Last week, irreverant Boston sports blog Barstool Sports posted some pictures of Tom Brady's wife and young son on the beach. Not a big deal, right? Well, the pictures showed young Ben Brady in all his glory (this doesn't link to the pics so calm down already). That was all it took for it to become a semi-large story in the Boston media, sports and otherwise.
The backlash was particularly strong, as if no one at WEEI or any other outlet knew about Barstool. It's not like they were publishing stories on the debt ceiling prior to this. WEEI was at the forefront of the outrage and banned Barstool main man David Portnoy from appearing on the station (he was on Dennis and Callahan every Friday for an hour).
Barstool has been aggressive in defending themselves over the story, and if they are "everywhere" on the Internet, then why is Barstool getting all of the backlash? The story should be why they're on the web to begin with, not Barstool in general. Barstool certainly wasn't trying to be anything but funny, and some people took offense. It happens all the time nowadays.
And the local reaction, led by WEEI, is laughable. The people calling him a pedophile and saying he should be arrested are ridiculous. One only has to turn on the news and see the latest story about local priests to know what that really looks like.
The thing WEEI didn't realize what that this gave Barstool even more publicity and make them look petty. And why was it brought up in the first place? Was it due to Brady's relationship with the station (he appears every Monday during the season)? Something else? It just seems a bit strange that they'd pick this particular post. Brady, for his part, wasn't talking about it during his first appearance with Dennis and Callahan on Monday morning.
Now, as a parent I wouldn't be thrilled with pictures of my 2-year-old on the Internet. And surely other parents feel the same way. Should the pictures have been posted? This space thinks probably not. And Ordway and WEEI have every right to disagree with the post. But again, why did WEEI make such a big deal out of this?
It's a tough question to answer.
These are strange times at WEEI. They've lost their way, and their having a hard time figuring out what they want to be. As for Barstool, they'll just keep on rolling right along, doing their thing to the offense of those that deem their content deplorable.
Portnoy is right, if you don't like it don't visit the site. He apparently didn't break any laws, and the fact that the Massachusetts State Police paid him a visit is silly. But on the other hand, he should show some more discretion next time when it comes to kids. Famous people are, for the most part, fair game, but leave the 2-year-olds out of it.
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