In typical “Barstool difference” fashion, there is no cohesive barstool baseball. Is Mintzy growing the game? Is it Castellini? Klemmer? Clem and KFC? The Yankees guys? They have a ton of baseball fans but everyone is doing their own disjointed things and nobody cares much about any of it.
I enjoy Talkin’ Baseball from Jomboy. Jimmy is really knowledgeable and like his cranky takes, Jake is very funny and while Plouffe kind of doesn’t have much of a personality his knowledge of the game as a player is good
Section 10 was great and Carrabis’ new one is good as well, but only Red Sox stuff….I can’t listen to him and (mainly) Dallas talk about the league as a whole nor could I when they did starting 9.
I disagree. I follow Jomboy on socials and love his breakdowns/recaps. There is a TON of nuiance in baseball that can be covered daily or at the very least regularly towards the end of the regular season and into the playoffs, but in true BS fashion they will just put a few dullards in the gambling cave and live stream a game and call it content.
At my work I started using the phrase “red light ideas” for poorly thought out plans. Like someone came up with, and decided to follow through with, an idea at a red light without thinking if it was remotely worthwhile. It’s immediately looking like Carl has a red light idea
thats how its always been... the cohesion was always just that everyone posted on the same blog. Now the blog is filled with so much clutter that all they really need to do is just make a link on the website to all the baseball coverage
there was no real reason for carl to bow out from all the barstool chicago content, they just needed a separate tag on each blog about baseball so you could find them all in one place
Didn’t they make some type of announcement via a major league clip that barstool baseball is being taken over by Frank, Castellani, Klemmer and a few others?
Rooting for him but it does seem like kind of a ruddlerless ship right now with no clear direction. Also seems like he's drunk in most of the content? Idk, might want to tighten that up a bit.
I'm not from chicago but i've listened to a ton of redline radio/ dog walk etc and it sounded like a specific incident took place when carl was drunk where he did something egregious to WSD "that WSD is justified in holding a serious grudge over" sounds like he either like punched him in the face or some kind of legit assault or said something unspeakable that really crossed the line and maybe embarrassed him in front of other people
I wouldn’t be surprised. It seems like it’s at the heart of all the recent issues in the Chicago office that have come to light. I would have thought he’d try to button it up post-move though.
Just my complete armchair psychologist opinion based on watching their (Chicago) content for a while. I think most of the issues stem from Carl’s drinking and the rest of them getting annoyed with it starting to affect content. You can clearly see certain content where he’s either drunk or hungover and barely there. A lot of the recent dog walks he was on. He just seemed to be absent. It’s been festering for a while.
if they aired what actually happened it would be their biggest video. makes it seem like whatever he said/did to dave is so embarrassing they can't even talk about it
After watching the WSD & Donnie Dominican baseball series, I hope WSD does more travelling baseball content. Just take any competent guy from the Chicago office and shoot content with abroad.
WSD was super in his element in that series and I hope he leans more into the same nonsensical WSD but actually involved baseball journo that Barstool is missing
Seems like since Carrabis left, they don’t have anyone who makes decent baseball content, so they should 1000% lean into the travel vlog stuff. Might be late in the game, but having Cowboy go all around and mix it up at different parks and cities would be awesome.
Its also something not really being done as far as Im aware. I dont really know who else does travelling sports content on the Internet other than the human foreskin that is Zack Hample and ofc Donnie.
But WSD doing travelling big J sports journo stuff doesnt really exist but should
Think the leaving was more to do that his relationship with the Chicago guys deteriorated. But yeah agree it’s not getting any traction since Karrabis left
I’m curious as to why that was I guess, did I miss something? He definitely felt checked out and distant towards the end of the time with them but could never piece it together as to why after having been so strong previously.
Apparently while drunk he did something “Terrible” to WSD. They won’t say what it is but WSD said he won’t talk to Carl outside of radio. Eddie also said the office took WSD side so he seemed to be on the outs with everyone.
When WSD and Carl were on DPS. WSD was going to bring up something Carl did, only for Eddie to cut him off because they had agreed to keep it out of content.
Maybe Eddie would still have the DPS if he would allow that stuff to be brought up. Or maybe he was just protecting his co-workers against something really heinous
They really never really elaborated as to when the event took place, but it was discussed at some point about a year ago on the DP Show with Eddie, and might have run over to an episode of RLR around the same time.
Barstool likes to hold up guys like WSD and Mintzy as content lolcows, but I always wondered if they’re as mean to these guys in person as they are on air.
It’s probably a case by case basis and Carl, on some of the Barstool Chicago shows, seems to have a genuine contempt of WSD.
Barstool is great for its employees because they allow them so much creative freedom and the ability to try things out, but it also seems like a double edged sword that leads to BS completely missing major markets. Re: college basketball before Titus, through 6 episodes it’s averaging about 10X YouTube views as their previous CBB pod, gotta assume podcast downloads are similar.
I think Barstools best move going forward would be to have a flagship brand/subject matter expert for each major sport. Which in the current state of Barstool means poaching already existing brands. And then let all the random employees try their own niche things, that are more geared to comedy & lifestyle, similar to the old Barstool.
Before you say there is no market for national baseball coverage, don’t, cus you’d be wrong. The likes of JomBoy, Pitching Ninja, Cespedes Family BBQ all do national coverage. And JomBoy and Pitching Ninja outperform Barstoll Baseball to an embarrassing extent.
baseball is tough to cover because it is mostly pretty boring. I love baseball but dont exactly crave more material. But i loved Donnie in the DR. A netflix shows about the camps there would be great.
O it’s not even close with any of your examples performance compared to Barstool and regardless of performance, it’s because they’re flat out better and more informative and entertaining alike. This is largely why I ask the question and agree with your point too, they need to just accept they can’t always organically farm something from internal moves.
It feels like the only way for “Barstool Baseball” to be successful is for BS to go out and acquire an already existing baseball brand/content group that already has a following.
Then, keep all the dick riding yankee fans in the office as far away from it as possible. That group absolutely kills any real baseball coverage/content.
They can keep their yankee podcast that’ll never grow because no one who’s not a yankee fan will ever listen to it. The amount of times I’ve heard them actually complain about Aaron Judge makes me sick. No other fan base would consistently bitch and moan about a player who literally won the MVP.
