Dave Portnoy has spent years railing against the liberal media establishment, often referring to his moralistic critics as the "blue checkmark brigade." But now, the Barstool Sports founder finds himself facing an onslaught of scorn from the other side of the political aisle.
Portnoy is firmly in the center of America's roiling culture wars, intentional or not.
Earlier this week, Portnoy sent out a series of tweets condemning the artist formerly known as Kanye West for his slew of offensive and anti-semitic statements. "When I die I want it written on my tombstone that I despised Kanye West long before it was cool to despise Kanye West," tweeted Portnoy.
Portnoy's condemnation of West doesn't make him special. West has been widely censured and lost his most lucrative business partnerships, including a $1.5 billion deal with Adidas.
Yet, Portnoy was called out for ripping the superstar rapper. Twitter users resurfaced an old tweet from Portnoy, in which he hawked "Kanye 2020" merchandise. The tweet was from 2015.
"By the way the fact that Kanye is being defended along political lines is again EVERYTHING that is wrong with this [country]," tweeted Portnoy in response to his antagonizers.
It wasn't long ago when online conservatives hailed Portnoy for his brash responses to critics who chastise him for Barstool's history of questionable content. Now, Jason Whitlock is accusing Portnoy of exploiting "America's misguided masculinity temperance movement."
What happened?
On this week's "Sports Media Mayhem" podcast, POLITICO contributor Derek Robertson, who's written multiple pieces about Barstool's cultural impact, said Portnoy's lack of a clear political ideology makes him unique among contemporary provocateurs.
"The most important thing to keep in mind when you think about Dave Portnoy and the Barstool Sports brand and how it overlaps with public life and politics is that, Dave Portnoy is not an ideological person," said Robertson. "He's not guided by -- like most people in politics, most people in media -- a kind of ideology."
That was apparent last summer, when Portnoy posted a video lambasting the Supreme Court for overturning Roe v. Wade. In it, Portnoy admits he voted "for a moron like [President Joe] Biden."
There is a common denominator among the two factions — progressive hall monitor-types and far-right ideologues — who most often snipe at Portnoy: they lack a sense of humor. Robertson says that isn't surprising.
"Kanye West has no sense of humor about himself," said Robertson. "This occurred to me when I saw [Portnoy] making these statements. It reminded me of South Park mocking Kanye so ruthlessly. There's a certain kind of libertarian-leaning, jokester person for whom the worst crime you can commit is taking yourself too seriously. And no one in the world takes themselves as seriously as Kanye West."
Portnoy has aligned himself with Republicans in recent years, appearing regularly on Fox News' Tucker Carlson and interviewing Donald Trump at the White House before the 2020 election (some high-profile Barstool employees pushed back against Portnoy for his Trump sit-down).
But given Barstool's increasingly mainstream status, Robertson expects Portnoy to retreat from the political waters. The last few months show why.
"I don't think that today, if Trump called Portnoy and said, 'Come down to Mar a Lago and interview me,' I'm a little more skeptical that would happen," said Robertson. "I would expect them to just engage with these issues less, even as we launch into a presidential election cycle next year."
Then again, maybe not. Friday morning, Portnoy tweeted the following: "If you don't love @elonmusk buying Twitter you are a loser."
The reaction is hard to give up.
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Belichick tipped off MNF about QB plans, but not his players: Early Monday night, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman said both Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe were expected to play for the Patriots, indicating Belichick tipped them off.
Too bad he didn't extend that courtesy to his players. Several offensive players said post-game they didn't know Jones was going to get pulled.
Interestingly enough, Belichick also lied to the MNF crew, falsely telling Lisa Salters at halftime that Jones would play again. These are some Jedi-mind tricks.
Now, how about winning some football games?
JVG defends Ime Udoka: This went under the radar, but last Friday night, Jeff Van Gundy blindly defended Ime Udoka during Celtics-Heat.
"I want to make sure, because I feel strongly about this, Ime Udoka, I don't know everything about that situation, but I know there's a way back," said Van Gundy. "And I'm not condoning or condemning anything that he did. Like I said, I don't know anything about that situation other than, Ime Udoka I worked with for two years with USA Basketball. And he's proven obviously to be a terrific, terrific coach, but beyond that, I know how he treated me. That's how I judge people. I think he's a terrific man."
Talk about tone deaf. Van Gundy should've stopped after the second time he admitted he doesn't know anything about the situation.
What's up with Devers?: This week, two respected Dominican baseball reporters tweeted the Red Sox were talking contract with Rafael Devers, and prepared to significantly up their offer from the spring. The Globe's Alex Speier rebutted that, reporting Red Sox assistant GM Eddie Romero's visit with Devers was just a routine check-in.
This is all about semantics. The Devers camp probably wants to put pressure on the Red Sox, and thus, the Red Sox want to downplay expectations. Per usual, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle.
