August 26, 2025 • 10 mins
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr discuss the recent dust-up between FOX, Ohio State, and Dave Portnoy. Did Ohio State overstep their bounds? Was this all a big nothing? Is it somewhere in between?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How's it going, Tony? It is Tuesday of the week
of a number one versus number two football game here
in Columbus, Ohio. So what do we get to talk about, Tony?
We get to talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
So we just wanted to touch base on the Dave
Portinoy thing which blew up on Monday and Monday night
where Front Off of Sports did a thing saying Ohio
State had banned him from the stadium because they do
their show from outside the stadium, then when it gets
closer to the stadium, everybody both shows move inside the stadium.
(00:47):
And the report was at Ohio State didn't want him
in the stadium, and so everybody runs with that. We
talked about that on Twitter, and Twitter just goes crazy
as it does. Ohio State is soft for all of
this and then issues a statement saying we didn't ban anybody.
Ross Ellener reports that Ohio State didn't ban anybody, and
in fact, the Big Ten was told by Fox that
(01:09):
Dave Portnoy is not planning on is not They don't
plan on having Dave Portnoy in any of the stadiums.
So in a matter of about twelve hours, it went
from Ohio State has banned Dave Portnoy from Ohio Stadium
to Frox's banned Dave Fortnite from all stadiums essentially, And
so we did want to talk about it because Tom,
I'm wanna have this as college football on two. On
(01:31):
the secondhand, like Fox created this issue on their own.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh, for sure, this is that. Here's that attention you
ordered coming Home to Roost, which, yeah, why do you
have him on the show for the same reason you
had Clay Travis on the show, for the same reason
that ESPN has Pat McAfee on the show. Because these
are people that have their own audiences for lord knows
what reason, but they have their own audiences. And so, okay,
(01:58):
look here's this person. He's loud, he's wacky. Look he
doesn't wear sleeves. Look he says stupid stuff. Look he
eats pizza whatever it is, Like, that's that's just here's
what this is. Welcome to modern I don't even want
to say journalism. Yeah, this is I mean, this whole thing.
We could we could just do fifteen minutes just on
the journalism of this whole thing, Like just because you
(02:20):
have this sort of put out there by someone doesn't
mean that it's automatically exactly true. And as reported, that's
actually a life lesson you can take and apply to
many areas of life, both in sports and news and
breaking news and all sorts of stuff like wait twenty
four hours and then you general, we'll get a little
(02:41):
more context in a little more sort of full idea
of what's actually happening rather than just going full blast.
But Tony, what about the clicks?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
What about what about the clicks? Indeed, and so the
start out, I was mentioned on another podcast that ohahstate
wasn't he wasn't going to be well in I think
it was the term, And it's like, well, certainly Ohio
State controls the credentials of anybody, and if they don't
deem you worthy of a credential, they're going to hold
(03:09):
you to hold those credentials back for whatever you've done
in the past, for whatever you've done in the present.
But it's like, it's not, this is not an Ohio
State Michigan thing. Because Jake Butt was at a freaking
practice former Michigan tight end was at an Ohio State
practice back earlier this month. Charles Woodson is welcome in.
That doesn't Howard handed the victors from the top of
(03:30):
Ohio Stadium. He is still welcomed in. So this is this,
this would have gone beyond that, and the fact that
it does go beyond that because Fox has already been like, yeah,
we know, we can't bring him inside the house. And
this is not just we know he's more of a
pond guy than a pool guy, basically, is what they're saying.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, yeah, and I think there's also when you go inside,
that's your main people on your set. And these shows
have just grown and grown and grown, and it used
to be, oh, look it's Chris Fowler and Lee Corso
and KIRKERB Street and it was Reys Davis and Lee
Corso and KIRKERB Street. And then now it grows and
now you've got eight people on the set or ten
(04:09):
people on the set or whatever it is these shows.
When they go inside, it's generally like when Fox goes
inside the stadium, you generally see Mark Ingram urban Meyer,
Brady Quinn, rob Stone, that might be it like it
really and the Chris Felika, the Bear. You'll sometimes see
(04:31):
him inside the stadium, but you know, I'm right down there.
They pull down in a golf cart right right down
to the point where I'm standing getting pictures of recruits
coming in, so they walk past me every time they're here.
Those are the people you see. It's not you know,
the Gilgans Island and the rest, like and the rest
are outside the stadium because you don't need fifteen people.
You don't have room for fifteen people inside the stadium.
(04:53):
So you know, I don't I would love to say
that this reflects editorial judgment on Fox his part to say,
you know, in fact, this is not someone who belongs
in here. In terms of it's I don't think it's that.
