The people who actually know and work with Skip Bayless depict him as somebody who is far from scum. That doesn't mean what he said wasn't tone-deaf, but I think this sort of thing falls more under the category of "bad social skills" than "bad human being." I can see how the two might blend together after a while, especially with a public figure like Bayless.
But I'm sure he's not the only one who had that thought or something similar. My first reaction - granted I read about it on twitter, which changes things - was
you have to be kidding me, in his first game as a Celtic? If I were in a position where I actually knew him and loved him as a person, that reaction would be different, but as somebody watching from afar I don't think it's unreasonable to process these things through a different lens. To actually say it, though, to a national audience and not in your basement, lacks empathy and kind of re-enforces his image as a guy who
just doesn't get it, which in a way is the worst thing you can be. You don't have to know or even care about Gordon Hayward to understand the agony of what he's going through.
I'm glad
@nomar brought up Napoleon McCallum because I was going to mention it. That's the all-time worst for me (Andrew Bogut had an elbow injury that ranks up there). The optimist in me says that this is one of those injuries where the visceral reaction it invokes causes us to overstate the severity. I absolutely understand how a guys foot pointing sideways would cause one to wonder about his career or even life, but I went through something myself where I broke my wrist and my hand basically rotated 90 degrees. I was in seventh grade at the time and the thing was effed up even weeks after the cast came off. I remember laying down in my bed with both my arms extended to the ceiling just crying thinking they were never going to be the same. I thought the injury killed my career (turns out it would be talent). To this day I know nothing about what the hell happened other than that they put me to sleep, stuck a pin in it and cut the thing open. I was probably the worst science/anatomy student as you'll find but I'll never question the power of science or medicine again.
