Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Joel Embiid’s MVP-caliber season could come crashing down tonight if he can’t lead his Philadelphia 76ers to a win over the Miami Heat. If Philly gets sent packing in the semifinals again, this will be the fourth time in five years that’s happened. Two things are clear about Embiid’s situation in Philly:

134-95.

The Calgary Flames got up off the mat in the third period of their Game 5 against Dallas last night. Trailing 1-0 and not having scored at home in the series in seven periods, it was looking pretty bleak. The Stars however cannot ever score enough to ever put a team away, no matter how great Jake Oettinger is playing…Read more...

With a pair of Shanahans, Mike and Kyle, at the helm, Robert Griffin III had a fantastic rookie season. If not for injuries he sustained early in his career, it’s very likely that Washington would have had its franchise quarterback for the 2010's. I just want to get that out of the way before I really start riling up…Read more...

It’s good to see legendary choke artist Greg Norman is still gagging up something. It wasn’t a major championship lead this time, it was a hot take that’s pretty scorching even for someone shilling for a new golf league. Speaking at a promotional event for the new Saudi-backed LIV Golf league, the former No. 1 golfer …Read more...

AEW put on another sterling episode of Dynamite last night, by sticking to their simple ethos: give the people what they want (unless it’s a second women’s match). Don’t overthink it, don’t tell them what they like or purposely nosedive their hopes by doing the exact opposite. Just put on great matches for a variety…Read more...

The NFL strives to become a year-round player in the professional sports attention economy. After years of being stuffed in their lockers between May and July by the NBA, the doofuses in the NFL’s league office figured the best way to get fans talking about their product in the offseason was to announce their upcoming…Read more...

A story about a women’s lacrosse team from an HBCU has become national news because America wants to keep acting like police officers who abuse their power to mistreat Black people is an outlier and not the norm.

Now that the Brooklyn Nets no longer have any games on their schedule, Kyrie Irving has plenty of time on his hands. And he’s using some of that time to let the world of internet trolls, or “cockroaches,” as he calls them, know exactly how he feels about ‘em.Read more...

Perhaps there was no other way for the Bucks-Celtics game to end on a day after so much discussion about individual awards, thanks to Joel Embiid. Embiid’s right that too much rides on the opinions of others, which made it all the more galling that the MLBPA was accepting of adopting a similar system for its players.…Read more...

For once, I get to speak with the exact same authority on a subject as a professional athlete. Gabe Kapler played professional baseball for 12 seasons and has been a manager for the last four. While I can’t speak with anywhere near the same authority on what it takes to hit a curveball or when to pull a starter, we do…Read more...

One of the many lessons I learned from my older brother, most of them the wrong ones but they’ve made life more entertaining, was that if you’re running late for something, just go ahead and be late. He taught me this one day as I was hurrying and scrambling to 8th grade or high school, and I had no hope of arriving…Read more...

Whenever I hear about crypto crashing, I think of the Simpsons episode where the tech bubble bursts and a young startup nerd gives Lisa company stock from a spool of toilet paper. (The joke was tech stocks were so abundant and worthless that their only concrete value was using them to wipe your ass.) I don’t think…Read more...

The conversation can’t be delayed. Procrastinating about specific personnel decisions that will expose Gregg Berhalter’s future at the helm of the United States men’s national team are now harmful to delay after this weekend. Miles Robinson went from World Cup lock to out of the 23-man roster being brought to Qatar…Read more...

Hey there Miami Dolphins. Just thought that I would throw you a couple of friendly reminders.

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At the top, I should state that I’m all for anybody making their bag with putting their body at less and less risk. If Roman Reigns wants to continue to make his millions by wrestling only 20 times a year, you get that, my friend. If he wants to do it by removing all risk and and just going to make movies from here on…Read more...

Finally, somebody from the Phoenix Suns organization is getting the respect they deserve. This week, head coach Monty Williams was named NBA Coach of the Year, and it’s about damn time. Williams ran away with the voting racking up 81 first-place votes for a grand total of 458. Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor…Read more...

Like people who are addicted to Coca-Cola products, gamers can spot a knockoff within the first three seconds of tasting one. Try giving a Coke lover a Pepsi, and they get offended. A waiter responding to a request for a Coke with, “We only have Pepsi. Is that OK?” is met with a laugh more often than a “Yes.”Read more...

After Tuesday night’s 120-85 loss to the Miami Heat, James Harden and Joel Embiid are Thelma and Louise-ing towards a cliff’s edge. In Embiid’s defense, the MVP runner-up has played with a broken bone in his face since Game 3. The franchise cornerstone will have better days ahead. Harden’s 31-point, 11-assist Game 4…Read more...

Why athletes decide it’s a good idea while wearing helmets to throw a headbutt, I’ll never understand. It only risks concussions for both temples involved. Darnell Nurse’s plunge at Los Angeles Kings’ defender Phillip Danault was dirty and downright idiotic. It should cost the Edmonton Oilers’ assistant captain…Read more...

Justin Verlander served notice to those sleeping on the Houston Astros and their 39-year-old ace: He’s all the way back.Read more...

Tom Brady is destined to fail on TV.Read more...

