Despite having a noticeably strained relationship with Troy Aikman, Skip Bayless was “shocked” when he heard the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback had an issue with him.

Bayless took part in the latest episode of the Excuse me podcast with host Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter (Eric Sollenberger). And during a wide-ranging interview that included discussions about Stephen A. Smith, Shannon Sharpe and Charles Barkley, PFT noted that Aikman was their previous guest, prompting him to ask Bayless about the current state of their relationship.


“Great. We’re in touch, we’re friendly,” Bayless said, before questioning whether PFT was referring to issues arising from his 1996 book on the Dallas Cowboys, titled Hell-Bent.

“Did you suggest or say in the book that he was gay?” PFT asked.

“I didn’t say…you obviously didn’t read it,” Bayless concluded, and Big Cat was asked to confirm, “We don’t read it.”

“If you read my book, you would love the way I portrayed Troy in my book,” Bayless insisted. “Because Troy was the hero of that book. I liked my portrait of him so much that I signed a book and hand-delivered the very first copy of my book to Troy on the camp practice field at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. The first day of camp, practice was over, I grabbed my book and gave it to him. And I was shocked that he didn’t like it at first. But we’ve come back and he’s been nothing but wonderful to me. And we text.”

Aikman probably didn’t like his portrayal in the book because Bayless addressed rumors that the Cowboys quarterback was gay. In subsequent years, Bayless was accused of making the unsubstantiated claim that Aikman was homosexual. However, Bayless didn’t make that claim, he parroted a rumor from then-Cowboys head coach Barry Switzer. While Bayless wasn’t trying to start a rumor of his own, we can still wonder if that rumor was even worth investigating.

Nearly thirty years later, it’s interesting to hear Bayless claim that his relationship with Aikman has improved since then. Because if it has improved, it took more than twenty years to get there. When Fox hired Bayless from ESPN in 2016, Aikman loudly ripped the decision.

“To say I am disappointed in the hiring of Skip Bayless would be a massive understatement,” Aikman said in 2016 when he was the lead NFL analyst for Fox. “I believe success is achieved through acquiring and developing talented, respected and credible individuals, none of which applies to Skip Bayless.”

They are no longer teammates, with Aikman moving to ESPN and Bayless leaving Fox to focus on digital ventures earlier this year. But at some point in recent years, it seems like Bayless himself discussed his portrayal of Aikman with the former Cowboys quarterback. However, Aikman has not publicly discussed whether his feelings toward Bayless have improved.

(Excuse my opinion)