Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

After three pitiful playoff games, on Saturday Karl-Anthony Towns put together the best game of his brief playoff career, finishing with 33 points and 14 rebounds on 47 percent shooting. And wouldn’t you know it, the Timberwolves won the game, tying the series at 2-2. Much has been written about Towns’ personal…Read more...

Are you ready for FanDuel and Caesar’s Sportsbook commercials during your favorite sporting events to be followed by trailers for the Tim Donaghy story? If not, buckle up, because that is gonna be one helluva dichotomy as the big leagues dive into sports gambling in synchronized tandems, while we get reminded of the…Read more...

It’s become part of the rhythm of a baseball season. Mike Trout will tweak something, or leave a game early, and every baseball fan will sigh, and wonder why they can’t have nice things. We all feel deprived of something when Trout misses a large chunk of time. This will also happen whenever Shohei Ohtani misses a…Read more...

“If Kyrie and KD average 30 and 35 points per game, that’s only 65 points. Where are the rest of the points going to come from?”Read more...

Frank Lampard may not have any idea what he’s doing as a manager, or he may be saddled with just the biggest collection of mishmashed parts that don’t fit, but he is aware of history. It was eight years ago, almost to the day, that Lampard’s Chelsea showed up to Anfield to stifle a title-chasing Liverpool. In true…Read more...

“They don’t think it be like it is, but it do.”

Since the poems, short stories, and writings of Henry Dumas, a specter has risen out of the outer fringes of American arts and letters — Afro-surrealism. A hallmark of this genre is a self-awareness by the reader, author, and fictional characters that the world they inhabit is off-kilter. The term has roots in…Read more...

January 10, 2022 was a dreary day for Cowboys, Eagles, and Commanders fans across the world as the New York Giants announced general manager Dave Gettleman’s retirement. In his four years as GM, Gettleman made so many unthinkably bad moves that he became more valuable to the Cowboys than Dak Prescott, more vital to…Read more...

With an opposite field single in the first inning of Saturday’s game against the Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers’ slugger Miguel Cabrera, 39, became the 33rd player in MLB history to record 3,000 hits and the first Venezuelan-born player to accomplish the feat.Read more...

You wouldn’t know it to look at it, but the Baker Mayfield Heisman statue has gone up in Norman. It’s no Cristiano-Ronaldo-bust-level disaster, but it’s also definitely not Baker Mayfield’s face. My best hypothesis right now is that the sculptor took a guess at what the Heisman-winning quarterback is going to look…Read more...

The East’s top-seeded Heat aren’t sitting so comfortably after last night. Trae Young heaved up a game-winner to put the Hawks right back into the series.

There’s truly no precedent for what occurred Wednesday during a Texas junior college baseball game, as Owen Woodward, a pitcher for Weatherford College, came charging off the mound after giving up a go-ahead home run and speared the longball hitter to the ground as he rounded third base. I can’t remember another time…Read more...

There are several NFL teams that could use a great receiver, and with the success of rookies Justin Jefferson in 2020 and Ja’Marr Chase in 2021, many of those receiver-needy teams could be inclined to reach for one of the many talented receivers in the 2022 draft class.

A letter containing information about the 2015 and 2016 Yankees’ sign-stealing investigation will be made public in about a week, and Astros fans are awaiting its release like Democrats anticipated the findings of Robert Mueller’s Trump investigation.Read more...

Former Seattle Seahawks All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner was one of the headlining defensive names of this year’s free agency pool. Wagner, who does not have an agent and represents himself, joined Rich Eisen earlier this week to discuss his journey through free agency and eventual signing with the Los Angeles Rams.

Playing baseball is hard. Living up to the hype is a bit harder. But so far, Hunter Greene seems up to the task. It’s too bad the league he plays in isn’t.Read more...

Losers of three in a row, the Chicago White Sox currently sit at 6-6, tied for second place in the AL Central with the Kansas City Royals. Lo and behold, The ChiSox’s adversaries yesterday were the Cleveland Guardians. Cleveland took both games of Wednesday’s doubleheader, so you’d assume that manager Tony La Russa…Read more...

On Wednesday night, Alex Ovechkin recorded his 50th goal of the season. It is his eighth 50-goal season, which ties the record for most in NHL history, along with Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky. But Ovechkin’s accomplishment is far more impressive than those two’s, and eight 50-goal seasons in any era is a nearly…Read more...

We’re exactly six days away from the NFL draft, and yet we still aren’t sure what the first round is going to look like. Perhaps Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown, and/or Terry McLaurin are traded in the next few days and shake up the first round. Maybe the Panthers make a move for Baker Mayfield. And I don’t remember the last…Read more...

Curse thou, NBA playoff injury bug. Why dost thou mar a glorious display with your vile presence and wretched sting?

Where have all the coaches gone?

Kevin Durant has the utmost confidence in himself and his unique talent. Whether it’s during back-and-forths with the media or in response to team drama, he’s constantly repeating his mantra, “I just wanna hoop.”Read more...

The best way to enjoy AEW is to forget the ratings, at least past the point where you know it’s doing well enough to be successful, and is going to stay on the air and in existence. However it compares to whatever Chicago show is on NBC or whatever gas Tucker Carlson has been huffing that night, doesn’t matter. And…Read more...

One man’s quick relief unfairly got him relieved from his duties as a zamboni driver for the Detroit Red Wings, he claims. After 51 years cleaning the ice for the Motor City’s professional hockey franchise, Al Sobotka, filed a discrimination lawsuit in Michigan’s Wayne County Circuit Court this week against Olympia…Read more...