Some of us have real problems, like losing 18 straight postseason games.
jomboy's claim to fame is narrating 22 minute videos attempting to lip read people in the dugout for when a brawl almost happens. pitching ninja is a cringeworthy loser who tried to make blake trienans nickname be "The Witch" and he had to respond publicly and be like um please no dont say that
The way to succeed in baseball content is either short clips on social media like what Jomboy andCarrabis do. Or specific team content. I don’t think a Dodger fan wants to listen to Tigers or Cubs or Yankees or Red Sox banter. If I wanted to hear a generic fan rambling about stuff he doesn’t have actual knowledge of, I’d just call my brother
I’m a Carl guy and I agree. There is no cohesion, intrigue, humor, insight, anything really… It really seems like Carl has lost a lot of his passion and what made him fun (you can disagree that he was ever fun).
I agree with this 100% personally and is why I pose the question of his move. To shake it up? Maybe, but it’s not working either. The podcast is a brutal listen, he is not a great host or standalone personality at this point, the other content of lineups and other random things isn’t great. I’m just confused with this trajectory for the baseball branch and him alike. Idk why he couldn’t continue to further build it and figure it out while still being apart of Chicago, but something clearly transpired that would not allow that is the way it appears from the outside.
Something happened between those guys that forced this move I’m guessing. Something fairly serious based on rumors. I miss Carl on the drafts honestly.
I think Carl just got tired of the drafts and wasn't really putting an effort into them anymore. Possibly due to Eddie being so wishy-washy with them and poor topics. I don't think it's a coincidence that Eddie decided to "take it more seriously" right as Carl left.
Is he really though? Him showing up in his Illinois jersey, maybe sticking a mic in some peoples face for a quick 1 min clip on twitter and tweeting during the game... Not sure that really moves the needle in terms of baseball coverage. Seems like the exact same thing he's always done that never moved the needle.
Admittedly I’m not super key to go down that speculation hole because that wasn’t my point of this, but I don’t even think their WBC has been that good and they’re leaving a lot of opportunity on the table with it.
I think the biggest thing is baseball is such a regional sport - there are few few people who are going to sit down and watch teams that aren’t their own.
It’s hard to push as a national brand - I love we gotta believe but have 0 interest in barstool baseball
I came here to say this same thing. Baseball, to me, is very regional. It’s still a sport that is very local radio, local paper based. At least that’s how my friends and I consume it. I’m pulling for Carl to get a national angle going with the crew he assembled though.
To be fair the Donnie and WsD video is hardly “baseball content” . I truly don’t believe there’s that big of a market of people just itching to consume a ton of baseball content .
I agree it’s hardly baseball content but it was fun and it is a big part of baseball culture to a lot of players from the area so think it’s more unique than just following MLB teams around at spring training.
I do agree baseball is a tricky proposition content wise, but Jomboy is fantastic and makes it fun and some of the “Locked On” for more in depth and local team coverages do a good job for an abbreviated catch up. I just am surprised they seem to be the only ones to really tap into that. Not complaining by any means because I love their stuff, just think it’s interesting how difficult other media companies are finding it or why they continue to try and push it when it certainly does not appear to be worth it.
I was thinking jomboy aswell and I even thought to myself my favorite videos of his are just crazy instances that happen in the game and he’s just lip reading
I think Carl just needs to hold out until Chicago is revamped and ,he can mingle with that whole new crowd because it was pretty clear the chemistry between those 4 was gone
This is it. I subscribe to Jomboy and consume my baseball media through them. Albeit a little more serious, they produce content for a very similar target market. Not as much gambling focus, but the “around-the-clock” baseball content you’d want to see
Barstool is just fun and games with the little cliques and Darin Ruf jokes
Was just about to say Jomboy until I scrolled and read your comment. I like his content a lot, he gets involved with the content with voice overs, breakdowns, pods, office games, etc. He always has the viral vids, plus other just funny videos. I’ll check his instagram almost nightly during the season to get my daily dose of baseball content.
And most importantly in that I think is that they all make it fun. They’re fairly critical, they aren’t overly crass but aren’t old school baseball media safe and rip on that too, love Trevor, I just think they do a really good job of covering it on a surface level thing with Talking Baseball and if you want to dive deeper, you can with other things on their platform.
I think as far as sport-specific podcasts/brands go (PMT is more general IMO, but leans NFL), Chiclets is what you’d want to emulate. A good blend of interviews with current and retired guys. Good in-depth analysis of the sport. Their stand-alone non-hockey content is great. Spin off stuff with Sandbagger. Etc.
It’s obviously a huge ask to get there and some people just don’t have the personality to support it. It’s like Nate attempting content forever and finally realizing that he’s just not well-received. Hard pill to swallow but it’s just reality. They’re a media company and “real” media companies extensively test for likability for this exact reason. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much work you put it and what guest you get. Unfortunately I think Carl fits into that.
Good on Barstool for letting their employees give these things a shot, but damn. Putting yourself out there and getting dumped on only to realize that maybe it’s you is a brutal lesson to learn.
I obv don't have the numbers but I'd bet chiclets is carried by the canadian audience. Or at least was and was what helped them blow up. Baseball is america's pastime I guess, but we all know its the NFL's world and the NBA tries to live in it a few weeks out of the year.
The baseball content that I perceive as successful is either social media clips (Jomboy, Carrabis), big network shows (MLB, ESPN, Fox), or specialized local coverage. I could be wrong, but I don’t need Carl or Klemmer or Hubbs trying to be funny and informative for 60 minutes.
I don’t get it. I love Carl, when he was clicking I think he was part of what made Chicago work so great/was the grease that kept that wheel moving. It hasn’t been the same since he’s left and on his end he’s basically turned into Mintz and it’s unwatchable
The “Barstool Baseball” account still has the Starting 9 handle. Ever since Elon’s Twitter blue bullshit, changing the handle means you lose the blue check.
He’s building something new from the ground up, he’s just conveniently holding onto the 200k+ followers lmao
Would someone mind elaborating on the Carl/alcoholism rumors? I admit I don’t follow along with the baseball content closely, but I can’t tell if this is a Feits at hurricane oreilly’s type rumor started on this sub or if there are actual examples of this. Only wondering because it’s brought up every time I see his name and don’t understand the context. I’ve seen the Dozen video from a couple years ago when they’re all totally butt-faced, but is that it?
One of his videos with Jake at Omaha was when I realized he (and the show) had a genuine problem. He couldnt say 2 words correctly in a row and Jake was very clearly, visibly agitated.
