Rethinking Barstool?

[PseuFighter]

And that's fine as far as his personal decision goes to stay. But it does mean he's choosing to continue working with and being closely associated with a total shitbag because it's bringing him a great deal of money.

And hey, everyone loves money. But that should kill off any of these "Big Cat is a nice guy and doesn't like what Portnoy does" arguments. Big Cat has chosen to get paid handsomely by associating with Portnoy. By doing that he's enabling Portnoy to continue acting like a shitbag.

Well, the other thing, and I'm really just speculating based on how M&A term sheets I've seen usually work, is if he did go elsewhere, he's *probably* in breach of contract with Penn. He's a two-time dad now and I have to think in a tough spot ethnically -- it's just super hard to turn down life-changing money, and in this case, because there's a guy there that's a bonafide shit-bag. Having said that, if he's really the "better person" in this, he could speak out against this, at least in a way that won't blow up Penn. PFT did something similar a few years ago when Dave did some (shock!) racist bullshit.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Well, the other thing, and I'm really just speculating based on how M&A term sheets I've seen usually work, is if he did go elsewhere, he's *probably* in breach of contract with Penn. He's a two-time dad now and I have to think in a tough spot ethnically -- it's just super hard to turn down life-changing money, and in this case, because there's a guy there that's a bonafide shit-bag.

Yup, and I'm not pretending that it's an easy situation for him.

But I'm done with the "Big Cat is a nice guy" defenses of Barstool. He is a nice guy. He's also in bed with the shittiest human being alive. That's a mark against him. Obviously the vast majority of the blame falls on Portnoy but Portnoy is not acting on an island here. Barstool is essentially his support network to act shitty.

 

[jezza1918]

Yup, and I'm not pretending that it's an easy situation for him.

But I'm done with the "Big Cat is a nice guy" defenses of Barstool. He is a nice guy. He's also in bed with the shittiest human being alive. That's a mark against him. Obviously the vast majority of the blame falls on Portnoy but Portnoy is not acting on an island here. Barstool is essentially his support network to act shitty.

And to build off this: these defenses, when they happen, ultimately help uphold Barstool and the toxic masculinity that comes with it. And I can't help but see a strong correlation with that culture and the stuff we continue to see persist in sports locker rooms across the country. Maybe I'm just angry and seeing something that isn't there, but the juxtaposition of the latest story about Portnoy and the Danvers High School hockey (with some discussion here) dropping around the same time was too much for me to ignore.

 

[jcd0805]

Yup, and I'm not pretending that it's an easy situation for him.

But I'm done with the "Big Cat is a nice guy" defenses of Barstool. He is a nice guy. He's also in bed with the shittiest human being alive. That's a mark against him. Obviously the vast majority of the blame falls on Portnoy but Portnoy is not acting on an island here. Barstool is essentially his support network to act shitty.

Portnoy is the shittiest guy alive? That seems a bit much.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Portnoy is the shittiest guy alive? That seems a bit much.

Jesus Christ. It's hyperbole. FFS.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Portnoy is the shittiest guy alive? That seems a bit much.

Top 10? Top 100?

I'm sure SJH is merely exaggerating for effect, but the fact is Portnoy is a shitty shitty shitty human being. There is no defense at this point.

 

[RSN Diaspora]

I get the disdain for Portnoy and the toxicity of the culture there. What I don't get is why I never really see any discussion about how shitty their writing is. Literally every single Barstool article I've ever clicked on reads as if it has been written by a high school dropout.

 

[NickEsasky]

Honestly given who they are appealing to it makes sense. If they went too high brow or used too many big words they'd lose a huge chunk of their audience.

 

[CaptainLaddie]

Aren’t you a DJ? I guess that means you’re pro date rape, sexual assault, overdose deaths, smashed ear drums, drunk driving, and alcohol addiction?

Or would you view that as too reductive about everything that makes you you?

I thought I'd give this a better response than my blowoff post.

I am a DJ, and I've worked in that field for 20 years (fuck I'm old). If you'd like to compare the literal destruction of this planet by fossil fuel companies and what the military industrial complex has done to countless innocent lives (and not-so-innocent ones!) to, uh... *waves at nightclubs*, I mean, sure? Go for that comparison every day and twice on Sunday. I sleep well at night, aside from the mild apnea.

