Skip Bayless

“My mom was real loud and that made me speak only when spoken to. But even as a child, if you challenged me, you would get both barrels.”

“Sometimes I feel like the easiest target in sports.”

“My father was just an evil man.”

“At the risk of damaging the 'First Take' ratings, the God's truth is I do not hate LeBron James. I actually like the man, who seems as close to being a role model as any superstar can be. He seems to be a good father and husband with a sharing, caring heart.”

“Too many people in charge at ESPN, for my taste, were a little too fearful. It's a Disney network. There are just certain boundaries that you can't even tiptoe along.”

“I've worked with some people and they turn, they become that image on TV and they're lost in it, lost in who they are. It scares me. I want to stay me, preserve my soul.”

“I obviously can't read, watch and listen to everything. But of the media members I follow, all are pro-LeBron - most of them passionately so - and most are extremely slow to criticize him and quick to give him a pass.”

“I've long been offended by not-so-godly pro football players I've known who showed up for pregame chapel - Sunday-only Christians rubbing the proverbial rabbit's foot - then after victories declared it was 'God's will' that their team won.”

“I remain unashamed to publicly declare my lifelong love of watching football. I have watched thousands upon thousands of games simply because I cared solely about which team won.”

“Field goal kicking is wildly exciting for all the wrong reasons. We regularly interrupt games to go for a ride on the equivalent of Disney's stomach-in-throat Tower of Terror.”

“I boil down people to 'good heart' or 'bad heart' - meaning they're basically good or basically not.”

“My career is my life and my passion. It's not a job, it's my life.”

“For 30 years I wrote for newspapers and magazines, wrote books on the Dallas Cowboys' dynasties of the '70s and '90s, wrote about Michael Jordan in Chicago and Barry Bonds in the Bay Area, even wrote columns for ESPN.com from 2004 to 2006.”

“I'm not a shock jock. I never ambush anybody. I just speak my mind and my heart and my soul.”

“I say what I say because I believe it from the bottom of my soul and I can back it up.”

“Live television is the hottest medium. My passion for sports debate runs hot enough without a camera transporting it into your living room with 10 times more impact.”

“Tear away fantasy football's fraternal facade and you discover it's built on megalomaniacal anarchy. Its subliminal message: Forget the team you've always rooted for. You be the owner and the GM. You pick and control the players. You be the star, Joe (and Jill) Nobody.”

“For me, watching football played in the snow is abominable, as in snowman.”

“Mayweather has boxing genius. But it takes one to know one, and he knew right away Pacquiao also has rare boxing IQ - an equalizing gift for setting up and taking down an opponent.”

“I didn't have a curfew and always slept at friends' houses, but on Sundays, Mom dragged me to church. It was the best thing she did for me. I was moved just to be there and to feel God had a plan for me.”