Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The Philadelphia Inquirer gave a masterclass on journalism this week, publishing a report on the toxic chemicals infused in the turf at Veterans Stadium, which was (at least in part) launched by someone coming to the realization that six former Phillies players all died of the same rare brain cancer.

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I’m sure by now you’ve seen the “bro explaining” meme. It shows a guy wearing sunglasses and a Houston Astros talking to a blonde woman about who knows what — JoeSportsFan.com hypothesized “and it was at that point when she realized that his Dad’s oil money wasn’t worth the bro tales” — all while she looks like she’d…Read more...

You can’t have a free agency period without knowing who’s available. On Tuesday, the NFL announced what players have been officially hit with the “franchise player” tag in preparation for next week’s free agency period for the 2023 season that will begin on Wednesday, March 15 at 4:00 pm EST.Read more...

The New York Giants paid Daniel Jones his money, and no one feels particularly great about it other than the Maras and Jones. Well, probably Eli Manning, as well, considering the recent comments he made about his successor. It felt like a very quarterback club thing to do, like the way Trent Dilfer defends game…Read more...

Day 3 of the 2023 NFL Combine is often only talked about in regard to the quarterbacks. With so many big names at the position in the upcoming draft, it’s easy to understand why. There are four quarterbacks who could go in the top 10, so it stands to reason that all eyes would be on the likes of C.J. Stroud, Bryce…Read more...

George Karl picked the wrong day to go after Kendrick Perkins. On the Tuesday episode of First Take, JJ Redick and Perkins had a discussion about the NBA MVP that was loud, animated, and eventually went viral on social media. Perkins is not one to back off of his opinions so after the episode, he patted himself on the…Read more...

As the MLB season approaches nearer each day, the time to look forward and make predictions is upon us. Making predictions is tough though. There is no direction involved. With each player comes a myriad of statistics to look at, and trying to find one specific figure to follow and make a prediction on can be like…Read more...

JJ Redick looks like he’d rather be receiving a colonoscopy than embracing the debate on First Take. Redick joined ESPN after retirement, riding the success of his podcast The Old Man and the Three, and initially seemed like an odd fit for First Take. However, the more he strikes a nerve with his co-workers, the…Read more...

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones wanted to get paid and he did —handsomely. Big Blue gave the 25-year-old signal-caller a four-year, $160 million extension, while also placing the franchise tag on RB Saquon Barkley, according to reports.

Coming off his second Super Bowl victory, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce hosted Saturday Night Live on March 4. Among the many lovable characters the NFL has to offer, Kelce has to be one of the least camera-shy. Love him or hate him, the man knows how to rile up audiences. Whether he’s making bogus claims…Read more...

Today the Baltimore Ravens notified the NFL Players Association that they’ve placed a non-exclusive franchise tag on Lamar Jackson, after months of the two teams being at an impasse over a new deal for their star QB.

Once again, Aaron Rodgers has the football world in his clutches surrounding this saga of whether he’ll play in 2023 or take his ball and go home. New York City media is frothing at the mouth just thinking of having Rodgers for even one year with the Jets, and if you believe the latest reports, they could get their…Read more...

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Facebook hadn’t been invented yet, Zion Williamson didn’t exist, Mad Cow Disease was the “pandemic” of the time, and Y2K is what so many thought would be the end of modern civilization. The year 2000 feels like it was so long ago, but it feels even further away for Big Ten hoops fans. Twenty-three years ago, Tom…Read more...

The Boston Celtics have had a pretty shitty go of it the past week or so. They’ve lost four of five — two to the New York Knicks (one in double OT), one to the Brooklyn Nets (where they got booed off their home floor), and an OT loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Celtics are now two games behind the Milwaukee Bucks…Read more...

We here at Deadspin understand that you need to get those REM cycles in, in addition to catching up on The Mandalorian, The Last Of Us, the Great British Bakeoff, or whatever else the kids are watching these days. For those of you who cashed it in early, here are the four most exciting NBA games that you might have…Read more...

Last month, the WNBA’s Seattle Storm was valued at a record $151 million as reported in the Wall Street Journal. The team isn’t for sale, but investors can purchase one of 15 shares of the team, as it looks to finance a $64 million practice facility.Read more...

For much of the past year, Jalen Williams has been an underground jewel for NBA mole people. He won’t be discussed on First Take because he came from a mid-major and got jammed into one of the NBA’s smallest media markets.Read more...

Before continuing with this article please take a moment to give Geno Smith a round of applause. There is no need to stand, but do acknowledge that his entire life has changed with the contract that he signed with the Seattle Seahawks.Read more...

Giannis Antetokounmpo was nine years old in Greece in March 2003, so it’s likely that he didn’t watch too many Cleveland Cavaliers games before the Franchise selected LeBron James with the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft that June. Still, a veteran should have told him the story about Ricky Davis so Antetokoumnpo…Read more...

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I’m not here to psychoanalyze Ja Morant, ask if he has any gang affiliations, or question the influence that his parents are playing in his life. I will say, however, that if Morant was trying to emulate mid-2000s Michael Vick by having an illicit business on the side we probably would have heard about it by now. It…Read more...

In just a couple of years, Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard has gone from being a scrappy backup to the team’s most dangerous weapon out of the backfield. The 2019 fourth-round draft pick became Dallas’ primary rusher in most people’s eyes during the ‘22 campaign. The Cowboys would like to keep Pollard around…Read more...

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This is the juncture in the seesawing NBA season when champions begin raising their games and pretenders plummet into sinkholes. Disarray isn’t a permanent status. Over the course of an 82-game season, lulls, injuries, suspensions and a lack of focus can derail even the steadiest contenders. However, it’s all…Read more...

