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From JUGs to Barstool: Adam Ferrone '06
From JUGs to Barstool: Adam Ferrone '06
Prep alumnus Adam Ferrone '06 on JUG at a Christmas concert, a Latin education's influence in battle rap, and why he wanted to work for Barstool Sports.
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By Garrett McCloskey '21
On Thursday, July 12, 2018, Adam Ferrone '06 was performing with his pop-punk parody band "Pup Punk" at the Irving Plaza in New York City. On Saturday, he flew into France on Bastille Day, and the next day, Ferrone was covering the nation's explosive FIFA World Cup victory celebration in Paris. Two days later, he was co-hosting a radio show at the MLB All-Star Game in Washington D.C. All of this was thanks to his job at Barstool Sports—the comedic sports and entertainment media company that is wildly popular among teenagers and young adults.
While "content creator" may be the most succinct description of his role at Barstool Sports, Ferrone has established himself as the company's point man for on-the-ground reporting—if that means investigating the magical aura of a Buffalo Bills fan's apartment or interviewing enthusiastic, and occasionally intoxicated, Eagles fans after a Super Bowl victory.
There are not many job descriptions that include "interview a bear before a hot dog eating contest," but as one of Barstool Sports' top interviewers, Adam Ferrone '06 has interviewed former Boston College and NFL QB Doug Flutie, Santas at 2016 Santacon, Phish concertgoers, Eagles OT Lane Johnson, and random people on the street across the country.
(Photo: Barstool Sports)
But before he became a two-time battle rap world champion and one of the top talents at Barstool Sports, Ferrone was a St. Joseph's Prep student from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and never shy to make a joke.
A "Smart Aleck, but in a Good Way"
During the Christmas concert in Ferrone's senior year, he pulled a lighter out of his pocket and waved it from the front row, like a rock concert attendee, as the pep band performed "The First Noel."
"I thought I was carrying on a tradition, but it just got me a week of JUG," he said.
Ferrone was an active member of The Hawklet, one of the Prep's now-defunct student newspaper, and the tennis team because, as he explained, "they didn't have cuts."
"My friends and I were more into making our own films after class. I would take the late buses home, and we would just [mess around]," said Ferrone. "And now the same dudes who I was making videos with when I was 15, 16 and 17 now work with me at Barstool Sports, and we're making videos on a national scale."
An eagle-eyed observer can spot him in pictures for numerous clubs in the 2006 Chronicle yearbook.
"I wasn't actually in any of the clubs. It was more about getting into the picture and having posterity," he said. "I was picturing someone in the year 2100 finding the yearbook and being like, 'Wow! This guy was really engaged when he was in high school.'" It was a prank that Ferrone's classmate and Prep English teacher Mr. Kevin Kearney '06 still remembers.
Kearney recalled Ferrone as a "non-stop" source of quick-witted humor. Kearney, who was a co-editor with Ferrone on The Hawklet, is not surprised by Ferrone's success in battle rap and at Barstool Sports. He said Ferrone "always had a comeback or a line" for any topic of conversation.
Prep English teacher Dr. Christian Rupertus, Ph.D., who taught Ferrone in his freshman and sophomore years, concurred, calling him a "smart aleck, but in a good way."
"He used to just crack jokes about the material in class that seemed like jokes that would be beyond something that a 14- or 15- year- old could concoct on the fly," said Rupertus. "From what I understand, his quick wit in other classrooms wasn't received quite as well," he laughed.
Rupertus did not find his banter aggravating and distracting. Ferrone was "legitimately funny and bright," he said. "All of his quips indicated that he was engaged with the concepts of the class. It was related to what was being discussed in class."
—Dr. Christian Rupertus
St. Joseph's Prep English Teacher
Ferrone kindled an interest in writing at the Prep, enrolling in Mr. Whelan's journalism class and finding bylines in The Hawkeye and The Hawklet student newspapers. And then came Ted Silary, a since-retired high school sports reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News who maintained a website that was the one-stop shop for stats and write-ups of all area games.
Silary enlisted high school students to cover their respective school's teams. Ferrone and his classmate Pat Murphy '06 covered the 2005 St. Joe's Prep football season, but their coverage was nothing like the formulaic sports reports of other student reporters.
"The way the LaSalle faithful stormed the field you would have thought Abercrombie and Fitch was holding a 25% blowout sale," the duo wrote after the Prep's overtime loss in the annual Thanksgiving Day rivalry against La Salle.
