The Washington Post Does A Full Feature On PFT Commenter, "The Most Unlikely Sports Media Personality on the Planet"

NEW YORK [Washington Post] — Wearing dark sunglasses with an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder, perhaps the most unlikely sports media personality on the planet stepped through the glass doors and onto 27th St. to wait for his Uber. Within 30 seconds, he was spotted.

“Can I get your picture really quick, man? I’m your biggest fan,” said a passerby, pulling out his ear buds. “I was just listening to the show.”

PFT Commenter is used to it by now. With hair that hangs past his shoulders and ever-present dark sunglasses, he’s hardly inconspicuous. (“Like a short Kid Rock,” he jokes.) But as often as this same sidewalk scene unfolds, the context remains bizarre. PFT is commonly recognized. He’s also almost completely unknown.

….PFT starts his mornings around 10 a.m., and on days they record the podcast, he’ll be in the office past midnight. The third floor of Barstool is an open workspace with 20- and 30-somethings hunched over keyboards. Laptops are adorned with stickers and tabletops with trinkets and booze. PFT estimates that 80 percent of the company’s 100 or so employees don’t know his real name, though others there say at least half probably do. Either way, the secret is vitally important to PFT.

“It makes sense to me,” Katz said. “It’s the running joke with his followers. People have stuck with it for years now and they just want to feel like they’re part of the joke.”

“There have definitely been times I’ve just wanted to say my name, tell everyone, ‘This is me,’” PFT said. “It’s human nature. But I’m protective of the character. And I think a lot of people out there really don’t want to know too much about me. The character is [expletive] funny.”

And he thinks it’d be less funny if they knew the real person with a real background and real relationships, real thoughts and real feelings. It’s like knowing Hulk Hogan is actually a guy named Terry. Mystique matters.

Pretty good article about PFT Commenter from Rick Maese for the Washington Post.  Lot of good info for people not fully familiar with his backstory and some great insight to why he keeps his real identity of Wayne Tables secret from the internet.

You’d think they would ask like, one person that actually works with him what he’s like instead of quoting a dude from Deadspin but that’s probably nitpicking.

PFT Commenter rose from an internet ‘cesspool’ to podcasting glory. And no one knows who he is.