Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

If the world was falling apart just a bit less rapidly, I would do nothing but guffaw over a Los Angeles Clippers employee using a burner account to start a rumor that Taylor Swift was dating Austin Reaves.Read more...

After extensive research by osmosis, and two preseason games, I'm ready to declare Victor Wembanyama the next Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.Read more...

There is no winning with Vince McMahon, at least not for plebes like you and me. He just closed a merger with Endeavor that will net him billions. He already had billions. Whenever he spins off this mortal coil, because he'll never retire, he'll have been a transformative figure in not just wrestling but the...Read more...

Once the Milwaukee Bucks acquired Damian Lillard via trade from Portland last month, they immediately became the favorites to win it all in the NBA. However, not everyone is on board with the Bucks running away with the title because they acquired another All-Star/All-NBA player. An anonymous scout recently gave their...Read more...

Last month, Deadspin reported on a Media Matters discovery that ads for the NFL (and various NFL teams) were showing up on white nationalist accounts on X.com (formerly Twitter). That revelation led to the league reaching out to X to pull their ads from accounts that advocate for white supremacy.Read more...

The NFL season started on Sept. 7, and through six weeks, there are no unbeaten teams remaining and plenty of parity.

A great team is only as strong as its weakest link. At least that's the consensus among every motivational coach I've ever heard. But for the sake of this space, it's true for NBA contenders as well. I'll examine the weak spots in some of the most iron-clad lineups in the NBA entering the 2023 season from...Read more...

Update, Oct. 18: Conor McGregor won't be charged in relation to sexual assault allegations in Miami, according to authorities.Read more...

The NFL is getting its signals crossed about player safety. Fans, as well as the guys on the field, don't like seeing carnage as much as the next war vet. If you're of the notion that injuries aren't the worst part of football (then, boy, do I have a slideshow for you), but also you'd be in the minority. It sucks...Read more...

It was never about the flag or the anthem. It was about white America being pissed off that Black, and white, athletes were attempting to hold this country accountable for its greatest sins - racism and police brutality - at the beginning of America's favorite game during a part of the week in which they're privileged...Read more...

I've seen every single episode of FOX's reality singing competition show The Masked Singer. It might seem dumb to some, and parts of it are over-the-top weird, but there's a lot to enjoy about the show. And I know I'm not alone, as it's airing its 10th season now, with a new episode airing Wednesday night celebrating...Read more...

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) summed up the problem with the never-ending congressional hearings regarding name, image, and likeness (NIL) and the current state of college sports. They are disingenuous. The NCAA has been a part of many congressional hearings but its president was before the Senate on Tuesday, for the 10th...Read more...

USMNT fans got to see just about every element of the national team in their two friendlies of this window, good and bad. If you wanted dynamic, vibrant attacking moves that made one dream of what could come on the bigger stages that will soon be here, they had that for ya. If you were a sadist and wanted to see some...Read more...

Whoops.Read more...

Utah Jazz fans, your team lost to the Chicago Bulls 25 years ago. Friends conversed about Michael Jordan's game-winning shot in the 1998 Finals on AIM, and Karl Malone teamed up with Diamond Dallas Page to take on Dennis Rodman and Hollywood Hogan at WCW's Bash at the Beach a month later. Let the past live in the past...Read more...

Boxing seems to be at it again, testing the waters and gauging fan interest in another special attraction super fight. This time, the participants are Canelo Alvarez and Conor McGregor. Combat sport site Roots of Combat posted a clip of a young Canelo in the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr., with the word masterclass"...Read more...

Update Oct. 17, 3:15 p.m.: We know now the identity of the viral Chargers fan: Merrianne Do.Read more...

Read more...

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is already feeling good, looking like he's in midseason form, and the regular season hasn't even begun. Antetokounmpo and his new running mate, Damian Lillard, look like a well-oiled machine ready to wreak havoc on the NBA. Giannis is feeling so good about it that he...Read more...

