OT: ESPN Cancels Barstool Van Talk After One Episode

Submitted by Dylan on

Recent discussions were being had regarding Barstool before the PSU debacle.  I would like to return to those happy times.

Maizeblue11

October 23rd, 2017 at 3:56 PM ^

Stupid show was on instead of NFL game yesterday. Almost called Fox to complain. Who watches that anyway?

OwenGoBlue

October 23rd, 2017 at 3:59 PM ^

I'm glad Barstool is losing the show and corresponding revenue. That said, another data point showing ESPN has no programming vision or feel for public reaction.

I'll bet a lemon the Travis-Portnoy Bad Take Industrial Complex will whine up a storm.

PopeLando

October 23rd, 2017 at 6:06 PM ^

That one part of the episode where Wesley gets STABBED IN THE FUCKING BACK is also really really satisfying.

Actually, the episode where Tasha dies is a highlight of the season, because they really focused on character growth for both her and Worf. More episodes like that earlier and Denise might have stayed.

At least the series didn't forget Tasha. They used her memory to great effect in several episodes.

Michigan Arrogance

October 23rd, 2017 at 6:38 PM ^

I respect DS9 for the quality of the writing, the storylines and the character development.

But I just couldn't stand the actor playing the captain. his way of speaking seemed so forced, IDK it came across to me as bad acting, but I don't really think that's the case, just the manner of speaking. IDK - just a pet peeve but for such a main character it's tough to ignore.

Yostal

October 23rd, 2017 at 8:03 PM ^

Because the station is fixed, the galaxy comes to them which means there are consequences for actions, short-term and long-term.  This allowed better and richer character development for several non-human races.  We got better understanding of Cardassians, Bajorans, Ferengi, Klingons, Trill, and the Dominion, making the universe richer, fuller, and deeper.

borninAnnArbor

October 23rd, 2017 at 7:39 PM ^

I have a half hour commute to work and so I download and listen to podcasts. I have been enjoying the Mission Log podcast and they are just about to wrap up season 7 of tng. I went back and watched several eppisodes I had forgotten and enjoyed them again. I never got into Deep Space 9, and was considering watching it becore they got to that series.

Yostal

October 23rd, 2017 at 7:19 PM ^

Having just read "The Autobiography of Jean-Luc Picard", I am wondering if I missed something in Season 1, or if it was just a choice by David Goodman (the editor) to place some  focus on answering some S1 questions.

Or was he trying to get me to cut The Orville some slack.

Maizeblue67

October 24th, 2017 at 4:35 AM ^

You may look at everything barstool does as that. But they have done a lot of great things for a lot of people. You don’t hear about all the good things they have done for the military vets or anything like that. You don’t know the actual history of barstool. All you can say is they are crude and misogynistic, that is your opinion, not mine.

OwenGoBlue

October 23rd, 2017 at 4:13 PM ^

Mostly because I find Portnoy reprehensible and other Barstool content unoriginal. I don't distance the PMT guys from what else runs under their banner because they don't distance themselves from it.

Am I supposed to root for everybody?

OwenGoBlue

October 23rd, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^

ESPN's strategy is actually worse than that. It's out of touch suits worried about getting mean tweets and then violently shifting in the opposite direction when they check their mentions. New mean tweets, repeat.

Seems to me that more people go to Barstool for the PMT-informed stuff than the "what's the worst thing I can say right now" stuff. They could have grown in the PMT direction with a larger audience, but yeah they could have milquetoasted it to become Just Another Sports Site, too

mlax27

October 23rd, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^

Couldn't agree more.  Barstool is supposed to be politically incorrect, vulgar and immature.  ESPN would completely water that down and ruin the product.  

It's probably best that it happened this way, rather than some media firestorm because ESPN (barstool) made an off color joke about a political person/view, anthem protests or whatever else might offend somebody.  This way they can say they were just too much for live TV.  

TrueBlue2003

October 23rd, 2017 at 6:20 PM ^

and wonder why it ever seemed like a good idea in the first place.

Actually I do know why it seemed like a good idea, but not sure why the powers that be didn't know better: ESPN is declining (from a massive starting point) and Barstool is growing (from nothing) because all media is becoming more niche.

ESPN thought they could get back a niche they've mostly lost, but in doing so, risked losing far larger numbers than they stood to gain. Just the nature of media in a content-rich world.

bronxblue

October 23rd, 2017 at 5:04 PM ^

ESPN has a lot of problems, but not activelty working with a company that has a pretty checkered history with, you know, date rape and holocaust "jokes" is one of them.

