Someone Wrote a Hit Piece on Barstool at the Ballpark. Yes, That Actually Happened
There have been plenty hit pieces written about Barstool Sports in the history of this company, and the topics have been about a billion different things. The one thing I thought that was safe from being ripped apart was Barstool at the Ballpark. KFC started this idea years ago with the Mets and it took off. White Sox Dave has done it the last few years and I thought it would be cool to get it going with the Yankees when I came on last year. Whenever they happen they’re always a blast. It’s an event we put together that allows stoolies to gather together, drink some (a lot of) beer, eat some food, and watch baseball. For the Mets and White Sox ones, I imagine the watching the baseball part isn’t as big of a deal hehe haha. But in all seriousness, these things sell out easily and it’s a great time for myself and anyone that comes, whether they be a guy or girl.
A few weeks ago a blue checkmark DM’d me on Twitter named Britni de la Cretaz. Her bio had said she’d written for the New York Times, Rolling Stones, The Atlantic, and other places before so I assumed she was writing a well-thought, objective piece, highlighting the event and our interaction with our fans.
She went on to ask me a ton of softball questions like how it’s all set up, why we do it, how people like it, do lots of people come, stuff like that. She made it seem like this was for sure going to be a positive article that showed how we interact with our readers outside of the office.
After finishing up her normal questions, she asked who ran the other two events and I pointed her in the direction of White Sox Dave and KFC. Four days later she followed up and the angle of her questions changed drastically.
From there I knew where this article was going. Another Deadspin-esque shit-piece to rip us to shreds for some stuff we’ve said in the past. Great.
She asked if I had known any women that went to the event and if I could point her in their direction. I gave her a few names of ladies that obviously loved the events and always show up to have a great time. I never heard from her again. KFC had a similar encounter with her and obviously got the feeling eventually where this was headed. Yesterday, the article published on The Hardball Times, which is I guess is the blog version of FanGraphs? I’d never heard about it until I saw it in her bio.
So what was in the article? She opens talking about the problems within Major League Baseball. Problematic tweets, reluctance to celebrate Pride Month, domestic violence, etc. How on Earth are we going to get tied into all of this I asked. Welp…
I’ve organized and run five of these events by now. I’ve followed KFC do countless more in the years before I was here. White Sox Dave as well, of course. I’ve never come across one concern or negative thing said about it, short of Yankee Stadium having no clue how to let fans into the ballpark in a timely, organized fashion.
The beginning of the article is all the fluff that she opened with KFC, White Sox Dave, and myself’s in our DMs.
A part that made me laugh was when she asked me what stoolies get out of it
Hubbs concurs. “When you combine drinking and Yankees baseball, the Stoolies will always come out for a good time. Also, it gives them a cool chance to meet me and some of the other personalities at Barstool who show up,” he explains. “Barstool doesn’t gain anything from it [financially]; I just do it to give Stoolies an awesome time and have some fun.”
Come off more douchey Hubbs, you can’t. No one is coming to this event to meet you. Alright let’s get to the fun stuff.
It takes her 939 words before she starts to finally write the article she intended to, beginning with the words, “But Barstool has its detractors.”
She goes into a brief history of all the terrible things written about Barstool including Smitty’s ShowerGate, Dave making Ria cry, to Large’s hiring. She references Large’s opening blog where he hilariously said he offends everyone.
For the uninitiated, I am not raunchy, but I am inappropriate at times. Even so, I don’t discriminate… I don’t like anyone. So if you feel I am being too tough on Italians*, just give it a sec, and I will eventually get to the Irish**. And don’t get me started on the fucking J*ws*** (can I say that? I’ll ask).
She obviously takes this out of context and refuses to put in his ending footnote
Footnote:
*, **, and ***- I love Italians, Micks, and Jews… Lighten up.
Shocking.
Although it probably seems impossible for her to imagine women liking our website, she asks several women their thoughts on the company and what we write and say. They all say the events are a lot of fun, they understand what we’re actually about, and how we’re harmless.
In Britni’s mind, these events are 100% guys, all rowdy, as we cat-call hot girls who walk by, while we start “suck our dicks” chants that disrupt the whole ball park. What happens in reality? We have a section in centerfield for an hour and a half before the game where we all hang out, shoot the shit, drink some beer, eat some food, and enjoy batting practice in calm fashion. We don’t put out a giant Barstool banner or have Yankee Stadium say it’s Barstool at the Ballpark. We blend in with every other fan. I’d say it’s probably a 65-35 split between guys and girls, but there are clearly women at these events because they get it. Britni probably can’t envision how a girl can go to this event and not want to cry. To have written for places like the NYT, Vice, or The Atlantic and be that naive is crazy to me, but I guess in today’s society that shouldn’t surprise me.
She goes on to talk about Major League Baseball’s drop in attendance over the last 15 years and how teams are forced to stoop down to our level and have nights like BATBP to draw in fans. Trash.
She gets a few women to be quoted in the article who clearly have no clue who we are and just read the hit pieces about us. According to Ursula Parson, we all have some kind of disease and for us to be sectioned off from the rest of us is a good thing.
I guarantee you, you would have no idea what three sections across the ball park we are stationed in. No idea. If you sat in the section over from us and felt “unsafe” then you are delusional.
The single best part of the article was this woman saying she’d rather have a Librarian Night over a “Stoolie Night.”
All-time line. I need to be at Yankee Stadium when they do a librarian appreciation night. That’s can’t miss.
Britni claims she was being objective throughout the whole article, but let’s be real that ended the moment she wrote “But Barstool has its detractors.” She acted like BATBP is a stadium take over and that we hang SAFTB banners all over the stadium and that we’re rowdy as fuck, causing chaos all over the place. It’s not a college foam party for Christ’s sake. We have a few sections reserved for us, we have a small drinking area, and we blend in like normal fans, because that’s what we are. I welcome someone to come up to me during an event and say they didn’t feel safe with us there and hear their actual thoughts. I’ve never heard one negative thing said about these events (aside from getting into the stadium). The one thing I thought that was harmless and untouchable at this company got ripped apart yesterday and that was truly impressive to see. What a wild hit-piece that I never saw coming. I can’t wait to set up the next Barstool at the Ballpark and the next watch party for the playoffs and I hope to see the rest of you there. Britni, your ticket is on me.
There are still tickets available for the last Mets one against the Nationals on August 25th. If you want to go, click this link.