Barstool Sports Has a Congratulations Problem

I'm sorry but somebody has to say something. Somebody has to do it. I've only been at Barstool for a couple years, but as an objective party who comes to the office every day, minds his own business, and quietly observes the behavior of his co-workers, I think we've officially reached a tipping point. The congratulations have gotten out of control. Barstool Sports officially has a congratulations problem. 

I probably shouldn't blog this considering giant sports fans (physically & emotionally) who live and die with their teams as if they themselves are on the payroll is kind of the foundation on which Barstool Sports is built. Taking sports WAY too seriously is kind of what we do here. If our fans and employees were rational people, I don't think Barstool would even exist.

On top of that, this probably sounds like a direct shot at Dave. And honestly, our company-wide congratulations problem is kind of his fault. Except Dave might be the only person at this company (aside from Big Cat, KFC, PFT, Gaz, Hank, and anybody else who might be reading this and has enough pull to affect my job status) who legitimately deserves one. But not everyone is Dave (or any of the other employees I mentioned who could easily have me fired). I just refuse to live in a world where I have to treat every Boston sports fan at this company as if their, "JAYSON TATUM LETS FUCKING GOOOO" tweets played a major role in leading the Celtics to a championship. I won't have it.

I have no problem with people dishing out unsolicited congratulations. Nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't do it. But that's just because the thought of congratulating a friend on his favorite team winning a game never even crossed my mind as something anyone would ever do until I was introduced to Barstool. Even if my best friend who is a die hard Tennessee Volunteers fan miraculously won a college football national championship, I wouldn't congratulate him. I would bethrilled for him. I'd give him a hug. I might even jump up and down with him. I would say something like, "Holy shit dude that fucking rules I can't believe they pulled it off! Now let's get really drunk." But something about the word "congratulations", like this is something he has personally worked long and hard to achieve is just ridiculous to me.

And I would be lying if I said the time I was sitting at my desk and watched someone (I wish I remembered who it was) walk up to Hubbs after the Yankees won the ALDS in 2022 to give him a very straight-faced, formal handshake and say, "Congratulations on your big win.", that I didn't chuckle to myself. But who gives a shit about that. That's harmless. Congratulations is just a word. If that's the word someone chooses to acknowledge a friends team winning then so be it. 

But we've now reached a point where we have employees demanding congratulations. Like not saying congratulations is akin to forgetting someone's birthday. We have to draw the line somewhere. This morning when I sat down at my desk, I overheard a conversation. One of our social media guy's, Shaun (i.e. Travis for the boys) was talking about Barstool blogger extraordinaire Karim. I missed the full context of the conversation, but I overheard Shaun say something like, "Can you believe Karim last night? He left without saying congratulations!"

Then as you saw in the video at the top of this blog, we now have Chris Klemmer in Chicago, who nobody even knew was a Celtics fan until the start of the playoffs, demanding a congratulations from Brandon Walker. How dare you Brandon Walker. You've been in the office for a full hour and still haven't congratulated Chris Klemmer on his incredible accomplishment. I mean what the fuck are we doing here guys? We can't have 15 people who we're responsible for congratulating every time Boston wins a championship. Am I now the asshole because I didn't think to text Fasoli congrats on his big win last night?

Maybe I'm being the old man yelling at a cloud for this take. I don't care if people say "we" when referring to their teams. I don't care if you take your team losing harder than your own mother's death. But to walk into the office and expect people to treat you special because a team you cheer for won a basketball tournament? Let's reel it in a bit guys.

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