Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The New York Jets are stuck between a rock and a hard place, otherwise known as Aaron Rodgers and Derek Carr. On one hand, the quarterback upgrade they’ve been clamoring for just ghosted everyone so he could embark on a darkness retreat. After two decades in Green Bay, it’s fair to wonder if he’s up to becoming the…Read more...

The Atlantic Division in the NHL was already a hell gauntlet. With the Boston Bruins suddenly turning into a team of frost giants that can skate (then again, it’s probably likely frost giants could always skate, given the conditions in the Jotunheim), it’s only become more so. It’s just three teams right now, but for…Read more...

I didn’t plan on writing anything about Tiger Woods’ stupid, sexist, juvenile joke with pal Justin Thomas at the Genesis Invitational last week. After all, lots of people have already written about it more eloquently than I will. If you missed the moment, Woods handed Thomas a tampon during the first round of the…Read more...

After still being unclear as to what his style of play is on offense and defense after three seasons at Jackson State University, Deion Sanders has now informed us on what he looks for when he’s recruiting, as he prepares to enter his first season at the University of Colorado. Unsurprisingly, his ideology is based on…Read more...

The Los Angeles Lakers’ first half of the 2022-23 season was so putrid, they spent it trying to offload their backcourt. In the end, there were takers for Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley. It wasn’t the teams that traded for Russ and Pat Bev at the deadline though as each guard was promptly bought out. It took a…Read more...

I get it. In a lot of the country, it’s that part of the winter where it seems like it might never end (though it’s been quite mild here). The charm of spring training, whatever anyone tells you, is merely seeing the sun and warmth (though it was quite cold in Arizona recently). When the games start, fans may tell you…Read more...

If you were like me, and god help you if you are, and you needed some sort of wrestling cleanse after WWE barfed up WWE things on Saturday, then Mercedes Moné came to your rescue late in the night. Mercedes made her return to the ring in NJPW’s Battle In The Valley in San Jose, wrestling Kairi (the former Kairi Sane…Read more...

Do we still have to take Russell Westbrook seriously? I mean, if you can’t play with LeBron James or Kevin Durant, who can you fit next to? Whichever franchise signs him next will be his fifth in six years (unless he ruins it back with the Wizards), and we’re firmly in “This guy might be out of the league with gas…Read more...

Leather is popping, grunts from a mound are being emitted, and GMs are already coming up with lame excuses in the sun — it must be spring training! Pitchers and catchers have reported in Florida and Arizona, and very soon there will be actual games played. They won’t count, of course, and will be accompanied by a lot…Read more...

While filming FOX’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test last June, three-time Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy was surrounded by several fellow faces familiar to sports fans. Danny Amendola, Dwight Howard, Carli Lloyd, Nastia Liukin and Mike Piazza were also cast on the show. A World Cup winner, a Super Bowl champ and…Read more...

After throwing slop at a wall like everybody else trying to figure out the best route for the NBA regular season and All-Star break to matter, I have the ultimate solution. There is no better idea, and even though it won’t happen, the potential to overwhelm the news cycle is so alluring that Adam Silver has to…Read more...

The player-empowerment era has created more avenues for athletes to flex their own team-building ability, but Kyrie Irving’s Saturday media availability during All-Star Weekend touched on an issue he’s extremely familiar with — trade requests. Irving’s response to inquiries about the topic illustrates his problematic…Read more...

Let’s start by being complimentary. It’s a new thing for me but I’m getting old and trying to evolve before my cholesterol count gets me. Thanks to the work that Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns have put in over the past six months, what is usually a run-of-the-mill PLE, Elimination Chamber, rose to the level of a must-see…Read more...

All-Star Saturday has always had cookout vibes, and McClung earned another invite for next year. But someone had to bring the unseasoned cole slaw. Karl Malone’s presence as an ambassador and a judge who got entirely too many nods from the NBA and the broadcast made things way too awkward. Malone — who impregnated a…Read more...