I think it's just you've got four seats at the desk,
you got five seats at the desk, whatever it is.
(05:13):
You'll bring those people in and then everyone else kind
of can stand outside.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, it's a much smaller set inside the stadium than
outside of the stadium, and there are plenty of people
on those sets outside of the stadium who aren't on
the set inside the stadium. So it's not like some
of the people who do the side interviews with the crowd,
Like those people are not banned, they're just not part
of the inside set. Because what's the point, you know, right,
you've already taken care of that part of the show,
(05:37):
and I'm going to assume they've already taken care of
the Portnolly part of the show whatever that is to
find out well, and certainly not this week when everybody's
gonna be watching Lee Corso's last game day. I think
this is another issue where this didn't need to go
down like this for Ohio State, because I absolutely there
(05:58):
were people at Ohio State boosters and whatnot that did
not want Dave portnoy in and they made it known.
And so I think that because I had so many
texts to me's like I just talked with major, major
donor and he's like, they're not going to let We're
like we like, we're not letting portnoy in to you know,
do this in Ohio Stadium. And other people had similar
(06:19):
stories and yeah, this is this is the donor portions
saying this, and I think it gets construed as the
OSU media portion. This ID and and and Ryan Day
and right, d I guaranteed like Ryan Day, he's going
to be asked about this Day's like I got Texes.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I don't know that Ryan Day knows who Dave Portnoy is,
Like he might legitimately not know who Dave Portnoy is.
And you know, the the Ohio State is soft and
this is I mean, I can pay attention to which
Michigan reporters are credentialed this November, Like there are plenty
of Michigan reporters that put out all sorts of nonsense
that are going to be credential because you don't deny
(06:58):
people credentials just because that's something we don't like, Like,
that's not why there's that, That's not the standard. And
as you said, you also have shows the Desmond Howard
singing Hail to the victors inside Ohio Stadium. That was
was was that the Texas game in two thousand and five.
It was a long time, yeah, but that was one
of those things where okay, this is intentionally inflammatory, like okay,
(07:22):
but Desmond Howard has still showed up at Ohio Stadium
and he has been inside Ohio Stadium. So yeah, I
think the bar the bar to say Ohio State said no,
you can't do it. That would be pretty high to me,
and it would make a lot more sense to just
have it be uh, this maybe got put out there
for uh, here's that attention you ordered and uh, you know,
(07:44):
and and then you know, Ohio State just did exactly
what Ohio State normally would have done because it wasn't
actually going to be an issue.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yea. Well, and I do think it would have been
interesting to see if he was part of the in
stadium shows this year, what kind of act does he
put on? And does that make Fox look even worse
for this higher So there is almost a thing where
Ohio State should be like, no, please let him in
so that everybody can see what what everybody is dealing with,
(08:13):
because he is very, very renowned businessman at this point,
but also a professional troll. And when that is part
of your you know, what you're trying to put on
in the in your broadcast, Like there's a time and
a place for that. I don't know that. I don't
know that that place is inside the stadium when you're
(08:34):
being welcomed in by the university as a whole.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Right, Well, you have as Fox broadcast partner of the
Big ten, you have a certain reputation and you have
certain standards that you're probably expected to uphold, and those
are not the same standards as Barstool has. You know,
Barstool is, you know outrageous Zany, you know sports media
Comma Jackass style. And there are people for whom that
(09:03):
is an appealing thing and go with God, I don't
know what to say, but that's not what Fox is.
And if you are the broadcast partner of the Big
Ten and you're spending a whole lot of money and
you're trying to keep your business partners who you're literally
in business with because they own part of the Big
ten network, you should be probably trying to, like everyone
(09:25):
should be kind of trying to play nicely together and
not do the here's that attention you ordered when you
know it's going to be inflammatory. But that's a decision
that got made quite a while ago, and so here
we are.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, I think this could have been avoided if Fox
had made it known earlier that Portnoy's not going to
be inside the stadium for any of their shows this
year at this point. But once something starts leaking out
that it's gonna explode. And for Ohio State they bear
the brunt of this. They continue they get the soft
labeled despite the most difficult national championship run in college
(10:01):
football history coming off of that, but that's neither here
nor there, tom So there you go. We just wanted
a touch base on this and kind of wrap it
up and then move on, because please, there's Texas Is
this week. We've got some other stuff that we're going
to be talking about as well. So if you want
to go, I git that thumbs up, we would appreciate it.
(10:22):
If you're a five star writing interview kind of person
on your podcast, we'd appreciate that as well. And of
course you can continue to find us at buckeyehuddle dot com.
