Sante Dybowski, Barstool's 'Coldest Man In The World,' Finally Warms Up In Big Cat's Studio

By Bush Staff·2 min read
Sante Dybowski, Barstool's 'Coldest Man In The World,' Finally Warms Up In Big Cat's Studio

The frozen legend born at a brutal Bears playoff loss finally got its payoff when Sante Dybowski walked into Big Cat's studio in the flesh.

Share

Every long-running Barstool bit needs an origin story, and this one starts in the worst possible weather. Big Cat marked the occasion himself, calling it a "full circle moment" now that the man he's been calling the coldest person on Earth finally made the trip to see him somewhere warmer than Soldier Field.

Big Cat: Full circle moment. Much warmer. My friend, the coldest man on earth, came to visit from Hawaii https://t.co/WLCZcyZ7XB
via @BarstoolBigCat

Rewind to January 18, when the Bears hosted the Rams in the NFC Divisional Round with the wind chill sitting at negative 4 degrees. Somewhere in that crowd was a guy who'd flown in from Waikiki wearing basically nothing built for Chicago winter, holding a sign that promised he'd LEFT WAIKIKI 2C A BEARS PLAYOFF VICTORY. That photo and clip made the rounds, and the nickname stuck for good reason.

A man in a blue hoodie shows off the sign, freezing in real time as the studio crew reacts to the clip.

via @BarstoolYak

The cruel twist nobody needed to point out: that sign was a promise the Bears couldn't keep. Caleb Williams delivered a ridiculous fourth-and-4 touchdown to Cole Kmet with 27 seconds left just to force overtime, and Chicago still lost 20-17 on a Rams field goal. So the coldest man in the world sat through all of it, in that weather, for a win that never came — which somehow makes the bit funnier, not sadder.

Big Cat and the crew, sitting in front of the Barstool YAK wall of caps, watch the old sign clip back before their guest walks in.

via @VivaLaStool

Months of running the bit on the show finally turned into an actual studio visit, and the crew wasted no time putting their guest to work. A paper airplane contest broke out, and according to the Yak, Sante Dybowski came in dead last in a competition nobody else even bothered showing up for — the kind of pointless, self-inflicted L that fits a guy who already survived a negative-4 wind chill in an aloha shirt.

None of it matters more than the fact that the bit finally paid off in person. Big Cat built a running joke out of a shivering fan in the stands, and instead of it fading out after one viral photo, it turned into a recurring character who eventually got flown out to sit in the chairs himself. That's the whole Barstool playbook in miniature — find the moment, milk it, and eventually bring it home.

BarstoolBigCatBarstoolYakVivaLaStoolColdest Man in the WorldSanteDybowski