Is Skip Bayless Ever Happy?

I just read an article by ESPN Page 2 columnist Skip Bayless about what a huge mistake it would be for the Texans to pass on Vince Young.

Leaving the absurdity of this premise aside, I have one question: Is this guy ever in a good mood? Every article Bayless writes is about some team or player that has screwed up, or is overrated (Bayless also makes a comment in this article that he will be writing a column about how overrated Leinhart is, surprise), or won't win even though everyone thinks they will. His articles are always negative. Maybe that is his thing or his hook or whatever, but I have to say that it gets old. I guess being forced to appear on that crappy morning show, Cold Pizza, has driven Bayless insane.

Whatever the reason, is incessant need to contradict everyone else and his constant negativity have lead to some ridiculous pronouncements in his articles. Take yesterday's article for instance, the premise of which was that the Houstan Texans would be morons for passing on Vince Young and selecting Reggie Bush and so would any other team. Why? Why would the Texans, who just gave David Carr a contract extension, traded for Eric Moulds and signed Jeb Putzier to go along with Andre Johnson, be stupid for adding the most explosive player in college football (Bush, not Young)? Wouldn't picking Reggie Bush make sense? Or, in the alternative, wouldn't it make sense for the Texans to trade down to someone who wants Bush, Leinhart or Young, and then select some offensive lineman, so Carr can finally feel what it is like to remain upright for more than 2 seconds per play? Picking Vince Young would create a QB controversy from Day 1. It would mean the Texans are paying a boatload of money to both the starting QB and the back-up, regardless of which player filled each role, and their OL would still stink, meaning that Young or Carr would continue to get murdered. And this strategy makes sense?

Bayless conveniently tosses aside this logic by stating, "[t]hey don't know quite what to make of Young because, quite simply, there's never been anyone quite like him. He's not Randall Cunningham, or Doug Williams, Michael Vick or Donovan McNabb. He's simply Jordanesque. Conventional NFL evaluators should quit thinking of him as a quarterback and just consider him a playmaker. An igniter. A moneyback, with a guarantee." Really? Isn't this the same crap they said about Mike Vick? Do you think the Falcons wish they could cash in on Vick's moneyback guarantee right now? And stating that Young will be better than Cunningham, Vick, Williams and McNabb doesn't really support Bayless' notion that Young will be an MVP QB. I don't recall any of those guys ever winning the NFL MVP.

I am not anti-Young. I watched the Rose Bowl. Vince Young was awesome, he was unstoppable. He is a winner. Whichever team picks him, if it develops him properly, will have a very good QB for many years. If they are lucky, he will develop into another McNabb or Steve McNair. However stating that Young made the best defensive coach in college (Pete Carroll) look stupid, which Bayless does, is a total misrepresentation. Pete Carroll is not the best defensive coach in college football, he's not even close. Anyone watching that Rose Bowl could tell you that, and certainly any New England Patriots fans would back you up. Young had a great game against a coach who refused to alter his gameplan. Young had a less spectacular game against a legitmiately great defensive team, Ohio State (although Bayless would have you believe dominated the entire time), but he won, and that's what's important. He is a very good player and if he drops out of the Top 5, the teams that passed on him after Bush and Leinhart are gone, really will be making a mistake. But, I just find it hard to believe that anyone would consider the Texans stupid for taking Reggie Bush.

But I guess that is Bayless' thing: finding the negative in every situation.