Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Mike Tomlin still hasn't had a losing season. Kevin Stefanski's squad endured five different starting quarterbacks. Dan Campbell has the Detroit Lions hosting a playoff game and they're the favorite. But, they all fail in comparison to what DeMeco Ryans has done in Houston. A rookie head coach has the former...Read more...

The end of the NFL regular season is always a sad day. It's the signal that only four weeks of NFL games remain until the second week of September. That means I have to spend my next seven months of Sunday afternoons with commercials since there is no RedZone for the rest of the season. (Also, RedZone on the Fire TV...Read more...

My how the mighty have fallen. In September, Jalen Carter looked like the next coming of Aaron Donald and the tush push was the most debated offensive play since the double reverse that won a state championship game in Remember the Titans. After going 10-1 in their first 11 games, the Philadelphia Eagles have won only...Read more...

The NFL season zips by, which might be one of the hundreds of reasons it remains our national religion. There isn't really time to get bored with it and everything that happens in it feels truly important. Which means any team that can string a few good weeks together has turned some mythical corner that we wouldn't...Read more...

Way to go New York Jets. They a halted a losing streak to the New England Patriots that stretched back to the Obama administration. In what might have been Bill Belichick's final game as head coach of the Patriots, a team that he has dominated since leaving them at the altar in 2000 buried him in the Massachusetts...Read more...

The Jacksonville Jaguars began the 2023 season with a built-in advantage as the only playoff-ready team in a division of bottom-feeders. After last January's Wild Card comeback against the Los Angeles Chargers, Trevor Lawrence was expected to continue his ascent both in the AFC and up the ranks of elite quarterbacks...Read more...

Titans running back Derrick Henry arrived in Tennessee in 2016 as a second-round pick following an incredible career playing for Nick Saban at Alabama. Henry has topped the 1,000-yard mark in five of his eight seasons with the team and became the eighth player in NFL history to run for more than 2,000 yards in a...Read more...

It's opening night for the 2025 NBA season. After Inside the NBA guffaws its way through the opening game, a portion of the audience siphons off to Apple TV or Prime Video, where Stephen A. Smith is starting his opening monologue. Except he isn't ranting and raving about Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson getting...Read more...

After dominating Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Miami in consecutive weeks, the Baltimore Ravens looked like the dominant force everyone had been waiting for all season. Forget about the hiccup Saturday night against Pittsburgh (minus Lamar Jackson), Baltimore is viewed by many as the favorite to represent the AFC...Read more...

Think about the Houston Texans' path to this moment. After gutting out a win over the Indianapolis Colts, 23-19, on Saturday, DeMeco Ryans and CJ Stroud locked up a playoff spot in their rookie campaigns. The team that opted out of hiring Josh McCown because it didn't want to get sued also let the Carolina Panthers...Read more...

One of the biggest honors in all of sports is to have your number retired by your respective franchise. No one else will be able to wear it after you, cementing your legacy in the rafters or in a ring of honor/team hall of fame. Here are all of the officially retired numbers by the NFL (minus the Baltimore Ravens and...Read more...

There's natural staff turnover - primarily assistants getting poached for better opportunities elsewhere - and then there's what Ohio State and LSU are purportedly doing. Each head coach is under pressure to make changes after showings not up to program standards, and if history is an indication of anything, it's that...Read more...

The firestorm engulfing ESPN is a product of its own doing, which is what makes all of this Pat McAfee-Aaron Rodgers drama so funny. The worldwide leader hired comic relief and, shockingly, he simultaneously lit Disney and Bristol ablaze from Indiana. In case you missed the fallout from Rodgers insinuating that ABC...Read more...

There's generally little hope for fans when it's already been announced that their team will move to another city. That hope evaporates more when a league approves it, as MLB has done with the A's move to Vegas. And yet, there's always a sliver of light that can't be extinguished when an owner is so balloon-handed, so...Read more...

There is a segment of hockey fans that have always wanted to watch the bubble of hockey men discussing hockey things get totally pierced by even just the smallest bit of logic. For that is the true enemy of most things that have been hockey ethos. So a hearty thank you to Jennifer Botterill, who during an intermission...Read more...

Updated Jan. 5: Aubrey Huff's X/Twitter hiatus was short-lived, as the ex-MLB player and problematic poster reactivated his account and proceeded to be predictably sexist, and offensive. - Cale Clinton Read MoreRead more...

News flash: The Miami Heat are a better coached team than the Los Angeles Lakers. It showed in the fourth quarter of their Wednesday night matchup. Erik Spoelstra has been with the Heat organization since 1995 - its head coach since 2008. Following nine seasons as an NBA player, Darvin Ham was an assistant with three...Read more...

Near the end of Justin Fields' triumphant win over the Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears fans serenaded him with a passionate We want Justin" chant. The chorus reached a fever pitch on a night when Fields threw for north of 260 yards and one touchdown in a blowout win over the Atlanta Falcons. Throughout Sunday's win,...Read more...

With the announcement that the Orlando Magic will retire Shaquille O'Neal's jersey, the NBA has finally done it! All 30 teams have officially retired a jersey number for a specific player (Yes, before Shaq, the Magic's only jersey retired was No. 6 for The Sixth Man," a.k.a the fans).Read more...

There are certain teams as a sportswriter that you simply should not trust. Despite the way the Detroit Lions are playing, their fans won't hesitate to tell you a size-14 steel-toe boot is about to drop at any moment. We all know what tortured souls I'm talking about so let's spare them further anguish, and just...Read more...

