Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Gregg Doyel is taking some heat for a recent column he penned in the Indianapolis Star. This time, however, he’s taking heat from one of the most prominent personalities in sports media.
On Monday, Doyel published a column condemning IndyCar for partnering with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy during the circuit’s last race of 2025 at Nashville Superspeedway on August 31. In doing so, Doyel outlined how he believes Portnoy and his brand are built on misogyny and that IndyCar, which is trying to attract more female fans, shouldn’t be highlighting the Barstool founder.
“Dave Portnoy has built a career on mean-spiritedness and misogyny, and when he’s in a really playful mood, on mean-spirited misogyny. And this is who IndyCar – with its TV rankings in the tank – is giving a marquee spot in its final race? Trying to build a fan base that could use a boost from the female demographic? Brilliant,” Doyel writes.
Of course, Doyel doesn’t exactly have a perfect record of championing women himself. Most will remember Doyel as the reporter who had the strange interaction with Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark during her introductory press conference, where he bizarrely made a heart gesture with his hands towards the then-rookie. Clark then responded, “Yeah, I do that at my family after every game so, very cool,” to which Doyel answered, “Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.”
— Don Barzini (@DonBarziniXX) April 17, 2024
Doyel quickly apologized for the incident.
Shortly after the interaction went viral, Portnoy, himself a big Clark defender, called Doyel a “pervert,” perhaps setting the stage for today’s scathing anti-Portnoy screed.
True to form, Portnoy wasted no time resurfacing Doyel’s incident with Caitlin Clark on his social media feed.
Says the guy who was basically issued a restraining order to stay away from Caitlin Clark. Cry more loser. https://t.co/zxyDNe1qoq
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) August 18, 2025
“Says the guy who was basically issued a restraining order to stay away from Caitlin Clark. Cry more loser,” Portnoy wrote.
There’s a case to be made for Portnoy’s role in elevating certain kinds of misogynistic behaviors over his career. But when it comes to making social critiques on misogyny, there are probably better messengers than Gregg Doyel.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.