Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The week leading up to Saturday night’s SummerSlam felt particularly guarded. Most of the stories about the workings backstage in the wake of Vince McMahon’s “retirement” and Triple H’s taking over of creative referred to the plans for the company’s second biggest show already being locked in. That we wouldn’t see…Read more...

Maybe the Buffalo Bills need to string Christmas lights onto Josh Allen’s red practice quarterback stop sign jersey. It’s 2022, there has to be a way to put a sensor on the defensive players so it beeps when Allen is approaching like a blind spot device on a new car.Read more...

Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH, in which we start to worry that Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker might actually win. It’s a terrifying prospect, especially given that his strategy at the moment consists of “avoiding actual debate at all costs” in addition to his old standby, “say lots of really dumb…Read more...

The question almost every soccer fan gets from non-soccer fans, which is healthy, is, “So which team should I support?” You never mind hearing it, because it means your friend/acquaintance/bookie wants to become a fan, but it’s also an impossible question to answer. Your football club usually finds you instead of the…Read more...

The Cleveland Browns went all in and won.

Screw Boston.Read more...

Joey Gallo has been one of baseball’s weirdest hitters for his entire career. He was something of the poster boy for the new approach to hitting, which was only developed as a counter to the devil magic that more and more pitchers were equipped with. Lift the ball, drive it, and the easiest way to do that is to pull…Read more...

Six games, that’s it.

It took scoring one of the more beautiful goals in any final, giving up one just about as good, and then winning it with one at the opposite end of the artful spectrum, as scrappy as you can get. It took wading through just about every narrative that England’s women’s national team had to carry into and through this…Read more...

Julianna Peña is tough as nails. She took a beating for five rounds against Amanda Nunes last night. A brutal, bloody beating. Yet through the knockdowns and the elbows, Peña never took her foot off the gas pedal and was able to get Nunes in trouble (at times) on the ground later in the fight. Peña was almost as…Read more...

Over the last few years, jilted NBA Governors have raised a bigger stink over their players mingling with other teams’ representatives before the free agency period has officially begun. In 2019, the NBA passed stricter tampering rules, including an increase in the maximum fine for tampering to $10 million, the…Read more...

According to a statement released on social media, NBA legend Bill Russell died “peacefully” Sunday at the age of 88.

Before the jorts, before the mustache, before the low-key notoriety, I was on the Gardner Minshew bandwagon. When Nick Foles went down in the first couple quarters of his short Jaguars’ tenure, I was watching. Not because I wanted to, but because I was in the vicinity of a diehard Jacksonville fan — who, like talking…Read more...

We’re less than a week into training camp, and already we’ve seen dozens of storylines emerge from each team. The 49ers’ offense has seemed inconsistent, rookie receiver Skyy Moore is wowing audiences at Chiefs’ camp, and the Bucs are still insanely good. Who would’ve thunk?

The Seattle Mariners are looking to make the playoffs for the first time in over 20 years. Ichiro’s rookie season was the last time they played past 162 games. Heading into Saturday’s games, Seattle is only a half-game ahead of Tampa Bay in the Wild Card standings, and it’s far from a guarantee the postseason drought…Read more...

When the Chicago Cubs hired David Ross as manager, there were only two possible outcomes to his tenure. The first scenario is a return to glory and another ring, which isn’t going to happen this year or next year, or really anytime soon considering the front office has been hocking parts to the rest of the league…Read more...

The thing about marriage that most people don’t realize, or forget, is that it’s a binding legal document — thus making it a contract. But, despite how divorce is the breaking of a contract, and union, the thought of putting the two terms together has generally been a foreign concept — until the WNBA started doing it.

Dwight Howard’s career is winding down, no doubt about it. His third stint with the Lakers is over and the former No. 1 overall pick has had to think about a life outside of The Association. With Howard’s personality, a crossover into broadcasting is easy to believe. Maybe he could be a high school coach with his path…Read more...

The Giants are in the middle of a skid, but according to reports, the team hadn’t planned to sell off their assets before the Aug. 2 trade deadline. That has since changed, according to John Heyman.

Fourth-year wide receiver DK Metcalf is a pretty polarizing player. Depending on who you ask, Metcalf is either a top-tier talent with elite physical attributes or a deep threat who wouldn’t be able to carry a passing attack without Tyler Lockett on the opposite side of him. You can’t deny his statistical success…Read more...

The media coverage up to the Saudi Tour pro-am at Bedminster, N.J., led the public to believe that Donald Trump embracing one of the countries involved in 9/11 during a golf tournament would generate a great deal of backlash.

When Kyler Murray signed his $230.5 million contract extension this past Monday, it seemed as though the disputes that plagued the Cardinals’ offseason were finally behind them. Until the public started looking into Murray’s contract details. Within minutes, it was revealed that the contract included an “independent…Read more...

The most awkward episode of The Office is without a doubt “Scott’s Tots.” In it, Michael Scott has to tell a class of underprivileged students that his promise to pay for their college 15 years ago isn’t going to happen. For a series that specialized in uncomfortable moments, the Dunder Mifflin manager handing out…Read more...

We can only hope that Lamar Jackson will fight, not cave.Read more...

Who will win this year’s NFL quarterback roulette?

