After reading this article and checking back in to normieworld by consulting my sportsbro friends, I believe Barstool deserves more consideration if not investigation. https://theweek.com/articles/964006/rise-barstool-conservatives

It appears they are allowing a controlled outlet for masculinity to form in order to backstop the losses they're experiencing from the crass politicization of sports at all levels.

Any ex-normie can tell you ESPN was mandatory viewing up to the Tebow era when it became obvious they manufactured controversy for ratings. It was still semiwatchable up until the great awokening of 2012-2014 but it's been a dead outlet ever since and the ratings reflect that

That didn't matter because the circus was still entertaining enough. Sporntz ratings, like stonk prices, only go up. At least they did until the culture broke in 16/17. All of a sudden white men started disengaging en masse, not necessarily consciously but disengaged nevertheless

All of a sudden you had woke invading the sporntz themselves. From LeBron's bullshit to #BLM overexposure, the circus was turning into a church sermon. So how do you reengage the target audience? Start by appropriating pre-Great Awokening meme culture.

Just look at the entirely astroturfed r/NBA for the primary example of this. That entire subreddit is the result of tens of millions of dollars of targeted marketing and manipulation, but it worked! Sportsbros that never watched a single NBA game subscribe just for the memes.

The problem is memes != eyeballs on the broadcasts which is all they really care about. So what's the next stage? Commodifying ~2014/15 anti-SJW culture, revisiting the original backstop online culture and making it mainstream.

It's not enough to make memes to laugh at, they need to give men a way to excuse their sporntz consumption habit against their better instincts.

Their mixture of memes, humor, and contrarianism lets men watch LeBron throw up a black power fist and think "lol, I know he's a hypocrite because of that article, I'm so smart for getting the angle on this behavior."

That "angle" isn't correct but for a Sporntzbro, it's closer to any truth they've seen thus far. And what if sporntz continue to suck? Well Barstool has bought Old Row (comodification of Fratbro culture) and Rough n' Rowdy Boxing. Sporntz sucks? They'll sell you a new culture

I can't tell you how counterproductive this is from our viewpoint, especially the unsanctioned fight night network. It's innately appealing to men in a way that's near impossible to break away from. Hell, most of you are still watching MMA.

So what do? Normally, I'd say to agree and amplify any controversies the roving leftist hordes of Twitter dredge up... except I think that plays right into their hands much the same way as it did for the Alt-Light.

"See? We're hated by both extremes, you only catch flak when you're over the target therefore the views we're selling you must be the most correct!"

Don't fall for it, don't give them that ammo.

Just be patient and let's see how far they can go with a corporatized, stale facsimile of authentic online culture. Do pay attention to them, do consider them a primary competitor, and don't fall into thinking "they're secretly Based bro!"