Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

It might be time to stop bringing grandpa around the kids. Well, I don’t know if John Stockton is technically a grandfather yet, he’s just spouting conspiracy theories and claiming to have evidence of things that didn’t happen — again.

The Miami Heat are the only NBA contender built like a UFC promotion. Knowing that it was inevitable that Heat culture nearly turned that energy inward during a lousy loss to the Golden State Warriors. Udonis Haslem threatening to beat Jimmy Butler’s ass and Eric Spoelstra asking if Butler wanted to “fight him” is the…Read more...

Complaining about officiating after a loss is one of the more annoying things that a sports fan can do. Coming from a coach or player who has just suffered a tough loss that they feel was unfairly called, the complaint may be easier to stomach, but it still doesn’t really sit right. It comes across as an excuse, a way…Read more...

Brandon Nimmo wants everyone to know that he’s “thankful” for New York mayor Eric Adams’ decision to cave in to Kyrie Irving and other giant babies who don’t care if you live or die, so long as they don’t have to get a shot, and lift the city’s vaccine mandate for athletes and performers.

Right off the bat, I know all the logic the US might keep something in reserve tonight at the Azteca vs. Mexico. The USMNT has not been able to thread the three-matches-in-seven days windows all that well. The Panama game is the real crunch one of the three this time, as a win there basically guarantees qualification…Read more...

Yesterday, the Miami Dolphins sent five draft picks to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for star receiver Tyreek Hill. While the Dolphins may not have any draft picks in the first two rounds of the 2022 draft, they still have an extra first-round and third-round pick in 2023, courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers.…Read more...

We often hear about consistency in sports, yet it feels like it’s rarely rewarded without the proper narrative or flair behind it. That’s the case for Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker. All Booker does is step on the court and average 26 points per game like clockwork for the best team in the NBA. He’s really stepped up…Read more...

If Zach LaVine and Demar DeRozan thought backup was coming in the form of Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, or Patrick Williams, they might want to try buddy-copping their way out of the jam Chicago is in now. Fake argue like Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, or mix karate with charisma like Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, or call…Read more...

The Ukrainian people aren’t losing one of their resistance fighters to protect themselves from Russia’s needless war against their country. Bellator Ukrainian welterweight champion Yaroslav Amosov already has a fight on his hands and won’t defend his championship as scheduled on May 13.

Patrick Mahomes was duped.Read more...

I’m not surprised that Kevin Durant has a great deal of respect for Dirk Nowitzki’s game. Prior to Dirk becoming one of the best players in the league, all the basketball players who were bigger than most of the other basketball players were scoffed at for not playing with their back to the basket. Chris Webber and…Read more...

Update (3/24): Jorge Masvidal was arrested Wednesday night and charged with aggravated battery and criminal mischief, both felonies, for (allegedly) slugging Colby Covington twice in the face. If this truly is a pro wrestling-style work, as we hypothesize below, the level of commitment is impressive.Read more...

This can’t be the season Knicks forward Julius Randle envisioned coming off a career year where he averaged 24 points per game, led his team to the playoffs, was named Most Improved Player, and became a first time All-NBA selection. The Knicks are in 11th place in the East now, with no real chance at the postseason,…Read more...

We’ve all been down this road before, except so few want to call it what it is. It’s probably because Jimmy Butler is so eager to give the media what it wants, and that is juicy quotes and stories and also to make them feel like one of the guys. He’s happy to have them along, if not outright bring them along. Which,…Read more...

James Harden should have waited.

The coronavirus pandemic is going to wreak havoc on long-term baseball achievements for years to come. Obviously, anyone chasing career records took a hit from the 60-game season in 2020, and a lot of players were in and out of the lineup last season due to the virus. That also means interruptions to streaks, like Max…Read more...

Malik Willis played quarterback at Liberty University (yuck and yuck) for two years after transferring from Auburn. He measured in at the combine at 6½-feet tall, and in Liberty’s biggest game of the year, at Mississippi, he threw for less than 200 yards, three interceptions, and rushed for less than three yards per…Read more...

