announced The Arena Group, which currently runs the editorial operations for SI, had laid off the outlet’s staff after its license to use the name was revoked, though both it and Authentic, which own the SI brand, say it will continue to exist in some form.
Sports Illustrated
The news left many considering the end of Sports Illustrated and the legacy it may be leaving behind.
That includes many of the thousands of legendary magazine covers that captured the perfect moment in a game, encapsulated the celebration, enhanced a subject’s image — or simply poked fun at it.
For Melissa Stark, “there’s nothing better” than when the “Sunday Night Football” preparation “all comes together.”
With the Packers set to close out the year with a win over the Vikings on New Year’s Eve, Stark knew the postgame interview with Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love could be a golden opportunity for the 25-year-old to test out his New Year’s resolution of shuffling cards — something the veteran NFL reporter learned earlier in the week.
“I asked all the players this week their New Year’s resolutions and Jordan Love’s was to learn how to shuffle cards,” Stark recently recalled to The Post. “At the last minute our producer goes, ‘Oh my gosh, you should have cards there.’”
Melissa Stark during her postgame interview with Packers quarterback Jordan Love (left) and running back Aaron Jones. Melissa Stark/Instagram
Though securing the cards was something of a whirlwind — “We left them in our truck and two minutes to go, I’m like, ‘Who has the cards?’” — Stark was able to hand Love a deck as Green Bay celebrated its blowout 33-10 victory in Week 17.
“It becomes this really funny thing postgame, and I’m like, ‘Here, you can get started,’ and I hand him the deck of cards,” Stark said. “It’s so fun when your research from the week pays off that way. We do it to tell stories and the stories are definitely the best part of our jobs.”
Stark, 50, has been reporting stories from both the studio and sidelines for more than two decades.
A University of Virginia alum, Stark is enjoying a memorable sophomore season on “Sunday Night Football” — more than 20 years after serving as a sideline reporter for ABC’s “Monday Night Football” from 2000-’02.
Melissa Stark reports from the sideline on “Monday Night Football” in September 2002. Getty ImagesMelissa Stark is in her second season on “Sunday Night Football.” Melissa Stark/InstagramMelissa Stark interviews Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce in January 2023. Courtesy of Melissa Stark
Before her return in 2022, when she took over sideline duties from Michele Tafoya, Stark — a former national correspondent on NBC’s “Today” show, among other posts held at the network from 2003-’07 — stepped away from the business to focus on raising her four children with husband Mike.
“What I think I’m most proud of is the longevity that I’ve had and the fact that I was able to leave the business and not know if I was going to come back and be OK with that, I was OK with that because starting a family to me was so important,” said Stark, who worked her 100th regular-season game from the sideline in December.
“So coming back, what it means is that I’m able to come back to a career that I absolutely love and frankly, with such a different perspective. Coming back later in my life, more mature and as a mom.”
With the playoffs nearing, Stark is looking back on an NFL season that’s been quite the “family” affair.
Melissa Stark during the Chiefs-Jets game in October 2023 with her four kids. From left: Clara, Clemmie, Melissa, Mike and Jackson. Courtesy of Melissa StarkMelissa Stark’s daughters tried to catch a glimpse of Taylor Swift at MetLife Stadium during the Chiefs-Jets game in October 2023. Courtesy of Melissa StarkTaylor Swift attends the Chiefs-Jets game on Oct. 1, 2023. Corey Sipkin for New York Post
When the Jets hosted the Chiefs at MetLife Stadium in Week 4, which marked Taylor Swift’s second gameday appearance in support of boyfriend Travis Kelce, Stark’s daughters — much like Swifties everywhere — were hoping to catch a glimpse of the pop superstar.
“My daughter was in the truck for that first (game) and she was like, ‘Mom, I watched Taylor the whole time,’ ” said Stark, who noted production “had a camera on [Swift] the whole time for her reactions.”