On top of covering the X's and O's of the game, Ferrone and Murphy would also detail the chants of rowdy student sections, nickname some opposing players ("Drew '2nd team' Wilkins" or "Bill 'OMG Homecoming Was Sooo Much Fun' Edger"), and report on the "Catholic League Cutest Player" award, while also unleashing occasional jabs at the student reporters from La Salle.
"Hawk Talk", the name of Ferrone and Murphy's column, was read religiously by Preppers, school faculty, students at other schools, opposing players, parents, and coaches alike.
"Hawk Talk" co-writers Adam Ferrone '06 (left) and Pat Murphy '06 (right) were unafraid to bash opposing players and even their own classmates in their hilariously unorthodox football reports. Former Dean of Students and current Prep Latin teacher Mr. Scott Mullen '99 said, "When he mentioned me in a Hawk Talk article after a football game in 2005, I remember thinking, as I added his name to the JUG List, that I really felt that he appreciated me and my work as one who tried to set the moral barometer for our students. Thanks, Adam."
(Photo: tedsilary.com)
"It was an event when it came out," Ferrone recalled, "and that was a rare thing for writing at the time."
The anticipation surrounding Hawk Talk was built in an era before smartphones and laptops, let alone school-issued laptops—an era of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), MySpace, and message boards. Anticipating the release of Hawk Talk, students from the Prep and other schools would "gather around the computer like it was a fireside chat, like they were warming their hands to the front of the Macintosh," said Ferrone.
"At that time, and it still holds true to the content I make today, I was trying to make the people around me laugh."
Hobbyist Turned Champion
Ferrone graduated from the Prep and attended Penn State with intentions to pursue journalism. But he was soon turned off by the "stuffy" and "cliquey" nature of that environment. When Ferrone submitted a satirical opinion piece about Penn State's president for the Daily Collegian, the article was rejected, and he was instructed to be "safer" and "softer."
He left that student newspaper, and an interest in theater soon blossomed into battle rap. Ferrone, who describes battle rap as "two grown men shouting angry poems at each other," began to watch numerous battle rap videos on a relatively new video platform called YouTube and familiarized himself with the realm of battle rap.
"I started watching them obsessively," said Ferrone, who adopted the moniker "Rone" as a stage name. "I started practicing freestyling in my room, and it turned into this massive hobby [...] because of my massive love of language and words and wanting to be witty and wanting to be funny. All of those pursuits and focuses came to a head, and [battle rap] was the perfect outlet for me."
Ferrone had always been fascinated with wordplay. He cited his kindergarten "Word Wizard" award as proof. Ferrone even credited his education in Latin at Waldron Mercy Academy and the Prep as a catalyst to his success.
"Latin is a massive root for me to build everything off of," he said. "The Prep gives you the chance to explore all the worlds of language."
—Adam Ferrone '06
Ferrone entered the battle rap scene after an impromptu battle with rapper Charles Hamilton, who was visiting Penn State. A video capturing the battle went viral on Worldstar Hip-Hop. After that, Ferrone's battle rapping transitioned from a dorm room hobby into a career. But in a volatile industry that struggled to gain the backing of advertisers due to its brashness, he had to financially support his battle rap career through several odd jobs.
In an April 2018 blog titled "My 20s", Ferrone said he was a roast beef man, obtained lawn care and snow removal jobs, sold websites to Catholic Churches, ripped up industrial carpeting, had songwriting and acting gigs, and held boom mics, among other things.
"All of this was to supplement what little money I was making from cooler things like music and battle rap," he wrote.
The white, somewhat nerdy, prep school kid is far from what one pictures as a Philadelphia rapper. His unapologetic ability to parry attacks on those traits became a staple in his craft.
In a 2010 battle, he rapped, "I look better in a sweater / having tools, grammar rules / politically correct answers, wittier dinner banter / propane igniting and creative writing / hiking, biking, pretty much any white thing."
With tremendous stage command and piercing wit, Ferrone ascended the professional battle rap ladder. He was eventually battle rapping in Canada, Europe, and Australia.
"The stamps in my passport acted as a little consolation as I saw my friends making more money and being successful in the, ya know, real world," he wrote in that same 2018 blog.
