Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

A week after trying to link Jimmy Kimmel to Jeffery Epstein's list, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned to The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday to clear the air - but never said sorry.Read more...

The distinction between NFL fans, and football fans, is never more apparent than with draft hype. Each year, experts laud some schmuck quarterback whose archetype fits their formula as a franchise savior, and NFL fans inhale the assessment so often, so blindly that they really believe Drake Maye is a better prospect...Read more...

After a week of controversy, New York Jets signal-caller Aaron Rodgers was welcomed back to The Pat McAfee Show with applause and a standing ovation from its host. (To be fair, McAfee is always standing, though at least he's wearing sleeves today.)Read more...

It wasn't long ago that the Atlanta Hawks were on the cusp of an NBA Finals appearance. They turned a 41-win campaign (in a 72-game season) into what many thought would be a launching point as perennial contenders. Now the Hawks' halftime show announcements are more exciting than what's happening on the court....Read more...

It's hard to be an afterthought for an NHL team in Canada, and yet it kind of feels like the Winnipeg Jets are one. They're not grouped with either of the other blocks. They aren't near Toronto or Montreal in the Atlantic Division, and even the Ottawa Senators get more shine from being caught between the two. They're...Read more...

Updated Jan. 9: Yonkers Public Schools have fired a high school girls basketball coach and dismissed a player from the team as a result of an antisemitic incident Thursday night, the New York Post reported.Read more...

Now that Jim Harbaugh and Michigan are national champions, Connor Stalions' name is officially etched into history. Whenever U-M fans dine out on this title, which they assuredly will do, detractors, haters, run-of-the-mill conspiracy theorists, and others will shout Connor Stalions!" as if he was Keyser Soze, the...Read more...

The New Orleans Saints are reportedly interested in adding Jon Gruden, who resigned after his racist, sexist, and homophobic emails surfaced, to their coaching staff.Read more...

Another former member of the New England Patriots coaching staff who couldn't succeed when out on his own may return if the team elects to keep Bill Belichick on as head coach.Read more...

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco, who is accused of having a relationship with a 14-year-old girl and giving her mom a car and hush money for her consent, likely won't be allowed back into the United States, the Athletic is reporting.Read more...

Updated Jan. 9: The Jan. 3 fire at Tyreek Hill's house - caused by two children playing with a lighter they thought was a toy - caused $2.3 million in damages, according to the incident report obtained by TMZ Sports.Read more...

Ever since I got older than college, I have felt that college sports are a cesspool that should have been abolished long ago. At least the major ones. If the NBA and NFL want a developmental league, let them pay for it. But there are some pulls from childhood that never go away, including the one from Ann Arbor,...Read more...

The holidays are a stressful time for everyone, including criminals, athletes moonlighting as criminals, and criminals moonlighting as athletes.Read more...

The oddsmakers got it right with Washington on Monday night. The underdog Huskies ran out of magic wishes in the National Championship Game and for once did not beat the point spread against them. Their lack of girth was exposed all night on Monday in a 34-13 loss to Michigan. Neither team faced strong...Read more...

Updated Jan. 9: Terrence Shannon Jr. is seeking legal action against the University of Illinois which would allow him to return to the basketball team while facing a rape charge.

Nobody expected the NBA trade season's first domino to fall on New Year's Weekend. When OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi Flynn were traded from the Toronto Raptors to the New York Knicks for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a 2023 second-round pick (from Detroit), the trade season officially began. The deal...Read more...

By now you've seen the video of recently fired Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith telling off Saints head coach Dennis Allen with NSFW language after the Saints dispatched Atlanta, 48-17. Jameis Winston's audible, which allowed Jamaal Williams to rumble into the end zone for his first touchdown of the season in the...Read more...

Just when I was ready to declare that there is nothing to believe in on this planet, I feel even more comfortable making that declaration now that Tiger Woods will no longer be wearing that red Nike shirt on Sundays.Read more...

Sean Payton's first year in Denver was full of twists, turns and controversy, yet somehow the Broncos managed to win eight games. Now comes the offseason and since they missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive postseason, it's time to get started on some of the tough decisions the Broncos will have to make in...Read more...

