Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

As we’ve previously discussed, NBC NFL analyst Tony Dungy has expressed some awfully bigoted views. In January, Dungy was summarily dragged all over social media by NFL media for his horrible, terrible, no good, very bad takes on the trans community, including spreading the already long-debunked myth that children…Read more...

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Alright, it’s time for a 36-year-old white guy to break down a TikTok of a 20-year-old man who looks like a toddler sparring with Mike Tyson. Yes, I’m just as confused as you because my first reaction when the video was dropped in Slack (you have to have a feed for it to come across your feed) was this is adorable.…Read more...

Update (March 23): Chris Curtis opened the Greg Hill Show on Thursday to announce his own suspension. He also once again claimed he meant to say “Mila Kunis” instead of “Mina Kimes.” Curtis will be sidelined for a week, according to the Boston Globe’s Chad Finn.Read more...

When millions watched a video of NCAA hockey player Carson Brière pushing a wheelchair down a flight of stairs, it revealed something. The same can be said for James Reimer’s overt decision to not wear a Pride jersey with his San Jose Sharks teammates. For decades, hockey’s toxic culture has been living in secrecy,…Read more...

The days between games during the NCAA Tournament can feel like months. Practices are held. Flights are booked. Press conferences are completed. Stories are written. Narratives are created. And while most love an underdog, there’s one that’s received the label without filling the criteria. Because despite this not…Read more...

People really believe that Gisele Bündchen is a witch, huh? I guess there is a vocal segment of the population that isn’t familiar with the yoga, meditation, crystals, and stones crowd. Even though that was the lede, Michelle Ruiz’s entire Vanity Fair profile on one of the most successful supermodels to ever walk the…Read more...

By the time this week is over, the NCAA Tournament field will again shrink by at least 400 percent. One-fourth of the teams to win a pair of March Madness games last week will do so again. Half of them won’t win one more game. And after riding high over the last week and adding important wins to a program’s resume,…Read more...

It is yelling at the rain to lament that commissioners in any league aren’t stewards of the sport anymore. Look at Roger Goodell’s face and wonder if you’d trust that man to steer a fucking tricycle. But there comes a point where the commissioner is the only one who can steer a league out of a skid and away from a…Read more...

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While Gary Bettman might not think there’s anything wrong with the current playoff system (he’s wrong!), it is pretty clear that this set-up has robbed March and the first half of April of most of its drama. We’re basically down to seeing whether a wheezing Penguins team (whoops!) can keep their lunch down just long…Read more...

The early returns of NFL free agency are here, and the clear winner is the Detroit Lions — at least according to the media’s reaction. Everybody’s favorite dysfunctional franchise finished 2022 strong after an abominable start and barely missed the playoffs. Some would say they were the best team to miss the…Read more...

Amid all the talk about load management and the L.A. Clippers’ legit chances of bringing home their first NBA title, we’ve totally neglected one blemish on the résumé of Kawhi Leonard. The fact that New Balance tries to sell the world that rapper Jack Harlow is a formidable opponent to “The Claw” on the court is…Read more...

A precedent has been set. It is time for Chris Paul to take action. The Phoenix Suns are gearing up for a playoff run in the most wide-open Western Conference since Dennis Rodman and David Robinson were sharing the screen in stuffed-crust pizza commercials. With Kevin Durant likely to be available for the postseason,…Read more...

Shoes are a necessity. Sneaker culture is a way of life. But, we’re in a moment that’s making the purchasing of footwear really inconvenient. Weeks after the iconic Eastbay — a catalog that sold sneakers and athletic gear before transitioning to the internet — shut down, Foot Locker announced that it will be closing…Read more...

Very few games offer as clear a view of colliding worlds as the Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder did at the Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, Paul George’s hyperextended knee put a damper on the evening. Midway through the third quarter, we witnessed the brilliance of George on display as…Read more...

Another wrinkle has been added to the ongoing Lamar Jackson saga in Baltimore. The Ravens and Jackson aren’t any closer to coming to terms on a new long-term deal. Now it’s been reported that a representative for Jackson has allegedly been contacting teams claiming the former MVP is ready to move on from Baltimore.Read more...

As badass as the moment was of seeing Shohei Ohtani face Mike Trout with the World Baseball Classic on the line last night, you could forgive Los Angeles Angels fans if they were rubbing their temples a bit during it. The cry whenever either or both of those names come up in conversation has been, “Fuck, wouldn’t it…Read more...

What would you say if I told you that baseball was capping how far a ball can be hit, basketball decided to negate shots over 30 feet, or the NFL limited how far the football can be thrown in the air? Your first reaction would probably be like mine when I read that Rory McIlroy is on board with the USGA’s proposal to…Read more...

The NFL Draft is five weeks away, which doesn’t feel close at all, yet the more dialed-in part of the evaluation process has long been underway. The quarterbacks and certain skill players get all the pre-draft glory, but a deeper look into this year’s class shows one position group, in particular, has more than a few…Read more...

Welcome back to Deadspin’s March Madness-themed Jackass Tournament. Here are the rest of the results from Round 1. Yesterday’s batch is available here.Read more...

The Golden State Warriors have been hovering at or around .500 all season long. In 2020 and 2021 you could chalk it up to injuries and the reloading process. That championship hill their overwhelming talent allowed them to ascend is starting to appear too steep for their core to climb on its own. A decade ago Steph…Read more...

One of the beauties of college sports is that viewers get to see young people act like young people. Sure the professionals play the game better, but sometimes youthful exuberance makes up for the many more fundamental mistakes. While we get to view their excitement, the coaches and sports information directors do try…Read more...