The Atlanta Falcons took a calculated zag in the 2023 NFL Draft, and a lot of people co-signed with the decision to take Bijan Robinson. His measurables, skill set, pedigree, and school indicated Art Smith was getting a can't-miss star, perfect for his creative running schemes.Read more...

The first two games of the American League Championship Series played out as if Major League Baseball's scriptwriters wanted to show how far the Rangers could bend without breaking, twice. Texas' bullpen was the team's biggest red flag by a mile heading into the postseason and its offense didn't drive in a run after...Read more...

There was a time when the Red Sox GM job was one of the most glittering in all of sports. Before Theo Epstein, it was the seat that gave any candidate a chance to have their name live forever and end the championship drought in Boston. After Epstein, it was the chance to work for one of the more forward-thinking...Read more...

Zach Wilson isn't old enough to know this, but the general manager who drafted him knew the fictional Shane Falco. During an early scene in The Replacements where Falco reports to training camp, striking players confront him in the parking lot. Douglas is one of the meatheads who flips Falco's truck. I hope he...Read more...

It is very NHL, and specifically very Toronto Maple Leafs, to make a big deal out of changing their goal song for the season, and then having to change it after one game. The lesson, kids, is that you never cross Hall & Oates. The Greeks knew it, the Carthaginians knew it, and now the Six knows it. It's also very...Read more...

Sports is politics. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. Whether it's racism, sexism, homophobia, or transphobia... it all plays out on our screens during professional and amateur sporting events. Billie Jean King took on the wage gap back in 1973, when she was paid just $10,000 (compared to $25,000 for the men) at...Read more...

Brooklyn Nets point guard Ben Simmons recently discovered what it's like to come face-to-face with himself. While interacting with a group of fans before Monday night's preseason game at Barclays Center, Simmons met a young fan with a tattoo of Ben's face on his chest. Even Simmons was a bit shocked at the piece...Read more...

Hi, Helen, let me tell you why the Eastern Conference sucks as a basketball league. Let's say some team goes into the season, and let's say they're even remotely capable of winning something. Well, then they get all excited like Jojo the idiot circus boy with a pretty new pet. The pet is a possible title. Oh, my...Read more...

As the NBA expands under the epoch of spacing and volume three-point shooting, general managers across the league scramble to draft, sign, and trade as many three-point shooters who can also play switchable defense and handle the rock. But something funny has happened along the way. While the 2000s saw a top-heavy...Read more...

Derek Jeter hired Kim Ng. Derek Jeter left. Ng is gone now, too. This isn't about the Miami Marlins having a dysfunctional front office. It's an example of how one historic minority employee's time with an organization came to an end after a successful season - and less than two years after the minority employee, with...Read more...

Here's where not to put your first fastball of the game in front of a ravenous Philly crowd that's looking for any excuse to turn the place into a cauldron:Read more...

A great team is only as strong as its weakest link. At least that's the consensus among every motivational coach I've ever heard. But for the sake of this space, it's true for NBA contenders as well. I'll examine the weak spots in some of the most iron-clad lineups in the NBA entering the 2023 season from...Read more...

The Todd Monken era was supposed to be the dawn of a new day for the Baltimore Ravens' offense. Under Monken's tutelage, Jameis Winston was making big plays even though he was not consistent, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers weren't winning games. At Georgia, he turned Stetson Bennett into a 4,000-yard passer. With 2019...Read more...

The Detroit Lions are for real. As shocking as that may sound to anyone outside the Detroit area, these new, and improved Lions have lived up to the hype thus far. All the offseason talk about the Lions and what they're building that led into the preseason, which has unfolded over the past six weeks, has been...Read more...

After Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon four plays into the season, nobody thought the New York Jets would still be alive and kicking five weeks later. Yet here we are, following their Week 6 upset over the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles, and the Jets are 3-3. Indeed, Rodgers' speedy progress and...Read more...

