Barstool Sports, which rose to prominence on a platform of "sports /smut" (as described in 2011 by its founder) and has been eviscerated by for embracing the worst of misogynistic bro culture, has been making inroads lately in an attempt to be more mainstream
Most notable: their partnership with ESPN on the show "Barstool Van Talk," which was set to debut late Tuesday on ESPN2 featuring two of its more prominent personalities "Big Cat" and "PFT Commenter."
The ghosts of Barstool's past (which aren't dissimilar from Barstool's present), however, are creating some tension when it comes to that ESPN partnership.
On Monday, ESPN's Sam Ponder tweeted out screen shots of an offensive article published by Barstool in 2014 in which she was referred to as a "bible thumping freak" and in which it was insinuated her role at ESPN was to be attractive (in quite bad language).
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
