Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy sounded off recently about his former New England Patriots hero, Tom Brady. Portnoy referred to Brady’s post-NFL career as “cringey” and “lame-ified,” adding that it’s”one of the great downfalls of an icon.”
“At the Fanatics thing, he hits [Logan Paul],” Portnoy said on Wake Up Barstool, referencing the lead NFL on Fox analyst’s viral moment with Paul from Fanatics Fest. “They’re at the World Cup game. He gives them the bird. Logan Paul. This to me is one of the great downfalls of an icon with Tom Brady and the way he is acting post-retirement.”
“It’s a legacy that is being lame-ified. I use that word; people are like, ‘What does that mean?’ It means he’s becoming very lame,” Portnoy explained. “And it’s a guy who very few athletes— Michael Jordan, Messi, Beckham, Gretzky— like, these are like superstars that seem so above the fray that you don’t want to see them mixed up in all sorts of lowbrow TikTok flag football leagues in Saudi Arabia or whatever it is… Everything about him is cringey right now to me.”
Well, former NBA star and current Inside the NBA analyst Shaquille O’Neal was asked about those comments by Page Six, and he made it quite clear that he’d take Brady’s side vs. Portnoy.
O’Neal told Page Six, “I’d be glad if somebody punches [Portnoy] in the face. And I hope it’s Tom.”
“Dave talks a lot,” O’Neal said. “He’s one of those lucky guys who had a lot of success. So, he thinks his point of view is important.”
“A lot of these people, because they have success, they think they’re celebrities, and they think their word, his word matters,” O’Neal added. “But for him to even mention Tom Brady, what Tom Brady’s doing. What you’ve got to understand about Tom- Tom knows exactly what he’s doing.
“And he’s doing it so well, you get idiots like Dave Portnoy [expressing] their opinion. But his opinion doesn’t matter, and it never matters. I don’t care how successful you are with selling your company, or buying it back for a dollar. Whoopty freakin’ do. You’re a rich man. Now try being nice. But, again, I’ll be glad if somebody punches him right in the face… He talks too much. And you can tell him I said it.”
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.