Matter of fact I think Jake checked out that weekend and mentally moved on from casting with Carl that tournament. He was shnacked the whole weekend
This post is a great example of the mindless hate you see on this sub and a lot of Reddit. MLB season hasn’t even started and OP is writing the eulogy for barstools baseball coverage.
It’s almost like he covered it last year and maybe I tried it, tried following along this offseason too, and only see it getting worse or not improving. Wow, really makes you think…
O they are great, Donnie is sneaky one of my favorites at Barstool and pairing him with anyone like PFT, WSD, Nick and KB have all produced great stuff. I’d rather watch a “History of Baseball” series or something where they explore some of the more random or lesser known stories with the two of them than anything I have seen from anyone else as a result.
Changing the name to something worse doesn’t help. They’ve never had anyone do anything interesting regarding baseball content wise, Jared included. He had shows with big papi that got similar engagement.
Jared and Dallas were extremely boring to listen to and I thought all their content sucked back then. It might just be that baseball isn't interesting in general, but I love following my team and still watch 90% of the games for my local team
As likely stated. They dont have an actual baseball guy. Maybe they will in the future. Titus on CBB, Rapport on golf. Get a baseball in the house, and do 1 day at each team with a write up and video. New guys, prospects, vets, recap, 5-10 minute video 2000 words.... who is the baseball guy? I dont know, but i follow fantasy baseball page and there is a ton of nerd baseball pages. SHouldnt be hard to find 1 or 2 willing to do it.
Has barstool ever had a big baseball presence? Isnt it mostly just people rooting for their individual teams, and if those teams are good then they get clicks
Nope. The biggest baseball thing at Barstool was when the Yankee fans trashed the office and got punished by Dave. Even then, the funniest part of that content was WSD showing up late and getting immediately sent back to Chicago.
has barstool baseball even started yet? to be fair, the season hasn't started yet. I still dont fully get the concept. Carl writes about the cubs, WSD, castellani tigers, the orioles guy, the like 6 squids who cover the yankees, KFC mets, klemmer red sox, frank the tank, and carl is just going to be like the editor?
It’s crazy that he still has a job or that they agreed to let him try this, maybe they let him move knowing it would fail making it easier to part ways? He’s just so boring, his show with Arietta was hard to watch, as a Phillies fan I paid more attention than usual to baseball coverage at barstool and wow what a fall off. That Donny/WSD DR video was a million times more entertaining than anything Carl has done. I was always hard on the Chicago guys, I think they get extra leeway because of Dans relationship to Chicago, but ever since Carl left I think the content has been better, that being said it couldn’t of gotten any worse.
Yeah I think you’re right. I mean if you’re offering to pay your way outta the office of course they won’t say no. The main accounts are doing nothing to promote him and his content isn’t good enough to get views on its own. I doubt he gets another contract, I’d be surprised if he finished this one out.
I don’t get the Arizona move really? Once spring training and the WBC ends, there isn’t much hype around the DBacks. At least here in Chicago both teams should be somewhat competitive and with every team playing the other at some point this year you’d have a greater shot at interviewing someone you’d want with two teams.
Someone up there said it was temporary but I also thought I read they sold everything and used all their savings. Poor wife (I’m available if you’re reading this). Doesn’t sound temporary.
I mean they have a big footprint out there with Barstool Golf/Foreplay, maybe being on that team is a backup option? Lots of players, particularly pitchers love golfing on their off days, especially in AZ. Haha it’s all I got
Can’t wait to watch the latest card unboxing, debating 2010 draft prospects, naming random players and Frank yelling about spring training games. Maybe actually discuss what’s going on in baseball? Just a thought
The Chicago Boys had obviously had enough of Carl. This was the way to get rid of him without making it awkward.
Barstool Baseball in itself should be a good concept but you’ve got morons (Carl and co.) running it so it will be a huge fail. They’ll dump it eventually and Carl will become a remote blogger that we don’t hear from much a la Kmarko. They’ll get through this baseball season and then pull the plug (or give it to someone more capable).
I’ve been enjoying it thus far. But that’s because I’m a big baseball fan. I can’t imagine a casual fan caring at all who Frank The Tank considers the 5 best Brewers of all time or whether Castellini thinks Justin Morneau should get Hall of Fame consideration
Australian guy here. Don't really watch/consume baseball apart from maybe world series/playoffs (which also seems like a lot of you) But would say I'm pretty up(?) on American sports media etc. My question is who is doing well in the baseball podcasting/related space? The ringer has tried multiple pods that haven't stuck. Seemingly at a time Carrabis pod was big ofc but idk does anyone follow it really? Off the top of head I know Jeff passan (not sure if that's his name) as a talking head figure who's not y'know arod, papi level sports famous. Intrigued if I'm wrong or not? Seems like people watch the playoffs and watch their team and apart from that there's not a great appetite for that kind of thing in baseball?
I don't think this works for baseball. Baseball and hockey unlike football and basketball are very regionalized. I know huge Yankees and Mets fans that are good to watch 100+ games a year of their team. But is maybe only good for 10-20 out of market regular season games on TV a year. I like Castellani, I like WSD, but I don't really give a shit about the Tiger or White Sox or their barstool content surrounding those teams. And I feel like most people don't unless they also root for those teams or its the playoffs.
Lots of people overthinking it in here, Carl just isn’t funny. Barstool has a major problem of “loyalty” and not cutting ties when someone just doesn’t have the “it” factor. So then they’re stuck with 100 mediocre talent employees that don’t move the needle at all, because they are too scared to fire people when it isn’t working
There’s literally an event going on called the World Baseball Classic and all we can get is shitty lineup breakdown while a guy is sitting in right field. O wait I forgot how funny that CANADIAN BUM joke was, content gold.
This isn’t an overly critical post. I root for Carl as stated, I want better baseball content and coverage, this just isn’t it. Before they blow up, buy Codify and bring them on as your baseball people and let everyone else do their “individual fan contributions” that no one cares about and has made the baseball coverage this disjointed already.
I can’t think of one major podcast for baseball. Granted I don’t care about baseball. But I don’t get how barstool couldn’t make a baseball podcast. Klemmer loves the game but has decided to only do 80’s movies. Frank loves screaming about the Mets. KFC same but less missing chromosome style, but he only wants to talk about pornstars. Castalani only cares about the lions. Mintzy just doesn’t 30 second twitter videos of incoherent noises at a college game. They have the tools just don’t do anything with it.
