By JAMES SCALIA
Barstool Sports is a blog and news network created by Dave Portnoy that focuses on any newsworthy topic and adds a comedic twist to it.
The network originated in Milton, Massachusetts, but Portnoy has since moved the headquarters to NoMad, New York City. They are far from your typical sports network since they follow practically no structure when making their stories and blogs. Their slogan is “By the common man, for the common man” and they live up to it with every podcast, article or video they produce.
The network originally started as a sports and gambling page, but they soon began to write articles about sports. That eventually led to writing about any general topic. Sometimes, Barstool will find a viral video online and make a reaction blog to it featuring one of their many writers.
Ramapo sophomore student Matt Faussette enjoys their wacky style of journalism. “Their sense of humor when dealing with sports and social issues is something I’ve never seen from a news network before.”
Staff
The network has grown a following through social media and employees like Portnoy, Kevin Clancey (nicknamed “KFC”), Wayne Tables (nicknamed “PFT”) and Dan Katz (nicknamed “Big Cat”). Each are from different areas of the country, which in turn helps them cover a variety of sports teams they like along with creating a fan base across the entire country.
On Feb. 2, Barstool Sports added Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee to their blog staff. McAfee intentionally retired at the age of 29 from the NFL to specifically join the network, according to Pro Football Focus. Portnoy welcomed him with open arms, and McAfee was given his own headquarters in Indianapolis.
Content
Although they do have a regular website, a lot of their growing popularity is coming through their YouTube channel and their social media outlets. They also have a podcast called “Pardon My Take,” hosted by Big Cat and PFT, that offers their take on various relevant sports topics, ranging from football to lacrosse. Many athletes have guested on the show, including Patriots defensive lineman Chris Long, Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles and Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte.
The group also has a regular radio show followed by “The Barstool Rundown” that usually features Portnoy, Big Cat and KFC. This segment features both sports and other general news as the three hosts of the show provide their personal opinions on each topic. The “rundown” was previously released on YouTube everyday, but on Jan. 30, it began being aired on Comedy Central as a 30-minute segment.
Portnoy also started his own segment that centers around his attempt at trying a piece of pizza at every single pizzeria in Manhattan. Portnoy goes out of his way to give a shout out to each pizza place and rate the slice on a scale from 1-10. He also explains that when doing each review, you only take one bite, yet he continues to eat the slice of pizza. Portnoy doesn’t use food critic terminology, but he is highly critical of each pizza, adding to the comedy of the reviews.
Ramapo senior student Brandon Bumbaco is a big fan of the content that Barstool Sports releases and listens to their podcasts and “rundowns,” Bumbaco said, “I think the fact that they’re so relatable to the typical conversations guys are having at the bars and so different than what we’re being feed by the mainstream media.”
[AUDIO: Listen to Brandon Bochman talk about Barstool Sports]
Barstool Sports just recently received 500,000 followers through Twitter and YouTube and continue to produce satirical content through various media outlets.
Maybe mention another different story they do. You talk about sports and pizza, maybe include and link to another that would make the website seem more well-rounded. Other than that very well written with good audio and video.
Amazing and intuitive article, very poignant and the perspective of the interviews added an extra dimension, the only thing I would have like to see was dates being added for each program when they became established (2002, etc)