Dianna Russini has been out of a job since April, but Dave Portnoy would fix that today.
The Barstool Sports founder told Us Weekly he'd bring the former Athletic NFL insider on board without a second thought, a stance that puts him well out ahead of his own network. Back in April, days after Russini's resignation, Barstool's Dan "Big Cat" Katz told Front Office Sports he wasn't even sure she'd want to work at Barstool, given some of the jokes the site had made about her situation, though he figured she'd land somewhere doing independent media.
"No-brainer, if she wanted to work here, we'd do it," Portnoy said.
Russini resigned from The Athletic on April 14, a week after Page Six published photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona resort. Both denied wrongdoing at the time, with Russini saying the photos didn't represent "the group of six people who were hanging out during the day" and Vrabel calling any suggestion of impropriety "laughable." The Athletic's Steven Ginsberg said leadership had initially accepted Russini's detailed explanation before new questions emerged, widening the internal investigation. Russini resigned before that review concluded, though Ginsberg told staff the standards review of her published work would continue regardless.
Portnoy didn't treat any of that as disqualifying.
The Barstool Sports founder told Us Weekly he'd bring the former Athletic NFL insider on board without a second thought, a stance that puts him well out ahead of his own network. Back in April, days after Russini's resignation, Barstool's Dan "Big Cat" Katz told Front Office Sports he wasn't even sure she'd want to work at Barstool, given some of the jokes the site had made about her situation, though he figured she'd land somewhere doing independent media.
"No-brainer, if she wanted to work here, we'd do it," Portnoy said.
Russini resigned from The Athletic on April 14, a week after Page Six published photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona resort. Both denied wrongdoing at the time, with Russini saying the photos didn't represent "the group of six people who were hanging out during the day" and Vrabel calling any suggestion of impropriety "laughable." The Athletic's Steven Ginsberg said leadership had initially accepted Russini's detailed explanation before new questions emerged, widening the internal investigation. Russini resigned before that review concluded, though Ginsberg told staff the standards review of her published work would continue regardless.
Portnoy didn't treat any of that as disqualifying.
4 months ago