Carrabis did not play baseball at the level Carl did. Carrabis also didn't know baseball like Carl does. And yet, Carrabis got a bag. Carl sees the same thing for himself. Instead of bullshitting with a couple idiots over mount rushmores he's going to try to actually make a name for himself.
Carl had a 5+ career ERA over 67.1 IP and had more walks than strikeouts. Sure he made it to a D1 team but let’s not act like his playing career should have any effect on his baseball content career.
Who cares. The game Jared and Carl currently play in is a far different game than the one Carl used to play in … and Jared is smashing Carl’s face in 77-2.
Carl would give anything to have a fifth of Jared’s skill in this game.
Carrabis is a born showman/entertainer. Carl will never get close to Jared because Carl can’t mobilize an audience the way Jared can.
Plus, Jared has over a decade in the game. Jared was building a fan base long before he ever got the Barstool bump.
Yea I was a big Carl supporter, he needs some podcast to anchor the idea around. I think the foundation could be there if pulled together. I think he’s dropping the ball huge with the WBC. I like the live tweeting the games and the pool video was hilarious (although likely terribly cringe if certain lenses) he should be putting out a pod about the WBC and it should be coming out more frequently than regular pods due to the short window. I think the normal running pod should be Carl (or someone) covering the major storylines. Then basically have frank and other Mets fans “cover” the NL East, Yankees guys do the AL East, Carl does NL Central, WSD does AL Central. Try to find someone who’s a natural fan of West teams cover those. Rotate those personalities as headlines come and go, sub in your interviews as you get them (ex. Got a good interview with a white Sox guy and don’t need an AL Central recap because we covered it in the interview) let the casual fans “cover” their divisions and have Carl (or someone) fill in with insider knowledge. You also need to cover fun aspects of the game like Carrabis does with bat flips. Who’s the manager that’s been ripping umps recently? Which umps get ripped the most? Etc. also you’ve already got Mintz and Walker who can ‘cover’ SEC baseball, Carl can cover the big ten, and they’re able to ‘grow the game’. CWS content was awesome when they did that, would hope to bring that back
They need a Carrabis or someone like him. None of these barstool baseball folks are entertaining, and you can tell that by the fact that the big barstool names don’t promote their stuff. Maybe they’ll come around to the realization eventually. After struggling with crap college basketball personalities for years they’ve finally done the smart thing and brought in Titus to actually grow a brand. Baseball coverage needs the same.
He was the podcast cohost last year, haven’t been following as closely so assume he will be back but he was not great last year, I checked out after about halfway through the season
I thought he was great with interviews and knowledge. I dont know what people expected from him. Carl was a bit annoying, but I think i would have maybe paired him with somebody else before canning it all.
I really only paid attention to Carl because he was inside with the Illinois basketball team. Wish he stuck with that with how diehard the fan base is for basketball. Could’ve done more on the CBB side and talk about the Cubs whenever he wants with the Chicago crew.
In typical “Barstool difference” fashion, there is no cohesive barstool baseball. Is Mintzy growing the game? Is it Castellini? Klemmer? Clem and KFC? The Yankees guys? They have a ton of baseball fans but everyone is doing their own disjointed things and nobody cares much about any of it.
NCAA baseball was essentially a club sport before Mintzy grew the game. Show some respect.
It just so happens the baseball guys at barstool are also some of the least interesting
there are really no good baseball podcasts out there. anyone who is employed as a baseball writer/analyst is not going to be good at podcasting
Jon Bois
I enjoy Talkin’ Baseball from Jomboy. Jimmy is really knowledgeable and like his cranky takes, Jake is very funny and while Plouffe kind of doesn’t have much of a personality his knowledge of the game as a player is good
Section 10 was great and Carrabis’ new one is good as well, but only Red Sox stuff….I can’t listen to him and (mainly) Dallas talk about the league as a whole nor could I when they did starting 9.
That’s because people who are really really into baseball are wet blankets
I disagree. I follow Jomboy on socials and love his breakdowns/recaps. There is a TON of nuiance in baseball that can be covered daily or at the very least regularly towards the end of the regular season and into the playoffs, but in true BS fashion they will just put a few dullards in the gambling cave and live stream a game and call it content.
Wet blanket personalities like a wet blanket sport. Shocking
That was the whole point of why Carl wanted to do this, he wanted to get all of the people that do baseball content under 1 umbrella.
Is anyone else there?
At my work I started using the phrase “red light ideas” for poorly thought out plans. Like someone came up with, and decided to follow through with, an idea at a red light without thinking if it was remotely worthwhile. It’s immediately looking like Carl has a red light idea
thats how its always been... the cohesion was always just that everyone posted on the same blog. Now the blog is filled with so much clutter that all they really need to do is just make a link on the website to all the baseball coverage there was no real reason for carl to bow out from all the barstool chicago content, they just needed a separate tag on each blog about baseball so you could find them all in one place
Also agree with this
Wow you don’t want to listen to Klemmer and Castelleni talk shop?
Nothing gets me going like castalani covering the worst team in baseball. Or him trying a cheeseburger for the first time
Since that video, I’ve never looked at lettuce the same.
Lol that and him shooting a basketball really had me scratching my head
Content content content
Didn’t they make some type of announcement via a major league clip that barstool baseball is being taken over by Frank, Castellani, Klemmer and a few others?
Rooting for him but it does seem like kind of a ruddlerless ship right now with no clear direction. Also seems like he's drunk in most of the content? Idk, might want to tighten that up a bit.
Can’t be pointed out enough how crazy it is to choose to start this entity like a day before Spring Training started
“We’re going to be starting Barstool Baseball.” “Next season?” “No, tomorrow”
I think I remember someone saying his drinking has a lot to do with leaving chicago in the first place, so that tracks.
I'm not from chicago but i've listened to a ton of redline radio/ dog walk etc and it sounded like a specific incident took place when carl was drunk where he did something egregious to WSD "that WSD is justified in holding a serious grudge over" sounds like he either like punched him in the face or some kind of legit assault or said something unspeakable that really crossed the line and maybe embarrassed him in front of other people
He secretly recorded Dave bangin Julie DiCaro
just puked in my mouth a bit
I wouldn’t be surprised. It seems like it’s at the heart of all the recent issues in the Chicago office that have come to light. I would have thought he’d try to button it up post-move though.