In the aftermath of Golden State’s 2022 NBA title, the expectation was that the Warriors and billionaire owner Joe Lacob’s Midas Touch would continue forever. While reporting on Golden State’s $171 million luxury tax bill, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst referred to its championship as a checkbook win. That phrase took on a…Read more...

The Angels lost last night. They did so with Shohei Ohtani on the mound, striking out over 10 hitters again. It’s this thing he does. But it didn’t matter, as the Halos never scored and lost 2-0 to the Rangers. Ohtani has struck out 10 hitters or more in six straight starts. The Angels lost the last two, though to be…Read more...

The Cincinnati Bengals were every analyst’s nightmare last season. Nobody expected them to win the AFC North. They did. Nobody expected them to reach the Super Bowl. They did. Now, in 2022, everyone is expecting similar results, maybe not another Super Bowl appearance, but at least 10 wins and a playoff berth.

As much as I want to yell at colleges, “This is your responsibility!” every time a student-athlete gets a NIL deal, I occasionally get distracted by how perfect the partnership is. Whether it’s an unheralded Kansas fullback turning a game-winning two-point conversion into an Applebee’s eating spree, or Alabama’s…Read more...

Whatever wink, wink, nod, nod, jab, jab agreement Andrew Benintendi has with the Yankees, his vaccination status wasn’t discussed in the trade talks that ended with him in pinstripes, if the verified tweeters are to be believed. Other verifieds are alleging that the left fielder is willing to get the routine shot —…Read more...

From the beginning, Brittney Griner’s status has been the most unique American hostage situation in modern history. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, her celebrity status, and her identity as a Black lesbian woman have heightened the urge to get her home as quickly as possible in a wartime climate that’s raised the…Read more...

Do you think Mike Trout ever has regrets?

John Parker Wilson, Greg McElroy, A.J. McCarron, Matt Ryan, and Ryan Tannehill. Those are the men that are responsible for why one of the best wide receivers over the last decade-plus has underwhelming touchdown numbers.

There isn’t anyone more desirable at this year’s MLB trade deadline than Juan Soto. He’s a 23-year-old slugger with more potential than a boulder sitting at the top of a steep hill (that’s a science joke for all the professors out there). It was clear that several teams were going to call the Nationals about Soto as…Read more...

“Sixteen just seems to be out there,” Gene Smith, Ohio State’s athletic director, said at the Big Ten media days. “You can’t ignore it.”

Most English fans, if not all of them, would have been nodding their heads when the final whistle of W Euro 2022’s second semifinal sounded. Because it signaled that Germany would be waiting at Wembley in the final for England and the only thing between the English and the women’s team’s first major trophy. This is…Read more...

Max Scherzer being a little too intense for his own good has rarely been in question. He would tell you his intensity and downright borderline psychosis when on the mound is what makes him the surefire Hall of Famer that he is. One wonders if that’s true. But that’s how he is. No changing it now.Read more...

Brittney Griner has been detained in a Russian prison since her arrest in February of this year, while simultaneously existing in limbo as negotiations have taken place to free her. As Griner’s high-profile trial has played out in public view, the negotiations to end her Russian captivity have progressed behind the…Read more...

The Dodgers have a few glaring holes on their roster.

One of the more annoying things in life is when a person thinks a job title denotes leadership. Whether it’s newly-promoted assistant manager Greg trying to rally the staff during the lunch rush at Jimmy John’s, a CEO expecting underlings to laugh at all his jokes, or quarterbacks buying their offensive linemen gifts,…Read more...

Now that the Saudi Golf Tour has announced a $405 million purse and 14 tournaments for 2023, those see-through excuses and talking that defecting golfers have been tossing out at press conferences are even weaker than they were before — a feat that we honestly didn’t think was possible.Read more...

The New York Mets are currently 60-37 — first place in the NL East — despite the fact that their best pitcher, two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom hasn’t pitched a single game for them all year. DeGrom has been nursing a series of injuries, particularly with his shoulder, for more than a year now. The light at…Read more...

Chris Carson’s penchant for putting his head down and plowing through defenders’ chests with the brute force of a medieval jouster made him one of the NFL’s most intimidating runners. As the perfect spiritual successor to Beast Mode, he made a career out of crashing through and over would-be tacklers. When he was able…Read more...

Finally, the Texas Rangers’ front office is attempting to position the franchise out of American League irrelevance. The team hasn’t won a postseason game since 2015 and, in the seven years since, Texas has tried to revamp its roster multiple times with players like Ian Desmond, Mike Napoli — eligible for the Hall of…Read more...

It’s pretty standard now, bordering on canon, that Tony Khan will spit out a great pay-per-view whenever he needs to. And now it’s with multiple companies. Last Saturday, it was Ring of Honor’s turn, with “Death Before Dishonor.” And by any measure, it was a banger. Not perfect — rarely is a show ever perfect — but…Read more...

During the spring of 2019, New York Giants’ former general manager Dave Gettleman made a declaration during the pre-draft process after falling in love with a certain prospect. “After the three series I watched, I saw a professional quarterback. So that’s when I was in full-blown love,” he said about Daniel Jones at…Read more...

College football is changing faster than it can handle. There are no playbooks or 100-level courses for what’s next in the sport. It feels like when I took a journalism business class after the Recession, and the professor was asking the students for suggestions.Read more...

It is not very English to win semifinals at major tournaments. Glorious defeat is kind of their thing, and has been for decades.

Julio Jones is joining forces with Tom Brady.Read more...