By John Pullano, Sports Editor
Sports journalism has only been expanding over the past several years. From the major media outlets, such as Fox Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN, to the smaller companies, such as The Ringer and even your very own Bona Venture newspaper.
However, in recent months Barstool Sports has risen the popularity ranks and cannot be ignored. Producing a website and 25 weekly podcasts, founder David Portnoy’s Barstool Sports company brought in $15 million in 2018 alone.
The immense popularity and revenue of the company in its first years has me drawn to hit play on the company’s number one ranked sports podcast in the U.S., by iTunes, Pardon My Take. Weekly I find myself pulling back and instead scrolling towards an ESPN or Ringer podcast because of the bad name Barstool Sports gives to sports journalism.
For the disgrace, that is Barstool Sports, it all starts with their social media presence. The company’s ability to ratchet up online trolling and harassment is unmatched. This dates back to October 2017 as ESPN was set to bring hosts of Pardon My Take, Eric Sollenberger and Dan Katz, onto the network for a televised version of the podcast.
During the hiring process of Katz and Sollenberger, ESPN host Sam Ponder revealed several alarming tweets in which Portnoy proclaimed that Ponder’s only reason for being on air was to “make men hard.” Portnoy went on to say call Ponder a “f****** slut” and that she goes on ESPN to “sex it up and be slutty.”
ESPN ultimately canceled the Barstool Sports show that was set to go on air in 2018 due to push back the company got by ESPN employees and executives.
Portnoy continued to attack Ponder via social media, calling her a “liar,” “insane” and a “scumbag,” all while being egged on by Katz and Sollenberger.
The alarming part of the story comes after Portnoy’s most recent comments were made, as the Barstool faithful, also known as stoolies, back Portnoy in attacking Ponder via social media. The stoolies backed Portnoy like an army and promoted these actions by Portnoy as though they were socially acceptable.
Alongside Barstool sports’ feud with Ponder are several other incidents of harassment, including Barstool publishing nude images of Tom Brady’s son and proclaiming the child, “had a big howitzer,” in reference to the infant’s genitalia.
Combined with the extensive list of instances of online harassment, the website’s content, at times, represents very little sports coverage. Barstool Sports regularly publishes images of scantily clad women while comparing their “rack size” and “a** size.”
ESPN has self-proclaimed themselves “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” for the past several years for their up-to-the-minute sports news, scores and analysis. The company by no means has been perfect over the years, with several sociopolitical issues, such as former employee Jemele Hill tweeting out that Donald Trump is a “white supremacist.”
However, ESPN acted quickly and thoroughly removing Hill from the network because her actions, “do not represent the position of ESPN,” which is to supply the fans with the best form of sports journalism around.
At the most recent Sports Emmy Award show, both ESPN and NBC brought home six awards, while Fox took home three of their own. These companies ruled the award show because they capture the true sports journalism. Barstool Sports continues to harass, attack and objectify women, which there is no place for in the sports journalism world.
pullanjj18@bonaventure.edu