What’s more, Starks’ kids, Clara, Clemmie, Jackson and Mike, got to see her in action.
“The beauty of it is, they love what I do and they get to see it and they get to come along, they all love football and coming on the field with me,” Stark said.
The Swift scene was just one of the exciting stories Stark covered this season.
Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane speaks with Melissa Stark postgame on Nov. 12, 2023. AP
As the Raiders prepared to face the Jets in Week 10 in Las Vegas, Stark spoke with Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane in the days ahead, in which a “throwaway question” transpired into something more significant.
“He talked to me on the way home [from practice] and his wife [Shelby] was in the car,” Stark recalled. “I go, ‘What’s motivating you this season?’ Sort of a throwaway question, and he turns to his wife in the car, ‘Should we tell her?’ And he was like, ‘Well, my wife’s actually pregnant and we haven’t told anybody yet.’”
The 28-year-old Spillane then relayed to Stark that if he made a “crazy play,” he would put the football under his jersey as if he were pregnant.
The plan sort of came to be when Spillane had the game-sealing interception in the Raiders’ 16-12 win.
Melissa Stark during her first season on “Sunday Night Football” in December 2022. APMelissa Stark is readying for the NFL playoffs that being this weekend. Melissa Stark/Instagram
“He gets the game-winning interception, he goes nuts, he forgets to do this, so right when I get him, I was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to break some news, you were supposed to put the ball under your shirt,’ and then he does it in the postgame interview,” Stark said.
“I just get excited when it all comes together, all your hard work.”
As wild-card weekend gets underway, Stark is soaking in the moment in what she described as “the perfect role.”
“There’s a ton of adrenaline and it’s very energizing, and I just feel very fortunate that I found the perfect role for me. It’s exactly what I want to do,” she said.
Stark will report from Detroit as part of “Sunday Night Football’s” wild-card weekend coverage, with Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth calling the anticipated Rams-Lions matchup in which Matthew Stafford makes his return to Ford Field.
Just about anything can happen when you’re walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and ESPN learned that the hard way Monday night,
The network gave its viewers more than just a scenic shot of the famed NOLA street during a commercial break, as ESPN camera operator caught a woman flashing her right breast toward a balcony above her.
“We regret that this happened and apologize that the video aired in the telecast,” an ESPN spokesman told The Associated Press.
While the network didn’t catch the sight before they aired it to a national television audience, viewers quickly caught it and took to social media to voice their disbelief.
The exposed breast aired for roughly a second and it appeared the woman had been hoping to obtain beads from an onlooker above.
The reactions ranged from uncontrollable laughter to using the moment to take shots at some of the personalities that regularly appear on the network.
ESPN shows a woman flashing her breast on Bourbon Street during the Sugar Bowl broadcast. X/@NickyT27
“ESPN casually broadcasting boobs to start the year,” one user on X wrote, accompanied by a crying laughing emoji.
“Nice job on the commercial break getting the boob flash ESPN…. lol,” another person wrote.
“Aaaaand ESPN just broadcast to millions of people a woman on Bourbon St showing her boobs for beads,” a third person wrote.
“My timeline is talking about seeing boobs on ESPN like putting boobs on television hasn’t been their business model since they first hired Skip Bayless,” a person joked about the now-FS1 host.
It’s unclear if the footage had been live or was taped b-roll footage that had aired during the game or how much scrutiny was given to the footage before it aired.
In this week’s Marchand & Ourand Sports Media Podcast: NBA commissioner Adam Silver discusses the future of the league’s local and national media rights.
The hosts use clips from Silver’s interview at the CAA World Congress of Sports to discuss how the NBA plans to approach the RSN problems and its coming national media rights deal.
Marchand and Ourand also discuss the NBA’s plans around its in-season tournament and how it will play in the upcoming national media rights negotiations.
Elsewhere on the podcast, Marchand and Ourand discuss the upcoming ESPN layoffs and Marcus Spears’ new four-year, multi-million dollar deal to stay at the network.
