Say what you want to say about Skip Bayless—he criticizes LeBron James too much, he is crazy for thinking Manny Pacquaio beat Floyd Mayweather, OMG, WILL HE PLEASE JUST GIVE THE TIM TEBOW TALK A REST?!—but it’s going to be very weird to turn on ESPN First Take on Wednesday and not see him on the show anymore.
On Tuesday, Skip joined Stephen A. Smith on the First Take set for the final time before he leaves ESPN for Fox Sports, and it was, as you would expect, an emotional experience. First Take posted this photo of Skip right before the start of the show on Instagram:
Once the show started, First Take producers included nothing but Skip’s favorite topics (including—SIGH—more Tebow!) as the debate subjects:
And in the end, Skip signed off First Take for the final time after thanking everyone he’s worked with at ESPN and hugging Stephen A. goodbye. You can watch a tribute video ESPN put together for Skip as well as the goodbye speech he made here:
As we said, it’s going to feel strange not seeing Skip on ESPN everyday, but we’re sure he’ll find a way to get under our skin in no time once he officially joins the Fox Sports team. In the meantime, you can take a look back at some of his best—and worst (mostly worst!)—First Take arguments here.