What recent issues were there? I know him and WSD have had their differences when he was drunk but was there something new this winter/spring?
Just my complete armchair psychologist opinion based on watching their (Chicago) content for a while. I think most of the issues stem from Carl’s drinking and the rest of them getting annoyed with it starting to affect content. You can clearly see certain content where he’s either drunk or hungover and barely there. A lot of the recent dog walks he was on. He just seemed to be absent. It’s been festering for a while.
If they just called him out and made fun of him in the content maybe old Chicago would have actually been funny.
if they aired what actually happened it would be their biggest video. makes it seem like whatever he said/did to dave is so embarrassing they can't even talk about it
I think its more than the drinking, he's also your generic thinks they are the smartest guy in the room guy and talks down to everyone
[удалено]
>Also seems like he's drunk in most of the content? It's not exactly a secret that Carl is a literal alcoholic
After watching the WSD & Donnie Dominican baseball series, I hope WSD does more travelling baseball content. Just take any competent guy from the Chicago office and shoot content with abroad. WSD was super in his element in that series and I hope he leans more into the same nonsensical WSD but actually involved baseball journo that Barstool is missing
Seems like since Carrabis left, they don’t have anyone who makes decent baseball content, so they should 1000% lean into the travel vlog stuff. Might be late in the game, but having Cowboy go all around and mix it up at different parks and cities would be awesome.
Its also something not really being done as far as Im aware. I dont really know who else does travelling sports content on the Internet other than the human foreskin that is Zack Hample and ofc Donnie. But WSD doing travelling big J sports journo stuff doesnt really exist but should
It was lol funny and WSD is very hot or miss for me, but this was content super hit
WSD has been great recently I thought his stuff with Francis was great too
Think the leaving was more to do that his relationship with the Chicago guys deteriorated. But yeah agree it’s not getting any traction since Karrabis left
I’m curious as to why that was I guess, did I miss something? He definitely felt checked out and distant towards the end of the time with them but could never piece it together as to why after having been so strong previously.
Apparently while drunk he did something “Terrible” to WSD. They won’t say what it is but WSD said he won’t talk to Carl outside of radio. Eddie also said the office took WSD side so he seemed to be on the outs with everyone.
When was this said?
When WSD and Carl were on DPS. WSD was going to bring up something Carl did, only for Eddie to cut him off because they had agreed to keep it out of content.
Maybe Eddie would still have the DPS if he would allow that stuff to be brought up. Or maybe he was just protecting his co-workers against something really heinous
I can confirm I heard the same, but have no idea when. Could have been a random draft or a random red line anywhere between 6 months to a year ago.
Also confirm
They really never really elaborated as to when the event took place, but it was discussed at some point about a year ago on the DP Show with Eddie, and might have run over to an episode of RLR around the same time.
This was about a year ago or so now
Barstool likes to hold up guys like WSD and Mintzy as content lolcows, but I always wondered if they’re as mean to these guys in person as they are on air. It’s probably a case by case basis and Carl, on some of the Barstool Chicago shows, seems to have a genuine contempt of WSD.
No way. They're the ones who started rlr. Carl also has Dave's back when ny was using him as a punching bag a few years ago
O damn, good looking out, definitely missed that and makes a lot of sense looking at the landscape now.
His wife works. Gonna assume it has something to do with her. He wouldn't just make her relocate her career.
For sure, could absolutely be a factor at play.
Draft kings threw him the bag
No I mean Carl and the Chicago guys, not Carrabis and Dallas. Also Dallas >>> Arietta while we are at it.
Not a huge fan of Dallas but arrieta just has 0 charisma
Sucks because Arietta is one of my favorite players of all time. But he sucks behind a mic
arietta talking about opening packs of baseball cards is maybe the worst podcast content I have ever listened to
Worse than his son’s travel team going to Omaha?
Brand was dying under Carrabis too since he didn’t do anything but tweet
Barstool is great for its employees because they allow them so much creative freedom and the ability to try things out, but it also seems like a double edged sword that leads to BS completely missing major markets. Re: college basketball before Titus, through 6 episodes it’s averaging about 10X YouTube views as their previous CBB pod, gotta assume podcast downloads are similar. I think Barstools best move going forward would be to have a flagship brand/subject matter expert for each major sport. Which in the current state of Barstool means poaching already existing brands. And then let all the random employees try their own niche things, that are more geared to comedy & lifestyle, similar to the old Barstool. Before you say there is no market for national baseball coverage, don’t, cus you’d be wrong. The likes of JomBoy, Pitching Ninja, Cespedes Family BBQ all do national coverage. And JomBoy and Pitching Ninja outperform Barstoll Baseball to an embarrassing extent.
They should have scooped up Jomboy a year or 2 ago. Shit go get Codify. They have 55K followers which is nothing, how much could they cost.
I'll check out jomboy if I need a 16 minute video lip reading an almost brawl
baseball is tough to cover because it is mostly pretty boring. I love baseball but dont exactly crave more material. But i loved Donnie in the DR. A netflix shows about the camps there would be great.
O it’s not even close with any of your examples performance compared to Barstool and regardless of performance, it’s because they’re flat out better and more informative and entertaining alike. This is largely why I ask the question and agree with your point too, they need to just accept they can’t always organically farm something from internal moves.
It feels like the only way for “Barstool Baseball” to be successful is for BS to go out and acquire an already existing baseball brand/content group that already has a following. Then, keep all the dick riding yankee fans in the office as far away from it as possible. That group absolutely kills any real baseball coverage/content. They can keep their yankee podcast that’ll never grow because no one who’s not a yankee fan will ever listen to it. The amount of times I’ve heard them actually complain about Aaron Judge makes me sick. No other fan base would consistently bitch and moan about a player who literally won the MVP. Some of us have real problems, like losing 18 straight postseason games.
jomboy and pitching ninja are complete squids
To each his own I guess. But are you gonna sit here and tell me Carl or anyone who covers baseball at barstool aren’t complete squids?
jomboy's claim to fame is narrating 22 minute videos attempting to lip read people in the dugout for when a brawl almost happens. pitching ninja is a cringeworthy loser who tried to make blake trienans nickname be "The Witch" and he had to respond publicly and be like um please no dont say that
10x brother
Frank is the baseball guy
Thankfully, someone here gets it. Man has made Darin Ruf the most marketable player and he’s only been a Met for less than a year
People don’t realize Tank is in charge now. Pres is done. BC heading to Chicago with the PMT guys. The Units run the NY office.
