Dave Portnoy made an explosive debut on Fox’s ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ on Saturday, trolling Ohio State fans by marching out and singing Michigan’s fight song before calling their jersey ‘toilet paper’.
The Barstool Sports chief was making his first appearance on the show as part of the massive deal his company signed with Fox Sports during the offseason.
Fox’s decision to hire Portnoy appeared as a counter move to Pat McAfee being on ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ and rival the long-standing Saturday preview show.
Tension has bubbled away in the build up to his first show amid claims Portnoy has been banned from Ohio State’s stadium for the game because of his long-running animosity towards the team.
Portnoy is a huge Michigan Wolverines fan and regularly trolls their bitter Big 10 rivals, who take on the No. 1 Texas Longhorns in a mouthwatering game on Saturday.
And Portnoy twisted the knife on Saturday morning when he walked out onto the stage singing ‘The Victors’ before cutting a wrestling-style promo to vent at Buckeyes fans.
Dave Portnoy made an explosive debut on Fox’s ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ at Ohio State on Saturday
Portnoy marched out singing Michigan ‘s fight song before calling their jersey ‘toilet paper’
Portnoy was given his own ‘El Presidente’ Ohio State jersey by legendary coach Urban Meyer
Once he made the stage and fist bumped his on-air partners, Portnoy walked to the back of the desk and told the Ohio State fans to ‘shut up’.
He continued: ‘I want a moment of silence for all you Ohio State morons who have been saying “here comes the hammer. Michigan’s getting the death penalty”.
‘I’ve heard people say “Big Noon only hired Dave to troll Columbus. We don’t want noon kickoffs”. Well we have noon kick offs, too. I’m not here to troll you. You guys are being so rude.’
Portnoy then lifted his jumper off to reveal a shirt that read ‘Still Can’t Beat Michigan’, referring to the fact that Ohio State lost to the Wolverines during their run to a national championship title last season and have not beat them since 2019.
‘You can’t beat us. That national title you have means nothing to every single one of you. I’m not here to troll you. I’m here to root for the Big 10 and it goes through Ann Arbor. Until you can beat us it will always go through Ann Arbor.’
Later in the show, Portnoy was given his own ‘El Presidente’ Ohio State jersey by legendary coach Urban Meyer. True to form, Portnoy said in response: ‘I just got a new house that needs some toilet paper.’
Portnoy was then asked about Ohio State coach Ryan Day’s future. Despite winning a national title last year, his failure to beat Michigan has led to questions about his future.
Portnoy explained: ‘These people can boo me all they want. What happens if you lose to Michigan again this year? He (Day) could be out.
‘There’s a reason I’m not allowed in The Shoe today. Because he’s soft and Michigan has broken him.’
The 48-year-old Portnoy is a renowned fan of Michigan – Ohio State’s bitter rivals
Ohio State denied reports that it has banned the Barstool boss from entering its stadium
On Monday night, reports emerged that Portnoy had been barred from entering Ohio State’s stadium, the Horseshoe, while Barstool Sports had been ordered to stay off campus altogether.
On Tuesday, Ohio State denied it had blocked Portnoy and insisted it was Fox who decided not to have him inside the stadium.
But a few hours later, Portnoy called an ’emergency press conference’ and accused the Buckeyes of lying in a brutal five-and-a-half-minute tirade.
‘We were supposed to be in Columbus… and then we got word that Ohio State was not going to allow us to be on campus with “Big Noon Kickoff,”‘ he began.
‘Just say it: “Yeah we banned him.” Don’t point the finger… just look in the mirror and say: “We’re weak, we’re soft and until we get better, we’re never going to beat this team (Michigan).”‘
Portnoy continued: ‘This is a unique spot for me because I always just sling it and say what’s happening and Barstool is an independent pirate ship – we work for ourselves and that’s why people love us. We don’t filter anything, we don’t hide anything.
‘Now we form this big relationship with Fox and I’m always cognizant of our partners and trying to do right by them and they definitely got put in a weird spot because they didn’t see this (coming) – how could anybody see that crying (Buckeyes coach) Ryan Day and Ohio State would be this soft?’
Portnoy claims to have known about the ‘ban’ for more than a week and that Barstool Sports had to pay a ‘late fee’ for canceling the production of its show at short notice.
He insisted, however, that he was going to stay silent – ‘I’m trying to be the good soldier, the good partner, we’re just starting this thing with Fox.’ But then Ohio State AD Ross Bjork denied to Yahoo that the Buckeyes had banned Portnoy.
‘And Ohio State people are eating it up because obviously when the story broke everyone was like: “Ohio State is so f***ing soft. Michigan broke them… if you can’t beat them, ban them.” They’re broken! It’s a broken team, a broken school… they wake up, they think about Michigan. They go to sleep, they think about Michigan, they see this face: it’s the boogie man.’