The two also dive into the technical problems that affected Netflix and AppleTV+ over the weekend and the early returns on MLB’s rule changes.
As always, the two offer their opinions about ‘Who’s Up’ and ‘Who’s Down’ in sports media this week.
Craig Carton’s future on WFAN afternoons is in question. And it will be Carton who decides if he stays or goes.
Carton started a new FS1 TV show in September and the cable network is looking to own his exclusive rights, according to sources.
This will leave the 54-year-old Carton with a decision between where seemingly his heart is – on radio with WFAN, the station that gave him a second chance after his imprisonment – or with a multi-million dollar TV offer he can’t refuse.
WFAN and FS1 declined comment. Carton did not return messages.
While one factor is FS1 believing Carton, without FAN, would rate better on TV, there is also the feasibility of Carton being able to do both shows.
Carton’s radio contract runs out later in the year, but FAN would want to start the fall book in September, knowing he is returning. If not, they would find a new partner to team with Evan Roberts.
Since moving into afternoons, he restored FAN to near the top of the overall afternoon ratings, while dominating rival ESPN New York’s “The Michael Kay Show.”
Kay, 62, recently strongly considered retiring from talk shows before signing a new multi-year, seven-figure per year contract.
Upon his release from prison in June, 2021, Carton would have been able to get a job, as he had an offer from a Philadelphia station. However, his return to FAN was paved by his good friend and one-time producer Chris Oliviero.
Craig Carton’s WFAN contract runs out this year, with Fox Sports interested in getting him full-time.Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Oliviero returned to lead Audacy’s New York stations shortly before Carton was released from prison. At that point, it was clear that the plan was for Carton to take over the hallowed afternoon airwaves that “Mike & the Mad Dog” made into a very important part of New York sports.
Today, Oliviero is the president of Audacy New York, overseeing FAN, and hopes to retain Carton, but is said to understand that Carton may need to make the move for financial and family reasons. Carton may be able to work less and make more with FS1.
Carton is a radio guy at his core, but the wallets are bigger in TV; especially with Audacy, FAN’s parent company, struggling.
Carton returned to WFAN after a year in a prison and has helped the station compete in the New York market.WFAN
At one point, there was some discussion about Carton possibly doing a Fox Sports Radio simulcast in the mornings, but that is not on the table right now.
Fox Sports’ name is licensed to iHeart Radio and it is happy with its current national morning show featuring LaVar Arrington, Brady Quinn and Jonas Knox.
In FS1’s executive vice president Charlie Dixon, Carton also has someone who believes in him, despite the fact that the ratings have yet to show up on TV for the “The Carton Show.”
In March, it averaged 33,000 viewers per day, which, while not a great number, was its best month yet.
In fairness, 7 a.m. on FS1 is not an easy time slot, as the cable network doesn’t have the nightly national events that ESPN has, which boosts its morning programming.
“The Carton Show” features Carton standing, while ex-athletes, like Cody Decker and Greg Jennings, sit and react to Carton’s takes.
With the show airing from 7 a.m.-9:30 a.m., the idea is to reach an East Coast audience. (It begins at 4 a.m. in the west, after all.)
What really is untenable is Carton’s schedule because whatever you think of his style, it is undeniable that he is working hard.
He has said on-the-air, he leaves at around 2:30 in the morning to commute to the FS1 show in midtown and then it is off to FAN for his 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. He returns home around 8:30. It is a long day that repeats itself five days a week.
It can’t be done forever. Carton could try, but, more likely, he is going to need to make a decision.
Alex Rodriguez and Michael Kay did not wish to name specific dream guests for their ESPN Kay-Rod broadcasts, so we are taking it upon ourselves to do so for them.
On a conference call to promote their alternative “Sunday Night Baseball” telecasts for the upcoming season, The Post asked Kay and Rodriguez about who they would most want to have on the show.
