A frequent critic of the NFL, Skip Bayless is applauding the league and partner Roc Nation for picking Bad Bunny to headline Sunday’s halftime show Santa Clara.
‘I thought it was an inspired, different sort of choice,’ Bayless told the Daily Mail at this week’s NFL Crucial Catch dinner in San Francisco, hosted by the American Cancer Society. ‘He’s the most downloaded artist in the world, so good for the NFL.’
Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny is the Grammy Award-winning musician, actor and Donald Trump critic detested by conservatives for his Spanish lyrics and anti-ICE stance. But while some are furious to see him get the biggest stage in music, Bad Bunny has intrigued Bayless, albeit in small doses.
‘You know, it’s funny,’ Bayless began. ‘I thought he was not good, [but] great, in Happy Gilmore 2 because he stole it. He’s a very gifted actor, and I like him on Saturday Night Live. I like him a lot.
‘And the music, I haven’t gotten into yet, I try,’ he continued. ‘And then I heard a song today that I liked, and maybe I’m too out of the demo, but all I know about Bad Bunny is: He is extremely talented in many, many ways, so I’m happy. I liked [the decision].’
That the halftime act is passing as the biggest controversy of Super Bowl LX isn’t lost on Bayless, who began covering the annual game in 1976. By that time, Jets legend Joe Namath had famously guaranteed victory over the Colts before Super Bowl III, but Bayless would get a front-row seat for countless similar media moments, all of which now seem like a distant memory.
Skip Bayless spoke to the Daily Mail at this week’s NFL Crucial Catch dinner in San Francisco, hosted by the American CancerSociety
Bayless was particularly fond of Bad Bunny’s performance in the Happy Gilmore sequel
‘I started Super Bowl X, so it’s a long time ago,’ said Bayless, the former ESPN star who now hosts Underdog Fantasy’s Arena: Gridiron. ‘It was in Miami at the Orange Bowl, Steelers and Cowboys. That’s how far back I go.’
Since then, Bayless has seen the colorful souls of NFL players extinguished by public relations specialists aimed at sanitizing young jocks for public consumption.
‘What’s the difference now?’ Bayless asked, rhetorically. ‘It was already a worldwide-covered event way back in the 70s, so that hasn’t changed, but the players are so schooled now to say nothing… they’re so media trained not to create controversy or distraction or raise any eyebrows about anything other than cliche football.’
This week hasn’t been much different.
Patriots left tackle Will Campbell confessed to kicking a cat and head coach Mike Vrabel entertained questions about castration, but neither New England nor Seattle added any real intrigue to Sunday’s game when talking to the media.
‘I miss that because back in the day, everybody used this stage to promote themselves, and now everybody has their own podcast stage, and they don’t need it,’ Bayless said. ‘So the Super Bowl stage has become vanilla, stale, boring, cliche ridden. Nobody ever says anything worth repeating.’
And Bayless certainly covered some players worth repeating.
The Oklahoma native was on his way to becoming a three-time Texas Sportswriter of the Year honoree when Cowboys linebacker Thomas ‘Hollywood’ Henderson correctly predicted Dallas’ shutout of the Los Angeles Rams in the 1978 NFC championship.
Weeks later, Henderson was at it again before the Super Bowl, famously jesting that Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw ‘couldn’t spell “cat” if you spotted him the C and the A.’
Bradshaw and the Steelers would have the last laugh in Super Bowl XIII, but the trash talk did land both the Pittsburgh and Dallas stars on the cover of Newsweek.
Dallas Cowboys linebacker Thomas ‘Hollywood’ Henderson landed on the cover of Newsweek by calling Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw out before Super Bowl XIII
Terr Bradshaw would win four Super Bowls and certainly knew how to spell ‘CAT’
As Bayless recalls, Henderson planned the entire moment beforehand.
‘I knew Thomas very well and and it was all contrived,’ Bayless said. ‘He’d rehearsed it. In fact, I was in his hotel room before that media session, and he was rehearsing the line, so he had thought it up.
‘And it was a funny, clever line. And [Cowboys coach] Tom Landry did not love it, but that’s all anybody talked about for the next 48 hours.’
Alas, that was a long time ago, as Bayless knows all too well after watching Monday’s Opening Night in San Jose.
‘So you know, nobody’s going to talk about Bad Bunny,’ he said. ‘Nobody’s going to talk about anything remotely controversial.’
As for a prediction for Sunday’s game, Bayless was inching towards the AFC champions as of Tuesday night.
‘This is not concrete,’ Bayless said. ‘I am leaning Patriots, and the world loves Seattle, yeah… I just like the way the quarterback [Drake Maye] plays and the coach [Mike Vrabel] coaches.
‘I believe in their culture that he is created, recreated on the fly. So they’ve won me over so far. Maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow and think differently, but that’s for now.’
Of course, Seattle’s players are welcome to change Bayless’ mind, but that might mean taking a page from Henderson’s playbook, and nobody expects that.