Barstool can be it's own thing, but they need to accept that's their lane.  It's funny how many people argue on one hand that Barstool has this unique experience and culture (which it does) that shouldn't be tamed, but then also want to see it become more mainstream and broad (or at least their investors hope so).  And really, you can't have it both ways, especially when "constantly offended employees" are merely pointing out that the president of the whole enterprise wrote that one of it's current employees should shut up because her #1 job is to "get men hard" and then "go fuck yourself", regardless of context or whatever he thought he was trying to prove.

bronxblue

October 23rd, 2017 at 10:04 PM ^

I mean, nobody did.  I forgot that was in the clip, but yeah, that's not really appropriate.  Sadly, there aren't a wealth of onside-kick movie clips in this world.  But yes, I absolutely should be treated as a hypocrite, and thanks for holding onto what appears to be a pretty healthy grudge from 6 weeks ago.  

And lo and behold, you mentioning this led ME to check out that thread again, where you had a couple of chestnuts about calling people white knights (great point by the way, because differing opinions about calling people bitch is a sign of empty social aggrandizing), for some reason trotted out "internet message board talk" as a defense, and was pretty adamant that:

Anyone with a functioning brain and social skills knows that any average woman could go out and sleep with a variety guys (and punch above her weight no doubt!) on any night with very little effort. Meanwhile, you could be in the top 1% of men in any given location and still have to put in the work to do the same thing.

and

there is nothing impressive about a promiscuous woman, because just about any woman can be promiscuous without much effort, so why would there necessarily be any sort of admiration for that? I.e. why would anyone think "Whoa, that's awesome!" watching a 7-footer dunk on an 8 foot rim?

So I'm going to go out on a limb and say you like Barstool sports, and that's great. I find it to be a pretty shitty place with dumb, offensive articles written by dumber, more intolerant people running it; they are also millionaires, so I doubt they give a fuck either way. But if the best you can do in trying to disprove my bonafide feelings about the place and the retrograde beliefs it pushes is mentioning a video I linked to in a post, then so be it, but maybe try a little harder next time.  Because maybe this is all for show by them, just playing a role to get some clicks.  But it sure seems like a lot of their most ardent defenders here and elsewhere aren't in on the joke I guess.

ScooterTooter

October 24th, 2017 at 8:54 AM ^

Grudge? No, it was just so blatantly hypocritical that it was funny. It just kind of shows that people don't actually believe and practice much of what they try to lord over others. I mean, you were so full of "How could ANYONE use the word bitch to describe someone on a football field" in that thread it was tough to forget. And then in one of your next columns, you were pretty much like "Lol, watch this funny clip of a football player calling another football player bitch". 

Also, the things I said...are they false? I'd love to hear your reasoning as to why they are not. 

And never read barstool. 

Maybe instead of lashing out you should just realize you aren't the saint your pretend to be! Stick to writing well-written game columns instead of holding people to standards you can't even achieve yourself. 

bronxblue

October 24th, 2017 at 10:53 AM ^

So you came to a thread about a site you claim to have never read, discussing the cancellation of a show after 1 episode that I doubt you watched, cycled through over 100 comments, and then responded only to my comment, pointing out that 2 weeks ago I included a link to a video clip from a 20-year-old movie about a comical onside kick segment (referencing a similar game situation as the one Michigan experienced) in a game recap, and then called me a hypocrite for it because I said in a thread 6 weeks ago . that people probably don't need to be screaming at players during a game and calling them a bitch?  Yep, no reason to believe you meant to do so purposely.

Based on your comments this shouldn't be a surprise, but you seem to totally miss context.  Calling him "bitch" in that clip (a) wasn't appropriate niow or then, but (b) wasn't really the point of my referencing it as much as the kicker clearly picking out the player who would fumble the ball, not unlike Crawford being the guy who nearly flubbed the recovery.  Again, if you have an easily-accessible video clip with a similar joke, I'd love to have it.  And honestly, in hindsight I probably didn't need to include it, or I could have found just a gif of it, or something.  That's on me.  But if you think linking to a clip is the same as someone sitting in the stands and screaming "bitch" and other derogatory/misogynistic things at them because you are unhappy, then this really isn't going to be a fruitful discussion.  Not that it's been particularly useful thus far, but I had high hopes.  And if you are going to ignore the message because the messenger isn't perfect, then so be it, but that says a hell of a lot more about you than me.

Also, I really don't have any idea how to disprove  your belief that "any average woman could go out and sleep with a variety guys (and punch above her weight no doubt!) on any night with very little effort. Meanwhile, you could be in the top 1% of men in any given location and still have to put in the work to do the same thing" because, well, I've not spent enough time on various MRA subreddits, sadly.  What I can perceive is that you have a different (distorted?) view of women.  You seem to believe it's all a game with them, that they hold some mythical power over sexuality and men's access to it, that as a man you "gotta put in the work" to, I guess, get laid, while women can just open their legs and get what they want.  