“I like mischief,” Kay said.
“So anybody that could rile up Alex would be a dream guest. People from his past, not to name names, but I thought it was great to have Derek Jeter last year, and there was a lot of anticipation for that.
“If we could get people from Alex’s past, maybe people that he dated, not naming names, I think that would be fun.”
Since they declined to name specifics, here are some guests who would achieve the goal of peak awkwardness.
ESPN’s Kay-Rod broadcast kicks off with Rangers-Phillies on Sunday night on ESPN2.ESPN PR
Ben Affleck
Affleck is a die-hard Red Sox fan, and could be fun guest for the rivalry with the Yankees.
This also buries the lead, that he is married to Jennifer Lopez, A-Rod’s ex-fiancée, for the second time.
Because Jeter has already gone on the program, Affleck might be the next person out there who would make their spot appointment TV.
Madonna
Madonna falls into the the list of people who A-Rod has dated in the past — at least they were rumored to have in 2008.
She has a connection to baseball, having starred in “A League of Their Own” in 1992.
Red Sox fans taunt A-Rod with photos of Madonna in 2008.Getty Images
Bronson Arroyo
During the 2004 ALCS between the Yankees and Red Sox, A-Rod stirred up a big controversy when he swatted the ball out of Arroyo’s glove after hitting a slow roller down the first base line.
“I thought it was a little unprofessional,” Arroyo said at the time.
For his part, A-Rod explained what he should’ve done differently.
“I knew [Arroyo] was coming. I knew the line belongs to me. Maybe looking back, I should have tried to run him over,” Rodriguez said of the incident.
Dallas Braden
Braden is another former MLB pitcher who previously beefed with A-Rod.
In a 2010 game between the Yankees and A’s, A-Rod jogged over the mound to return to first base after a foul ball went out of play.
KayRod airs eight times throughout the 2023 MLB season, at 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2. The first edition comes on April 2 when the Phillies play at the Rangers.
Kay was posed the question as to which New York professional sports team would be the next one to win a championship, and he answered the Rangers, who are 35-17-9 this season and just acquired Patrick Kane from the Blackhawks.
“Oh Lord,” sighed Smith.
Host Molly Qerim informed Kay that “They don’t count!”
Smith said, as he has before, that “the only thing I know about hockey is that the puck is black and I love [NHL commissioner] Gary Bettman — that’s my buddy, who I always go to the hockey games with.”
ESPN is one of the NHL’s television partners along with TNT.
Qerim said that it was no disrespect to the Rangers or Kane but politely asked Kay to pick another team.
Kay responded by splitting the baby: “Yankees or the Mets — one of those two.”
Patrick Kane speaking to reporters Thursday for the first time since the Rangers traded for him.Mollie Walker The Rangers acquired Patrick Kane from the Blackhawks this week.Getty Images
Smith acted as though it was blasphemous for Kay, who has called Yankees games on TV or radio for over 30 years, to suggest that the Mets might hoist the World Series trophy before the Bombers.
They also acquired pitcher Jose Quintana, reliever David Robertson and outfielder Tommy Pham.
The Mets furthermore retained outfielder Brandon Nimmo on an eight-year, $162 million deal plus closer Edwin Diaz for five years and a total of $102 million.
Mets owner Steve Cohen has opened up his wallet for a massive spending spree this offseason.Newsday via Getty Images
This season, the Mets and Yankees are both listed at +750 to win the World Series on BetMGM.
One of the Eagles’ top A-list fans has been an active participant in Super Bowl 2023 against the Kansas City Chiefs. From a Super Bowl commercial to a meme-worthy moment with some nachos, Bradley Cooper has been everywhere.
The 48-year-old is a lifelong Eagles fan, growing up outside Philadelphia in Abington Township. His links to the city don’t stop there. The nine-time Oscar-nominated actor had a lead in “Silver Linings Playbook” — a film set in Philly that features several game-day moments — and he was the voice for an Eagles apology to Santa Claus in an ESPN promo for the infamous snowball-throwing incident.
