Dave Portnoy is turning 48 on Saturday, but the Barstool Sports founder is in absolutely no mood to celebrate.
Taking to Instagram on his birthday morning, Portnoy explained that March Madness has soured his mood this year – and many other years, too.
‘Alright, Saturday March 22, my birthday. People who know me know I am not a birthday guy. I’m not a birthday guy, when people wish me happy birthday I don’t get it.
‘Everybody is born, it is nothing to brag about. Quite literally every single person on earth is born and has a birthday, nothing special.
‘So in lieu of birthday wishes, I will take winners. For every year I’ve been alive, right about this time, my birthday hasn’t really been the best because I am getting slaughtered in the tournament. And this year is no different.
‘So this year, I am wishing for winners. I get a birthday parlay, my first ever birthday parlay – McNeese State, Michigan and St John’s. I won one a few days ago, since then I haven’t won. In lieu of birthday wishes… let’s just win.
Dave Portnoy says that March Madness usually means that he has a miserable birthday
‘Forget the f**ing birthday, I don’t care about my birthday. Wish me winners. Let’s win because I need them.’
McNeese State, the 12th seeds, would cause a huge shock if they beat Purdue after previously knocking out the fifth seeds Clemson.
McNeese play first today, followed by second seed St John’s against Arkansas and then fifth seed Michigan against fourth ranked Texas A&M.
But Portnoy’s struggles are in line with millions of March Madness fans – even though his bets have probably cost him a lot more than most.
According to data from the NCAA, there are nearly no perfect brackets remaining after a number of surprise results in the opening stages of the competition.
As of the early hours of Saturday, ESPN’s tracker listed 121 perfect brackets — down from 1,098 early in the day — remaining out of 24 million on its site following the Friday night slate.
Portnoy has also called this year’s first round of March Madness the worst ever, with no seed lower than a No 12 winning in the first round.
All No 13 through 16 seeds are headed home, alongside with many favorites winning across the board, keeping most of the best teams from the regular season still in play over the weekend.
All No 13 through 16 seeds are headed home, alongside with favorites winning across the board
Those smaller schools seeded very low provide a flavor to each NCAA Tournament to make it unique, like Saint Peter’s did three years ago.
The lowest-seeded teams left in the tournament are McNeese State, who nearly lost to Clemson despite only giving up 13 first-half points, and Colorado State, who ended Memphis’ season.
‘Worst 1st round of the tournament ever,’ Portnoy said on social media.
Portnoy did not go into further detail about his opinion, but it may have something to do with 20 first-round games being decided by double digits.
