Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The overriding factor in judging Darwin Nunez last year had nothing to do with him. He had the misfortune of being a big-money forward purchased at the same time as Erling Haaland.Read more...

No matter who you are, getting people to read your writing is tough. Ever since the internet happened, beat reporters and columnists have all manner of competition for the audience's eye. To combat the fire hose of content available to readers, journalists have employed all sorts of tactics to draw people in,...Read more...

This morning, the New York Jets and Denver Broncos are searching for someone to blame for their current predicaments: Sean Payton, Russell Wilson, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Nathaniel Hackett, or Zach Wilson? There's only one lightning rod who deserves the most of the smoke though.

The 2023 NFL season is in full swing and, three weeks in, there are already a few teams we can count out - because they're finished. A couple of these teams might shock you, but if you haven't won a game by this point, the odds of making the postseason are slim. Only six teams in NFL history have ever recovered from a...Read more...

If you're looking for a clue that Mel Tucker didn't actually embrace the program rape survivor or advocate Brenda Tracy puts on at college campuses all over the country, look no further than his response to being called out in public for his behavior.Read more...

Tony Womack: 72 (1999)

Troy Glaus: 47 (2000), 41 (2001)

The Miami Dolphins are fast, like heyday Miami Hurricanes fast, in relation to their competition. With his current offense, Tua Tagovailoa must be currently feeling like he did while quarterbacking Alabama - the modern standard for college football athleticism. Back then his weapons on offense included DeVonta Smith,...Read more...

I'll never be free of this.

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A lot of poor professional football was played during Week 3 of the NFL season. Going into the first window of games, most of the schedule appeared uninspiring - especially after 4:00 p.m. EST. However, mismatches were not the sole reason for poor play throughout the day.Read more...

Another year. Another Super Bowl Halftime Show with a Black artist. Another opportunity for Jay-Z to receive uncomfortable recognition.Read more...

This article is based on data from Sportradar. Text was compiled by an AI engine that was then reviewed and edited by the editorial staff.Read more...

While Tua Tagovailoa is opening eyes around the league, he was simultaneously closing out an era as well. During Miami's 70-20 drubbing of the Denver Broncos Tua Tagovailoa ended any hopes of a Russell Wilson Renaissance. It might be time to mummify Wilson. There are still 15 weeks remaining, but he is a dead man...Read more...

The New Orleans Saints have been one of the surprise teams in the early stages of this 2023 campaign. They were well on their way to a 3-0 start to the season against the Green Bay Packers, holding a 17-point lead heading into the fourth quarter Sunday afternoon. If you turned away thinking it was over, you should...Read more...

Travis Kelce deserves one of those Bobby Bonilla/Magic Johnson-type contracts after the money he will soon make the Kansas City Chiefs. His new situationship with Taylor Swift will launch his post-football career into the stratosphere, but that is a long play. In the immediate, he has made the Chiefs the most relevant...Read more...

One thing you don't want before facing the Kansas City Chiefs is a distraction. So how about several?Read more...

It is, in fact, too early to make a definitive call on the massive contract the Cleveland Browns handed Deshaun Watson, the team's latest and most spectacular Hail Mary attempt at finally landing on a franchise signal caller.

All the hype and attention surrounding the Colorado Buffaloes and head coach Deion Sanders was stifled on Saturday at the hands of the Oregon Ducks. The No. 10 team in the nation put boots to ass and sent No. 19 Colorado back to Boulder, licking their wounds. This is one of those losses that'll bother Colorado for...Read more...

Almost every demise in a baseball season is slow (unless you're the Pittsburgh Pirates-more on them later). When a team still has a shot at the postseason by September, every game means that team is chasing something. And that chase means that should they falter on Tuesday, by Wednesday's first pitch, fans and players...Read more...

Clemson didn't play like an unranked team for most of the game against No. 4 Florida State and should've kept its seven-game winning streak intact against the ACC rival. The Tiger defense held Jordan Travis to more punts (four) than points (three) in the second half, and if not for a scoop, and score, and a missed...Read more...

Throughout the Notre Dame-Ohio State game, the booth constantly reminded viewers that Irish skipper Marcus Freeman said he wasn't going to coach scared like he did a season ago against the Buckeyes. For 57 minutes in South Bend on Saturday night, he did that, and the Irish lost, 17-14 as a result.Read more...

Welcome to Deadspin's The Sports Nihilist, where all is for naught and we are but accidental jolts of electrified meat stuck to the surface of a rock in an indifferent universe. F*ck you.Read more...

There's a fixation in sports media and society at large to focus on the negative. When you're watching the nightly news, they'll never lead with how a crossing guard helped hundreds of kids not get hit by a car. It'll be about the accident up the street. And you can bet they'll run the tape of something dumb a...Read more...

While the big media outlets fall all over themselves to slurp Deion Sanders, there is an actual marquee matchup Saturday that could have real ramifications for the College Football Playoff. No. 6 Ohio State and No. 9 Notre Dame are set to finish their home-and-home stand in South Bend, and it should be a vastly more...Read more...

Entering the penultimate weekend of baseball's regular season, so much is in flux. The calming part is the National League. Every division race is wrapped up and the Wild Card will become a matter of which pair of teams are the odd ones out between the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Miami Marlins, and Cincinnati R...Read more...