Nobody should be surprised that Mac McClung won the dunk contest. If you’re a hoops fan, McClung has been in the public eye for some time now because he can dunk well enough to go viral. Add in that he’s a 6-foot-2 white guy, and you have a recipe for internet fame.Read more...

NBA All-Star Weekend kicked off yesterday with commissioner Adam Silver unveiling several features soon to become part of the future live game streaming experience. The annual Tech Summit always offers a solid glimpse into the future, and fans were abuzz wondering what technical marvels would be coming to the NBA…Read more...

The list of finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is a snapshot of an era. Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade headline the class, having met twice in the NBA Finals, splitting the titles between them. Gregg Popovich, Tony Parker, and Becky Hammon are forever San Antonio Spurs. And then there’s Pau…Read more...

Albert Pujols and D.K. Metcalf aren’t in the same universe athletically at this point in their lives. Yet, they shared a basketball court Friday as part of the NBA Celebrity Game, and I gotta say, it is startling that one of the greatest baseball players of this century — coming off a 24-home run swan song season —…Read more...

How much money is $750,000 to a baseball team, hm? According to Spotrac, the Milwaukee Brewers have already determined the 2023 salaries for 20 of their players. All of them will be earning more than $1 million. Given that MLB rosters can consist of 26 people, we can say that, at most, six Brewers will earn less than…Read more...

The direction of the United States men’s national team nearly three months after its World Cup campaign in Qatar began is in flux. The Yanks are at the wheel, but don’t know whether to hit the gas or the brake. The car is in neutral at a time where that’s acceptable, but not ideal. Making the right decision with who…Read more...

Canada’s national women’s soccer team is the reigning Olympic Gold medalist. There is no reason why they should be taking a budget cut. There is no reason that they should be getting paid less than their male counterparts. There is no reason they should not be supported, especially as they are the best their team has…Read more...

If Tiger Woods thought the “joke” he made after teeing off on the ninth hole at Riviera Country Club on Thursday was appropriate, he wouldn’t have been so sly about it. Golf fans needed a telephoto lens to catch it, but once they figured out, it was widely shared, celebrated, or disparaged, and then defended. My lean…Read more...

When Joe Mazzulla was announced as the Boston Celtics interim head coach in September, many had no idea who the 34-year-old was. But, I did. Back in 2008, his 13 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists performance in 31 minutes off the bench sent my Duke Blue Devils home in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.…Read more...

About six weeks ago, I came here to lament how whenever one thing went wrong for a team, in any sport these days, the immediate call from fans and media alike was to simply blow things up. We have become so attuned to teams either being contenders or driving themselves into the dirt to start over that it’s the default…Read more...

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The NBA All-Star Game is an honor bestowed upon the most distinguished hoopers every season. Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re doing here. Their time will come. However, the NBA’s worst rotation players deserve to receive their dead flowers too. Stare into this dark void with me and commemorate the NBA players…Read more...

Arsenal had passed most every test this season. There’s still a hint of wonder/confusion at their place atop the Premier League. While improvement was expected from their fifth-place finish last season, to run through the league for the first half of the season as they have come out of nowhere. What made it even more…Read more...

Nikola Jokić’s season has been one for the ages. The Denver Nuggets are first in the West, first in offensive efficiency, Jokić is a god according to almost every analytics metric as well as the runaway favorite to become the first MVP in three consecutive seasons since Larry Bird ran the table between 1984 and 1986.…Read more...

Gus Kenworthy knows a thing or two about breaking boundaries in sports for LGBTQ+ athletes. He was the first openly gay X Games athlete and alongside good friend and figure skater Adam Rippon, he was half of the first openly gay duo to represent the United States in the Winter Olympics at the 2018 games in…Read more...

We stand here today on the precipice of one of the largest downfalls in broadcasting. Diamond Sports Group, the company that owns all of Bally’s regional sports networks, announced Wednesday that it would be skipping its $140 million payment for February.Read more...

