During Thursday's airing of ESPN's "First Take", Stephen A. Smith was caught sticking out his middle finger in the general direction of Skip Bayless, but it was apparently an accidental hand gesture on Smith's part.
Smith and Bayless were having a discussion over which starting quarterback is under more pressure to win the Super Bowl. Bayless was arguing that New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning had lower expectations going into the season and therefore was under less pressure. Smith started giving Bayless a hard time about flicking through his papers on the air, at which point he started gesturing moving his hands around. Unfortunately, for some reason Stephen A. had his middle finger stuck out on his right hand, which made it look like he was flipping Bayless the bird.
Stephen A. denied flipping off Bayless via his Twitter account:
ESPN video via Sports Grid. H/T Sports Grid.
Smith and Bayless were having a discussion over which starting quarterback is under more pressure to win the Super Bowl. Bayless was arguing that New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning had lower expectations going into the season and therefore was under less pressure. Smith started giving Bayless a hard time about flicking through his papers on the air, at which point he started gesturing moving his hands around. Unfortunately, for some reason Stephen A. had his middle finger stuck out on his right hand, which made it look like he was flipping Bayless the bird.
Stephen A. denied flipping off Bayless via his Twitter account:
Will ya’ll stop. I don’t care what it looked like. I would never flip ANYONE the Bird — including @RealSkipBayless. Was just talking w/ my hands like that.Stephen A. knows he's got a good gig, so he wouldn't risk his job by doing something stupid, so for the time being I'm willing to take him at his word that this was an accident. However, this is another item on the list that ESPN censors have to look out for. Not sure how the censors would cover that up if they can't see it coming, so they have their work cut out for them.
ESPN video via Sports Grid. H/T Sports Grid.
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