What they tell you about baseball a lot, is that because everyone gets a turn, you can’t guarantee that your best player will get to the plate with the game on the line. Sometimes it’s your second baseman with no concept of the strike zone who wets himself at the sight of any fastball over 96 MPH. Sometimes you can’t…Read more...

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Something happened at the end of Miami’s 70-68 upset of No. 1 seed Indiana in the second round of the women’s tourney Monday night that got a lot of run — not because it was a great play but rather because of the internet. With 12 seconds left on the clock and the Hurricanes up 1, Haley Cavinder sunk a pair of clutch…Read more...

The recent rise in profile for Dillon Brooks is a credit to him. In the current landscape of the NBA, new stars are rising with LeBron James and Kevin Durant getting older. Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić, and Giannis Antetokounmpo are firmly among the best needle-movers in The Association. Brooks isn’t close to that talent…Read more...

In front of 98-year-old Lou Carnesecca, and seated next to St. John’s University President, Reverend Brian J. Shanley, Rick Pitino was introduced as the new St. John’s University coach at Madison Square Garden at noon on Tuesday.Read more...

How much tangible difference a manager makes on a baseball team over 162 games has never been quite nailed down. It’s generally thought the best ones might only add a couple wins, and a truly bad one might only take away a couple wins. Most are just there, which is kind of why front offices stopped really caring about…Read more...

It’s Sweet 16 time. The primaries are over and it is time for the general election. In real-life debates, this is about the time when candidates would be making disingenuous retorts about each other’s bad-faith arguments.Read more...

If you were to rattle off a bunch of hypothetical hints that Dan Snyder could drop to indicate he’s selling the Washington Commanders, delaying signing bonuses until after a possible sale date would be No. 2 on the list. The first would be moving cheerleader try-outs before May 12, but considering the hot tub of…Read more...

When the WNBA tips off the 2023 season on May 19, it will be with two Black women head coaches on the sidelines of courts on which 79 percent* of the league’s players are Black women and other women of color. (This figure is accurate as of March 2023, when six of the WNBA’s 12 teams had more than 12 women on their…Read more...

Cam Newton has been a household name for over a decade. It comes with the territory when you’ve had the type of career he’s had. National championship, check. Alleged pay-for-play scandal, check. Heisman Trophy, check. No. 1 pick, check. Record-setting quarterback, check. Influential player on the culture, check.…Read more...

Yet another NHL team had to have an ado about their Pride Night and warmup jerseys this past weekend. This time it was the San Jose Sharks and goalie James Reimer. It was the same bullshit we’ve heard from others, though the Sharks put him on his own island to explain himself, which is half the battle, as they went…Read more...

The Sweet 16 is when the NCAA Tournament starts to feel less like an ear-splitting house party and more like an interpersonal kickback in the penthouse suite. The setting is more personal, the opponents are scouted more thoroughly and the quality of basketball gets upgraded significantly. The CBS and Turner crews are…Read more...

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is never shy in front of the cameras, especially when it comes to self-promotion. We often hear from Dallas’ head honcho that he’s willing to do “whatever” it takes to win. That makes for a good sound bite to get the fan base excited, but when presented with those opportunities, Jones…Read more...

For those who want to be a multi-millionaire, the secret is not on LLC Twitter. Starting a business in which you give people personal and financial life advice on TikTok when both aspects of yours are in shambles will not result in a massive payout from advertisers. The easiest way to a life of riches is to do what…Read more...

I think maybe what I might take most out of the World Baseball Classic is its insistence on portraying the entire scope of the best moments, what makes baseball the most artful game.Read more...

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Penn State wrestler Aaron Brooks could have been another heartwarming story. He’d just won his third consecutive national title in the 184-pound division, he’s a devoted Christian and is brolic enough to take down a small polar bear, or at least a panda.Read more...

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Welcome to the 2022-23 Jackass Tournament! Thank you for voting in our hotly contested series of Twitter polls. Here are your results.Read more...

The last three decades have turned the St. John’s men’s basketball program from one of the most sacred brands in collegiate sports to an indifferent sigh. The Red Storm try to label themselves as New York’s college basketball team — the only non-low-major program inside America’s most populous urban area. Purists…Read more...

Yesterday’s El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, and Barcelona’s 2-1 win, is the perfect microcosm of where Barcelona is now. While they were much the better team, the win still came, in some ways, by the slimmest of margins. Marco Asensio’s apparent winner late was ruled out by him being no more than a foot…Read more...

A handful of weekdays on the sports calendar truly command Americans’ attention from coast to coast. Of course, one is Super Bowl Sunday, which results in National Hangover Day at work on Monday. Then there are the first two days of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament. Games start at noon EST and employees hover…Read more...

One week into the NFL’s free agent signing period, the Baltimore Ravens have received zero offers for Lamar Jackson. The Ravens slapped the non-exclusive franchise tag on the former league MVP, which allows other teams to make him an offer that Baltimore can match. Thus far, all is quiet on the home front, which feels…Read more...

Once the Toronto Maple Leafs get Andrei Vasilevskiy’d in the first round again, it’s not like the angst level in the T.O. will fade all that much through the summer months. That’s because the Toronto Blue Jays have reached the same threshold as the Leafs passed a few years ago, where you go from young and promising…Read more...

Sunday was a big day for Sean Miller. In his first season, during his second stint at the school, Xavier men’s head basketball coach guided the program to its first Sweet 16 since 2017. And to get there, Miller had to beat a school that’s near and dear to his heart, the University of Pittsburgh — his alma mater where…Read more...

If you ever wonder why much of the world views Americans as arrogant and uninterested in anything that happens outside the United States’ borders, look no further than Keith Olbermann’s recent tweets about the World Baseball Classic.