One day after Ryan Clark invoked his name while taking issue with comments made by Robert Griffin III, Dave Portnoy defended his right to hate Angel Reese.
Portnoy’s hatred of Reese — which he described as “the sports sense, like you hate your rival” — dates back to to the matchup between Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes and Reese’s LSU Tigers in the 2023 NCAA Tournament title game. As the Barstool Sports founder recently explained on Club Shay Shay, he took issue with Reese’s behavior in the closing moments of LSU’s victory, as she taunted Clark with multiple hand gestures (Portnoy had also bet on the Hawkeyes).
That prompted Portnoy to refer to Reese as a “classless piece of sh*t” in a social media post that drew widespread criticism and allegations of racism. And that was seemingly what Ryan Clark referenced on Monday, as he took issue with Griffin’s assertion that Reese “hates” Caitlin Clark on a personal level.
“When RG3 jumps onto the hate train or the angry train, it now follows what we saw from Keith Olbermann, what we saw from Dave Portnoy, as they poured onto Angel Reese to make her the villain, and Caitlin Clark heroic or hero story,” Clark said on The Pivot.
While much of the focus from there was placed on Ryan Clark and Robert Griffin III’s ensuing feud, Portnoy didn’t appreciate the sideswipe. For one, he detested being lumped in with Keith Olbermann, which he referred to as “the biggest insult of all-time.” For another, he remains adamant that his sports hate of Reese has nothing to do with race and is merely a result of his Caitlin Clark fandom.
“Yes, I’m sure there are some Black people who hate Caitlin just because she’s white. I’m sure there’s white people who hate Angel just because she’s Black,” Portnoy said in a video posted to X. “But I want to speak for what I feel is Caitlin Clark fans… and the way Ryan Clark just drops my name like ‘hate.’ That like Caitlin Clark fans or Fever fans or Iowa Hawkeye fans don’t have a right or a reason to hate Angel Reese like she’s a victim out of the clouds just because of the color of their skin is infuriating.”
Portnoy proceeded to run down several reasons he dislikes Reese, starting with her behavior toward Clark during the aforementioned title game. He also pointed to the Chicago Sky forward playing into the racial aspect of her rivalry with Clark on social media and what he views as unprovoked shots that she has taken at the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year.
Portnoy also insisted that his fandom of Clark has nothing to do with race and stated that the WNBA has produced several white stars before her, none of whom resonated in the same way that the Fever star has. According to the Boston native, all of this has been purely about sports for him and anyone connecting it to race is reaching.
“Fans just love [Caitlin Clark], but if you have one player who’s constantly poking at you, constantly prodding, constantly degrading you, constantly doing these things, yes, you’re going to f*cking hate her,” Portnoy said in reference to Reese. “It has nothing to do with the color of her skin. I’m sick of the Ryan Clarks. I’m sick of the Stephen A’s [Smith]. I’m sick of ESPN making it a race issue.”
The 48-year-old ended his rant with a parting shot directed at Reese.
“If she didn’t have Caitlin, nobody would know who she is. If Caitlin didn’t have Angel, it would be the same popularity for Caitlin,” Portnoy said. “So can you please stop with the victim and the race? There’s a reason Caitlin fans have that we don’t like Angel Reese and it’s fair. It’s sports. Rivalries are fine. But every time they play, the reason we don’t like her is racism? No, it’s because she’s been a jackass for the last three years.”
While it would be naïve to think that there isn’t a racial component to the Clark-Reese rivalry — as was the case with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the 1980s — Portnoy insists that he’s literally sticking to sports here. Yet despite his fiery response, his emerging feud with Ryan Clark already seems tame in comparison to the former NFL safety’s back-and-forth with Griffin on Monday.
From a bigger picture perspective, it will be interesting to see how the WNBA and sports media continue to navigate the Clark-Reese rivalry moving forward. But regardless of why, people are watching, as evidenced by the monster rating that the Fever and Sky’s matchup — which Portnoy sat courtside for — drew for ABC on Saturday.