For those who watched the Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Memphis Grizzlies first-round series, their assessment might fall in line with how they feel about The Beatles’ Revolution No. 9. Some people think it’s one of the highest forms of entertainment that a person can consume, exquisite excellence in the midst of…Read more...

Hockey followers love to taut that not only is hockey the ultimate team game — everyone gets a shift after all — but that the playoffs highlight this. It’s somewhat true, though it’s usually a top-end player or goalie taking home the Conn Smythe as the playoff’s most valuable player when all is said and done.

Well it wasn’t that nervous. The Angels won 12-0. But it got tense at the end, as Angels rookie Reid Detmers threw a no-hitter in just his 11th big-league start. And he did it while only striking out two batters, which is strange indeed. Eleven groundouts always helps, though. But in this day and age of nothing…Read more...

If the Boston Celtics go on to win an NBA championship, Al Horford’s Game 4 performance will live in Boston sports lore until the east coast breaks off into the Atlantic Ocean, or however climate change really sinks its teeth into this planet.Read more...

The Baltimore Ravens were ravaged with injuries in 2021. So much so that PFF’s WAR-Adjusted Injuries Lost (WAIL) statistic indicates that the Ravens lost about 2.86 wins last season. That would’ve put the team in the playoffs with either a 10-7 or 11-6 record. They possibly would’ve been ahead of the Bengals in the…Read more...

As we near the halfway point of the NBA Playoffs, it’s a good time to take inventory of what’s working, and what’s driving viewers to dive for the mute button any time they hear Lizzo’s “Now here go!” at the top of that commercial for cruise ships. While I could do an entire post about how I’d rather have my eardrums…Read more...

The end is near. You can feel it in the air. Mark Emmert is gone, the board is shrinking, the indiscriminate and omnipresent power the organization once held over schools, coaches, and athletes is disappearing. The words “NCAA investigation” no longer spark fear in the hearts of those threatened. School leadership and…Read more...

For Knicks fans born before 1990, Mike and the Mad Dog was a rite of passage for their fandom. The NYC afternoon radio show on WFAN ran from 1989 to 2008 and was a seminal source for New York Knicks talk. In addition, the show inspired many of the current Knicks YouTube creators, like Casey Powell, aka CP The…Read more...

For anyone who’s ever sat at work, thinking, “this meeting could’ve been an email,” this question is for you: Why are you transfixed by the NFL’s schedule being released in bits and pieces for a whole week?

Very few sane fans tune into Sunday afternoon NFL broadcasts regularly to see or hear their favorite announcers — except for Cris Collinsworth’s slide-in intro. The allure for fans is the product on the field, which is why the Redzone Channel is so popular. It’s also the reasoning behind the NFL giving Monday and…Read more...

It still feels weird seeing Russell Wilson in Denver Broncos colors. If it feels that way for me, I can only imagine what it’s like for Seattle’s 12th Man fan base. But Wilson is already embracing his new surroundings with the Broncos franchise and within the Denver community.

A couple notable additions to next week’s PGA Championship field could bring more eyes to the sleepiest major in golf, as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are both listed to play. The last time golf fans saw Woods, he was limping around Augusta in his first return to competitive golf since a car accident nearly ended…Read more...

There are few things out there that soften the edges of this cruel world quite like a funny sports video on Twitter and the even funnier armchair-expert responses that come along with it. The video making the rounds today depicts a group of Best Buy employees caught on the store’s security camera defending the exit as…Read more...

The Predators bit the dust last night, as we all suspected they would. The Avalanche are just too much, the Preds were a wonky team whose best player on both ends is a defenseman, Roman Josi, because he has to be. For their entire existence, which is getting up near 25 years now, the Predators have been seeking a…Read more...

Brazilian soccer player Marcelo couldn’t stop busting ass in the Lyon locker room and laughing about it. His flatulence became too much for his teammates to handle, as ESPN reported his farting and cackling about crackin’ a rat was the reason behind Marcelo’s expulsion from Lyon last August.

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The fat lady may be singing, but the coronavirus and all of its variants are still dancing like the party just started.Read more...

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Cale Makar, man.

There is something so wonderfully juxtaposed about the Celtics-Bucks series. The only thing we need is for them to wear different colors. Shame they’re both based on green. But it’s a minor complaint.

The Philadelphia 76ers tied their semifinals series 2-2 with the Miami Heat on Sunday night, defeating them 116-108. The momentum in this series has completely swung in Philly’s favor, and it’s no mystery why. Joel Embiid’s return, coupled with Miami missing 51 threes in the last two games, has made this a series. One…Read more...

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The impending news that Nikola Jokić will be awarded his second-consecutive MVP award has sent the NBA community into a border war formation between respect for analytics and the eye test. Jokic’s back-to-back wins is a resounding victory for the NBA’s mathlete contingency. This isn’t a diatribe against the existence…Read more...

There’s no question that Barry Trotz has a shelf life with any team he coaches. His high-intensity defensive style is never going to be something players are going to want to do year-after-year, especially now when more and more teams are crashing in goals left and right. He was in Nashville forever, but definitely…Read more...

The Sacramento Kings chose their new head coach over the weekend. It came down to two finalists. In the end, the Kings are going with current Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown over former Warriors head coach Mark Jackson. Neither name is all that exciting, but Sacramento made the right choice going with…Read more...