Olivia Dunne just wanted to catch a flight. Instead, she found herself crying in a car after being ambushed yet again by the same group of people—autograph seekers. “They know time, place, airport, everything!!!” she said through tears in a TikTok video. She talked about how these people were not normal autograph takers but 10 middle-aged men waiting for her at baggage claims with huge stacks of memorabilia.
Now turns out this wasn’t a one-time incident, but happens more often than not—and even during a 20-minute layover in random cities like Omaha. Dunne, the athlete and also Sports Illustrated cover star and the girlfriend of Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes, says that people chase her down TSA lines, yell at her, and terrify even the people close to her.
Plus, she is not alone; even Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas has had the same experiences and mentioned that the fact that people have the flight information scared her the most. But this is one perception; bringing another foresight is David Samson, who has seen this autograph world from the other side of the velvet rope.
Former Marlins President David Samson, on his podcast Nothing Personal, didn’t hold back. He called out what he sees as the real dirty trick—turning athletes into human vending machines for profit. Samson said, “As a person, you have to try to discern—are these people doing it for love of the game or for profit of the game? The answer, in Livvy Dunne’s circumstance—my guess—is it’s going to be 80/20. 80% profit, 20% love of the game…”
Samson, from his days, recounted how players would sign thousands of items in private team spaces for paid deals. But they simply refused to sign in public when it became harassment, wearing the disguise as fandom. Plus, he also unlocked a bigger problem: “The way people act around a celebrity. And the way so many people are now celebrities with no training in celebrity. They’re celebrities because of their social media, because of their followings. And it’s created unbelievable monetization.”
Samson admitted that earlier, he used to roll his eyes when players refused to sign, but not now. He mentioned that there is a thin line between admiration and exploitation. “I want people to have empathy and to understand it,” said Samson. And if no one can tell the difference anymore, maybe it’s not just the autograph industry that’s broken; maybe the fans are too. This was Skenes and Dunne’s personal life- coming to professional life, Skenes is having a tough time. One marred with hard luck!
Paul Skenes battles hard, but the Pirates’ bats stay silent
Paul Skenes did his part — again. But for the 10th time this season, the Pirates have failed to score a single run, falling 3-0 to the Houston Astros on Tuesday at PNC Park. It was the most shutouts suffered by any MLB team so far. One can only say -Ouch! Because, it wasted another great outing by the 23-year-old phenom.
Skenes lowered his ERA to a good 2.05 but then was tagged with his sixth loss of the year, 4-6. And the only issue was a solo shot by Christian Walker in the seventh that broke open a tight scoreless game. Postgame, Skenes talking about the sheer bad luck, said, “It’s kind of one of those things where you can only do so much. They guessed right. That was enough today. Gotta rewatch the game — I didn’t watch much of our offense — but we’ll watch it again and see what we got tomorrow.”
And as far as offense foes, there was not much to see; the Pirates just ended up with four hits all night. They struggled against Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr., who hasn’t even won a game since September 2022. One thing that Skenes has been in control of is -contact. Skenes has become more efficient in his recent starts and has regularly pitched deep into games and leaned into soft contact when it was needed.
Unfortunately for him, he is stuck in a team that’s simply not on par right now. The offense couldn’t even match Skenes’ precision. So until the bats wake up, or a trade takes place, maybe Skenes’ brilliance continues to go unrewarded.
The post Ex-Marlins President Slams Dirty Tricks After Paul Skenes’ Girlfriend Olivia Dunne Shares Autograph Ordeal appeared first on EssentiallySports.