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After months of speculation, Derek Carr has decided on his next NFL home, and it’s not the destination we’d been led to believe it would likely land. No, Carr has not signed with the New York Jets. The former Las Vegas/Oakland Raider has signed a long-term contract with the New Orleans Saints and is now the best…Read more...

Bing-bong, bang-bang, pick whatever onomatopoeia you desire to properly emphasize the 2022-23 New York Knicks, as long as you acknowledge that this team is for real. They have won nine games in a row and are 4.5 games ahead of a play-in tournament appearance.Read more...

People who claim to know/read the Bible often do things that prove that they don’t actually know/read the Bible — like Mark Adams. If the Texas Tech’s men’s basketball head coach was the theologian he claims to be, he wouldn’t be currently suspended for using language that was marinated with slavery and deep-fried in…Read more...

It is an insurmountable stroke of luck to make the NBA. So when a former NBA player can watch his son make the league as well, it is an act of poetry. As the all-time leading scorer, LeBron James is set to be the first NBA player to play in the league simultaneously with his son, Bronny James. We look back on the best…Read more...

An Alabama youth girls’ basketball team that was told they would lose their practice facility unless they agreed to play in a boys’ league went on to win the whole thing — and yet was denied the championship trophy. Instead, the trophies were given to the boys who, to be clear, were beaten by the girls in the league…Read more...

NBA fight s are bogus.Read more...

What do Michael Jordan, JJ Redick, Jerry West, David Thompson, and Ray Allen have in common? College basketball analyst and Lord of Listicles John Whitaker released his top shooting guards in men’s college basketball history last week, and whittled his top five to that group. Unfortunately, his top five is a confusing…Read more...

The rule when talking about the vile 200-plus year slavery period in American history is simple: If you make a reference to chattel slavery, it had better be about how wretched it was, or your job will be in serious jeopardy. The only exception to that rule, sadly, seems to be elected officials. Texas Tech Men’s…Read more...

Josh Gordon is thriving again, and this time it’s for the XFL. The league created by Vincent Kennedy McMahon, now run by The Rock, is back, providing an alternative for fans and another opportunity for NFL hopefuls and former players to grab a check for playing the game they love. While some XFLers will look to use…Read more...

Through two weeks in the XFL season, the Orlando Guardians are 0-2, in last place in the XFL South. Their offense has been particularly inept, scoring just twelve points in each game and absolutely zero points in the second or third quarters of each game. Quarterback Paxton Lynch has been clowned on and memed into…Read more...

The longest active win streak in the NBA ended Saturday night, as the Philadelphia 76ers stopped the Milwaukee Bucks’ 16-game run with a 133-130 win in Giannis Antetokuonmpo’s house. Joel Embiid and James Harden combined for 69 points, overcoming an 18-point deficit.

Every year, MLB spring training provides some sort of insight into the upcoming season, whether it be emerging stars or the adoption of new rule changes. Well if the early goings of this year’s spring training are any indicator, we’re in for some wild times. I’m at the point where nothing on my Twitter feed could…Read more...

Jackson Mahomes, the wannabe social media influencer and brother of two-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, is being accused of assault by the owner of Aspens Restaurant and Lounge in Overland Park, Kansas, and one of its employees.Read more...

It’s not that I don’t think Ja Morant can read a room. I think he can, which is why his Instagram Live story where he appears to hold a gun is so maddening. If you’re unaware, Morant has been in the news this week because details emerged from an incident where he allegedly punched a teenager and flashed a gun, along…Read more...

The question of the combine, draft, decade, football writ large is if smaller quarterbacks can make it in the NFL. Bryce Young’s literal judgment day arrived Saturday and came in at 5-foot-10 ⅛ inch, 204 pounds. Shorter QBs like Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, and Kyler Murray have all performed at MVP levels during their…Read more...

The traditions involved with going to a baseball game are unbeatable. Even if you’re not a fan of the game, enjoying a day out of the house and talking with friends and/or family about life while everyone around you partakes in a singular activity that they can root and cheer for is always a grand time. Taking in the…Read more...

The three biggest names in the 2023 NFL Draft — projected top 10 quarterbacks Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, and Will Levis — spoke with the media Friday at the combine, and it was electric. No, no, it wasn’t, but football fans hung on every word. No, no, they didn’t. It was pretty standard fare, but let’s pretend it was…Read more...

The Creed and Rocky franchises have not only felt like an expanding cloth weaving through the sports zeitgeist for nearly 50 years. Beyond its cultural footprint, its nine installments have launched or sunk the burgeoning acting careers of several retired and active athletes. From former Raiders linebacker Carl…Read more...

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The days of seeing Carson Wentz suit up as an NFL team’s starting quarterback are likely long gone. After a series of years underperforming for three different teams, Wentz was released by the Washington Commanders. Yes, Wentz’s time in the spotlight may be closed, but his time in someone else’s shadow not named Nick…Read more...

Women’s history month is already off to a cringeworthy start in the NBA, with the Toronto Raptors paying tribute (their version of one) to women all over the world. Growing up a huge pro wrestling fan, I’ve seen some bad scripts in my day, but this one takes the cake. Whoever wrote this script needs to be drop-kicked…Read more...

There’s stupidity, and then there’s ignorance. A lot of time they can overlap, but what LSU gymnast and influencer Olivia Dunne did when she promoted Caktus AI as a homework tool was flat-out stupid. Even if it’s a new technology, and not officially banned, anybody with an iota of common sense knows that having AI do…Read more...

As Thursday’s eventual Jeopardy! winner Caleb so eloquently put it “the internet’s going to love that!” and he’s correct, unlike him and his two opponents during the “High School Reunion Tournament” who were at answering sports questions. The category “In The Sport” listed more peculiar sports terms relating to one…Read more...