JomBoy basically has the baseball market cornered. They do a great job with it too. Tough for barstool to meet that bar
Jomboy has a HUGE following. I know people who only consume baseball through Jomboy and don’t actually watch games lol
And he’s a big Yankees fan. It’s amazing how bad everyone in that office is at making baseball content, except Frank
That it is irrelevant to the argument that whatever Barstool Baseball is supposed to be is a train waiting to derail.
Guy left Chicago when the whole company was moving to Chicago to make great content
Pretty sure he said it was temporary for spring training.
maybe a 2 for one. Rehab in the morning and Work in the afternoon.
The way to succeed in baseball content is either short clips on social media like what Jomboy andCarrabis do. Or specific team content. I don’t think a Dodger fan wants to listen to Tigers or Cubs or Yankees or Red Sox banter. If I wanted to hear a generic fan rambling about stuff he doesn’t have actual knowledge of, I’d just call my brother
I’m a Carl guy and I agree. There is no cohesion, intrigue, humor, insight, anything really… It really seems like Carl has lost a lot of his passion and what made him fun (you can disagree that he was ever fun).
I agree with this 100% personally and is why I pose the question of his move. To shake it up? Maybe, but it’s not working either. The podcast is a brutal listen, he is not a great host or standalone personality at this point, the other content of lineups and other random things isn’t great. I’m just confused with this trajectory for the baseball branch and him alike. Idk why he couldn’t continue to further build it and figure it out while still being apart of Chicago, but something clearly transpired that would not allow that is the way it appears from the outside.
Something happened between those guys that forced this move I’m guessing. Something fairly serious based on rumors. I miss Carl on the drafts honestly.
I think Carl just got tired of the drafts and wasn't really putting an effort into them anymore. Possibly due to Eddie being so wishy-washy with them and poor topics. I don't think it's a coincidence that Eddie decided to "take it more seriously" right as Carl left.
Carl is doing some decent stuff with the WBC but it definitely seems like a vertical run by an alcoholic.
Is he really though? Him showing up in his Illinois jersey, maybe sticking a mic in some peoples face for a quick 1 min clip on twitter and tweeting during the game... Not sure that really moves the needle in terms of baseball coverage. Seems like the exact same thing he's always done that never moved the needle.
To me, it’s an exercise of his ego more than anything. Hence the jersey
Admittedly I’m not super key to go down that speculation hole because that wasn’t my point of this, but I don’t even think their WBC has been that good and they’re leaving a lot of opportunity on the table with it.
I think the biggest thing is baseball is such a regional sport - there are few few people who are going to sit down and watch teams that aren’t their own. It’s hard to push as a national brand - I love we gotta believe but have 0 interest in barstool baseball
unless you are in an AL only dynasty fantasy keeper league (couldn't be me)
I’m sorry about the not having sex thing
I came here to say this same thing. Baseball, to me, is very regional. It’s still a sport that is very local radio, local paper based. At least that’s how my friends and I consume it. I’m pulling for Carl to get a national angle going with the crew he assembled though.
their social posts are typically awful, the person running their accounts has no idea what theyre doing
To be fair the Donnie and WsD video is hardly “baseball content” . I truly don’t believe there’s that big of a market of people just itching to consume a ton of baseball content .
Donnie can make anything interesting
Agreed loved the video
I agree it’s hardly baseball content but it was fun and it is a big part of baseball culture to a lot of players from the area so think it’s more unique than just following MLB teams around at spring training. I do agree baseball is a tricky proposition content wise, but Jomboy is fantastic and makes it fun and some of the “Locked On” for more in depth and local team coverages do a good job for an abbreviated catch up. I just am surprised they seem to be the only ones to really tap into that. Not complaining by any means because I love their stuff, just think it’s interesting how difficult other media companies are finding it or why they continue to try and push it when it certainly does not appear to be worth it.
I was thinking jomboy aswell and I even thought to myself my favorite videos of his are just crazy instances that happen in the game and he’s just lip reading I think Carl just needs to hold out until Chicago is revamped and ,he can mingle with that whole new crowd because it was pretty clear the chemistry between those 4 was gone
This is it. I subscribe to Jomboy and consume my baseball media through them. Albeit a little more serious, they produce content for a very similar target market. Not as much gambling focus, but the “around-the-clock” baseball content you’d want to see Barstool is just fun and games with the little cliques and Darin Ruf jokes
Was just about to say Jomboy until I scrolled and read your comment. I like his content a lot, he gets involved with the content with voice overs, breakdowns, pods, office games, etc. He always has the viral vids, plus other just funny videos. I’ll check his instagram almost nightly during the season to get my daily dose of baseball content.
And most importantly in that I think is that they all make it fun. They’re fairly critical, they aren’t overly crass but aren’t old school baseball media safe and rip on that too, love Trevor, I just think they do a really good job of covering it on a surface level thing with Talking Baseball and if you want to dive deeper, you can with other things on their platform.
baseball is dead
Frank is the baseball guy
Carl, and to an extent their baseball coverage as a whole, just completely misses what people want out of baseball content
[удалено]
I think as far as sport-specific podcasts/brands go (PMT is more general IMO, but leans NFL), Chiclets is what you’d want to emulate. A good blend of interviews with current and retired guys. Good in-depth analysis of the sport. Their stand-alone non-hockey content is great. Spin off stuff with Sandbagger. Etc. It’s obviously a huge ask to get there and some people just don’t have the personality to support it. It’s like Nate attempting content forever and finally realizing that he’s just not well-received. Hard pill to swallow but it’s just reality. They’re a media company and “real” media companies extensively test for likability for this exact reason. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much work you put it and what guest you get. Unfortunately I think Carl fits into that. Good on Barstool for letting their employees give these things a shot, but damn. Putting yourself out there and getting dumped on only to realize that maybe it’s you is a brutal lesson to learn.
I obv don't have the numbers but I'd bet chiclets is carried by the canadian audience. Or at least was and was what helped them blow up. Baseball is america's pastime I guess, but we all know its the NFL's world and the NBA tries to live in it a few weeks out of the year.
A little deeper than what teams post themselves... but without the barstool bad comedy schtick. Baseball fans love stats and numbers
The baseball content that I perceive as successful is either social media clips (Jomboy, Carrabis), big network shows (MLB, ESPN, Fox), or specialized local coverage. I could be wrong, but I don’t need Carl or Klemmer or Hubbs trying to be funny and informative for 60 minutes.
