Dave Portnoy couldn’t be in two places at once, so he had to make a difficult decision.
The Barstool Sports founder was a guest of honor at Tom Brady’s induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday night, and was seated at a VIP table with fellow members of the “Brady Four,” John Feitelberg, Hank Lockwood, and Paul “Gaz” Gulczynski, all of whom were arrested at NFL headquarters in New York in 2015 for protesting the quarterback’s Deflategate suspension.
However, when Brady shouted out the group in his speech, only the other three remained in attendance.
Portnoy had ducked out of the ceremony to watch the Celtics in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at The Harp at Patriots Place in Foxborough, where he caught what was a tight, fourth-quarter matchup against the Mavericks before Boston took a three-game series lead with the 106-99 win.
Some of the stars who attended Wednesday’s event, including comedian Bill Burr and former Patriots wideout Julian Edelman, were stunned by Portnoy’s decision.
“Bill Burr just grabbed me and asked if Dave really left. He couldn’t believe it,” Feitelberg wrote on X.
Edelman also tweeted, “Would’ve been nice to have you here @stoolpresidente,” with an accompanying photo of Feitelberg, Lockwood and Gulczynski.
Portnoy was unapologetic and offered a pragmatic explanation.
“My favorite banner is the next one,” Portnoy wrote on X. “Celtics needed me.”
Warning: Explicit language
In a video posted Thursday morning, Portnoy acknowledged the “conflict snafu.”
“I knew it the whole time,” Portnoy said. “I was trying to watch the game on my phone. I can’t get it. YouTube TV’s saying I’m not in my home area. Whatever. I’m watching score updates.”
Portnoy then explained that the ceremony was supposed to end at 9:30 p.m., but it was “running really late,” and Brady and Patriots owner Robert Kraft hadn’t even spoken yet.
Meanwhile, it was the middle of the third quarter in Celtics-Mavs.
“I was like, ‘I need to watch this f–king game,'” Portnoy said. “This is banner 18. Like, yeah, Tom Brady, I love you, but what’s Tom Brady always say? What’s his favorite banner? His favorite banner is the next one. And that’s how I am! I move forward. I don’t move backwards. This is the NBA f–king Finals.”
The Celtics can close out the series on Friday when Game 4 tips off at 8:30 p.m. in Dallas.