Sports Media Inception: Stugotz Is a "Joey Pants" Award Contender in an Actual Joey Pants Movie
By Kyle Koster
Bill Simmons has been giving out an prize on The Ringer podcasts named after actor Joe Pantoliano. It’s called the Joey Pants Award and it goes to the person in a movie who you look at and say, “hey, it’s THAT GUY.” Real Rewatchable Heads know what I’m talking about. You may not be interested yet, but hang in there, there will be a payoff.
Yesterday, Jon Weiner, who puts the Stugotz in The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, dropped a bombshell from his past. Turns out the sports-shouter had a cameo in an actual Pantoliano flick some years ago.
How?
Well, the year 2004 was a wild time and when the owner of Stugotz’s radio station asked him to be in the film, it was an offer not to be refused.
"My role, when Joey Pants woke up to go to work, he didn’t set the buzzer, he’d set it to radio and what he would wake up to was me giving hot takes doing a sports talk radio show. Me and Joey Pants."
That’s right. Stugotz is a Joey Pants Award contender in an actual Joey Pants movie. He does not recall the name of the movie because, well, that wouldn’t be in character.
IMDB lists Pantoliano‘s credits around this time: Second Best and Perfect Opposites. Sadly, I have seen neither. Efforts to stream them this morning were unsuccessful. One wonders how many people walking this Earth have seen one of the two. Or if there’s anyone who has seen both.
Look, I fully understand the overlapping Venn Diagram of interests for all this stuff is pretty small. It is still no less remarkable that these worlds are colliding. Especially considering the two had the makings of a light feud over Boston sports two weeks ago.
So, free idea here for the big minds at The Ringer: a crossover event podcast discussing whatever movie this is with one of it’s biggest stars. And Joey Pants. This is what the public needs right now.