I guess what I'm saying is that if you choose to go work for a weapons manufacturer, or an oil company, or you're a librarian, you've got different demons to cope with than I do. YMMV.

 

[luckiestman]

I thought I'd give this a better response than my blowoff post.

I am a DJ, and I've worked in that field for 20 years (fuck I'm old). If you'd like to compare the literal destruction of this planet by fossil fuel companies and what the military industrial complex has done to countless innocent lives (and not-so-innocent ones!) to, uh... *waves at nightclubs*, I mean, sure? Go for that comparison every day and twice on Sunday. I sleep well at night, aside from the mild apnea.

I guess what I'm saying is that if you choose to go work for a weapons manufacturer, or an oil company, or you're a librarian, you've got different demons to cope with than I do. YMMV.

Are we sure fossil fuel companies are a net negative for humanity?

 

[CaptainLaddie]

Are we sure fossil fuel companies are a net negative for humanity?

Let's ask Portnoy and get a fair response.

 

[luckiestman]

Let's ask Portnoy and get a fair response.

I, for one, enjoyed @johnmd20 rant about DJs. Is he correct? Correct/Incorrect is the furthest thing from my mind. That guy is down for the fucking cause. You come at his podcast guy and he is coming for your ass. I like that in a man.

 

[Marciano490]

I, for one, enjoyed @johnmd20 rant about DJs. Is he correct? Correct/Incorrect is the furthest thing from my mind. That guy is down for the fucking cause. You come at his podcast guy and he is coming for your ass. I like that in a man.

It always comes back to Joe Rogan for you, doesn’t it?

 

[luckiestman]

It always comes back to Joe Rogan for you, doesn’t it?

Ok, this is very funny. Joe’s making it tougher these days but I remember days gone by

View: https://youtu.be/5gd5q_Uw0FI


Edit: I want to reiterate how hard I laughed when I read this comment. I walked right into it, beautiful.

Still stand by my johnmd20 statement

 

[johnmd20]

I, for one, enjoyed @johnmd20 rant about DJs. Is he correct? Correct/Incorrect is the furthest thing from my mind. That guy is down for the fucking cause. You come at his podcast guy and he is coming for your ass. I like that in a man.

The funny thing is, I am not even a Barstool guy. I listen to PMT when I have the time because it is a solid podcast, especially during football season. And that is the extent of my relationship with the company. Dave Portnoy should be in hell. I guess I shouldn't be surprised people love him but it is depressing that they do.

 

[Rusty13]

Portnoy blowing up his Twitter account right now claiming he has “proof” that the Business Insider “star witnesses” are “full of crap”. “It’s gonna be delete or get sued.” Etc.

 

[Marciano490]

Well, if Portnoy is telling us to disbelieve women, I guess they’re lying.

 

[Stu Nahan]

NY Mag feature on Portnoy

 

[Patriot_Reign]

Portnoy stuff aside, this video they produced is sick: View: https://twitter.com/FrankieBorrelli/status/1464248338824445988


Guy who filmed it is the one who did the bowling alley one that blew up a year or two ago.

 

[Rusty13]

Portnoy stuff aside, this video they produced is sick: View: https://twitter.com/FrankieBorrelli/status/1464248338824445988


Guy who filmed it is the one who did the bowling alley one that blew up a year or two ago.

Wow that was impressive. It‘s amazing to see how much that place has grown too.

 

[johnmd20]

Damn, that is impressive flying. Those offices are a mess. But that is an extremely large space. A very large, ridiculously messy space.

 

[nattysez]

The quality of the soundproofing in their studios with all of them set up in an otherwise open-concept space must really be something.

 

[Senator Donut]

Damn, that is impressive flying. Those offices are a mess. But that is an extremely large space. A very large, ridiculously messy space.

Those were my two thoughts, incredibly talented flying and how awful it would be to work a 9-to-5 with those coworkers. The Pardon My Take studio and the piles of junk up against the office windows were particularly alarming. I’m not a neat person, but I need my workspace to be pristine.

 

[Marciano490]

Guessing that dude really liked the Copa scene in Goodfellas. Very impressive.

 

[Patriot_Reign]

Guessing that dude really liked the Copa scene in Goodfellas. Very impressive.

Great reference!

