Imagine you’re an athlete at your high school. You just lost a game, and the defeat is already eating you alive. When you get home, you open social media to see your opponent’s Barstool page turning your loss into entertainment for others. This scenario is a reality for many athletes throughout the Howard County Public School System and the rest of the world.
Barstool Sports, founded by Dave Portnoy in 2003, is an American blog targeted to a younger audience that posts sports-related content, including memes, interviews, statistics, etc. Known best for its bold, sometimes quite controversial content, the outlet has millions of followers with combined accounts across the internet.
This huge brand inspired a trend of anonymous student-run Barstool accounts to be made, mostly popular for encouraging school spirit and announcing upcoming athletic games.
However, these pages have gone from simply celebrating wins to insulting opponents. These forms of insults include finding any photos or videos of the athlete or their loved ones, simple meme templates, and even more recently, AI deepfakes.
Student-led Barstool pages commonly feature AI deepfakes of players humiliating their opponents. These posts often demean students, with several posts referencing player’s significant others and making threats of physical harm.
Students reshare these posts all over social media, giving it more attention to people. Sometimes these accounts go as far as tagging the athlete in the post for them to see. In February, I surveyed students about high school Barstool accounts with 80% of students saying they find them funny.
10th grader Bella Fitzgerald voted yes, mentioning the creativity factor of the posts. “I would say specifically that the memes photoshopping significant others is weird but some of the other ones can be funny,” she said. “People feel this [entertained] because when their schools win, it’s exciting and these pages make people more hyped about winning.”
But why do these pages have to tear down others in these posts to gain traction? Why can’t they just celebrate their win with kindness and sportsmanship? When said “entertainment” comes from harassment, it just shows the toxic culture of society in regard to social media today.
12th grader Oman Speaks voted no, voicing the repetitive nature and overall rudeness of the posts. “I remember a school made a joke calling our cheer team ugly, which was uncalled for. When they’re slandering people who are just bystanders to the game, they’re not funny. It’s just insensitive.”
It doesn’t stop at just athletes. Sometimes people in the stands can indeed become a target in these posts. It further shows that these pages are relentless and thrive on harassment.
Opinions can always vary, but the impacts of these posts on athletes are non-negotiable. These posts are not only humiliating, but they can negatively affect the person in their life regarding mental health and digital footprint.
Celebrating a win is one thing, but these accounts cross that line to go right into cyberbullying. Sharing a scoreline is fine; there is absolutely no need to post and ridicule opponents after a match.
High school rivalries can exist without tearing apart hardworking athletes. The next time you find a Barstool post funny and interact with it, ask yourself whether you are having school spirit or giving traction to online harassment.