Thank you for tuning in, and we'll talk to you
guys later
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How's it going, Tony? It is Tuesday of the week
of a number one versus number two football game here
in Columbus, Ohio. So what do we get to talk about, Tony?
We get to talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
So we just wanted to touch base on the Dave
Portinoy thing which blew up on Monday and Monday night
where Front Off of Sports did a thing saying Ohio
State had banned him from the stadium because they do
their show from outside the stadium, then when it gets
closer to the stadium, everybody both shows move inside the stadium.
(00:47):
And the report was at Ohio State didn't want him
in the stadium, and so everybody runs with that. We
talked about that on Twitter, and Twitter just goes crazy
as it does. Ohio State is soft for all of
this and then issues a statement saying we didn't ban anybody.
Ross Ellener reports that Ohio State didn't ban anybody, and
in fact, the Big Ten was told by Fox that
(01:09):
Dave Portnoy is not planning on is not They don't
plan on having Dave Portnoy in any of the stadiums.
So in a matter of about twelve hours, it went
from Ohio State has banned Dave Portnoy from Ohio Stadium
to Frox's banned Dave Fortnite from all stadiums essentially, And
so we did want to talk about it because Tom,
I'm wanna have this as college football on two. On
(01:31):
the secondhand, like Fox created this issue on their own.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh, for sure, this is that. Here's that attention you
ordered coming Home to Roost, which, yeah, why do you
have him on the show for the same reason you
had Clay Travis on the show, for the same reason
that ESPN has Pat McAfee on the show. Because these
are people that have their own audiences for lord knows
what reason, but they have their own audiences. And so, okay,
(01:58):
look here's this person. He's loud, he's wacky. Look he
doesn't wear sleeves. Look he says stupid stuff. Look he
eats pizza whatever it is, Like, that's that's just here's
what this is. Welcome to modern I don't even want
to say journalism. Yeah, this is I mean, this whole thing.
We could we could just do fifteen minutes just on
the journalism of this whole thing, Like just because you
(02:20):
have this sort of put out there by someone doesn't
mean that it's automatically exactly true. And as reported, that's
actually a life lesson you can take and apply to
many areas of life, both in sports and news and
breaking news and all sorts of stuff like wait twenty
four hours and then you general, we'll get a little
(02:41):
more context in a little more sort of full idea
of what's actually happening rather than just going full blast.
But Tony, what about the clicks?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
What about what about the clicks? Indeed, and so the
start out, I was mentioned on another podcast that ohahstate
wasn't he wasn't going to be well in I think
it was the term, And it's like, well, certainly Ohio
State controls the credentials of anybody, and if they don't
deem you worthy of a credential, they're going to hold
(03:09):
you to hold those credentials back for whatever you've done
in the past, for whatever you've done in the present.
But it's like, it's not, this is not an Ohio
State Michigan thing. Because Jake Butt was at a freaking
practice former Michigan tight end was at an Ohio State
practice back earlier this month. Charles Woodson is welcome in.
That doesn't Howard handed the victors from the top of
(03:30):
Ohio Stadium. He is still welcomed in. So this is this,
this would have gone beyond that, and the fact that
it does go beyond that because Fox has already been like, yeah,
we know, we can't bring him inside the house. And
this is not just we know he's more of a
pond guy than a pool guy, basically, is what they're saying.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, yeah, and I think there's also when you go inside,
that's your main people on your set. And these shows
have just grown and grown and grown, and it used
to be, oh, look it's Chris Fowler and Lee Corso
and KIRKERB Street and it was Reys Davis and Lee
Corso and KIRKERB Street. And then now it grows and
now you've got eight people on the set or ten
(04:09):
people on the set or whatever it is these shows.
When they go inside, it's generally like when Fox goes
inside the stadium, you generally see Mark Ingram urban Meyer,
Brady Quinn, rob Stone, that might be it like it
really and the Chris Felika, the Bear. You'll sometimes see
(04:31):
him inside the stadium, but you know, I'm right down there.
They pull down in a golf cart right right down
to the point where I'm standing getting pictures of recruits
coming in, so they walk past me every time they're here.
Those are the people you see. It's not you know,
the Gilgans Island and the rest, like and the rest
are outside the stadium because you don't need fifteen people.
You don't have room for fifteen people inside the stadium.
(04:53):
So you know, I don't I would love to say
that this reflects editorial judgment on Fox his part to say,
you know, in fact, this is not someone who belongs
in here. In terms of it's I don't think it's that.
I think it's just you've got four seats at the desk,
you got five seats at the desk, whatever it is.
