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. Dunne talked about how these people were not normal autograph takers but ten middle-aged men waiting for her at baggage claims with huge stacks of memorabilia.

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, Paul Skenes’ girlfriend and also Sports Illustrated cover star, says that people chase her down the TSA lines, yell at her, and terrify even the people close to her.

And, she is not alone; even Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas has had the same experiences. She has mentioned previously that the fact that people have the flight information scares 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 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. “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 said.

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 fandom became harassment. He further went on to unlock 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 anymore as there is a thin line between admiration and exploitation. “I want people to have empathy and to understand it,” he added.

While Paul Skenes’ girlfriend is calling out these over-enthusiastic autograph seekers, the Pirates pitcher is putting on some strong performances on the mound. But much to his dismay, the team is not getting the desired results!

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 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, Pittsburgh 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 talked about the sheer bad luck, saying, “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.”

In terms of offense, 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. He 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, Skenes’ brilliance will probably continue to go unrewarded.