PFT Commenter's got the Hottest Takes

shaggydog2000

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Apr 5, 2007
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Imagine putting yourself in a position to be high roaded by Barstool? GJGE Deadspin, you hateful, spiteful jerks.
Deadspin has turned itself into the unfunny hipster pointing at how superior they are to everything else without offering anything much of value any more. I can't read any of it without hating it. Most of Barstool is stupid bro shit, but they at least have some things worth reading, and PFT is no 1 on that list.
 

jcd0805

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Nov 3, 2007
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Man I can't believe she did that. Love him even more for his response to it all. When did Deadspin try to turn into the conscience of America? Wow they suck bad for this.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Man I can't believe she did that. Love him even more for his response to it all. When did Deadspin try to turn into the conscience of America? Wow they suck bad for this.
I don't think that it's quite as bad as everyone says. Is exposing PFT's real name bad? Of course, you won't get an argument from me on that. But at the same time, she did bring up a few good points: mainly that PFT and Big Cat are always cited as the exception to the norm of Barstool's misogyny. I think that it's fair to investigate into whether the guy believes the crap Barstool is selling or if he doesn't.
 

jcd0805

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I don't think that it's quite as bad as everyone says. Is exposing PFT's real name bad? Of course, you won't get an argument from me on that. But at the same time, she did bring up a few good points: mainly that PFT and Big Cat are always cited as the exception to the norm of Barstool's misogyny. I think that it's fair to investigate into whether the guy believes the crap Barstool is selling or if he doesn't.
I mean there are a bunch of people on there that are cool, I love the girls on Chicks in the Office in the afternoon and I love Kayce Smith on the drive show, it's not ALL misogyny and "oh boy girls and boobies!" Portnoy is an ass but there's more to Barstool than just him.
 

kenneycb

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I don't think that it's quite as bad as everyone says. Is exposing PFT's real name bad? Of course, you won't get an argument from me on that. But at the same time, she did bring up a few good points: mainly that PFT and Big Cat are always cited as the exception to the norm of Barstool's misogyny. I think that it's fair to investigate into whether the guy believes the crap Barstool is selling or if he doesn't.
But she knows she isn't going to get anything from him because Barstool is his employer and he's not going to trash him. So she gets to push her agenda while claiming PFT's "No comment" response was the equivalent of "He never said he DOESN'T beat his wife."
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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But she knows she isn't going to get anything from him because Barstool is his employer and he's not going to trash him. So she gets to push her agenda while claiming PFT's "No comment" response was the equivalent of "He never said he DOESN'T beat his wife."
She doesn't know that at all. That's why reporters ask seemingly stupid questions of the people that they interview (How did you feel when the ball went through your legs, Mr. Buckner?). Every once in awhile, you get someone who says, "It felt great, I just want to play another game of baseball!" Her job, in this piece (and it's admittedly slanted because there's a tension between Barstool and Deadspin and because of the way that Portnoy has treated her) was to look at PFT and see if he's the "guy" that other media says he is.

Does she have an agenda, again no doubt (see above), but at the same time she can't go into writing a story with a presumption that a person is going to answer a question a certain way. Like I said, that subject might surprise and do a complete 180 from what was originally thought. This is the same things that Deadspin does to other members like Peter King, Rick Reilly, Bill Simmons, etc. The only difference is that this is a media member that most people like.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Just listened to it. He took a total pass and didn't mention the Deadspin doxxing hatchet job once. I think PFT specifically asked Portnoy not to go after Wagner either, which, surprisingly, Portnoy agreed to. Barstool is actually taking the high road in this, making Deadspin look even more petty.
I'm shocked. Because Portnoy is a horrible person.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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But she knows she isn't going to get anything from him because Barstool is his employer and he's not going to trash him. So she gets to push her agenda while claiming PFT's "No comment" response was the equivalent of "He never said he DOESN'T beat his wife."
As pointed out in the comments on Deadspin, there's a big disconnect that they want to hold PFT responsible for the terrible things Portnoy has done, but Laura herself works for an organization that employed Greg Howard who's been accused multiple times of sexual harassment and IIRC assault as well, and Deadspin was once run by the despicable AJ Daulerio.
 

