Editing Skip Bayless (section)

===Print journalism===

Bayless went directly from Vanderbilt to ''[[The Miami Herald]]'', where he wrote sports features for a little more than two years.  He then took a position at the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' in August 1976. There, he was best known for investigative stories on the [[Los Angeles Dodgers]]' clubhouse resentment of "golden boy" [[Steve Garvey]] and his celebrity wife [[Cyndy Garvey|Cyndy]], and on [[Los Angeles Rams|Rams]] owner [[Carroll Rosenbloom]]'s behind-the-scenes decisions to start different quarterbacks each week. Bayless won the [[Eclipse Award]] for Outstanding Newspaper Writing in 1977 for his coverage of [[Seattle Slew]]'s [[Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing|Triple Crown]] victory.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.drf.com/events/past-eclipse-award-winners|title=Past Eclipse Award Winners|work=Daily Racing Form|access-date=April 26, 2016}}</ref>

At 26, Bayless was hired by ''[[The Dallas Morning News]]'' to write its lead sports column, and three years later, joined the ''[[Dallas Times Herald]]''. This caught the attention of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', prompting the paper to do a story on the development.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2007/12/espns_print_fetish.html|title=The Wall Street Journal misreads ESPN's appetite for top print journalists|last=Shafer|first=Jack|date=December 21, 2007|work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|access-date=11 October 2016}}</ref> Bayless was voted Texas sportswriter of the year by the [[National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association]] three times (1979, 1984 and 1986).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxsports.com/presspass/latestnews/2016/08/01/skip-bayless-joins-fox-sports|title=Skip Bayless Joins FOX Sports|date=August 1, 2016|work=Fox Sports|access-date=11 October 2016}}</ref>

In 1989, Bayless wrote his first book, ''God's Coach: The Hymns, Hype and Hypocrisy of Tom Landry's Cowboys'', about the rise and fall of [[Tom Landry]]'s [[Dallas Cowboys]]. Following the Cowboys' [[Super Bowl]] victory in 1993, Bayless wrote ''The Boys: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys' Season on the Edge'', and following the third Cowboys Super Bowl win in four seasons, Bayless wrote a third book about the Cowboys, ''Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the "Win or Else" Dallas Cowboys''. ''Hell-Bent'' caused a stir, in part, because in the course of writing about the conflict between Cowboys coach [[Barry Switzer]] and star quarterback [[Troy Aikman]], Bayless reported on speculation by Switzer and people close to him within the Dallas organization that Aikman was gay.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas-cowboys/cowboysheadlines/2011/08/31/troy-aikman-hints-he-might-deck-skip-bayless-if-two-were-to-meet-|title=Dallas Cowboys: Troy Aikman hints he might deck Skip Bayless if two were to meet|date=August 2011|publisher=SportsDay|access-date=11 October 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022205048/http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas-cowboys/cowboysheadlines/2011/08/31/troy-aikman-hints-he-might-deck-skip-bayless-if-two-were-to-meet-|archive-date=October 22, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In 1998, Bayless left Dallas after 17 years and become the lead sports columnist for the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. In his first year there, Bayless won the [[Lisagor Award]] for excellence in sports column writing, presented by the Chicago Headline Club (the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/05/10/tribunes-bayless-wins-major-award/|title=Tribune's Bayless Wins Major Award|work=tribunedigital-chicagotribune|date=May 10, 1999 |access-date=April 26, 2016}}</ref> In 2000, he was voted Illinois sportswriter of the year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/04/29/tribunes-bayless-honored/|title=Tribune's Bayless honored|work=tribunedigital-chicagotribune|date=April 29, 2001 |access-date=April 26, 2016}}</ref> Bayless left the ''Chicago Tribune'' in July 2001.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/07/16/leaving-this-space-with-fond-memories/|title=Leaving this space with fond memories|work=tribunedigital-chicagotribune|date=July 16, 2001 |access-date=April 26, 2016}}</ref>

Bayless's work has also appeared in various national sports publications, including ''[[Sports Illustrated]]''.<ref>[http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1010499/index.htm Skip Bayless, "Mail Bonding", ''Sports Illustrated,'' August 4, 1997]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>