 

[CaptainLaddie]

I'm hardly the biggest Barstool guy, but, uh, Keith Olbermann is losing his fucking mind? I think my politics is well-known here, but this is literally insane shit from Keith (which isn't out of the ordinary mind you).

View: https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1466268570648731654

 

[Rusty13]

I'm hardly the biggest Barstool guy, but, uh, Keith Olbermann is losing his fucking mind? I think my politics is well-known here, but this is literally insane shit from Keith (which isn't out of the ordinary mind you).

View: https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1466268570648731654

He is absolutely gonzo. I don’t think he even has any sort of job now. He apparently had his own YouTube show which he streamed from his house, but he hasn’t posted anything there in months. He needs help.

 

[Patriot_Reign]

Damn. Depressing to think of how Olbermann and Patrick were at the helm during the peak of Sportscenter and now Keith is just a crazy old guy shaking his fist at the sky.

 

[joe dokes]

Not to defend Olbermann here, as this tweet is batshit, but over-the-top bullshit schoolyard invective is the only language that barstool speaks and is the only language in which it/they should be spoken to. Dealing with that cesspool with William F. Buckley or John McLaughlin oration is pointless. (This is just one reason why my wife keeps me away from school board meetings where I would respond to the anti-maskers with the unhinged vitriol I think they deserve.)

 

[joe dokes]

I dont twitter and I really dont Barstool, other than being generaly aware of its toxic brand of approaching the world. There's a piece at Defector about a Seattle Kraken beat writer, Marisa Ingemi, getting canned by the Seattle Times a couple of weeks before her union-rights vested. There's some comment chatter about the stoolsample crowd "taking credit" or some such. Anyone more in the know?
https://defector.com/seattle-times-marisa-ingemi-kraken-fired/

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Ingemi wrote something on Barstool last year, I believe, well before she got the Seattle Times job. It has nothing to do with her firing as far as I know.

It's just Stoolies acting like Stoolies.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

I dont twitter and I really dont Barstool, other than being generaly aware of its toxic brand of approaching the world. There's a piece at Defector about a Seattle Kraken beat writer, Marisa Ingemi, getting canned by the Seattle Times a couple of weeks before her union-rights vested. There's some comment chatter about the stoolsample crowd "taking credit" or some such. Anyone more in the know?
https://defector.com/seattle-times-marisa-ingemi-kraken-fired/

I don't know much about her current situation, but I seem to recall she criticized the Bruins for doing some sort of Barstool promotion while she was on the B's beat for the Herald a couple years ago. I'm sure that incited some kind of reaction from the knuckle-dragging numbskulls that worship at the Barstool alter. And it wouldn't shock me if they hold grudges for a long time and at the very least were reveling in her current situation.

 

[joe dokes]

Ahh, got it. More reveling in it than causing it. Now I'm just bck to being curious why she got canned, but that's a different thing.

 

[The Napkin]

I need a bath
View: https://twitter.com/stoolpresidente/status/1491523817167941635

 

[Kliq]

Portnoy making sure to say "Female" hockey reporter pretty much tells you all you need to know about that mongoloid and his idiotic followers. Disgusting (and I didn't even watch the video).

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

I know there are plenty of worthier candidates for the title but in terms of sheer waste of human life Portnoy has to be in the top 1% of shitty, malevolent people.

 

[Trlicek's Whip]

Portnoy stuff aside, this video they produced is sick: View: https://twitter.com/FrankieBorrelli/status/1464248338824445988


Guy who filmed it is the one who did the bowling alley one that blew up a year or two ago.

Diversity level of the staff achived peak Blizzard of 78 whiteness in that clip. I feel like in 2022 even with the structural diversity issues that are baked into much of professional sports and sports media, that it's still pretty glaring to see this. A case of "fish rots from the head?"

 

[Rusty13]

Ahh, got it. More reveling in it than causing it. Now I'm just bck to being curious why she got canned, but that's a different thing.

Yeah, it's still not clear why she got canned, and it seems odd that that the paper would get rid of a beat writer in the middle of the season if this were just a budget issue. I have to assume there is more to this.

 

[NickEsasky]

Erika Nardini went after her too. I am sure she probably posted a "women should support women" tweet today completely ignoring that she attacked Ingemi 24 hours earlier.