If you're gonna do it, do it right. And, if the XFL and the USFL are on the verge of a merger, then the new league must continue the XFL's trend of hiring and employing Black coaches.Read more...

The most annoying thing about Brock Purdy, and there's more than a few, is the idea that the Niners planned all of this.Read more...

The Golden State Warriors are interested in Dwight Howard. This information is public because of good reporting from KRON4's Jason Dumas, which Draymond Green confirmed on social media. Green gave kudos to Dumas for doing good work, but couldn't resist taking a shot at him getting that scoop.The Warriors defensive...Read more...

If there's any NBA trading block resident who deserves to transition to a contender this season, it's not James Harden or Damian Lillard, it's newcomer Buddy Hield. At least Dame Time has advanced to the brink of a Conference Finals. Hield has never even sailed the postseason waters. His 548 games played without a...Read more...

It isn't a question as to who the male tennis GOAT is anymore. In recent years Novak Djokovic's almost-robotic dominance as he continues to age has pushed him ahead of his contemporaries and predecessors. One of Djokovic's greatest challengers to the crown conceded the throne recently when Rafael Nadal stated the...Read more...

Since America encourages maximum luxury that is far too expensive for the average person, of course, a project combining sports and extravagance is headed for college towns. Sports Illustrated has already built a sports-themed resort in the Dominican Republic, where the 2023 Swimsuit issue was shot. Beginning in 2025,...Read more...

There are so many more interesting teams than the New York Jets and Giants, Denver Broncos, and Chicago Bears, but from now through Thanksgiving, NFL fans will be subjected to those franchises 13 times on national TV. It's early, and there's still time to course correct, yet after just two weeks, those four teams are...Read more...

I was once discussing the Catholic Church abuse scandal with some friends. The main thrust of the conversation was this: Is there something about the Church that specifically causes priests to abuse children? Or are predators attracted to the Church because they know they can abuse there? We never came to a...Read more...

Time moves fast for a company trying to send its stock price up a percentage of a point. Yes, this is how big corporate America works. Cut employee expenditure to as lean as possible while maximizing revenue. WWE cashing in on a new $1.4 billion deal to move Smackdown back to USA Network is a perfect opportunity to...Read more...

I have no idea if Mel Tucker thought things were consensual - or if he even asked. I'm clueless when it comes to knowing if Brenda Tracy had a motive. But what I, and you, know is that Mel Tucker owned up to doing what he did - making sexual comments" about Tracy while masturbating" during a late-night intimate...Read more...

One of the best/least consequential storylines in all of sports is of the big man who goes to Hakeem Olajuwon's Dream Shake academy to learn one of the most lethal, and unteachable, moves in the history of the NBA. At $50,000 a session, it's as close to a Ponzi scheme as you're going to get without it technically...Read more...

It's obvious a fandom is completely beaten down and without hope when all they ask for is for their team to just be bad and unnoticeable.Read more...

A potential Cam Akers deal has been rumored for quite some time, and the LA Rams finally found a trade partner willing to take him off their hands.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith should be in his Danny Glover I'm too old for this" stage of his career. The Buckeyes' longtime athletic director is retiring in 2024, and presumably moving somewhere warm because Columbus is not the place. After this season, NIL isn't his problem anymore.Read more...

After starting the season 0-2, things got a whole lot worse for the Chicago Bears on Wednesday.Read more...

I did not wake up on a slow news Wednesday expecting a peal of life wisdom to fall from the tongue of Christopher Mad Dog" Russo. He comes in out of the bullpen on ESPN's First Take, bringing heat, as the bluster from the AM radio past going up against the cable television present top gas bagger, Stephen A. Smith.Read more...

New Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton's tenure in the Mile High City is off to a rocky start. His team lost the first two games of the season by a combined three points against Las Vegas and Washington, respectively. The offense looks to be moving in the right direction under Payton, but now the defense seems to...Read more...

Boston College has placed its men's and women's swimming and diving teams on an indefinite suspension after the university's leadership found there was rampant hazing in the program, the school announced Wednesday.Read more...

The only thing worse than meeting your heroes is dating them. I can't speak from experience, but that sounds like a good opening to a piece about the downsides of dating the world's pop queen. Travis Kelce is somewhat affable, seems like a total bro, and people still find him attractive even with the molester...Read more...

Stating we've never seen something like this before" in sports is usually overused.Read more...

It would be folly to pin too much on just a handful of games, no matter how good the Baltimore Orioles have looked. But then again, October doesn't really adhere to trends or reason or logic either. When you get to this point in the season and try to look forward, you can throw darts at stardust, and it's just as...Read more...

In 2022, the Cleveland Browns sent three first-round picks, a third-round pick, and two fourth-round picks to the Houston Texans to acquire quarterback Deshaun Watson, whom they promptly rewarded with a fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million deal. Not only that, the franchise stood by him during accusation after...Read more...

The Dallas Cowboys are off to another hot start, and the hype train has kicked into high gear after two impressive wins to start the 2023 campaign.Read more...

On Monday, the guillotine hovering over HBO's Winning Time finally dropped when the series joined a growing collection of shows canceled by the network. Declining ratings and criticism from its stars, who insisted that Adam McKay's Lakers series based on Jeff Pearlman's biographical account, turned them into...Read more...