Skip Bayless and Troy Aikman haven't seen each other since the former Dallas columnist wildly speculated that the ex-Cowboys quarterback was gay.
They might have to deal with each other now that they both have high-paying gigs at Fox Sports, and at least one side is willing to bury the hatchet.
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Speaking on the Seth Davis Podcast this week, Bayless said he was surprised by Aikman's outrage and would like to talk with him in person about the feud.
"No one who read that book thought Troy Aikman was gay. No one. Trust me. Because even Troy's supporters who read the book loved the way I wrote it," Bayless said. "As I wrote in the book I don't know and I don't care, but that was a big locker room issue that year and a big issue among the Switzer supporters."
The book Bayless is referring to is "Hell-Bent" which he wrote in 1996. Below is an excerpt from Bayless:
I had heard the rumor since 1991. An off-duty Dallas police officer who traveled with the Cowboys and worked security at their hotels first told me that ‘the word on the street’ was that Troy Aikman was gay. Over the next four years, I heard the rumor from two more police officers who worked around the team (and I know they mentioned it to team officials). One officer told me Aikman ‘was supposed to be’ having a relationship with a male member of a country-western band.
In Jeff Pearlman's 2008 book “Boys Will Be Boys,” the issue regarding Bayless' claims were addressed by members of the media who spoke about the impact of the columnist's words. Here's an excerpt from that:
Such details mattered not to the attention-obsessed Bayless. "Hell-Bent" was neither righteous nor journalistic, and neither was its author. “While he was working on the book Skip would call me all excited and tell me that he got information about Troy being in the back of a car in a gay area of Melrose,” says Dean Blevins, the veteran Dallas radio host. “My reaction was, ‘Why are you telling me this? And why are you so happy about it?'”
With all of this background, it's easy to understand why Aikman told Sports Illustrated earlier this year when Fox Sports hired Bayless, "To say I’m disappointed in the hiring of Skip Bayless would be an enormous understatement."
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After decades of feuding, however, Bayless says he wants to end all of this.
"For the record, I tried to get in touch with Troy after he seemed to have a public issue with it," Bayless told Seth Davis. "I wrote him a note that said, 'I'm dumbfounded by this that you have any issue with this book. I would have thought you would have loved this book.' He was like the last American hero to me. And to this day I haven't seen Troy, and I would be happy to sit down with him today and talk to him."
