This past Saturday, I traveled to Bloomington to tailgate for the college football matchup featuring Indiana University and the University of Nebraska. I would be remiss if I didn’t say Indiana’s college football team is good — really good, ranking higher than Alabama at the time of this article. However, I’m not here to argue that point. I’m here to suggest something bigger than sports: unity.
Sports unite people unlike anything else, regardless of race, gender, economic status and even nationality. My trip to Bloomington demonstrated this fact. Despite the fact that I don’t live in Bloomington or even attend that university, I felt like I was in a new world, one that accepted me for who I was. I was among a population that only cared about one thing: their sports team.
I would also add that I had a unique experience seeing the Big Noon Kickoff show and, perhaps more importantly, the Barstool College Football Show.
The Barstool College Football Show is a college football show that features a quad of hosts.
Kayce Smith runs the show and handles its structure and atmosphere. She’s the quarterback of the show.
Dave Portnoy, also known as “El Presidente,” features as the main attraction of the show and often has the crowd riled up, especially when he picks against the home team, which he did today.
Dan “Big Cat” Katz serves as the yin to Portnoy’s yang. He builds off of El Presidente’s energy and enthusiasm, often picking against Portnoy’s gambling picks.
Finally, Brandon “BFW” Walker is the comedic genius of the show, mostly unintentionally, because he has soft skin and gets pressured by the crowd. However, he has the most college football knowledge on the panel, so what he says definitely matters heavily.
Some short history: Barstool Sports is a sports and entertainment media company founded and operated by Portnoy, who built it from the ground up. He went from delivering newspapers in Milton, a community in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area, to selling the company to Penn Entertainment for around $380 million.
They recently sold Barstool back to Portnoy for $1 so they could partner with ESPN to create ESPN Bets, which has kind of flopped early on. Say what you want about him and his views — as a leader and an entrepreneur, he’s one of the best and most influential sports personalities in our current world. Portnoy is up there with Pat McAfee, Stephen A. Smith and Colin Cowherd.
The Barstool College Football Show was a very welcoming and friendly event. They offered a wide selection of snacks and Powerade drinks to anyone who wanted or needed them, especially those who wanted to consume alcohol. They had also given away free t-shirts and towels to the crowd, which was rowdy and rambunctious. Unfortunately, some objects and beer cans were thrown onto the stage by some unknown buffoons. Still, aside from that, it was an entertaining and, at times, contentious affair between the panel and the audience.
I think the University of Southern Indiana could take some tips from Barstool for building a college sports culture, which is something you can’t buy. I will say Archie’s Army has been a great addition and success to building team spirit, so they definitely have a solid base for building something.
