During the Pittsburgh Panthers’ Thursday, Dec. 26 game against the Toledo Rockets, Portnoy zeroed in on offensive lineman Ryan Baer’s thinning locks after a grueling six-overtime showdown.
“This 6OT game just blessed us with this hairline,” Portnoy said of the 22-year-old athlete. “How old are college kids again?”
The viral tweet racked up 9.6 million views, but Brookeville, MD's Van Pelt—who has embraced his own baldness with pride—wasn’t here for the follicle-focused jab.
“Dude, it’s fine,” Van Pelt clapped back, bringing a touch of bald brotherhood to the timeline.
Meanwhile, Baer, clearly blindsided by the tweet, kept his reaction short and sweet: “Damn,” he wrote, resharing Portnoy’s words.
While Toledo walked away with the win in one of the longest and most dramatic games of the season, Baer’s hairline stole its share of the spotlight. With Van Pelt in his corner, though, it’s clear the young athlete isn’t going down without a fight—or at least a witty comeback.
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