With natural wordplay skills and a St Joseph's Prep education in Latin in his back pocket, Adam Ferrone '06, better known as "Rone" in the battle rap circles, became a two-time world champion in his craft. Along the way, he rapped internationally, posed with Drake for a post on the rapper's Instagram, and even saw NBA superstar Kevin Durant request his next battle opponent. "It seems cliché, but the journey was what I'll always look back on [...], rather than just being the champion," he said.
(Photo: Zach MacPherson)
Gaining recognition and social media shout-outs from superstars like Drake and Kevin Durant, Ferrone was also building a portfolio beyond battle rap. He submitted content for albums from Kanye West and The Roots, tried his hand at the television industry, and fostered interests in improv and stand-up comedy.
Ferrone twice conquered King of the Dot league, "which is the biggest piece of hardware you can get in battle rap these days," he wrote. Still, Ferrone said he will always look back on the journey to the top, side jobs and all, rather than the championships.
"It was incredibly humbling to be at the top," he said, "but also getting towards the top was way more fun than being at the top. Being at the top, everybody wants you to lose. They say you don't deserve it. They're waiting for the next person. It's almost like the Patriots. Do you want to see the Patriots win another Super Bowl?"
While Ferrone worked his way up through the battle rap ranks, Barstool Sports started scaling the sports commentary and entertainment industry.
"Dream Job" with Barstool Sports
Branding itself as a company "by the common man, for the common man," Barstool Sports can offer you a website overflowing with blogs, around 40 podcasts covering everything from hockey to movies and pop culture, pay-per-view amateur boxing matches featuring a retired MLB star and a company intern, or a social media umbrella that posts videos of atrocious golf swings, big fishing catches, dogs on business calls, and Gronk jump-starting a car's dead battery.
Initially beginning as a four-page Boston newspaper, Barstool Sports and its growing legion of loyal "Stoolies" has built itself ("brick by brick" according to founder Dave Portnoy) as a one-stop shop for comedic sports commentary, entertainment, sports betting, and everything in between.
Barstool's presence at the Prep is quite pronounced, too. Students paste "Viva La Stool" stickers to the back of their Chromebooks, wear Barstool-branded sweatshirts on dress down days, and follow unofficial Prep-centric accounts modeled after Barstool. Student hosts of the "All Things Prep" podcast even called an "Emergency Press Conference" (a reference to Portnoy's popular public service announcement method) to report a delay in the first episode's release.
Back when Ferrone was writing music and battle raps, he would frequent the Barstool Sports website.
"As I was reading [Barstool Sports], it was like: 'This is my sense of humor. This is what I'm into. I could do what these guys are doing,'" said Ferrone. "It wasn't above me. I was not above it. It was like, 'Oh, this makes sense to me.'"
At a sports media and entertainment company where the talent is more recognizable for individual personalities than sports opinions, Adam Ferrone '06 has established himself as an academically witty interviewer with clever humor. Above: Ferrone explains the "triduum" of Notre Dame football culture before dressing as an usher and sneaking into a game limited only to student attendance. That video has millions of views across multiple platforms.
(Photo: Barstool Sports)
During his battle rap career, Ferrone saw Barstool grow and grow and grow. He applied for Barstool's Philly-based blogging gig in 2014, but narrowly lost that spot to Jordan Demcher ("Barstool Jordie").
Two years later, from his desk at the now-defunct Hip Hop news site Oogeewoogee, he squeezed another opportunity. In January 2016, Barstool Sports announced that it was relocating to Manhattan following a majority stake acquisition by the Chernin Group. Ferrone, recognizing the company's sudden cash flow, contacted Adam Smith ("Smitty"), another Philly-based Barstool personality. Smitty was on the receiving end of numerous sample blogs that Ferrone wrote on a Tumblr burner account during the interview process in 2014.
Barstool Sports has not been without its fair share of controversy. Philadelphia Magazine said the company, often at its founder's own doing, "traffics in everything from misogyny to racism to outright violent, abusive language directed at women."
Citing female-dominated executive roles on the business side of the company, Ferrone said the company's biggest misconception is that it is aggressively male.
"Dave Portnoy likes to find the line as well. And sometimes when you're finding the line, you cross the line, and I think that he would be one to say that he's crossed the line at times as well. But I think there has been an unapologetic air about what he's done that has been beneficial to the growth of Barstool Sports."
However, Ferrone also said it would personally be "sanctimonious" to criticize Portnoy without recognizing his own faults.
"I've said homophobic things. Things that I wouldn't say today I said in 2010."
