USA Today Says The Barstool Arizona Bowl Is "The Most Objectionable Title Sponsor In Bowl History". Let's Discuss
I will be honest with you guys up front. I didn't read the article. Not because I didn't want to, but because USA Today is following the ol' Business Insider model of writing a salacious headline about Barstool and then putting the article behind a paywall.
SMH. The newspaper that has been so historically shitty that the only customers they could count on were big hotel chains that would give the paper away for free. Now they're resorting using Barstool to get readers as opposed to their old tactic of brightly colored graphs and pictures. While I never like to assume, in this instance I think it is safe to assume that the author cited the same lies as everyone else. Dave Portnoy did this, Dave Portnoy said that, Dave Portnoy flies on Spirit Airlines, blah blah blah. Let's take a look at the list of Bowl Sponsors, past and present, to see if this story checks out though
The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl 2014-Present
I love the Armed Forces. I am sure you respect the troops too. Lockheed Martin wants you to believe that they do too.
--Back in 2015 the Justice Department slapped Lockheed Martin on the wrist with a $4.7M fine because they fraudulently paid a lobbyist to help them secure a $2.4B per year no-bid contract with the US Government. Those funds that they paid were actually taxpayer dollars. WHOOPSIE DAISY. Classic mix up. Could've happened to anyone.
--Lockheed Martin also sold a fleet of C-130 planes to Chad. No biggie, right? Well…those planes were used by a tyrannical dictator to squash democracy in the African nation. Tough break, but Lockheed Martin lobbied to get the deal approved after a US Ambassador objected and said that their interests lined up to allow the sale to go through.
If you've heard of the Military Industrial Complex in America and around the world, well, you can look to Lockheed Martin as one of the main proponents and benefactors of that thinking. They currently charge a BILLION dollars for each F-35 fighter jet.
Lockheed Martin was bailed out by the government in the 1970s to the tune of $250M while simultaneously paying $22M to foreign officials.
Lockheed Martin has been fined over 20 times since 1998 for various violations from labor, to bribery, to fraud.
Dave Portnoy and Barstool by comparison with the troops?
Citigroup (And Most Financial Services Companies For Other Bowls) Rose Bowl
Have you guys seen the Big Short? Too Big Too Fail? Inside Job? Any of the companies involved in the 2008 financial crisis that almost collapsed the entire world economy because they were greedy, lied, predatory, and needed a bailout to avoid complete bankruptcy and a great depression…Citigroup received $306B in 2008. Then they turned around and paid their employees and managers largely responsible for the crisis $5.5B in bonuses.
Dave Portnoy and Barstool?
Papa John's
Uhh….
Sea World Holiday Bowl 1986-1990
ExxonMobil Cotton Bowl
jean-Louis Atlan. Getty Images.
This blog is getting long, but that picture above is of the Valdez oil spill. Google their corporate rapsheet…bribery, fraud, corruption, human rights violations, groundwater contamination, funding of anti-climate change narratives/studies while simultaneously raising their deep sea oil drilling platforms to account for sea level rise.
Two things I don't understand right now…1) why I can't get the HQ platform to stop typing in bold. Nothing I do will fix it. The bold button is stuck. 2) How ANYONE could spend time writing an article saying Barstool is the worst sponsor ever with zero actual evidence while so many other bowl sponsors off the top of my head have LEGITIMATE convictions for crimes against the country and humanity. It is, to borrow a phrase from our leader, bananas.
Arizona Bowl, streaming live on our website where nobody can tell us what to do or how to act because this is America is on 12/31. Tune in here at Noon CST.