Buffalo Sports Journo and 'Women's Sports Advocate' Gets Fired for Saying Women Fans are 'the Worst'
This is a clip from a podcast called "Trainwreck Tonight." And in case you can't tell from the decor, the fashion, and the outrageous Western NY accents, it's about sports and it's based out of Buffalo. I'll confess right off the top that I'm not familiar with with the work of any of these gentlemen. But when you read the quote that got pulled for this post and see that's got a ratio of about 1,400 likes to about 1,400 ReTweets, you just know a very large nerve has been struck. And that shit will likely be going down.
It doesn't help at all that the fella in the middle expressing his disdain for half the population of human race included his support for women's sports in his bio:
Because ol' Jerry Sullivan might be a walking, talking version of Title IX made flesh, his journalism just got a little bit more independent after this one:
Well, it just goes to show you, we all pretty much go through life one stupid, ill-considered comment from oblivion. Or at the very least, costing ourselves a bunch of money. We don't know what Jer was pulling in from those GNN gigs, but this has to hurt. And all the advocacy for women's sports, watching WBNA games, pushing for pay equity between the US Women's Team and USMT, and posting about your Women's March Madness bracket every year won't save you once you start calling 50% of your podcast demo "the worst." Then all those weekends spent watching the LPGA and the Wimbledon Ladies quarterfinals are out the window, and suddenly you're a member of "No MA'AM":
And by no means am I saying him losing work after these comments is unfair. On the contrary. He might have an excuse like he was going for a joke that didn't land and came off sounding like he meant something he didn't. He might have been too many beers deep into the broadcast. Whatever. You've got to have a filter. It's a requirement of the job when you're an independent journo. Sure, Joe Rogan or Bill Burr would get a laugh and move on without a dent. The Jerry Sullivan's of the world don't have armor that thick. They've got to be self-aware at all times.
Besides, “The worst fans really are the women"? "They're all wanna be cheerleaders"? Good God, do you hear yourself, man? [Note that I am putting this in italics to demonstrate I'm sarcastically exaggerating his comments. The views expressed herein do not reflect the views of myself, Barstool Sports, Penn, or any of the women in charge of me earning a living. Pull these out of context to make us look bad and you will unleash an ancient Irish hex that will curse your family forever.] Yeah, you fellers know them dames, alright. Always flapping their gums. Yap, yap, yap. Pretending they understand sports, just to so's they can find themselves a husband and slap the ol' ball & chain on him. Amirite? "Oh, boo hoo. Don't say bad things about my team! Talk about how cute Josh Allen is instead!" Shaadddup already and let the boys watch the game, will ya? And make yerself useful and bring us sammiches!
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OK, not we're back to the non-italicized me part. You've been warned about the curse.
Here's the thing, I'd like to have sympathy for Sullivan because I don't know him. Like me, he's a man of a certain age who wears glasses, is a mediocre golfer and a reader. I kicked my Strat-O-Matic addiction not long after high school. And when it comes to 1970s singer/songwriters, I very much prefer Warren Zevon to Tom Waits. But I can relate to a lot of what he's about. Plus I'm guessing he actually meant none of what it sounded like or my blatant attempt to put words in his mouth.
But none of that matters. The world reacts as the world reacts. You have to deal with reality on realities terms. I've spent way more hours than I can ever count talking into a lot of microphones. Trying to entertain listeners with interesting opinions on things. Often with beers in me. And you have to go into it with the understanding that the only thing you can control, literally the only thing, are the words you choose to come out of your mouth.
So I have very little sympathy for him. Especially given that grandiose "Women's sports advocate" thing. I unironically follow women's figure skating, but you don't see me virtue signalling about it in my bio. There but for the grace of God go all of us, but he walked right into this. And has to own it.