Every sports fan likes to complain. That's the main point, really. I'm a Chicago Bears fan, for God's sake. I'm made of gripes now. But we have it pretty good over here in the States, when compared to what you might go through in other parts of the world. What we would have all gone through had we been Sunderland...Read more...

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This year, the NBA claimed their findings are that load management mumbo jumbo is not supported by scientific data. Yet, the Clippers are still so concerned about Kawhi Leonard's circuitry that they will unplug him before they risk him overheating and hurting himself when necessary. On Sunday night, Tyronn Lue thought...Read more...

The free-agent apocalypse that was going to arrive in Toronto next summer has apparently disappeared. Before last summer, Auston Matthews and William Nylander were a season away from unrestricted free agency, and John Tavares and Mitch Marner were two years away. The latter two are still in that spot, but now both...Read more...

Mere days after I wrote about the penchant of accused athletes to find a friendly face in the sportswriting community to help them rehab their image among the mouth-breathers in the fandom, Trevor Bauer offered himself up as Exhibit A, launching his own redemption tour in a nakedly desperate attempt to get back in...Read more...

The Dallas Cowboys are riding high entering the playoffs after securing the No. 2 seed in the NFC and a third consecutive 12-win season. That's quite the feat for these Cowboys, but means nothing if they can't break their unlucky streak of bowing out before championship weekend. While Dallas looks poised to at least...Read more...

Mike Tomlin still hasn't had a losing season. Kevin Stefanski's squad endured five different starting quarterbacks. Dan Campbell has the Detroit Lions hosting a playoff game and they're the favorite. But, they all fail in comparison to what DeMeco Ryans has done in Houston. A rookie head coach has the former...Read more...

The end of the NFL regular season is always a sad day. It's the signal that only four weeks of NFL games remain until the second week of September. That means I have to spend my next seven months of Sunday afternoons with commercials since there is no RedZone for the rest of the season. (Also, RedZone on the Fire TV...Read more...

My how the mighty have fallen. In September, Jalen Carter looked like the next coming of Aaron Donald and the tush push was the most debated offensive play since the double reverse that won a state championship game in Remember the Titans. After going 10-1 in their first 11 games, the Philadelphia Eagles have won only...Read more...

The NFL season zips by, which might be one of the hundreds of reasons it remains our national religion. There isn't really time to get bored with it and everything that happens in it feels truly important. Which means any team that can string a few good weeks together has turned some mythical corner that we wouldn't...Read more...

Way to go New York Jets. They a halted a losing streak to the New England Patriots that stretched back to the Obama administration. In what might have been Bill Belichick's final game as head coach of the Patriots, a team that he has dominated since leaving them at the altar in 2000 buried him in the Massachusetts...Read more...

The Jacksonville Jaguars began the 2023 season with a built-in advantage as the only playoff-ready team in a division of bottom-feeders. After last January's Wild Card comeback against the Los Angeles Chargers, Trevor Lawrence was expected to continue his ascent both in the AFC and up the ranks of elite quarterbacks...Read more...

Titans running back Derrick Henry arrived in Tennessee in 2016 as a second-round pick following an incredible career playing for Nick Saban at Alabama. Henry has topped the 1,000-yard mark in five of his eight seasons with the team and became the eighth player in NFL history to run for more than 2,000 yards in a...Read more...

It's opening night for the 2025 NBA season. After Inside the NBA guffaws its way through the opening game, a portion of the audience siphons off to Apple TV or Prime Video, where Stephen A. Smith is starting his opening monologue. Except he isn't ranting and raving about Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson getting...Read more...

After dominating Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Miami in consecutive weeks, the Baltimore Ravens looked like the dominant force everyone had been waiting for all season. Forget about the hiccup Saturday night against Pittsburgh (minus Lamar Jackson), Baltimore is viewed by many as the favorite to represent the AFC...Read more...