(05:13):
You'll bring those people in and then everyone else kind
of can stand outside.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, it's a much smaller set inside the stadium than
outside of the stadium, and there are plenty of people
on those sets outside of the stadium who aren't on
the set inside the stadium. So it's not like some
of the people who do the side interviews with the crowd,
Like those people are not banned, they're just not part
of the inside set. Because what's the point, you know, right,
you've already taken care of that part of the show,
(05:37):
and I'm going to assume they've already taken care of
the Portnolly part of the show whatever that is to
find out well, and certainly not this week when everybody's
gonna be watching Lee Corso's last game day. I think
this is another issue where this didn't need to go
down like this for Ohio State, because I absolutely there
(05:58):
were people at Ohio State boosters and whatnot that did
not want Dave portnoy in and they made it known.
And so I think that because I had so many
texts to me's like I just talked with major, major
donor and he's like, they're not going to let We're
like we like, we're not letting portnoy in to you know,
do this in Ohio Stadium. And other people had similar
(06:19):
stories and yeah, this is this is the donor portions
saying this, and I think it gets construed as the
OSU media portion. This ID and and and Ryan Day
and right, d I guaranteed like Ryan Day, he's going
to be asked about this Day's like I got Texes.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
I don't know that Ryan Day knows who Dave Portnoy is,
Like he might legitimately not know who Dave Portnoy is.
And you know, the the Ohio State is soft and
this is I mean, I can pay attention to which
Michigan reporters are credentialed this November, Like there are plenty
of Michigan reporters that put out all sorts of nonsense
that are going to be credential because you don't deny
(06:58):
people credentials just because that's something we don't like, Like,
that's not why there's that, That's not the standard. And
as you said, you also have shows the Desmond Howard
singing Hail to the victors inside Ohio Stadium. That was
was was that the Texas game in two thousand and five.
It was a long time, yeah, but that was one
of those things where okay, this is intentionally inflammatory, like okay,
(07:22):
but Desmond Howard has still showed up at Ohio Stadium
and he has been inside Ohio Stadium. So yeah, I
think the bar the bar to say Ohio State said no,
you can't do it. That would be pretty high to me,
and it would make a lot more sense to just
have it be uh, this maybe got put out there
for uh, here's that attention you ordered and uh, you know,
(07:44):
and and then you know, Ohio State just did exactly
what Ohio State normally would have done because it wasn't
actually going to be an issue.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yea. Well, and I do think it would have been
interesting to see if he was part of the in
stadium shows this year, what kind of act does he
put on? And does that make Fox look even worse
for this higher So there is almost a thing where
Ohio State should be like, no, please let him in
so that everybody can see what what everybody is dealing with,
(08:13):
because he is very, very renowned businessman at this point,
but also a professional troll. And when that is part
of your you know, what you're trying to put on
in the in your broadcast, Like there's a time and
a place for that. I don't know that. I don't
know that that place is inside the stadium when you're
(08:34):
being welcomed in by the university as a whole.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Right, Well, you have as Fox broadcast partner of the
Big ten, you have a certain reputation and you have
certain standards that you're probably expected to uphold, and those
are not the same standards as Barstool has. You know,
Barstool is, you know outrageous Zany, you know sports media
Comma Jackass style. And there are people for whom that
(09:03):
is an appealing thing and go with God, I don't
know what to say, but that's not what Fox is.
And if you are the broadcast partner of the Big
Ten and you're spending a whole lot of money and
you're trying to keep your business partners who you're literally
in business with because they own part of the Big
ten network, you should be probably trying to, like everyone
(09:25):
should be kind of trying to play nicely together and
not do the here's that attention you ordered when you
know it's going to be inflammatory. But that's a decision
that got made quite a while ago, and so here
we are.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, I think this could have been avoided if Fox
had made it known earlier that Portnoy's not going to
be inside the stadium for any of their shows this
year at this point. But once something starts leaking out
that it's gonna explode. And for Ohio State they bear
the brunt of this. They continue they get the soft
labeled despite the most difficult national championship run in college
(10:01):
football history coming off of that, but that's neither here
nor there, tom So there you go. We just wanted
a touch base on this and kind of wrap it
up and then move on, because please, there's Texas Is
this week. We've got some other stuff that we're going
to be talking about as well. So if you want
to go, I git that thumbs up, we would appreciate it.
(10:22):
If you're a five star writing interview kind of person
on your podcast, we'd appreciate that as well. And of
course you can continue to find us at buckeyehuddle dot com.
Thank you for tuning in, and we'll talk to you
guys later
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