UPDATE: 11:10 a.m. ET — In what can only be described as a truly crazy coincidence, Jersey Jerry had a hole-in-one almost at the exact moment this story was published. On shot 2,627, he bounced a ball straight into the hole, ending his Sisyphean task. It was incredible and a fitting reward for over 36 hours of livestreaming.
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Original story:
In The myth of SisyphusAlbert Camus postulated that “we must imagine Sisyphus happy” – that the struggle to continually push a rock to great heights is enough to fill a man's heart.
Maybe Camus was full of bullshit. Because I'm watching a Steelers fan named Jersey Jerry do perhaps the closest thing to a Sisyphean feat and he's not exactly happy about it.
Let's go back and explain. Jerry, a Barstool Sports employee, started a live stream on YouTube Tuesday around 10 p.m., where he continued until he got a hole-in-one on the office's high-tech golf simulator. He always goes there. For those averse to math, that's over 36 straight hours and three calendar days. Before sleeping – during a livestream, mind you – Jerry was up for almost 40 straight hours, ever since he started this activity after a busy day at work.
Here is the livestreamwhich is in Part 4, because YouTube cuts off live streams after a certain amount of time.
It is difficult to exaggerate the magnitude of this flow. It's strangely captivating to watch this man carry on. Part 4 of the live stream has, as of this writing, almost 70,000 people watching at any given time. The third part gathered around a million viewers in total. Chain, Jerry after darkwent from around 30,000 subscribers to well over 100,000.
This TikTok from @Jackmacbarstool does a good job describing how he grew up. The PGA Tour posted stories about hugely popular athletes like JJ Watt and Brooks Koepka – it trended on Twitter the same evening Epstein List abandoned. Tom Brady, damn Tom Brady, compared himself to Jerry.
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Part of the appeal is that Jersey Jerry is about as ordinary as everyone else. He's not particularly good at golf. He's sort of an average golfer on a muni course on the weekend – to be clear, that's exactly my skill level. I have accepted that I will never make a hole in one. It is whore difficult. Almost impossible. Jerry takes care of it.
As of this writing, Jerry has suffered over 2,600 beatings. He came within a few centimeters of the hole but nothing came out. The close fumbles are part of the fun, though. They look like it. condemn. GOOD. Look at this. There were several like that.
Watching this man get so close, and yet be so far from finished, has been thrilling and honestly a little worrying. I'm worried about this guy. He's created his own hell and it's a virtual recreation of Pebble Beach No. 7. At one point Wednesday night, The Fat Cat on the Barstool I basically had to force him to go to bed because he was getting super crazy. Jerry was hitting shot after shot into the water without realizing that he was accidentally playing from the rough instead of the tee box.
It's hypnotic and captivating. Again and again, shot after shot. As a viewer, you even fall into a rhythm. The backswing, the pinger of the club hitting the ball, the cut from the projector screen, held breath, no hole-in-one, another mulligan, repeat.
Jerry's friends and colleagues arrive by bike, give him words of encouragement, bring him food, get him IVs and chiropractors. They called the makers of the simulator to see if it was possible – they promise.
It's hard to explain what a Herculean effort this is. Jerry fluctuated between positive and ready to collapse. But he didn't stop. The most golf balls I've ever hit in a row, for context, is maybe 125. And it kind of sucks after 100. Doing the same motion, over and over, is tedious and requires so much concentration. I ran a marathon this year and I'd rather do it again now, rather than do what Jerry did. It's not even a question. The fact that he kept going and didn't give up is a testament to his stubbornness and, of course, the stream's improbable massive popularity.
I just need to see Jerry released from this mock prison. Around 11 a.m. Eastern time, he had two incredibly close calls in this session. But no hole-in-one. Of course, you have to imagine Sisyphus happy, but I prefer to see him leave the mountain.