By admin 
U.S. politician Abdul El-Sayed made a joking comment about the Michigan Wolverines football program that bothered Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
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Former Michigan tight end Jake Butt admitted this week that the Wolverines’ national championship season under Jim Harbaugh has an “asterisk” next to it, due to cheating allegations.
“Two decades for Jim [Harbaugh] to get them back-to-back-to-back-to-back Big Ten champs and a national title, but even that has an asterisk on it,” Butt said during an appearance on The Film Guy Network. “And then pretty much immediately Michigan is back to being a punching bag. And I think it’s very disappointing for people. It’s certainly disappointing for me as I talk about my alma mater here, because no way should a $50 million roster look like this on the field.”
El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, attended the University of Michigan, but even he can wonder. The Michigan graduate said this week that even he wonders if Michigan is “ever going to win a game without cheating?”
This upset Portnoy, who took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to call him out over the comment on the Wolverines.
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“This guy really is a terrorist,” he wrote, sharing a clip from C-Span, that has been viewed close to 4 million times.
El-Sayed takes shot at Portnoy’s athleticism on social media
The U.S. Senate candidate took a shot at Portnoy’s athleticism on social media, playing into the trolling feud.
He also took a shot at Portnoy’s pizza-eating habits.
“Meanwhile, here’s @stoolpresidente committing an act of athletic terrorism. Less pizza, more gym, habibi,” he wrote on X, sharing a clip of a hobbled Portnoy attempting to run.
Both Portnoy and El-Sayed know what it takes to go viral on social media, and both men are generating millions of social media engagements through this feud.
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Michigan, meanwhile, is 3-2 on the season, 13th in the Big Ten Conference.
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This story was originally published October 11, 2026 at 1:16 PM.