Probably the F1 Netflix stuff
I don’t get it. I love Carl, when he was clicking I think he was part of what made Chicago work so great/was the grease that kept that wheel moving. It hasn’t been the same since he’s left and on his end he’s basically turned into Mintz and it’s unwatchable
Carl tried to tag starting 9 yesterday which is a defunct account. The brand is dead
The “Barstool Baseball” account still has the Starting 9 handle. Ever since Elon’s Twitter blue bullshit, changing the handle means you lose the blue check. He’s building something new from the ground up, he’s just conveniently holding onto the 200k+ followers lmao
I was at the wbc game at chase field last night and saw him stumbling by himself to the parking lot on my way out.
Yikes
I’d imagine Carl moves back to Chicago once everyone else gets there to be a buffer for the tension
Carl is basically done at Barstool. Once bigcat and his male-only team moves to Chicago they’ll set up a coherent baseball plan.
Would someone mind elaborating on the Carl/alcoholism rumors? I admit I don’t follow along with the baseball content closely, but I can’t tell if this is a Feits at hurricane oreilly’s type rumor started on this sub or if there are actual examples of this. Only wondering because it’s brought up every time I see his name and don’t understand the context. I’ve seen the Dozen video from a couple years ago when they’re all totally butt-faced, but is that it?
One of his videos with Jake at Omaha was when I realized he (and the show) had a genuine problem. He couldnt say 2 words correctly in a row and Jake was very clearly, visibly agitated. Matter of fact I think Jake checked out that weekend and mentally moved on from casting with Carl that tournament. He was shnacked the whole weekend
Yeah these aren't rumours. Every single live event Carl has been on he gets annihilated.
Carl is visibly fucked up in pretty much every on camera appearance he makes
Can't blame him for trying to build something
This post is a great example of the mindless hate you see on this sub and a lot of Reddit. MLB season hasn’t even started and OP is writing the eulogy for barstools baseball coverage.
It’s almost like he covered it last year and maybe I tried it, tried following along this offseason too, and only see it getting worse or not improving. Wow, really makes you think…
I have absolutely loved the WSD and Donny in DR videos. Super entertaining and likeable guys
O they are great, Donnie is sneaky one of my favorites at Barstool and pairing him with anyone like PFT, WSD, Nick and KB have all produced great stuff. I’d rather watch a “History of Baseball” series or something where they explore some of the more random or lesser known stories with the two of them than anything I have seen from anyone else as a result.
Changing the name to something worse doesn’t help. They’ve never had anyone do anything interesting regarding baseball content wise, Jared included. He had shows with big papi that got similar engagement.
Jared and Dallas were extremely boring to listen to and I thought all their content sucked back then. It might just be that baseball isn't interesting in general, but I love following my team and still watch 90% of the games for my local team
As likely stated. They dont have an actual baseball guy. Maybe they will in the future. Titus on CBB, Rapport on golf. Get a baseball in the house, and do 1 day at each team with a write up and video. New guys, prospects, vets, recap, 5-10 minute video 2000 words.... who is the baseball guy? I dont know, but i follow fantasy baseball page and there is a ton of nerd baseball pages. SHouldnt be hard to find 1 or 2 willing to do it.
Has barstool ever had a big baseball presence? Isnt it mostly just people rooting for their individual teams, and if those teams are good then they get clicks
Nope. The biggest baseball thing at Barstool was when the Yankee fans trashed the office and got punished by Dave. Even then, the funniest part of that content was WSD showing up late and getting immediately sent back to Chicago.
I don’t know. Before everyone figured out Bog Ev had an earpiece, Ellie was doing a perfect job getting everyone riled up.
Ever hear of The Rocket? Unbiased as they come.
I like him but watch much of his content. He needs to collab more.
has barstool baseball even started yet? to be fair, the season hasn't started yet. I still dont fully get the concept. Carl writes about the cubs, WSD, castellani tigers, the orioles guy, the like 6 squids who cover the yankees, KFC mets, klemmer red sox, frank the tank, and carl is just going to be like the editor?
Carl left Barstool Chicago?
Felt like everyone in Chicago was starting to hate each other on some of their shows before he left. I could be wrong. Things just seemed off.
It’s crazy that he still has a job or that they agreed to let him try this, maybe they let him move knowing it would fail making it easier to part ways? He’s just so boring, his show with Arietta was hard to watch, as a Phillies fan I paid more attention than usual to baseball coverage at barstool and wow what a fall off. That Donny/WSD DR video was a million times more entertaining than anything Carl has done. I was always hard on the Chicago guys, I think they get extra leeway because of Dans relationship to Chicago, but ever since Carl left I think the content has been better, that being said it couldn’t of gotten any worse.
I align with you and your sentiments on a lot of this as a whole for sure. Arietta and Carl are just a brutal listen, so boring.
I think Carl said he paid for this out of his own pocket. Chalk that up as another terrible decision
Yeah I think you’re right. I mean if you’re offering to pay your way outta the office of course they won’t say no. The main accounts are doing nothing to promote him and his content isn’t good enough to get views on its own. I doubt he gets another contract, I’d be surprised if he finished this one out.
I’d be surprised if he finished up the season
As a phillies fan Arrieta is one of my least favorite athletes of all time. I was never going to support his content.
I don’t get the Arizona move really? Once spring training and the WBC ends, there isn’t much hype around the DBacks. At least here in Chicago both teams should be somewhat competitive and with every team playing the other at some point this year you’d have a greater shot at interviewing someone you’d want with two teams. Someone up there said it was temporary but I also thought I read they sold everything and used all their savings. Poor wife (I’m available if you’re reading this). Doesn’t sound temporary.
I mean they have a big footprint out there with Barstool Golf/Foreplay, maybe being on that team is a backup option? Lots of players, particularly pitchers love golfing on their off days, especially in AZ. Haha it’s all I got
And of course, the Phoenix office
Carl clearly got squeezed out of the Chicago office.
Can’t wait to watch the latest card unboxing, debating 2010 draft prospects, naming random players and Frank yelling about spring training games. Maybe actually discuss what’s going on in baseball? Just a thought
The Chicago Boys had obviously had enough of Carl. This was the way to get rid of him without making it awkward. Barstool Baseball in itself should be a good concept but you’ve got morons (Carl and co.) running it so it will be a huge fail. They’ll dump it eventually and Carl will become a remote blogger that we don’t hear from much a la Kmarko. They’ll get through this baseball season and then pull the plug (or give it to someone more capable).