InstaFace

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I don't think that it's quite as bad as everyone says. Is exposing PFT's real name bad? Of course, you won't get an argument from me on that. But at the same time, she did bring up a few good points: mainly that PFT and Big Cat are always cited as the exception to the norm of Barstool's misogyny. I think that it's fair to investigate into whether the guy believes the crap Barstool is selling or if he doesn't.
I'm not so sure about even that. Is exposing his name "good"? No, I don't think it serves much public purpose if at all. Is exposing it "bad"? Well, he's a sports-entertainment personality. Part of his schtick is pretending to be a stereotype of a dumb knee-jerk sports-site commentator, in the truest Stephen Colbert fashion. He exists to be funny and talk about sports (and general pop culture). His anonymity serves no purpose other than focusing our impression of him on the caricature - it's not like he's some deep-undercover secret agent saving the world from bad guys.

So I'm left with "meh". She's asking the question about whether he's supportive of all the misogynist bro shit that Portnoy is a magnet for and that Barstool symbolizes, which is fine, but I'm not sure the doxxing really enters into it. I guess it has the slightest bit of a point when she tries to distinguish the proverbial Stephen Colbert-the-character from Stephen Colbert-the-person, because the PFTC character isn't going to comment on any such thing, whereas the private person behind PFTC obviously has opinions. Whether you care about those opinions is up to you, but I at least see what she's getting at with the distinction. She certainly doesn't spend a huge amount of time on it, and while it seems superfluous, I'm not sure there's any appreciable harm to it either.
 

Bozo Texino

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As pointed out in the comments on Deadspin, there's a big disconnect that they want to hold PFT responsible for the terrible things Portnoy has done, but Laura herself works for an organization that employed Greg Howard who's been accused multiple times of sexual harassment and IIRC assault as well, and Deadspin was once run by the despicable AJ Daulerio.
This is where I'm at with the whole thing. I understand Wagner's point of view here, but criminy - she needs to take a look at some of the folks her company has employed. Nevermind Howard and Daulerio, Clay Travis ain't exactly W.C. Heinz.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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This is where I'm at with the whole thing. I understand Wagner's point of view here, but criminy - she needs to take a look at some of the folks her company has employed. Nevermind Howard and Daulerio, Clay Travis ain't exactly W.C. Heinz.
I get what you're saying here but this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison. Wagner doesn't work for Daulerio or Travis or Will Leitch for that matter. PFT works for Portnoy. I think it's inbounds for someone to say, "Do you share your boss' feelings on xyz?" because the idea is that if you work for someone like Portnoy, you either have the same views as him or at the very least, you tolerate it. And that would run counter to the narrative being written about PFT.

And let me state, that I have no ill will against PFT. I don't listen to his podcasts (mainly because I usually don't listen to sports podcasts) and I think that he's a really funny follow on Twitter. But at the end of the day, the guy is a member of the media and he's becoming more widely known. People are going to infer things about the people you work for or ask you questions that you might not want to answer. That's the price of being famous.
 

Bozo Texino

still hates Dave Kerpen
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I get what you're saying here but this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison. Wagner doesn't work for Daulerio or Travis or Will Leitch for that matter. PFT works for Portnoy. I think it's inbounds for someone to say, "Do you share your boss' feelings on xyz?" because the idea is that if you work for someone like Portnoy, you either have the same views as him or at the very least, you tolerate it. And that would run counter to the narrative being written about PFT.

And let me state, that I have no ill will against PFT. I don't listen to his podcasts (mainly because I usually don't listen to sports podcasts) and I think that he's a really funny follow on Twitter. But at the end of the day, the guy is a member of the media and he's becoming more widely known. People are going to infer things about the people you work for or ask you questions that you might not want to answer. That's the price of being famous.
I had thought Wagner was already with Gawker Media when they unnecessarily outed that Conde Nast exec. She joined up with Deadspin in 2017, so I was wrong on that one.

