Exclusive | Why Skip Bayless felt some trepidation before anticipated Stephen A. Smith reunion

When Stephen A.Smith accepted Skip Bayless’ invitation to reunite on-air for the first time in nearly a decade, thoughts of whether the famed “First Take” sparring partners could pick up where they left off nine years ago immediately bubbled up.“All of the sudden, the reality hit me, ‘Gee, what if it’s not the same? What if it’s awkward or it feels like it’s something that was a relic of the past that we could never reach back and re-launch?'” Bayless recently told The Post.The “trepidation” Bayless, 73, felt as he prepared to host Smith, 57, as the first guest of “The Skip Bayless Show” evaporated moments after the pair exchanged pleasantries through the cameras.“I just immediately felt like we were still on the air together, like I had done this yesterday and the day before and the day before.

It felt completely, utterly normal from moment one,” said Bayless, who exited FS1 last summer.“They say it’s like riding a bicycle, yeah, it was like riding a bicycle, except it was like riding the greatest bicycle ever built in sports media in a heartbeat.”From their “instant rapport” during an early 2000s appearance on Jim Rome’s “The Last Word,” to their reconnection at the Worldwide Leader, where “Pardon the Interruption” appearances led to a “First Take” team-up in 2012 upon Smith’s return to the network, that “something special” between Bayless and Smith was on display Monday when the pair took a long-awaited stroll down memory lane on Bayless’ program.During the near 60-minute conversation — which has since eclipsed more than 900,000 views on YouTube — Bayless and Smith covered an array of topics such as the current state of the Lakers, if Aaron Rodgers is considered “overrated” as his anticipated free agency decision looms and, of course, Smith’s five-year, $100 million contract extension with ESPN that was announced last week.“It was [an] easy conversation,” Bayless said.“There was not a...