That's retrograde thinking, but whatever, I'm not going to waste my time trying to dissect that too deeply.  Women are you, know, people, and maybe treating them as such and not just as things to aspire for would be a better use of your time and energy.  What I will point out is that sexual violence affects everyone, but disproportionately women.  The number jumps around a bit depending on how you measure it, but between 1 in 3 and 1 in 4 women are assaulted in a sexual manner at some point in their lives.  And it's not always sexual assault, as the Harvey Weinstein and this most recent rash of public outing shows, oftentimes it includes inappropriate touching, crude comments, etc.  Talk to "average women" and they almost always have a couple stories of a guy saying something inappropriate to them in such a way to make them uncomfortable or even afraid, of being groped in line or on a subway by a guy who knows he can probably get away with it, to being treated as less than a person by a guy who thinks screaming "look at that stupid bitch down there" perpetuates a sense of violence and animosity toward women that's existed for millenia.

And while I don't frequent college bars anymore, when I did I absolutely saw men and women (but mostly men) get particularly handsy with members of the opposite sex after a couple of drinks, copping a feel here or there in a crowded room whether intentionally or unintentionally.  They'd also call women bitch, slut, etc., degrading terms that don't serve a purpose beyond being offensive but also conveying that "these chicks are hot and I want to have sex with them" or "I want to have sex with this person but they won't let me".  That's probably a smidge simplistic, but that's usually the gist.  It's an attempt to belittle, to subjugate another human being with words because it implicitly builds you up by comparison.  But what do I know; I'm just a boring-ass married guy with two kids.

So no, I don't think I'll "stick to sports" even though apparently I broke your moral barometer.  But thanks for white knighting, I guess, people who think yelling bitch is a good use of your time.

TL;DR Keep on fighting for your right to call football players misogynistic terms if you want, but if the best counter you can have to me is "you linked to a Waterboy sketch that used the word", you might want to go back and try again.  

 

ScooterTooter

October 24th, 2017 at 12:34 PM ^

I was interested in the topic because it was ESPN cancelling something. 

And yeah I'm absolutely correct. You're screeching about casual misogyny...while practicing casual misogyny for laughs. Instead of writing screeds trying to justify what a good person you are and how you're the best guy ever because you won't stick to sports, just stop at admitting you're a massive hypocrite who doesn't practice what he preaches.

 

UMForLife

October 24th, 2017 at 6:41 PM ^

I know I am late to this but what you describe is done by everyone. One minute you can do something stupid and then you realize you are better than that. So if you are looking at anyone preaching about something there is a good chance they violated it and learned from it. Heck, every parent does it with their kids. One clip on some article should not make someone a hypocrite. Otherwise you have a very high standard and I am not sure how anyone can point out the idiocies in the world without sounding as a hypocrite

blueandmaizeballs

October 23rd, 2017 at 5:29 PM ^

OF these guys till the came on ESPN and they were not very funny dressed like the just rolled out of bed from the same clothes they wore from the bar last night and to me the long haired dork thought he was hot shit. Like he was the funniest guy on earth n his shit didn't stink. That was impression of them the first time I saw them. Watched other bits with them and they weren't really to funny. they were trying to just say outrageous shit to get a audience. maybe they are funny on their on show or blog but they were as bad as first take.

bo_lives

October 23rd, 2017 at 6:19 PM ^

It's all satire. A bad Skip Bayless parody. That being said, I don't think Big Cat is funny at all and I think PFTCommenter's shtick doesn't translate well to radio or TV. His Twitter is still a riot especially seeing the people who reply don't realize it's satire.

It's all supposed to be making fun of first take and how stupid ESPN's post-Bayless routine is. They purposefully make the dumbest, stupidist takes you could ever imagine.

Mpfnfu Ford

October 23rd, 2017 at 4:00 PM ^

Anyone with a brain knew how this would end the moment the stuff with Sam Ponder came up. Nobody running a TV network is picking an experimental new show over the anchor of his centerpiece NFL pregame show.

Barstool.com is an utterly toxic brand for juvenile assholes, and nothing they do is all that successful aside from PMT, and one half of that is a guy they poached from SBNation who was doing his thing with a lot of success long before anyone had heard of Barstool. They lose him, and they go the way of Fanhouse when folks like Brian and Spencer drifted off.

Those two need to get as far away from Barstool as they can before they end up wearing a scarlet letter. Hell it may be too late for Big Cat anyway if there's going to be dozens of clips of him yucking it up while his dipshit boss says unfunny asshole bullshit.

OwenGoBlue

October 23rd, 2017 at 9:34 PM ^

Much easier if they do it now than if they wait a year.

Losing this show is a clear example of association with Barstool's toxic factions limiting their individual earning power. If they lawyer up they could probably take their pick of 1) doing this elsewhere within 6 months, or 2) getting investors to force Portnoy out so they can ditch the baggage.