Who Is Ballsack Sports?

The satirical Twitter account Ballsack Sports has managed to trick far more people than an account named Ballsack Sports should trick. Daryl Morey. Fox News. Probably The Big Lead at this point. It'd be a funny bit if not for the anatomical name but people blowing past the obviously dubious "Ballsack Sports" adds an extra element. A recent increase in the account's popularity has drawn more media attention and Awful Announcing's Sean Keeley was able to make contact with the person behind the fake news, who revealed himself to be a 24-year-old Akron, Ohio resident named Matt.

“I aspired to be a journalist,” said Matt. “As I grew up, I kinda became a little bit turned off by it, seeing how it shifted from what I thought it was gonna be to clickbait, social media… not a lot of depth. Everyone wanted something that was quick, controversial, easy to consume.

“I wanted to start Ballsack Sports because I wanted to rile up as many people as possible under the most obscenely obvious satirical name. I thought I could do it. And so, I just kind of started making satirical quotes.”

It's quite easy to become Jokerfied. It's much harder to rein down the considerable mayhem Ballsack Sports has brought when anyone can just look at the name and be engulfed in red flags. That doesn't happen without some method to the madness.

“What I find amusing is, obviously, with the alias Ballsack Sports, there is that demographic that immediately sees the name is able to pick up on it,” said Matt. “There’s also the flip side that doesn’t. And so when they play off each other, it’s kinda funny to watch them go.”

“I’ve been around NBA Twitter for a couple years now,” said Matt. “I’ve seen and read a lot of player interviews. I kinda see what people react most to and what they love to engage with most. I’m constantly gauging the temperature on certain topics, whether it’s Steph’s three-point shooting or whether it’s the Sixers trade rumors. I see how the fanbase is reacting. And then I’ll try to find that perfect sweet spot whether it’s a player quote or a rumor. What would elicit the most reaction if it was real and came to fruition today?

The full Awful Announcing report is worth a read and reaches an understandable conclusion:

Whether Ballsack Sports’ true intention is to shine a spotlight on the lack of accountability in modern sports journalism, an attempt at gaining social media notoriety, or simply the machinations of your average Twitter troll, there’s something to be said for the fact that it continues to find a way to break through into the national sports conversation. And that should give us all pause.

But what I would say is that the best thing to do here may be to simply laugh. Those of us who have been on the internet for the past decade understand how much of a Wild West it is and how the process of connecting real people with real information is a long-term losing battle. We can either laugh or cry.

And good luck crying when you remember the name is Ballsack Sports. Impossible to stress that part enough.