Vivek Ramaswamy has been lying about sports throughout his political career
The Rooster will buy you a free Caniac combo if you have proof of Vivek Ramaswamy attending a Cleveland Cavaliers game before 2020.
This dispatch is too long for email. Please open your browser to view in full.
Last Thursday evening, the notorious conman Vivek Ramaswamy melted on Elon Musk’s “X” platform while denying referring numerous times to an unspecified “leftist blogger with mental health issues” and a sourced report about him getting stonewalled by New York Knicks security after Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
Ramaswamy said he posted the piss-baby novel despite his political team's wishes.
Likely because his team of vipers is at least smart enough to understand the age-old political adage that, “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.” But also because Ramaswamy, just months ago, went crying to the Wall Street Journal to smarmily declare his exit from social media to protect his own mental health.
He could have accomplished the same goal by declaring the story “100% false” and leaving it at that.
But Ramaswamy couldn’t help himself by also fabricating his “decades-long” Cavs fandom while also lobbying a confession cloaked in an allegation that ultimately betrayed his understanding of how right-wing media operates.
The most recent example being the Ramaswamy campaign platforming debunked propagandist Luke Rosiak and his fictitious reporting about “$6 billion in Medicaid fraud.”
This is the latest example in a pattern of behavior by Ramaswamy that begins with his frequent citation of Cincinnati as his “hometown,” when, in reality, he lived in the affluent village of Evendale and only attended Cincinnati’s prestigious private Catholic academy, St. Xavier.
But it’s most exemplified by Ramaswamy’s tall tales about sports that he’s spun throughout the past six years in the public eye. Starting with his high school tennis career.
There’s no proof Ramaswamy was a “nationally ranked” high school tennis player
There is no doubt that Ramaswamy was a talented high school tennis player at St. Xavier High School.
In 2020, Sheelah Kolhatkar of The New Yorker described Ramaswamy as a former “nationally ranked” high school tennis player in a soft profile about the author of Woke Inc.
In 2023, Benjamin Hart of The Intelligencer, the digital wing of The New Yorker, described Ramaswamy as a former “nationally ranked junior tennis player” in an article that (rightfully) described him as the best tennis player in a GOP presidential primary that included physical specimens like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump.
But there is a massive gap between “talented high school player” and one that’s “nationally ranked.” It’s hard to envision where The New Yorker got that claim other than Ramaswamy himself, because there is zero evidence that he was nationally ranked throughout his high school career.
Ramaswamy wasn’t included in the 16-player high school state championship tournament his junior year in 2002, thanks to a drubbing from Brad Goleski of Spingboro:
In his senior year, Ramaswamy wasn’t even viewed by his coach as the best or second-best singles player on his team to start the season:
Ramaswamy failed to make the 16-player championship tournament in his senior year, with the crown ultimately going to Eric Thomas of Cincinnati Walnut Hills.
And again, it’s clear Ramaswamy had some talent. But the record shows he was never even the best player on his team, let alone someone who would have been “nationally ranked” by any reputable organization.
Ramaswamy wouldn’t be the first, nor the last, Cincinnati-area high school graduate to hilariously exaggerate their achievements in high school athletics.
But the habit of embellishing his love and talent for sports has continued on the campaign trail—despite another prolific social media meltdown about American culture venerating “the jock” over “the valevictorian” (read: himself) on Dec. 26, 2004.
Self-declared “Cincinnati Guy” morphs into a Buckeyes fan to predictable results
On Aug. 5, 2023, The Rooster duped Ramaswamy using the pretext of meeting the Ohio State football team into holding a one-man stump speech in a sweltering parking lot outside Raisin’ Canes parking lot on the pretext.
It was made possible thanks to a five-star general in the Patriots Caucus texting Ramaswamy as head football coach Ryan Day months earlier:
It showed not only that Ramaswamy could be bought with a single compliment, but that he had no passing familiarity with Buckeye football.
He later confirmed that in our impromptu interview, declaring himself a “Cincinnati guy” when responding in the negative about any favorite memories from watching the Buckeyes in his youth:
In the first Ohio State football season as a Republican gubernatorial candidate, Ramaswamy appeared not once but twice at the Horseshoe wearing bootleg Buckeye jerseys.
