Sportsmanship

EPISODE 187: "I'm Alex."

If you’ve watched sports on television in the last 10 to 15 years, you already know the commercial that inspired this episode. And if you have absolutely no idea what this thing’s about, I cannot wait to explain the premise to you.

It is — first of all — the worst advertisement in the history of sports.

But maybe even more importantly: it’s almost certainly the most hated.

So much so that the sheer tonnage of online reaction to this commercial sent its infamous protagonist — a teenager who, for years, had only been known by his on-screen alias, “Alex” — into hiding. Never to be publicly identified.

Until now.

Yes, it is our distinct pleasure to kick off this strange new year with an investigation that connects March Madness to Madison Avenue; a Supreme Court justice to a secretive billionaire; and the Dalai Lama to Damian Lillard (who agreed to go on the record with us, as you’ll see).

It took our intrepid PTFO correspondent, Zach Schwartz, more than three years to report this story.

I think it was worth the wait.

DKN/YOUTUBE SPOILER ALERT:

Nice going,

Pablo