Hello, and welcome to the Sick, Sad World of Sports, a reminder that sports figures are human, and as such, are no more or less prone to fallibility than the rest of us. Everyone makes mistakes, but often fans overlook a misdemeanor or even a felony, because sports are supposed to be an escape.Read more...

Miami Marlins General Manager Kim Ng is looking for her next club, having declined her end of a mutual option for the 2024 season.Read more...

It doesn't take long to become considered playoff-tested anymore, given that teams are given way more spins of the wheel than they used to be as well as the inning-by-inning referendum fans, and media descend into. The Philadelphia Phillies, thanks to kneecapping Atlanta two years in a row, and appearing in their...Read more...

For two years, Jack Hammer established himself as an authoritative voice within the Niners community as a writer, and personality covering one of the NFL's most popular franchises for The Santa Rosa Press Democrat's Inside the 49ers" blog. He wrote hundreds of stories for the Press Democrat, reporting on the team and...Read more...

No matter the final score, triumph or tragedy is something the quarterback must carry - despite how they played. And since that's the way things work, Cleveland Browns third-string quarterback PJ Walker gets the praise for the team's surprising win over the NFL's best team, the San Francisco 49ers. But the game wasn't...Read more...

Week 6 saw the final two undefeated teams in the NFL fall in upset fashion as the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles took L's Sunday afternoon. Of course, this opened a door for the Detroit Lions to enter a first-place tie atop the NFC, which they accomplished by beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road.Read more...

It would have been nice to see Tyrod Taylor pull out that win last night. He has been afflicted with that professional sports condition in which he is just good enough of a player to spend his career bouncing around on many different teams. He got the start for the New York Giants in Week 6 on the road against the Buff...Read more...

The final remaining undefeated teams both went down in Week 6. The dominant San Francisco 49ers were bullied, and also a bit confused, by the ferocious Cleveland Browns. Near the Jersey side of the Hudson River, the New York Jets defense was undermanned and still took it to the Philadelphia Eagles to improve to .500...Read more...

We know that October doesn't have to make sense. It's not even really supposed to, given that it's the month of Halloween and we all act like children for a good couple weeks. When summer really dies, the foreboding of winter is on every breeze, and we all tend to lose our minds knowing that we'll spend the next six...Read more...

In what's become a familiar sight over the years, the Cleveland Browns ordered their brown pants late in an attempt to muck up a win that the defense put them in prime position for against one of the NFL's final unbeaten teams. But ultimately the San Francisco 49ers matched them with their own stercoraceous...Read more...

Every step I took would not have been little if I had been in the concession line at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and heard Bobby Brown blasting through the speakers. That $2 hot dog would have to wait until the third quarter of Washington Commanders vs Atlanta Falcons.Read more...

As the bloodshed in Israel and Gaza ramps up, the NWSL's Angel City FC is taking heat for announcing steps to quell any shows of support for either side ahead of today's match with Portland FC, issuing a statement saying that fans may only bring banners related to either team into the stadium:Read more...

The beauty of college football is that it's Ground Zero for raw athletes being molded into gems every week before our very eyes. However, pressure doesn't always make diamonds. Welcome to the D-List, Deadspin Dean's acknowledgment of the most woeful performances on any given Saturday. This is a nod to the unrefined...Read more...

If anything, Tyreek Hill deserved a bonus from the NFL for his touchdown celebration just before halftime of the Miami Dolphins' Week 6 matchup against the Carolina Panthers.Read more...

ESPN football analyst Robert Griffin III recently spoke out on the situation in Denver with Russell Wilson and head coach Sean Payton. Griffin sees similarities between the Payton-Wilson dynamic and his own, with former head coach Mike Shanahan in Washington. From the outside, it seems like coach Payton doesn't believeRead more...

Before the cast and crew of It's Always Sunny descend upon me with scythes and boards with nails in them, let me state I wish John S. Middleton owned the Cubs. Or the White Sox, so my friends of that parish could stop hitting themselves in the head with wooden planks just to feel anything. Middleton has the perfect...Read more...