It would probably be the most “Ohio Man” thing Ramaswamy had ever done, if he were not an alleged billionaire who was apparently too cheap to spring for officially licensed gear from the university he was too good to attend as a student.
In Ramaswamy’s defense, we know he at least tailgated once at Harvard, appearing in a Boston Globe article about students sidestepping a university ban on alcohol at football games:
It’s unclear if Ramaswamy meant he smuggled alcohol into the tailgate or performed Eminem and Libertarian raps under his stage name “Da Vek.”
The “decades” of Cavs fanship is Ramaswamy’s latest con
Which brings us to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Again, Ramaswamy could have accomplished his goals by saying, “Not true.” But in typical fashion, he added an unnecessary rhetorical flourish that shows he’s lying through his teeth.
In the third and fourth paragraphs of his meltdown, Ramaswamy claimed to be a Cavs fan who had been going to “their games for decades.”
He didn’t deny The Rooster’s reporting that he paid roughly $60K for his two courtside seats, but said that he and his wife, Apoorva Ramaswamy, watched the entire second half “dejected,” with “faces in their hands” before peacing out at the final whistle.
But when did Ramaswamy attend Cavs games? As a “Cincinnati guy” in his youth? When he attended Yale and Harvard? Or when he lived in New York with the area code still attached to his phone?
Because we know Ramaswamy moved back to Ohio in 2020 to pursue a political career. But there is no evidence that he attended any Cavaliers game until his gubernatorial campaign.
He has, however, repeatedly used the NBA as a prop in his nonsensical culture war:
Please note that’s Ramaswamy showcasing his acerbic wit by recycling the same point four times for more than a year, but he invoked DEI ruining the NBA much more than that.
Coincidentally, there is evidence that Ramaswamy attended an NBA game before his gubernatorial campaign.
On May 21, 2023, Ramaswamy attended Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, a blowout win for the Miami Heat over the… Boston Celtics… in Florida.
Lamenting that the “Celtics didn’t show up tonight,” while noting the “series isn’t over yet,” would indicate that Ramaswamy was cheering for the Celtics, a team that he would have loathed if he spent the last “decades” cheering for the Cavaliers.
But it would track with Ramaswamy spending the prime of his life at Harvard and Yale.
And yet, neither Ramaswamy nor Apoorva appears “crestfallen” over the loss. They appear to be a rich couple enjoying a rare night out on the town, with the outcome of the game having little effect on their psyche.
In my opinion, that’s exactly what happened last Monday night. Ramaswamy and his wife enjoyed a rare night out together, even stopping by the gift shop to acquire Cavs-branded shirts to let everyone know which team they were ostensibly cheering for.
Sadly for him, that’s not how Ramaswamy framed it, going so far as to paint them as a catatonic couple who could do little more than evacuate the arena at the final whistle despite the game being decided by halftime.
The final lie is that he was with “state-provided security” the entire time.
It’s a unique choice of words. The Ohio State Highway Patrol is currently protecting Dr. Amy Acton at the command of Governor Mike DeWine.
Ramaswamy didn’t say the Ohio State Highway Patrol, though. While it’s possible they were with him that night, they were not with him when he was denied outside the Knicks security area.
According to the private security source who denied Ramaswamy, there is a “1000%” chance that he was with private security, as was his wife, when he attempted to stroll into the Knicks celebrations.
Introducing the Conman Cavaliers Caniac Challenge
Do YOU have proof of Vivek Ramaswamy attending a Cleveland Cavaliers game before 2023?
The Rooster would love to see it, and we’ll provide you with a $20 Raisin’ Canes gift card or the equivalent monetary value if you’re vegetarian or vegan like Ramaswamy.
Please email rooster@substack.com with any proof and claim your prize!
THOSE WMDs. The politics of abanonment and the future of district representation in Columbus… Of course we’re fighting on the lawn… Love in a fallen city: Shanghai’s marriage market… The internet has become too American to trust… Boarding China’s last bus… The Big Little Penis Panic.