For the year’s big game, Cooper called up his mom to act opposite him in a T-Mobile commercial, advertising their 5G services. The ad opens with T-Mobile explaining they tried to create a commercial with the mother-son duo, with Cooper as a company rep while his mom plays a customer. The commercial shows the two’s endless laughter as they mess up several takes.
Bradley Cooper snacks on pregame nachos before Super Bowl 2023.Twitter
Bradley Cooper cheers during NFC Championship game for the Eagles vs. San Francisco 49ers.Twitter
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Bradley Cooper has been all around this Super Bowl 2023, including making a commercial with his mom for T-Mobile.YouTube
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Cooper’s mother opens up with “I don’t like the way you look” after he asks how he can help her.
Cooper was also the narrator for Sunday’s game introduction and was the voice behind one of the Eagles’ hype videos.
“We have an obsession around here,” Cooper opens with between flashes of video of the team, Eagles fans, and the city itself. “To stay in the moment. To focus on every single detail. The next minute. The next meeting. The next practice. The next game.”
Cooper is in attendance at State Farm Stadium for the Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, wearing an Eagles shirt. He even fueled up on some pregame nachos to cheer on his hometown team.
“Together, we’ve got one goal: Bring that Lombardi Trophy back home,” he concluded in the hype video.
Birthday celebrations just got a lot easier in the Scherzer household.
Mets pitcher Max Scherzer and his wife, Erica May-Scherzer, welcomed Nikki — the family’s fourth child — on Jan. 30, which also doubles as Erica’s birthday. Scherzer announced the news in a tweet with two photos on Saturday, including one where he held Nikki in front of a pink balloon and a bouquet of flowers.
“Our newest addition to our family baby Nikki! Born 1-30-23.. All good and healthy now. Same B-Day as the wife lol,” Scherzer wrote on Twitter.
The Mets congratulated Scherzer, their 38-year-old right-hander, on social media, quote-tweeting his announcement and sending a message to Scherzer and Erica — with blue and orange heart emojis attached at the end.
Erica had announced in August that the couple was expecting their fourth child, posting a photo of the Scherzer family that included their three oldest kids: Brooke, Kacey and Derek Alexander. They each held a balloon — representing a number one, two or three — while Erica held the “4.”
Max Scherzer is entering his second season with the Mets. Getty Images Max Scherzer recently had another child with his wife. Getty Images
It’s the couple’s first child since Scherzer left the Nationals for the Mets following the 2021 season. Derek Alexander, their third, was born on the same day as one of Scherzer’s starts that year, and the then-Washington ace tossed a five-hitter before rushing to the hospital afterward to be with Erica for her planned C-section.
“It was pretty crazy,” Scherzer said in 2021, according to an MLB.com article shortly after Derek Alexander’s birth. “I kind of like it that way. Erica did, too. She likes it like that. She didn’t mind going to the hospital while everything was going on. It was even better to come back with a win.”
Max Scherzer announced the birth of Nikki, his family’s fourth child, on Saturday.Twitter/Max_Scherzer
Max Scherzer and his wife, Erica May-Scherzer, hold their new daughter, Nikki.Twitter/Max_Scherzer
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Brooke was born in 2017, while Scherzer and Erica welcomed Kacey 15 months later.
Scherzer and the Mets will start their season together over the next few weeks, as pitchers and catchers report Feb. 15 — with position players following five days later ahead of the team’s Grapefruit League games. And this year, the rotation will again be one of their strengths.
The Mets signed Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana in the offseason, though they lost Jacob DeGrom to the Rangers. Scherzer, in a three-year deal, will once again anchor one of the rotation’s top slots after a 2022 season where he went 11-5 with a 2.29 ERA, striking out 173 batters while walking 24.
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