Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The following is adapted from the podcast script for Stick to Pods Episode 11, “Josh Gibson,” which originally aired on April 12, 2018

UConn men’s basketball looks like the favorite heading into this weekend’s Final Four in Houston. Not only are the Huskies the highest seed remaining of the quartet, they’ve looked dominant in every March Madness game. Turns out UConn’s 15-point second-round victory over St. Mary’s was its closest margin of victory…Read more...

It’s rare that I get to use my real-life expertise at this job, or am actually qualified to write the things I think, but today is the day a decade of arrested development as a snowboard bum pays off. I’m here to tell you why both Gwyneth Paltrow and the other gaper* on the slopes of Deer Valley in 2016 are at fault…Read more...

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This year’s MLB Opening Day feels different than recent iterations because the media doesn’t have (most of) its usual talking points to complain about. The rule changes are going to shorten the games, discontinue the dialog about shifts, and provide baserunners with throw pillows to slide into. Yay! Now, if we can…Read more...

Lamar Jackson is the NFL’s Shohei Ohtani. If this were Major League Baseball, he’d be demanding starting quarterback and starting veteran running back money, and some owner would oblige and airdrop whatever he demanded. Not only is the Baltimore Ravens’ one-man show on offense, but he’s also his own defense. Jackson’s…Read more...

The No Fun League introduced some excitement this week when they announced players could now wear No. 0 moving forward. Players across the NFL scrambled in hopes of trading in their current jersey for zero. (Calvin Ridey, back from suspension, will wear it for Jacksonville.) While the older generation (i.e. Shannon…Read more...

Every generationally great player, or every player that can safely say they’re one of the five best of all time, eventually bores the public with their greatness. Or at least fails to spike the EKG when news of their latest heroics crosses the wires. Connor McDavid is there.Read more...

Look at the NFL trying to be looser as an organization. First, it relaxed restrictions on player numbers in 2021, and the league has decided that in 2023 a forbidden number will be allowed. Certain players will be allowed to wear the No. 0.

It’s never a good sign when John Mara, the answer to the question of what would happen if George Will ate paste, is the voice of reason. But that’s where the NFL, and Roger Goodell, found themselves at the owners’ meetings yesterday. Somehow, the owners were able to resist the urge to flex Thursday night games, but…Read more...

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Xavier Babudar, the Kansas Chiefs superfan accused of robbing an Oklahoma bank, allegedly removed his ankle monitor and no-showed a court appearance, leading to a $1 million bond warrant, according to multiple reports.

Former NFL star Antonio Brown has been relatively quiet lately, not popping up on news feeds too much outside of our Jackass bracket tournament, for which he recently advanced to the Final Four. That should be considered a good thing because there hasn’t been any scandalous behavior out of AB this month. However, what …Read more...

Who among us hasn’t wanted to whip a brick at an ESPN building, be it the headquarters in Bristol, Conn., or one of its few now-shuttered ESPN Zones? I know if I walked by the window where Get Up is shot in New York, I’d pick up the heaviest piece of refuse I could find and heave it at Mike Greenberg’s face. That’s…Read more...

It has long been time to put fans in their place. An average human being would not normally scream “you fuck!” at a 6-foot-4, 200-plus-pound man. Make that person Bradley Beal, and all of a sudden the probability of that happening increases.Read more...

When baseball writers get done complaining about how late their games are on, most of baseball’s attention this season will be on the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres kneecapping the Dodgers in last year’s divisional round gave this tango some stakes instead of the Padres just talking loud. The…Read more...

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Tournament season is in full effect, and things are no different here at Deadspin. Our Jackass Tournament rolls on with an action-packed Elite Eight, as voted on by you, the people. Isn’t democracy swell?Read more...

You’ve known about him for years. You’ve read about how he’s worth millions via NIL. And you’ve seen his highlights. But, have you actually heard him speak? Probably not. And more than likely that trend will continue on Tuesday night when Bronny James takes part in the 2023 McDonald’s All-American Game that’s…Read more...

There’s a surefire way to piss off a coach and/or player, and that’s to name or draft their successor. Nobody enjoys confronting the mortality of their career on someone else’s terms — and it’s happening in New England, again. You’d think the franchise that pushed out Tom Brady would learn from its mistakes, but now…Read more...

Some things don’t have redeemable qualities, like the NCAA. In an under-the-radar recent news story, it was revealed that Ferris State’s football program was fined $15,000 for the damages that occurred after winning their second consecutive Division II national championship back in December. The crime? Smoking victory…Read more...

Take a look at the face of MLB umpire Randy Rosenberg in the image above. If that’s not the face of someone who is slowly realizing that they may have *slightly* overreacted, I don’t know what is. But before we get into it, please take a second to view Rosenberg ejecting Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto yesterday in the…Read more...

The Final Four is here, with a bunch of heavy hitters and a No. 8 seed that, technically, is a heavy hitter as well. Jordan-LeBron, cats-dogs, Biggie-2Pac, and The Rock-Stone Cold are the last debates left standing, and we’re going to lose at least one more 1 seed, and possibly two if The People’s Champ and Steve…Read more...

Waiting for Daniel Snyder to sell the Washington Commanders, which he’s turned into a failed state among legacy NFL franchises, is akin to anticipating those “imminent” charges against Donald Trump.Read more...

There might not be an immediate end in sight to the Lamar Jackson saga, but things are now starting to heat up. The market has been relatively quiet since the news broke that the Baltimore Ravens were placing the non-exclusive franchise tag on the former MVP, and multiple teams made a point of distancing themselves…Read more...

John Harbaugh will not be the only coach to have to answer questions about his starting quarterback situation during the NFL League Meetings. Kyle Shanahan won’t be asked about trade requests and franchise tags, but the media will want to know who will be starting at quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers come…Read more...