Malik Willis played quarterback at Liberty University (yuck and yuck) for two years after transferring from Auburn. He measured in at the combine at 6½-feet tall, and in Liberty’s biggest game of the year, at Mississippi, he threw for less than 200 yards, three interceptions, and rushed for less than three yards per…Read more...

Ash Barty’s retirement from professional tennis was a blunt instrument between the eyes of the WTA community. Barty was coupled with Naomi Osaka as the future of women’s tennis. At 25, she was coming into her own after winning the Australian Open in January, Wimbledon in 2021 and the 2019 French Open.

From 68 teams to the final 16. More than 50 teams with their eyes on a national championship are handing in jerseys instead of preparing for more games. The first six days of NCAA Tournament action left three double-digit seeds, including maybe the biggest Cinderella in Tournament history, which yours truly may have…Read more...

The Lakers are the hottest kind of garbage right now. The kind of refuse you smell on Bourbon Street the day after Mardi Gras. They’re 10 games below .500, sitting in ninth place, and fighting for a final chance to disappoint their home crowd in the first of possibly two play-in games. Russel Westbrook is firing off…Read more...

The Miami Dolphins added fuel to the already bright fire that is the 2022 NFL offseason by trading for two-time alleged domestic abuser, six-time Pro Bowler, and three-time All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill. Immediately after finalizing the trade, which sent five draft picks to the Chiefs in exchange for their star…Read more...

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel says that spring practice looks “unrecognizable” from where the Vols were a year ago in Knoxville. Reeling from the termination of Jeremy Pruitt and a large chunk of the coaching staff after the NCAA found proof of recruiting violations at the university, Heupel was in the midst of a…Read more...

A Montreal judge today sentenced former baseball journalist Jonah Keri to a total of 21 months imprisonment on five separate counts related to domestic abuse of his ex-wife. Keri pled guilty to multiple counts of spousal and child abuse involving injury, following a sentencing hearing that took place on January 20,…Read more...

Player fan relationships moved into an entirely new realm over a decade ago when social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter began to pop up. Not long after came Instagram and later TikTok. These platforms have become staples in our lives, not just in the United States but around the world.

When it comes to March Madness, Duke is a necessary evil. No wonder they’re (Blue) Devils.Read more...

The buzz over the 2019 draft seems quaint now. Or it did. Back then, especially because it involved the rivals Devils and Rangers trying to race to the bottom to get one of the top two picks, it picked up more buzz than hockey lotteries normally do. No, it wasn’t the McDavid-Eichel draft (and the Eichel part of that…Read more...

Let’s pour one out for the lost souls of the 2021-22 NBA season. This season was a void on their resumes for a select few stars. An entire missed season can be an opportunity to step back, reevaluate and return for a bounce-back campaign. Or they can smack into the 2023 season like porcelain against the asphalt. There…Read more...

I know this is March Madness and NFL Free Agency season, but the NBA Playoffs start in less than 30 days. That last, and most entertaining, mile of the NBA season, but maximum entertainment value is only achieved if all of the stars are playing. That appears to still be in jeopardy with Kyrie Irving still not fully…Read more...

Doug Edert has quickly risen to fame in the past week, going from the sixth man for a small Catholic school’s basketball team in Jersey City, playing in an arena the size of a suburban high school gym, to the face of the 2022 NCAA Championship.

It’s pretty clear that the Ricketts family, who own the Cubs, look upon Fenway Sports Group as something of an idol. They took their GM from Boston and made him the president of the Cubs. You know him as Theo Epstein. They have remade Wrigley Field and the neighborhood around it in the same fashion FSG did with Fenway…Read more...

These last few years have been tough for Charlotte Hornets guard Isaiah Thomas. He’s been on nothing but 10-day contracts recently, and after consecutive 10-day deals in Charlotte, the Hornets have decided to keep Thomas on for the remainder of the year.Read more...

With the official March Madness sticker finally slapped onto the women’s NCAA basketball tourney, this year’s field has truly embraced the name of the game. As fiscal, concrete, and abstract changes have been implemented into the women’s tournament this year in an attempt to make it more equitable with the men’s, the…Read more...