Naomi Osaka is a lot of things. She's a woman. She's a mom. She's great at her job. She's Black. She's Asian. And when you're more than what simple people can comprehend, they usually don't know how to treat you. Here's to tennis learning from their mistakes when it comes to Osaka - but we shouldn't hold our breath.Read more...

South African Olympic track and field star, and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius was released from prison today after serving seven and a half years for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.Read more...

New York Jets players voted to give the team's Most Inspirational Player Award - named after Dennis Byrd, the defensive end who was paralyzed during a 1992 game and had to relearn how to walk - to Aaron Rodgers, the guy who tore his Achilles four snaps into Gang Green's opener and vowed to return but didn't.Read more...

Updated Jan. 5: Aubrey Huff's X/Twitter hiatus was short-lived, as the ex-MLB player and problematic poster reactivated his account and proceeded to be predictably sexist, and offensive.Read more...

My original plan was to write about Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Wembanyama going head-to-head on Thursday night. These two skyscrapers, who were born on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, played basketball like the Empire State Building if Dr. Octopus' metallic arms were attached. Those two were spectacular...Read more...

Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter who shot and killed his girlfriend, was quietly released from a South African prison today, and was allegedly warned he could be assassinated in retaliation.Read more...

When Rome was burning, there wasn't a definitive moment when it all collapsed. A definitive BOOM" where everyone can say, Well, that's it for the Romans. Good run." Had there been, it might have sounded like this:Read more...

Updated Jan. 5: Kyrie Irving denied being why Jazz security asked a rabbi to put down his I'm a Jew and I'm proud" sign despite an interaction between the two.Read more...

Give the NFL credit. The league obviously hired writers from disparate backgrounds to arrange the season's plotlines. On Sunday, the Week 18 finale will climax with an end-of-season clash of genres between the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins, who couldn't be more different. The Dolphins even have a Hard Knocks camera...Read more...

The NCAA and ESPN agreed to an eight-year, $115 million annual deal to broadcast 40 different championships including the women's college basketball tournament.

Toxic ex-MLB pitcher Trevor Bauer - who sued Deadspin and lost - is hoping to find another gig in the majors.Read more...

News flash: The Miami Heat are a better coached team than the Los Angeles Lakers. It showed in the fourth quarter of their Wednesday night matchup. Erik Spoelstra has been with the Heat organization since 1995 - its head coach since 2008. Following nine seasons as an NBA player, Darvin Ham was an assistant with three...Read more...

Read more...

Last time I checked, Stephen A. Smith, a man who epitomizes the embrace really loud debate" and who, just this week, had a man sniffing a female colleague's shoe on his show, has decided to speak for journalism.Read more...

Golf is so much more fun when the players are petty. From Ryder Cup shenanigans to guys getting pissed about the pace of play, the game is infinitely more entertaining when there's a clearly defined heel who fans can collectively hate. That's why the past year-plus of golf was great television.Read more...

The NBA likely implemented its player participation policy - read: anti-load management protocol - so that fans wouldn't attend games only to see LeBron James and Anthony Davis, or Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, in street clothes.Read more...

While Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery still wait for their free-agent payday, two powerhouses that were also in need of starting pitching have chosen other routes. Oh, the Dodgers did splash free-agent cash, it was just for one pitcher who's never pitched in the majors (Yoshinubu Yamamoto) and one who won't pitch in...Read more...

In order for a rivalry to become a full-blown blood feud, there needs to be a little back and forth in the games themselves. The Knicks and Celtics, on paper, should hate each other, but on the court, New York is never seriously competitive so it doesn't really resonate.Read more...

The Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of a slump and it looks like the team's woes will be pinned on Darvin Ham.Read more...

The Indiana Pacers have completely taken over Giannis Antentokounmpo's brain.Read more...

Three million dollars (total) in fines. Two atrocious owners. One franchise. The Carolina Panthers are a mess.Read more...

Updated Jan. 4: Ward pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Update: It's the final week of the NFL regular season and even more backups will get starts as teams who've locked up playoff spots rest their normal QB1s.

Nobody leaves a job with quite as much oomph as Bill Belichick. Twenty-four years ago this week, Belichick handed a note with a scribbled message signaling to New York Jets officials at a press conference, stepped to the podium, and delivered his infamous remarks.Read more...

Dominican prosecutors allege that Wander Franco paid hush money to the mom of the underage girl he is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with.Read more...

There is a segment of hockey fans that have always wanted to watch the bubble of hockey men discussing hockey things get totally pierced by even just the smallest bit of logic. For that is the true enemy of most things that have been hockey ethos. So a hearty thank you to Jennifer Botterill, who during an intermission...Read more...

Updated Jan. 4: Prosecutors in Kansas officially dismissed three felony charges against Patrick Mahomes' brother, Jackson, on Wednesday afternoon, according to reports. Jackson Mahomes appeared at a hearing Wednesday, where the charges were officially dropped.Read more...

We were told that once Shohei Ohtani signed, or promised to the Dodgers that he can take all his money after the ocean reclaims Los Angeles as a whole, the rest of the free agents would start to fly off the shelves. It's now Jan. 3, spring training is about six weeks away, and most of the free agents that were in the...Read more...

The bowl opt-outs are a letdown, but we all saw what happened to Jaylon Smith. During the 2016 Fiesta Bowl - which was not a playoff game - his leg was mangled. A projected top-five pick fell to the second round. Since then, many star players have made the intelligent business decision to not play in games that reward...Read more...

The darts world is abuzz over Luke Littler, a 16-year-old prodigy on the verge of winning the World Dart Championship. The Englishman burst onto the scene in this tournament, going from relative unknown to the sport's Bobby Fischer (minus the racism and genius though I'm not sure those two can be true at once).