The Captain of Yale Basketball Team Says I Don't Know Much About College Basketball. Okay Four Eyes
Yale - Sports betting has created an unusual source of national attention for the Bulldogs this season, as angry strangers comment critically on players’ social media accounts and the Yale program as a whole still feels underestimated.
Dave Portnoy, brazen internet celebrity, pizza critic and founder of Barstool Sports, placed his bet at 3:59 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019.
At the time, most in New Haven concentrated on the Yale football team, which trailed Harvard by 14 in the fourth quarter at the Yale Bowl. But Portnoy made his pick on Yale men’s basketball, selecting the Elis to defeat Big Ten opponent Penn State. The wager? $10,000, submitted a minute before tipoff at 4 p.m. as the teams finalized preparations for their Saturday afternoon showdown in State College, Pennsylvania.
And for the next two hours, Portnoy likely sat on the edge of his seat, gaining faith in his decision as the game progressed. The Bulldogs led 31–21 at halftime, while football fans stormed the field after Yale’s double-overtime comeback at The Game in distant New Haven. The Elis’ advantage held strong into the second, expanding to as much as 16 in the half as guard Azar Swain ’21 poured in a game-high 24 points. With 3:32 to play and a 56–46 Yale lead, Portnoy’s payoff of $82,500 seemed imminent, until a 12–0 run from the Nittany Lions allowed them to escape with a 58–56 win in the closing minutes. Portnoy did not respond to a request for comment.
An angry video and a screenshot of the late-game play-by-play publicized his failed bet to 1.1 million followers. “@YaleMBasketball killed me,” Portnoy’s Twitter bio read for the next month. Captain and guard Eric Monroe ’20 heard about the burst of online activity when he checked his phone afterwards.
“For a guy who probably doesn’t know much about college basketball, I don’t know why he’s placing $10,000 on a game,” Monroe said. “It was kind of a weird thing to take in after a game because we were obviously so disappointed. We had that game more than secured as a win… [it was] funny but very depressing, because that would’ve been a very important win for us. [The betting] is funny and amusing to me, but it’s also a lot of people who just use it as a way to get angry.”
Who the fuck does Eric Monroe think he is?
“For a guy who probably doesn’t know much about college basketball, I don’t know why he’s placing $10,000 on a game?"
The nerve on this clown! He buddy how about you do some research before you make an absolute jackass out of yourself. First things first. I bet 10K on a game because I’m rich as shit. Number 2, oh I don’t know much about college basketball? Umm I’ve watched more hours of college hoop than you’ve been alive for. How about you worry less about why I’m betting 10K on a random November basketball game and worry more about closing out huge leads and not choking like dead dogs. And why are we still talking about this fucking game a week before championship week anyway? Are people trying to fuck with my mojo heading into March Madness? I fucking hate Yale.