You and I have probably been spending the last week the same way, staring at our monitors watching St. Peter’s destroy any chance we had at winning our office bracket challenge. We’ve been so enticed by the upsets, bracket busters, and magical run by Michigan (with Juwan Howard returning to the sidelines) that we’ve…Read more...

It would be nice if sports leagues were proactive on issues with workplace culture and harassment. Instead of waiting around for formal charges to be filed, public outrage to grow so loud that it can’t be ignored, or a Baxter Holmes bombshell, commissioners should follow up on every rumor of sexual harassment and…Read more...

It was only a few days ago we chronicled that increasingly desperate situation the Golden Knights find themselves in. They have nothing more than a crimp grip on the last wildcard spot in the Western Conference, with the Dallas Stars having four games in hand on them just a point behind.Read more...

Cris Collinsworth didn’t need a thread, a notes app, or seven Instagram story slides to bid farewell to his longtime broadcasting partner, Al Michaels. He kept it brief, and gave the people what they wanted, and I’m sure Michaels chuckled when he saw it.Read more...

Now that we’re past the initial frenzy phase of NFL free agency, it’s time to focus on the draft. The Dallas Cowboys weren’t heavily involved in the free agent-free for all because they never really are, so once again, they’ll be looking to the draft to fill some holes in their roster. Like the one Randy Gregory left…Read more...

To say winning the Quadruple–the League Cup, the FA Cup, the Champions League, and the Premier League–is a dream isn’t accurate. No fan ever really thinks of it before a season starts, or really before even February. It’s beyond fantasy. It’s not something you’d ever give the time of day. Perhaps England being one of…Read more...

The only havoc in the first round of the Rucker Regional was a 5-12 upset, which has become almost commonplace in March Madnesses everywhere. We’ll see how things tighten up heading into the Silver Screen 16 with matchups like Kyrie Irving alter ego Uncle Drew getting his first real test of the tourney in Michael…Read more...

The first round of the Venice Beach Regional went mostly according to the seedings, with an easily predicted upset (12-seed Buggs beating the 5-seed Pound in a Space Jam rematch), and one I didn’t see coming (13-seed Clarence Withers toppling 4-seed Quincy McCall). At the top of the bracket, Billy Hoyle is in a battle…Read more...

Labeling Lia Thomas as a lightning rod is an understatement.Read more...

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Since Andrew Luck’s surprise retirement during the 2019 preseason, the Indianapolis Colts have been salvaging every down-on-his-luck quarterback they find. During the 2020 season, they took a flier on Philip Rivers. Rivers became available in his 17th season and led the Colts to an 11-5 campaign, logging 24 touchdowns…Read more...

A rite of spring, The Masters, is sneaking up on us. It’s less than three weeks away. It’s about the first time anyone seriously pays attention to golf, though the recently concluded Players Championship might have stolen some of that shine. Still, the entire sports world generally casts a stare at Augusta, which…Read more...

It wasn’t long ago that the Boston Celtics were viewed as one of the more underachieving teams in the NBA this season.Read more...

Damn, nobody in the NBA needed a possible 15 points in 12 minutes waiting on their bench for the playoffs?

The NHL trade deadline passed about an hour ago, and it wasn’t the most boring in the history of the game but it wasn’t the most exciting. The Bruins got better with Hampus Lindholm coming to town a couple days ago, except Hampus! Hampus! might not be that good anymore. The Avalanche, already the league’s best team,…Read more...

The dedicated, diligent, maniac of a competitor known as former Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, had some basic problems when putting together an NFL deadline. According to a report from The Athletic’s Jayson Jenks and Mike Sando, Meyer was not familiar with the best players in the NFL — you know, the players…Read more...

The Golden State Warriors’ penchant for losing games they have in hand is almost becoming legendary. They’re the fastest gunslingers in the West, but they could teach a masterclass in shooting themselves in the foot on too many occasions this season. On Sunday night, these Warriors had a victory in hand that would…Read more...