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A pretty disturbing case came to a close in Columbus, where two former OSU football players, Amir I. Riep and Jahsen L. Wint, were acquitted by a jury of the rape and kidnapping of a 19-year-old student. The case seemed to hinge on a video of the alleged victim giving consent after the fact, even though the video…Read more...

The New York Knicks are officially hot for the New York Knicks. They’ve won six of the past eight, and eight of 12. New addition Josh Hart is 9-of-14 from deep in his first three games (all wins) with his old Villanova teammate Jalen Brunson, and Tom Thibodeau has enough talent that Derrick Rose is getting DNPs. They…Read more...

One of MLB’s biggest problems, and it spreads to other leagues as well, is the amount of buck-passing that seems to take place when there’s a serious issue. Whenever there’s someone like Mike Clevinger being investigated for domestic abuse or something else awful, a team is waiting for the league to act, and the…Read more...

The Eagles lost the Super Bowl, but their coaching staff won. Philadelphia’s former offensive and defensive coordinators — Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon — have been hired as head coaches for the Indianapolis Colts and the Arizona Cardinals, respectively. Their hirings were just the latest example of the continued…Read more...

Amid the controversy surrounding the holding penalty at the end of Super Bowl LVII, rumors of Andy Reid’s retirement, and people trashing Travis Kelce for saying everyone doubted Kansas City when absolutely zero people doubted them, several other storylines have been overlooked. While Andy Reid may not be retiring,…Read more...

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The NBA All-Star Game is an honor bestowed upon the most distinguished hoopers every season. Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re doing here. Their time will come. However, the NBA’s worst rotation players deserve to receive their dead flowers too. Stare into this dark void with me and commemorate the NBA players…Read more...

It was another year in which the Chiefs’ offense looked dominant en route to their second Super Bowl in four seasons. Missouri’s only NFL team has hosted a conference championship game each of the last five seasons and was defeated in regulation zero times. Patrick Mahomes gets the spoils as the best quarterback in…Read more...

The only time the internet gets joy over someone else’s happiness is when they’re drunk and making a fool of themselves. That’s why we loved parade Klay Thompson in June, and adored Patrick Mahomes from a few years back. Even Tom Brady throwing the Lombardi between boats was entertaining, and there is little he does…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. Fuck you.

It comes from a place of heartbreak. It’s hard to not become smitten with the Carolina Hurricanes. They play fast. They have a rabid fanbase. They have a lot of players that are easy to like. They have a coach in Rod Brind’amour who’s happy to explain things to fans and isn’t a complete meatball (he also looks like…Read more...

Patrick Beverly is at it again, doing what he does best on and off the court, and that’s running his mouth. On the latest episode of The Pat Bev Podcast, Beverley talked about what happened in Los Angeles regarding why they didn’t win.

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This isn’t the first time Ben Simmons has had his “own” team as so many fans wondered what a roster built around his skill set would look like. It is the first instance that he’s been the, umm, marque name of an NBA franchise, but he was the No. 1 guy at LSU, and forfeited the opportunity to be the engine of the…Read more...

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A new study by Ohio Sports Betting researched the most popular NFL teams in the country by state. The Dallas Cowboys won by a whopping margin as the overwhelming team of choice in 15 states. This study was based on Google search data collected over the last 12 months. The Cowboys ran away with the competition, with…Read more...

At least the NBA, unlike some of its sporting league counterparts, keeps its CBA negotiations mostly under wraps. They’re going on right now, as both owners and players have the option of opting out of the current agreement by March 31, which would end the deal on June 30. One of the things to leak out of the…Read more...

Alex Ovechkin has transcended hockey since he entered the league officially in 2005. He had to wait an extra year because of that pesky canceled season after he was drafted the year prior. He also missed three months due to another lockout in 2012. Not to mention the coronavirus pandemic disrupting the 2020 season.…Read more...

Down 10 at halftime, the Kansas City Chiefs did what they do best, mount a comeback to earn their second Super Bowl title in four years. It was a masterful second-half performance from Chiefs’ offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who outmaneuvered Eagles’ defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon — who is set to become…Read more...