Bussin’ With The Boys has just a few weeks remaining as a Barstool Sports property. After that, Will Compton and Taylor Lewan will be taking one of the most popular sports podcasts independent, backed by a massive FanDuel sponsorship due to an offer they simply couldn’t refuse. Although the duo of ex-NFL players didn’t want to depart from the company founded by Dave Portnoy, Barstool’s inability to meet even 40 percent of FanDuel’s offer led them to join a long list of former Barstool personalities who have outgrown what the company could pay — including Pat McAfee, Jared Carrabis, and Alex Cooper.
While bygones were bygones, this changed when Lewan posed a question to Patrick Mahomes at Super Bowl Media Day, inviting the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback on BWTB now that they were no longer under Barstool. Mahomes indicated that this could improve their chances, prompting Portnoy to view Lewan’s question as a slight. It was surprising to Compton that Portnoy was unaware of Mahomes’ dislike for Barstool.
“I was surprised that he did not know Mahomes didn’t like Barstool,” Compton remarked. Lewan elaborated, “Dave did not understand that Patrick is openly not a fan of Barstool Sports. When he expressed confusion, I thought, ‘Dave, just watch what your company posts.’ For instance, the New York Times might comment, ‘Patrick Mahomes’ family could distract him from his NFL success,’ which is typical for mainstream companies. On the other hand, Barstool would sensationalize it with, ‘Patrick Mahomes’ brother should be in jail for how he dances on TikTok,’ or ‘His wife’s a b*tch.’ Given this, it’s no wonder he would be upset. So, when Dave said, ‘I didn’t know Pat hated us, and Big Cat literally told me,’ I realized that was certainly the context of the question.”
Compton noted that Mahomes had nearly joined BTWB previously; he appeared on Pardon My Take with Anthony Sherman back in 2019. He recalled, “When you asked, ‘Will you follow Will back?’ there was a time when you even called him to congratulate him on that contract. We had asked him a couple of times over the years. The first time he was interested, but it didn’t work out. By the second opportunity, he had unfollowed us, and his side went dark. The ultimate response was, ‘He’s not going on anything Barstool.’”
Compton believed Mahomes’ disdain for Barstool was well-known in the company, especially with Dan Katz (Barstool Big Cat) reportedly saying, “Oh, yeah, he hates us,” according to Lewan. “Again, at dinner with Dave, I was genuinely surprised that he didn’t know that Mahomes wasn’t a fan of Barstool. We had even come close in the past, and that’s why the context of the question was significant; he had almost joined us, but he opted out of anything related to Barstool.”
Lewan was unaware of any hard feelings from the Barstool side, though there were numerous instances, including an NSFW tirade from Portnoy where he jokingly suggested Lewan had Mahomes’ “c*ck down his throat and his cum on his face.” Lewan said, “The phrasing of the question could’ve differed. I didn’t intend to hurt anyone’s feelings at Barstool; that was genuinely not my mindset. I reiterated this to Dave at dinner and sent him a text on the flight back… I would never intentionally harm the image of Barstool Sports to make sure Patrick Mahomes would come on our show. But in the words of Dave Portnoy, ‘Numbers are numbers.’ That sh*t did go crazy.”