NFL football is going virtual in the first officially licensed football game by the league set to be released this Fall. The NFL, along with StatusPRO Inc. and the NFL Players Association, brings us NFL Pro Era, the first virtual game that puts you in the shoes (and helmet) of NFL quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson. The…Read more...

It’s not about how much you’re worth, it’s about how much you can convince someone to pay you. But, you should always ask for more just for the hell of it.

Dr. Elizabeth Wrigley-Field has never been to Wrigley Field.Read more...

We’re only one week away from the 2022 NFL Draft. Combine measurements have been made, interviews have been conducted, Pro Day workouts have been observed — all that’s left now is to see how the next generation of stars shakes out over the league on Draft Day.

Drafting is truly one of the most maddening parts of sports. Yes, it’s a reason for fans to have enthusiasm for a team with a sub-.400 winning percentage four months before the season begins. When if feels like the rest of the league is on the road to success and your favorite team is in the depths of the sewer,…Read more...

I didn’t grow in New York, so I didn’t get to listen to Mike and the Mad Dog. My most vivid memories of Chris “Mad Dog” Russo are working lunch shifts at a restaurant and watching his lips flap open and closed at 3X speed on a muted bar television playing MLB Network’s High Heat with no sound. At that time in the…Read more...

There are a lot of things in this world that I don’t really understand, or can’t do, or can’t foresee. But I used to be pretty sure that there’s someone out there who is paid, probably pretty well, to know those things, to predict them, and to get those things done. Or to at least make sure they get done. As I get…Read more...

So this was me at some point last night:Read more...

Deebo Samuel’s emergence as a gadget-receiver was San Francisco’s equivalent to discovering they could channel electricity. With a defective quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo under center, Samuel changed the whole game for their offense and left defenses guessing.

The NBA hasn’t had a real (or uncovered) gambling scandal since booking games became legal in more than select locations. Unless you count Scott Foster’s streak of holding down playoff teams that employ Chris Paul — which is currently at 14 games after the Suns’ loss to New Orleans in Game 2 on Tuesday night — as a…Read more...

A ban from the FIFA World Cup didn’t stop any needless aggression from Russia in its brutal war on Ukraine. Even those Russians brave enough to speak out against Vladimir Putin’s needless invasion have felt the consequences of the barbaric actions of the Russian army, like Fedor Smolov. As another huge domino in the…Read more...

You knew it was trouble as soon as the NHLPA announced it would put out the results of their investigation into the union’s handling of Kyle Beach on a Friday. It’s surprising that organizations haven’t figured out that everyone sees through a Friday newsdump. That suspicion only grew exponentially as things were…Read more...

You knew it was trouble as soon as the NHLPA announced it would put out the results of their investigation into the union’s handling of Kyle Beach on a Friday. It’s surprising that organizations haven’t figured out that everyone sees through a Friday newsdump. That suspicion only grew exponentially as things were…Read more...

We’re less than two weeks into the MLB season and just like everyone predicted, the Oakland Athletics are tied for first place in their division...wait, what? Yeah, it’s early, but the A’s were supposed to be the cellar dwellers of the AL West. They spent a whopping $0 in free agency and traded away two of their best…Read more...

On Tuesday night, the New Orleans Pelicans were getting baptized by Devin Booker. The Suns’ shooting guard was dapping up babies en route to a 31-point first half. While the Suns offense was boiling hot in the first half, their defense couldn’t slow down the Pelicans’ offense, especially in transition.

Jerry, Kareem, and Magic are pissed.

It would be near impossible to describe what Liverpool did to Manchester United on Tuesday without getting graphic, and perhaps using a squib or two. And believe me, I’ve tried, because I’m well aware the Reds may never beat their biggest rival by a combined 9-0 in two league games again, and I’m soaking in it to the…Read more...

I have no problem with winners getting things that losers don’t. Participation medals should be called what they really are: Door prizes. Thank you for showing up and giving Billy and Timmy someone to beat on for an hour or so, now go eat your complimentary Nature Valley bars in the parking lot with the rest of the…Read more...

Television ratings are one of the most archaic ways to measure what people care about. We’re more than 20 years into the new millennium. Who has time to be held to a live television schedule? I remember as a child watching an episode of Home Improvement when Tim “The Toolman” Taylor was trying to avoid the scores of a…Read more...

I’m cribbing heavily from Joe Sheehan’s newsletter again, but in his latest missive he points out that things keep getting better and better for pitchers. Thanks to technology and greater study, they discover new pitches or tweaks to existing ones as they keep throwing harder and harder. At the same time, they’re…Read more...

Dear God, don’t ever let Barry Melrose broadcast another hockey game ever again.

Ben Simmons still has not played a game for the Brooklyn Nets.Read more...

The most surprising aspect of the Boston Celtics in-season turnaround was that the team did it with a position change rather than trading a major asset. Acquiring Derrick White helped with some much-needed guard depth, but really Marcus Smart being allowed to run point solidified his role and gave him direction and…Read more...

The man who is expected to win one the closest MVP battles in recent memory has supplied fuel to his detractors.

Imagine attempting to run a necessary errand before the start of Monday’s first playoff game. It’s the only time that you have during the day to complete this task. You scramble, get it completed and head home safely, but also with purpose, to get home and see as much of the first game as possible. Then you click on…Read more...

Say what you will about NIL — you can’t deny it’s giving the world some incredible content. Legendary golfer John Daly’s son, 18-year-old John Daly II, has officially inked a sponsorship deal with Hooters, and gave us the most incredible statement of all time: