The high-stakes absurdity of a podcast's 'Blake of the Year' dynasty
In short: What happens when sports media satire turns into an obsessive, multi-year competition over who is the ultimate Blake? From phone response times to rhyming showdowns and Chinese lottery machines, Pardon My Take has built a complex lore that rewards listeners for embracing the ridiculous.
Launched in February 2016 by Barstool Sports hosts Dan Katz (Big Cat) and PFT Commenter, Pardon My Take (PMT) began as a satirical take on traditional sports media. The show's name is a direct play on ESPN's 'Pardon the Interruption' and 'First Take,' even leading to an initial cease-and-desist letter from ESPN over its logo.
Between 750,000 and 1.5 million people tuned into each episode as the show became a major cultural phenomenon. While it primarily covers sports news and celebrity interviews, the show has developed unique internal mechanics, such as 'The Takies' award show spoof and the 'Lottery Ball Machine.' The latter involves hosts guessing numbers between 1 and 100, a segment that became so popular it inspired fans to launch a dedicated tracking website.
Central to its lore is 'Blake of the Year' (BOTY), an annual competition featuring personalities like Blake Griffin, Blake Bortles, and Brooks Koepka. The rules have shifted dramatically over time: starting as a phone-response race in 2018, moving to a Chinese lottery machine draw in 2021, transitioning into a trivia gameshow in 2022, and eventually becoming a three-round gauntlet involving speeches and rhyming showdowns in 2023. In 2024, it reverted to the original phone-call format with a Zoom twist.
This evolution highlights how niche internet subcultures create 'lore'—internal jokes and complex histories that reward long-term engagement. By turning arbitrary traits (like having the name Blake) into a rigorous, multi-year competitive history, PMT creates a sense of community for its listeners, whom they affectionately call 'AWLs' or award-winning listeners.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Pardon My Take
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