Shannon Sharpe, you may be aware, is a big fan of LeBron James. This is partially because LeBron is the best basketball player alive, and also because he knows rooting for LeBron makes his Undisputed co-host Skip Bayless agitated. Bayless has been consistently critical of James in his years bloviating on sports talk television, but in Sharpe he’s met a unique foe.
Namely, one who is willing to use props to get a point across. Sharpe’s Instagram page offers a glimpse into his world unlike any other broadcaster in the game today. A brief scroll through his feed shows you what he’s wearing on the day’s show, what shoes he wore to the studio, and usually what kind of hot cereal he had for breakfast. But sometimes it also shows that he’s going to break out his goat mask, which he uses to call LeBron the greatest basketball player of all time.
Here’s what we got on Thursday morning after James scored 40 points and added five rebounds and six assists in a 121-113 win against the San Antonio Spurs.
Sharpe has a long history of doing fun bits with props, one that started with his infamous Milds and Yak segment after a bad weekend in the NFL for everyone by Sharpe. It’s evolved since then, taking on new life with his support of James and the goat mask. And, sure enough, Sharpe started Thursday’s broadcast in full regalia, wearing a LeBron Lakers jersey with a mild hanging out of the mouth.
He started the episode by bleating which, yes, is the noise that a goat makes. He bleated, yelled “SKIP!” and then flexed, for that is all that really needs to be said. From there it was made clear that can’t see very well in that mask as he tried to address Bayless while extolling the greatness of LeBron James. Added to the collection of cigar and cigarette paraphernalia this time was a wet towel and a candle, because as Shannon explains it, Skip likes to “dry snitch” on him for smoking at work.
Skip, of course, somehow disagreed that scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter of a comeback win was good enough for LeBron and the Lakers. Shannon, of course, wasn’t having it. And the discussions soon were underway and it became a normal sports debate show. But the first minute of the program, where Shannon is let loose to be ridiculous and have a bit of fun, really can’t be beat.
You can also watch the full episode on YouTube if you’d like, but the supercut of Sharpe as a goat he posted on Instagram pretty much sums the whole thing up. Shannon Sharpe continues to be the best thing on sports television. By now, it seems like he’s well aware of that fact, too. He really is living his best life out there.