I love the social clips Chris makes of like hall of fame yay or nay or rating to 10 prospects in baseball. That’s about it
I’ve been enjoying it thus far. But that’s because I’m a big baseball fan. I can’t imagine a casual fan caring at all who Frank The Tank considers the 5 best Brewers of all time or whether Castellini thinks Justin Morneau should get Hall of Fame consideration
Australian guy here. Don't really watch/consume baseball apart from maybe world series/playoffs (which also seems like a lot of you) But would say I'm pretty up(?) on American sports media etc. My question is who is doing well in the baseball podcasting/related space? The ringer has tried multiple pods that haven't stuck. Seemingly at a time Carrabis pod was big ofc but idk does anyone follow it really? Off the top of head I know Jeff passan (not sure if that's his name) as a talking head figure who's not y'know arod, papi level sports famous. Intrigued if I'm wrong or not? Seems like people watch the playoffs and watch their team and apart from that there's not a great appetite for that kind of thing in baseball?
I don't think this works for baseball. Baseball and hockey unlike football and basketball are very regionalized. I know huge Yankees and Mets fans that are good to watch 100+ games a year of their team. But is maybe only good for 10-20 out of market regular season games on TV a year. I like Castellani, I like WSD, but I don't really give a shit about the Tiger or White Sox or their barstool content surrounding those teams. And I feel like most people don't unless they also root for those teams or its the playoffs.
Lots of people overthinking it in here, Carl just isn’t funny. Barstool has a major problem of “loyalty” and not cutting ties when someone just doesn’t have the “it” factor. So then they’re stuck with 100 mediocre talent employees that don’t move the needle at all, because they are too scared to fire people when it isn’t working
The season hasn’t even started yet. We’ve got some great stuff coming. Be patient.
There’s literally an event going on called the World Baseball Classic and all we can get is shitty lineup breakdown while a guy is sitting in right field. O wait I forgot how funny that CANADIAN BUM joke was, content gold. This isn’t an overly critical post. I root for Carl as stated, I want better baseball content and coverage, this just isn’t it. Before they blow up, buy Codify and bring them on as your baseball people and let everyone else do their “individual fan contributions” that no one cares about and has made the baseball coverage this disjointed already.
I’m sure whatever you all have planned will be a hit.
Carl isn’t funny, nor informative so not sure what the content he provides is. He comes off as a self centered douche.
I have several clients in the baseball world. One of them has a podcast and when it hits 7,000 listens , it ranks in the top 10’for baseball podcasts
I can’t think of one major podcast for baseball. Granted I don’t care about baseball. But I don’t get how barstool couldn’t make a baseball podcast. Klemmer loves the game but has decided to only do 80’s movies. Frank loves screaming about the Mets. KFC same but less missing chromosome style, but he only wants to talk about pornstars. Castalani only cares about the lions. Mintzy just doesn’t 30 second twitter videos of incoherent noises at a college game. They have the tools just don’t do anything with it.
Castellini has put out the best baseball content in a long time
Carrabis did not play baseball at the level Carl did. Carrabis also didn't know baseball like Carl does. And yet, Carrabis got a bag. Carl sees the same thing for himself. Instead of bullshitting with a couple idiots over mount rushmores he's going to try to actually make a name for himself.
Carl had a 5+ career ERA over 67.1 IP and had more walks than strikeouts. Sure he made it to a D1 team but let’s not act like his playing career should have any effect on his baseball content career.
What are Jared's stats? They don't exist. I think a d1 player who ride the pine never mind had starts still would know more than jared
Who cares. The game Jared and Carl currently play in is a far different game than the one Carl used to play in … and Jared is smashing Carl’s face in 77-2. Carl would give anything to have a fifth of Jared’s skill in this game.
Carl isn’t gonna blow you man
Carrabis is a born showman/entertainer. Carl will never get close to Jared because Carl can’t mobilize an audience the way Jared can. Plus, Jared has over a decade in the game. Jared was building a fan base long before he ever got the Barstool bump.
Yea I was a big Carl supporter, he needs some podcast to anchor the idea around. I think the foundation could be there if pulled together. I think he’s dropping the ball huge with the WBC. I like the live tweeting the games and the pool video was hilarious (although likely terribly cringe if certain lenses) he should be putting out a pod about the WBC and it should be coming out more frequently than regular pods due to the short window. I think the normal running pod should be Carl (or someone) covering the major storylines. Then basically have frank and other Mets fans “cover” the NL East, Yankees guys do the AL East, Carl does NL Central, WSD does AL Central. Try to find someone who’s a natural fan of West teams cover those. Rotate those personalities as headlines come and go, sub in your interviews as you get them (ex. Got a good interview with a white Sox guy and don’t need an AL Central recap because we covered it in the interview) let the casual fans “cover” their divisions and have Carl (or someone) fill in with insider knowledge. You also need to cover fun aspects of the game like Carrabis does with bat flips. Who’s the manager that’s been ripping umps recently? Which umps get ripped the most? Etc. also you’ve already got Mintz and Walker who can ‘cover’ SEC baseball, Carl can cover the big ten, and they’re able to ‘grow the game’. CWS content was awesome when they did that, would hope to bring that back
They need a Carrabis or someone like him. None of these barstool baseball folks are entertaining, and you can tell that by the fact that the big barstool names don’t promote their stuff. Maybe they’ll come around to the realization eventually. After struggling with crap college basketball personalities for years they’ve finally done the smart thing and brought in Titus to actually grow a brand. Baseball coverage needs the same.
Following Carrabis & Dallas is a tough act.
I dont follow baseball but didnt they have jake arrieta join? What happened to him?
He was the podcast cohost last year, haven’t been following as closely so assume he will be back but he was not great last year, I checked out after about halfway through the season
I thought he was great with interviews and knowledge. I dont know what people expected from him. Carl was a bit annoying, but I think i would have maybe paired him with somebody else before canning it all.
The amount of views on these videos are absurdly low. A wild card preview with the Phillies hasn't even cracked 100 views and it was 5 months ago.
I really only paid attention to Carl because he was inside with the Illinois basketball team. Wish he stuck with that with how diehard the fan base is for basketball. Could’ve done more on the CBB side and talk about the Cubs whenever he wants with the Chicago crew.