"This is a term I learned from battle rap: 'You learn more from a loss than you do from a win.' And sometimes those moments that are controversies or blips on the radar become the biggest learning experiences in your life."
Since the former battle rapper started at Barstool, the sheer amount of content that he's produced has been difficult to keep track of.
"There's not a tidy title for [my role]," Ferrone explained. "'Content creator' is the easiest way to put it, but it could be, depending on what conversation I have, I might tell ten different people that I do ten different things."
Ferrone co-hosts a fantasy football advice podcast, a Philly sports and culture podcast, and a wildly popular radio show that has no real set theme but still boasts a relatively large listenership.
Behind the camera, he's searching for and developing new Barstool talent, writing content, and producing videos.
Ferrone's also been the face of numerous videos plastered onto Barstool's site, social media platforms, and YouTube page. He's developed a persona that breeds the strained puns and investigative journalism of 60 Minutes and the quick-witted, on-your-toes humor of a Daily Show correspondent.
And in Caleb Pressley, another Barstool personality and UNC Football's former "Supervisor of Morale", Ferrone has found his match. The duo has crisscrossed college campuses for a "5th Year" tour of college football tailgates, traversed the nation for their travel show, and chased storms—basketball court stormings, that is. And through this, both have unveiled a knack for spontaneous, funny, and intentionally awkward man-on-the-street interviews.
Adam Ferrone '06 (right) and Caleb Pressley (left) have developed a relationship as tag-team interviewers for events such as the Brickyard 400, Santacon, the Washington Capitals' Stanley Cup celebration, and numerous college football tailgates. More recently, the duo has sought out college basketball upsets so that they can experience "court stormings" with that school's student section (all while clad in hefty bright yellow raincoats). Above: "Storm Chasers" Pressley (right) and Ferrone (left) hold up handcuffs at a West Virginia basketball game in March 2020. At a previous game, they were arrested by UConn police when they attempted to sit in seats allegedly reserved for UConn students.
(Photo: Barstool Sports)
"Caleb is a genius at making these videos," Ferrone said. "The way that I edit videos and the way that I look is footage is me following in his footsteps."
While Ferrone is still unafraid to capitalize on the edgy humor that encompasses Barstool, he has taken a harder-hitting journalistic stance in some slickly produced videos where he investigates the parallels between chess and football, the dangers of TikTok houses, and the differences between naturally- and artificially-bearded Santas.
—Adam Ferrone '06
Dressed in a three-piece suit and speaking matter-of-factly for an investigation video of Temple University skateboarders, Ferrone walks towards the camera, strategically controls his hand gestures, and enunciates every syllable, saying, "The anthropological implications were even deeper than I had imagined. [Skaters] were re-defining clothing, even linguistics."
Between storyboarding, location scouting, and cutting clips, the Prep kid who made short films after class has a hand in each aspect of his videos, from start to finish.
"Every single part of it I have my hands on [...] because I'm the only one that knows how it's supposed to look at the end of the day."
As for the journalistic value of his work, Ferrone said, "Satire is the easiest way to expose truth, and often it's the softest way to expose truth." But still, comedy comes first.
Part of the appeal to Ferrone's videos has been his professor-like academic attitude. Early on, Prep history teacher Mr. William Conners '80 noticed Ferrone's "ability to entertain two audiences" with both "sophisticated and sophomoric" humor. But Ferrone was quick to deflect a suggestion that he is one of the smarter minds at Barstool Sports.
"I think that there's a lot of people who are brilliant at different things. In some ways, I have the corny, superficial, show-off smartness."
Big Cat is a "content savant" and "PFT Commenter is one of the best people to do wordplay that is alive right now." West Virginia boys KB and Nick are "some of the funniest, wittiest, sharpest, most incisive people." Gillie Da Kid and Wallo267a are social media "geniuses."
"There's a lot of people I work with that are just fascinating and inspiring people to work with."
"If you had asked me in high school or in grade school what job I wanted," Ferrone said, "it would be something like this, but that job didn't exist at that time."
"The fact that I get to do every single thing that I want to do at an extremely high level is the best part of the job," said the Prep grad.
For Ferrone, there is a clear through line of quick-witted humor and creativity threaded between Rupertus and Conners classes, Ted Silary's Hawk Talk, battle rap, and Barstool.
"[Barstool Sports is] the perfect intersection of creativity [and] opportunity. It really is a dream job."
