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Skip Bayless, known for his critical stance on the NFL, is offering praise to the league and Roc Nation for choosing Bad Bunny as the performer for Sunday’s halftime show in Santa Clara.
“I found it to be a creative and unique selection,” Bayless remarked to the Daily Mail during this week’s NFL Crucial Catch dinner in San Francisco, an event hosted by the American Cancer Society. “He’s the most streamed artist globally, which is a win for the NFL.”
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, is a Grammy-winning musician and actor known for his outspoken views against Donald Trump and ICE, often drawing ire from conservative groups for his Spanish lyrics. Despite the controversy surrounding his appearance on this major stage, Bayless finds himself intrigued by Bad Bunny, though in moderation.
“I haven’t fully embraced his music yet, but I’m making an effort,” he admitted. “I heard a song today that caught my interest. Perhaps I’m not his target audience, but what stands out is his immense talent in various areas. I’m pleased with the choice.”
The fact that the halftime show has become the focal point of debate for Super Bowl LX is not lost on Bayless, who started covering the event back in 1976. By then, Joe Namath had already made his legendary victory guarantee for Super Bowl III, and Bayless has since witnessed countless memorable media events, now seeming like distant memories.
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.