In recent years, school rivalries have taken to social media, most notably on Barstool Instagram accounts run by students from each school. It’s rare to find a school that doesn’t have an account to cheer on their team, hype up their student fanbase and talk trash with other schools through their accounts.
Barstool Sports is a sports journalism company that takes a more humorous approach to reporting. The company gained popularity in the 2010s with charismatic, relatable journalists delivering stories to viewers through a widely successful social media presence. This style of reporting on sports and pop-culture was adopted by youth in high school and college who created Barstool accounts as a play off of the original company to produce school-centric content but with a comedic twist.
Most schools have Barstool accounts on Instagram and sometimes extend to other platforms. When those in charge of them graduate, they can give younger students access to the accounts, keeping them alive. These accounts are most active right before big events or games, posting content with the purpose of both humiliating the opponent and glorifying the school’s teams and players.
Of course, the content can get controversial quickly. Players dread being posted on rival schools’ Barstool accounts, especially with photos or videos from years ago. Inappropriate or embarrassing things posted on social media can come back to haunt people and unfortunately, Barstool accounts feed off of this.
Varsity football captain Dylan Hager has experienced being posted on a rival school’s Barstool account. An old picture of him from freshman year resurfaced on B-CC’s Barstool the day before their football game against WJ.
“It was funny but embarrassing for sure,” Hager said. “We also posted things about them so it’s not too serious and it balances out.”
While the rivalries are very real and definitely heated at times, the purpose of these accounts is comedy and school spirit. However, recent posts have highlighted the fact that a lot of times, these accounts cross the line. After all, they are led by students, not professionals. The truth is that these accounts can’t be expected to have a commitment to following any standards for their content. But it seems clear that personal attacks on individual students athletes’ families, appearances or personal matters should be avoided.
Students who run Barstool accounts will make mistakes, especially because there are no rules when it comes to what they can post. But their contributions to school spirit and culture cannot be ignored. Barstool accounts are a fun way to maintain decades-old rivalries between local schools. They allow anyone following them to feel like a part of the rivalries when viewing or interacting with posts, extending the exciting build-up to sports games beyond just the players on the team.
Barstool Instagram accounts have become a tradition in school communities and there are ways for them to remain that way without harming anyone. Posts making fun of other schools can be playful instead of offensive. If the controversy over these accounts escalates, resulting in them being shut down by school administration or authorities, schools and their students would lose an exciting part of their culture and a little bit of school spirit.