International soccer, especially this season, is highly weird. So while the USMNT’s 1-0 win over El Salvador to clinch a spot in the semifinals of the Nations League doesn’t look like much — and it isn’t — one must consider that most of the squad has been run ragged with their club teams, had a World Cup fisted into…Read more...

At a time in which the NFL has become a Teflon juggernaut despite its glaring issues, and in a moment in which those on the left, right, and the middle are calling for fairness and balance, Monday morning was an example of why those desires are rarely fulfilled. For the last two years, veteran NFL reporter Jim Trotter…Read more...

I think New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh is taking that first line from one of the signature tunes of West Side Story too seriously. You know the one — “When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way! From your first cigarette to your last dyin’ day!” With the team’s flirtation and outright “You up?” texts to Aaron…Read more...

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is on the verge of winning his first league MVP award. He could’ve basically locked it up with a dominant showing Monday night against two-time defending MVP Nikola Jokić. Unfortunately, the 76ers announced Monday afternoon that Embiid will miss the game due to a calf injury. Even…Read more...

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The pattern of a first-year MLS club is pretty well set by now. Team gets announced, we all joke about the league being a Ponzi scheme (still might be!), they begin play in a stadium that looks fun as hell in front of raucous crowds, and then kind of eat it for most of the season. Maybe they pick it up in year 2 like…Read more...

Poor John Harbaugh. All the man wants is the starting quarterback that was promised to him when the Baltimore Ravens moved up to select Lamar Jackson in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Instead, five years later he spoke to the media on a Monday at the NFL League Meetings moments after his starting quarterback…Read more...

Every Cinderella story needs a bitter, jaded, elderly hater. Charles Barkley is college basketball’s evil stepmother analog. One of the most maddening staples of every March Madness is TNT loaning out Charles Barkley for CBS’ NCAA Tournament studio show coverage where he dissects college hoops with the deftness of a…Read more...

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been the prime symbol of everything wrong with MLB. They play in perhaps the league’s best ballpark. They have a passionate fanbase that is just screaming for a team worth their time, assuming they haven’t all been chased off (and they may need the Pirates soon given that the Penguins look…Read more...

There’s a big phenomenon when conversing about sports to find the next big thing, or who a younger athlete could become when she or he reaches their potential. Kobe Bryant or LeBron James having a Michael Jordan-like arch dominated conversations for over a decade. The name of baseball’s next great power hitter in the…Read more...

LeBron James made his long-awaited return to the Lakers lineup Sunday and took a 10-point ‘L’ in Los Angeles at the hands of the Chicago Bulls. Another player who returned to Crypto.com Arena on Sunday was James’ former teammate, Patrick Beverley. Beverley and the Bulls didn’t just snag a convincing victory, but Pat…Read more...

On one hand, mainstream interest in Vince McMahon, the “Walt Disney of wrestling” has never been higher: last year he retired in disgrace as CEO and chairman after allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. (He has previously been twice accused of sexual assault, and has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.) …Read more...

Focus, people. There are only two weeks remaining in the NBA season.Read more...

There was a four-second difference between the game clock and the shot clock. The Golden State Warriors had the lead with less than 24 seconds remaining in the game. A victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves would have put the Warriors firmly 1.5 games ahead of the play-in tournament. The Warriors ended up losing…Read more...

The ever-changing landscape of the NFL is, in a way, just like fashion. It’s never standing still, always looking for new and creative ways to evolve and, eventually, it’ll become a cycle. It’s all about trends while in the moment. Outside zone run concepts. Lighter boxes to defend the run. Versatile defensive…Read more...

lebronWe’ll refrain from the Rex Ryan jokes. LeBron James returned yesterday to the Lakers…for some reason, to aid the Lakers’ chase to get dog-walked in the first round, at best. James had been told by two doctors that he should have surgery on his foot, only to find a doctor who would tell him what he wanted to…Read more...

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Pencil the San Francisco 49ers in as NFC West’s best in 2023 at your own risk. After the shellacking that the Seattle Seahawks suffered at the hands of the 49ers in the postseason, they have taken significant steps to shore up talent deficiencies on the roster. Come autumn, Kyle Shanahan and Co. had better be ready…Read more...

Udonis Haslem will go down as one of the most beloved players in Miami Heat history. He may be second to only Dwayne Wade, and that’s saying something considering some of the stars who’ve played for the franchise. While the Heat haven’t exactly made Haslem’s swan song season one to remember, the organization has…Read more...

Wherever he is, George Steinbrenner must’ve smiled and nodded at the news of Bayern Munich firing their manager with three-quarters of the season gone. Not only would that have reminded Big Steinn of his “glory” days (obviously the Yankees didn’t regain their spot atop the baseball world until Steinbrenner calmed the…Read more...

San Francisco 49ers star wide receiver Deebo Samuel was courtside in Phoenix Saturday for the Suns-Sixers game catching everyone’s attention rocking those goofy-looking big red boots. These MSCHF boots from the 2009 Astro Boy movie retail for as much as $350 and even more on sites like eBay. While they look silly as…Read more...

From the eighth-floor lobby of Manhattan’s New York Marriott Marquis hotel, Florida Atlantic athletic director Brian White couldn’t find the exact words to describe what being in the Sweet 16 meant to the Owls’ program and community as a whole. And that was nearly six hours before tipoff of FAU’s win over Tennessee. I…Read more...

Don’t fall for the Cinderella trap. That’s the general consensus from Florida Atlantic superfans, boosters, and radio-play-by-play announcers celebrating the Owls’ East regional title at the Time Square Marriott Marquis well after midnight. Given the trend in this NCAA Tournament beginning with Furman’s upset of…Read more...