Being Black at Barstool is My Job
I’m Brandon Newman and here’s why I think Barstool hired me…
-I’m Black.
-In High School, I was good at football. I’m talking 4 stars on Rivals good. I played in the U.S. Army All-American game in 2008.
-Charlie Weis offered me a full scholarship to play football at the University of Notre Dame. I obliged.
-While on scholarship at ND, I rode the bench more than Rudy Ruettiger. Other than a scholarship and skin color, one of the biggest differences between Rudy and me is where we saw our first game action as a defensive lineman for Notre Dame. Rudy’s first snap was against Georgia Tech in South Bend at Notre Dame Stadium as a Senior. My first snap was against Army in New York City at Yankee Stadium as a Junior. One is clearly better than the other. After a great game in the “Boogie Down Bronx” against a powerhouse like Army, Brian Kelly made sure I only played against service academies as a Domer. Army and Navy are the only schools I played against for the Irish.
-Later in my Notre Dame career, I was deemed “too militant” by my D-Line coach after calling him out for “talking like a rapper” too much during meetings. In a closed-door meeting I was told by that same person that "we're not going to waste reps on you in practice when I can get a freshman as good as you are now by the end of camp."
-While at Notre Dame I fell in love with my freshman Human Genetics Tutor. Thanks to all of her help during our “study sessions” I earned the first ‘D’ of my academic career. 10 years later, that tutor is my wife and we’re expecting our first child in March.
-I took my 5th year at Ball State University and had some of the best football memories ever. I fell in love with MACtion. After a solid season with the Cardinals, no NFL team called on draft day. Not one. No NFL team needed a 6’0, 45 snaps a game, 1-technique with great feet and a weight problem. Their loss. I had one year to finish my Masters in Digital Storytelling so I stayed in Muncie, IN on Ball State’s football team as a Graduate Assistant in 2013.
-After graduating from Ball State with my Masters, I landed a gig Paging at the Late Show with David Letterman. The comedy GOAT, who graduated from Ball State, had already announced his retirement when I started working there, but it doesn’t matter. Working for Worldwide Pants for one year was more fun than “playing” football Notre Dame for 4 years. On May 20th, 2015 I was fired along with the rest of the Late Show staff.
-In December 2015, another Ball State graduate, Jason Whitlock, forced FOX Sports to hire me as an Associate Producer and forced me to move to Los Angeles where we launched FS1’s Speak For Yourself. Then I became the social media guy at FS1, running Speak For Yourself on social, helping launch Undisputed on social and becoming best friends with, Ray Lewis, the greatest Baltimore Raven to ever live.
-I spent 4 years in LA creating social media content for FOX Sports and their talent. I’ve been the Sacajawea of social media strategy for Jason Whitlock, Skip Bayless, Shannon Sharpe, Joy Taylor and many more at FS1.
-Joy Taylor and I got cool working together on Undisputed then she asked me to be her co-host on a podcast for FOX Sports that is still going strong; Maybe I’m Crazy. That's what I was doing up until September 2019.
-I love and respect all things LeBron James and Dragon Ball Z.
-I’m friends with Willie Colon.
-My parents are Black.
Whatever got me hired, I’m excited to be here reppin’ the culture every time I open my mouth. And I ain’t going nowhere. Viva La Stool.