The lead-up to the epic season opener between Texas and Ohio State hasn’t been about Arch Manning taking the reins for the Longhorns or Ryan Day finally winning the big one for the Buckeyes. It’s been about Dave Portnoy.
The drama surrounding Portnoy’s Big Noon Kickoff debut went nuclear with the news of his ban from Ohio Stadium. While the reporting went back and forth and the school tried to put the ball in Fox’s court, Portnoy confirmed it was indeed at the behest of Ohio State. Adding credence to his side of the story is that the Barstool college football show will not be making an appearance in Columbus, as Portnoy said that it is banned as well.
The Barstool founder appeared on the platform’s Pick ‘Em show with Dan “Big Cat” Katz and Rico Bosco and addressed the controversy once again. But this time, he had some surprising thoughts on what he wished Ohio State would have done in handling the situation.
“It’s awesome,” Portnoy said. “This is college football pettiness. What they should have said is f*** this guy, there’s no f***ing way we’re letting this f***ing troll from Michigan into our stadium, in our house, instead of doing this back and forth thing. But this is college football.”
Dave Portnoy is 1000% correct.
Ohio State made this situation exponentially worse by trying to play semantics and shift the blame for the mess surrounding Big Noon Kickoff to Fox Sports. Instead of owning up to the situation and taking responsibility, the university has tried to spin the story its way and immediately failed to do so.
If anything, Ohio State is proving Portnoy right in his criticism of trolling the university as soft and broken. As discussed later in the episode, it would have been the easiest layup in the world for Fox to have Portnoy and Urban Meyer in the stadium and for the former Buckeye coach, who never lost to Michigan by the way, to lay out his gold pants and the national championship trophy to stop Portnoy’s trolling in his tracks. It would have made for great television, a great selling point for the rivalry, and a great moment for Fox and the Big Ten.
But instead, Ohio State took things personally, took it out on Portnoy, and then tried to run and hide from the situation that they created. You couldn’t fathom a way to manage this in a more shortsighted and misguided manner.
Ohio State could not have let the words of a digital sports media personality bother what is supposed to be one of the biggest and most prestigious collegiate institutions in the country. On the other hand, Ohio State could have taken Portnoy’s advice and acknowledged that they don’t want him in their stadium, citing the biggest rivalry in sports.
As Portnoy states, either one would have made sense.
Alas, they chose neither. And now, Ohio State, Ryan Day, and everyone else surrounding the program have to deal with a massive distraction of their own making in the lead-up to a showdown with the #1 team in the country at a time when they should be celebrating the fact that they are the reigning, defending national champions.
Instead, they are letting Dave Portnoy take a victory lap that he is living rent-free in the school’s heads. And now we all know that he’s right.
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