Barstool Sports founder and president Dave Portnoy spent the weekend in Tuscaloosa, hosting a live college football gameday show, making the rounds on the sidelines for the Alabama-Texas matchup, and even taking his infamous One Bite pizza review segment to two local hotspots.
Portnoy put cards on the table about who he was pulling for.
“I gotta get me some Bama gear,” Portnoy said.
Barstool Pizza Review – Heat Pizza Bar (Tuscaloosa, AL) pic.twitter.com/N78ogUIXgu
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 11, 2023
“When the plane landed, I was on Texas plus the points [but] I had been swayed by all the people here, I had been drinking all the Alabama Kool-Aid, the guy at the pizza place told me better win the national title, at home, under the lights – Bama, you can’t go against that – I think they’re gonna win by double digits tonight.”
Portnoy held up a Mac Jones jersey during Barstool’s gameday show, saying he’ll lead the Patriots to the Super Bowl this year.
As one of the country’s most prolific pizza critics, he stopped by two of Tuscaloosa’s hot spots during his visit. In the pecking order of notoriously critical scores handed out by Portnoy, Heat Pizza Bar (7.1) and The Standard (7.3) represented Alabama strongly.
Owner of Heat Pizza Bar, Frank Fleming, said he’s proud of the score. Even though they serve up fan-favorite exclusive pizzas like the chicken-bacon-ranch, he knew what Portnoy was looking for.
“It was a really cool, surreal moment. I’m just really thankful that he came in and put us on the map like that,” Fleming said. “The 7.1, if you know him and how he grades, that’s a really solid score. So we’re very happy with it and thankful that he came back.
“Maybe I put an extra 10 or 15 seconds more than we normally do because I know he likes the crisp.”
Grayson Everett is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270
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