Think about the Houston Texans' path to this moment. After gutting out a win over the Indianapolis Colts, 23-19, on Saturday, DeMeco Ryans and CJ Stroud locked up a playoff spot in their rookie campaigns. The team that opted out of hiring Josh McCown because it didn't want to get sued also let the Carolina Panthers...Read more...

One of the biggest honors in all of sports is to have your number retired by your respective franchise. No one else will be able to wear it after you, cementing your legacy in the rafters or in a ring of honor/team hall of fame. Here are all of the officially retired numbers by the NFL (minus the Baltimore Ravens and...Read more...

There's natural staff turnover - primarily assistants getting poached for better opportunities elsewhere - and then there's what Ohio State and LSU are purportedly doing. Each head coach is under pressure to make changes after showings not up to program standards, and if history is an indication of anything, it's that...Read more...

The firestorm engulfing ESPN is a product of its own doing, which is what makes all of this Pat McAfee-Aaron Rodgers drama so funny. The worldwide leader hired comic relief and, shockingly, he simultaneously lit Disney and Bristol ablaze from Indiana. In case you missed the fallout from Rodgers insinuating that ABC...Read more...

There's generally little hope for fans when it's already been announced that their team will move to another city. That hope evaporates more when a league approves it, as MLB has done with the A's move to Vegas. And yet, there's always a sliver of light that can't be extinguished when an owner is so balloon-handed, so...Read more...

There is a segment of hockey fans that have always wanted to watch the bubble of hockey men discussing hockey things get totally pierced by even just the smallest bit of logic. For that is the true enemy of most things that have been hockey ethos. So a hearty thank you to Jennifer Botterill, who during an intermission...Read more...

Updated Jan. 5: Aubrey Huff's X/Twitter hiatus was short-lived, as the ex-MLB player and problematic poster reactivated his account and proceeded to be predictably sexist, and offensive. - Cale Clinton Read MoreRead more...

News flash: The Miami Heat are a better coached team than the Los Angeles Lakers. It showed in the fourth quarter of their Wednesday night matchup. Erik Spoelstra has been with the Heat organization since 1995 - its head coach since 2008. Following nine seasons as an NBA player, Darvin Ham was an assistant with three...Read more...

Near the end of Justin Fields' triumphant win over the Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears fans serenaded him with a passionate We want Justin" chant. The chorus reached a fever pitch on a night when Fields threw for north of 260 yards and one touchdown in a blowout win over the Atlanta Falcons. Throughout Sunday's win,...Read more...

With the announcement that the Orlando Magic will retire Shaquille O'Neal's jersey, the NBA has finally done it! All 30 teams have officially retired a jersey number for a specific player (Yes, before Shaq, the Magic's only jersey retired was No. 6 for The Sixth Man," a.k.a the fans).Read more...

There are certain teams as a sportswriter that you simply should not trust. Despite the way the Detroit Lions are playing, their fans won't hesitate to tell you a size-14 steel-toe boot is about to drop at any moment. We all know what tortured souls I'm talking about so let's spare them further anguish, and just...Read more...

Naomi Osaka is a lot of things. She's a woman. She's a mom. She's great at her job. She's Black. She's Asian. And when you're more than what simple people can comprehend, they usually don't know how to treat you. Here's to tennis learning from their mistakes when it comes to Osaka - but we shouldn't hold our breath.Read more...

South African Olympic track and field star, and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius was released from prison today after serving seven and a half years for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.Read more...

New York Jets players voted to give the team's Most Inspirational Player Award - named after Dennis Byrd, the defensive end who was paralyzed during a 1992 game and had to relearn how to walk - to Aaron Rodgers, the guy who tore his Achilles four snaps into Gang Green's opener and vowed to return but didn't.Read more...

Updated Jan. 5: Aubrey Huff's X/Twitter hiatus was short-lived, as the ex-MLB player and problematic poster reactivated his account and proceeded to be predictably sexist, and offensive.Read more...

My original plan was to write about Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Wembanyama going head-to-head on Thursday night. These two skyscrapers, who were born on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, played basketball like the Empire State Building if Dr. Octopus' metallic arms were attached. Those two were spectacular...Read more...