 

[Auger34]

Erika Nardini went after her too. I am sure she probably posted a "women should support women" tweet today completely ignoring that she attacked Ingemi 24 hours earlier.

Both her and Kayce Smith.
Smith probably posted her “Please be kind and don’t be a shitty human being” BS like she does every morning before going to work with Portnoy and talk about how amazing he is

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Yeah, it's still not clear why she got canned, and it seems odd that that the paper would get rid of a beat writer in the middle of the season if this were just a budget issue. I have to assume there is more to this.

I dug around on the Kraken reddit and most of the posters there are shocked and upset about her firing. Some rumbling that the ST is a pretty center-right paper and they may not have liked her tweets about getting more women and BIPOC into the sports industry. But that's just rumor for now.

 

[joe dokes]

A non-paywalled rundown:
https://awfulannouncing.com/newspapers/seattle-times-marisa-ingemi-union-petition.html

(no stool content, so i understand if this needs to be moved)

 

[Senator Donut]

The Barstool universe was particularly upset because Ingemi wote in Vice that "Portnoy tweeted a video riddled with inaccuracies and mocking the devastating, career-ending injury suffered by Denna Laing in the league's first season of the league in 2015." As best I can tell, the line about mocking Liang is inaccurate and hasn't been retracted by Ingemi or Vice. This was all part of a social media controversy explained in the larger article; some NWHL players were participating in Barstool events and other NWHL players objected to that for obvious reasons, culminating in Barstool's CEO laughably suggesting that they would start a rival league. (Unsurprisingly, Penn Gaming has not moved to starting a women's' hockey league in the past year.) There was a lot of feigned outrage coming from Barstool, and Ingemi's lapse in reporting made her the easiest target to go after. It also led to Barstool using a disabled hockey player as a mascot to launder their image, something they've gotten quite good at. Also Portnoy has a much bigger problem going on, so scoring some easy points on an old grudge is probably good for his brand.

A non-paywalled rundown:
https://awfulannouncing.com/newspapers/seattle-times-marisa-ingemi-union-petition.html

(no stool content, so i understand if this needs to be moved)

That's a pretty good overview. The only thing missing that I would add is that Defector reported that the Seattle Times' other hockey writer Geoff Baker did not sign the petition, so there may have been some friction there and Ingemi was much easier to fire than union-protected Baker.

 

[Bozo Texino]

I dug around on the Kraken reddit and most of the posters there are shocked and upset about her firing. Some rumbling that the ST is a pretty center-right paper and they may not have liked her tweets about getting more women and BIPOC into the sports industry. But that's just rumor for now.

She tweeted about the Panetta/Subban incident on the 28th - specifically, this.

If the Seattle Times is as center-right as you say it is, maybe that had something to do with it? I'm pretty clearly spitballing, here.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

I wouldn't be surprised if that tweet led to them firing her. Can't be a coincidence.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

She tweeted about the Panetta/Subban incident on the 28th - specifically, this.

If the Seattle Times is as center-right as you say it is, maybe that had something to do with it? I'm pretty clearly spitballing, here.

That was, coincidentally or not, the day she was let go and, coincidentally or not, also her last tweet until the one two weeks later confirming she'd been fired. Hard not to tie them all together.

 

[nattysez]

The Twittersphere is saying that Jared Carrabis and his podcast have departed Barstool.

 

[Carmine Hose]

The Twittersphere is saying that Jared Carrabis and his podcast have departed Barstool.

He's also been removed from their bloggers listing.

Appears to be a smart move all around for Carrabis. Safe to assume that the money gap would be huge, and Barstool's focus on baseball is low (NFL, college football, NHL). He got what he needed from Barstool in boosting beyond the Red Sox fan base to a more national focus, and can use that to springboard further.

 

[TSC]

Carrabis is nothing without Barstool though.

He's not smart. He's not a good writer. He doesn't possess anything resembling insight into the sport he covers. He's a "personality" that was backed by a massive media company.

Good riddance though, because he sucks.

 

[johnmd20]

Carrabis is nothing without Barstool though.

He's not smart. He's not a good writer. He doesn't possess anything resembling insight into the sport he covers. He's a "personality" that was backed by a massive media company.

Good riddance though, because he sucks.

God he sucks so much. What an obnoxious, fake tough guy he is.