I can see where you're coming from. At the very least, I think Wagner appears a bit tone deaf. PFT's response definitely makes him look like he has the high road.

Again, I feel for Wagner - she shouldn't have to deal with the shit she's gotten from Portnoy. I just don't know if this was the most effective thing for her to do.
 

TFP

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Unrelated to all this, but for movie buffs - check out Lights Camera Barstool (formerly Lights, Camera, Podcast). They are fucking hilarious and do a great job talking about movies in a down to earth way. The Avengers Infinity War episode where they did the movie villain draft with Coley Mick had me laughing out loud like an idiot, and the bonus that makes this on topic is that PFT is their executive producer.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Apr 12, 2001
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I can see where you're coming from. At the very least, I think Wagner appears a bit tone deaf. PFT's response definitely makes him look like he has the high road.
I don't think that, objectively, Wagner's piece is a good read. I think that it's kind of scattershot and while there are some good philosophical questions raised about how responsible should I person be for his or her boss' actions (especially in this political climate), I'm not sure if Wagner was the person to write it. I think that she's a fine writer, I don't doubt that she has the chops for this. What I think is that she has a lot vested in this, especially with her relationship with Portnoy. I feel that a better story would have been to give it to another Deadspin staffer. I think that the message would have been clearer and the knee jerk reaction wouldn't be, "Well, she's picking on PFT to get at Portnoy."

The larger thing is that no media outlet is going to be squeaky clean, I get it. The Globe, the NY Times, have all hired shitty people to write or publish for them. That doesn't mean that other folks who work their can't call out bullshit when they see it.
 

kenneycb

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Dec 2, 2006
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I get what you're saying here but this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison. Wagner doesn't work for Daulerio or Travis or Will Leitch for that matter. PFT works for Portnoy. I think it's inbounds for someone to say, "Do you share your boss' feelings on xyz?" because the idea is that if you work for someone like Portnoy, you either have the same views as him or at the very least, you tolerate it. And that would run counter to the narrative being written about PFT.

And let me state, that I have no ill will against PFT. I don't listen to his podcasts (mainly because I usually don't listen to sports podcasts) and I think that he's a really funny follow on Twitter. But at the end of the day, the guy is a member of the media and he's becoming more widely known. People are going to infer things about the people you work for or ask you questions that you might not want to answer. That's the price of being famous.
It's inbounds to ask the question, sure. And it's inbounds to write the article. It's the content in the article that is the issue. She takes an article about PFT and makes him a secondary character to further her agenda towards Barstool (the 30 or so links that were about Portnoy and her's feud) and in the process outs PFT's identity for some unknown reason. The article just had no clear thesis or structure where she could spell out her point.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Calling Wanger's issues with Portnoy a feud is selling her very, very short. He's been repeatedly publicly vile to her on social media platforms. She has every right to be appalled and disgusted with him for the rest of her life.

I don't disagree that using PFT to further her grievances against Portnoy strikes me as clumsy at best, but I would not underestimate the type of shit she's had to deal with from Portnoy.
 

kenneycb

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Yeah I have no idea the extent of it, nor do I really care about either person for that matter. Both people are irrelevant for me personally.
 

The Gray Eagle

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Aug 1, 2001
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How Come We Cheer Sean McVay For Resting his Starters in Preseason, But Vilify Bill Belichick When He Does it in the Super Bowl?

"There’s a new disturbing trend in the NFL this year- one thats ruining the fan experience, and setting a dangerous president for all the youngsters out there watching that practice is meaningless. I’m talking about The Los Angeles Rams decision to sit their starters for the entire preseason. The dozens of LA fans that come out to preseason games didnt pay $2 to sit around stoned all day watching Sean Mannion, they paid to sit around stoned watching Jared Goff. I mean can you imagine the outcryif the Patriots benched there starters for a meaningless presesaon game instead of the Superbowl? Goodell would have a field day."

Hard to argue with that. Makes you think!