Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

As we’ve commented in the past, even with most seasons across sports being thrown into upheaval, be it shortened preseasons or odd schedules and lineups that change on a daily basis thanks to COVID protocols, the chalk has remained at the top of the standings.

Leon Spinks passed away on February 5 due to prostate cancer at the age of 67. On February 15, 42 years ago, he starred in one of sports’ larger-than-life upsets over one of the most unforgettable boxers to have ever stepped into a ring. If you compile your own Tale of the Tape retrospective, without any context, it…Read more...

As we’ve previously stated, the Australian Open has a surreal quality, at least on these shores, where an already-niche sport takes place in the dark for only the truly dedicated/bewildered. It’s even more so this edition, as on Friday the live spectators were shooed out of the tournament altogether, thanks to the…Read more...

Maybe, just maybe. Some of them were “pawns.”

Vernon Maxwell will forever be remembered as the guy who went into the stands in Portland and punched a guy right in the face.Read more...

Top-seeded Gonzaga, Villanova (6 overall), and Virginia (9) crashed a gridiron greats (and merely goods) get-together Saturday, as the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee revealed its prospective top 16 seeds for March Madness. A preview in the mold of the pointless weekly College Football Playoff ranking reveals now…Read more...

The Carolina Hurricanes are not the Hartford Whalers.Read more...

Trevor Lawrence is a right-handed thrower, so surgery on his left shoulder is not the biggest concern that he could possibly have. Still, when you’re going into the draft as the presumptive No. 1 overall pick, it’s a big deal.Read more...

As a free agent, days before spring training, Jared Hughes has some time on his hands. So, the 35-year-old pitcher, who had a 4.84 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 18 relief appearances for the Mets last year, is doing a little home science.Read more...

You probably haven’t thought much lately about Valparaiso University, the Lutheran school about an hour southeast of Chicago, in the Indiana town that lends its name to the institution.

Friday was a rare night in the NHL with no games postponed due to COVID-19 … because there were only two games scheduled to begin with.Read more...

Donald Trump’s lawyer, Babblin’ Bruce Castor, has had a rough week.Read more...

As Houston continues to revamp their team and try to resurrect their franchise from the lifeless pit of despair that former head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien left it in, the Texans and J.J. Watt have mutually agreed to part ways. Watt was released today, allowing him to search for a new team as he continues…Read more...

Who doesn’t love nostalgia?

When the Texans decided to release J.J. Watt on Friday, it marked the end of an era in Houston — and the continuation of an era in media’s use of coded language.Read more...

Deshaun Watson has some competition for the most dramatic quarterback situation this offseason – it looks like things are a little gloomy in the Pacific Northwest. Tensions are rising between Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, and as Deadspin’s resident Seahawks fan, it’s my job to try and explain this current…Read more...

His name is Juan.Read more...

I can’t sum this up any better than Craig Calcattera did, so let’s start there:

When this pandemic first crept into our everyday lives roughly one year ago, many were quick to believe the misinformation being spread about how the virus was nothing more than a really bad case of the flu. By March, the first domino fell with Rudy Gobert making fun of COVID and touching the phones of the media…Read more...

While problematic, Urban Meyer is always consistent.

Bradley Beal is obviously to be commended for his patience, his loyalty, his character, and even his stubbornness. His stubbornness — in a noble way — is how we’ve arrived here, to begin with. But it’s also keeping him from winning in the immediate future.Read more...

It might be time for Dak Prescott to take matters into his own hands.

Twitter is a lot of bad things, mostly bad things, but every so often its capacity to astound and encapsulate an entire time period in a matter of seconds is truly stupefying. Even if that encapsulation is most of the things at once.

I’ve missed sports fans.

The fear was that LaMelo Ball’s once loud and now apparently mute father, LaVar, would be overbearing. That his seemingly reckless style of play in high school and overseas would make him an awful NBA teammate. That he won’t be able to get his jump shot corrected to produce in the NBA. That he has a dangerously low…Read more...

One week after Britt Reid, Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach and Andy Reid’s son, caused a car accident and admitted to police officers that he had been drinking, many people are left wondering if there will be ramifications from the NFL and/or the Chiefs organization. Conveniently enough for the Chiefs, Britt Reid’s…Read more...

Tom Brady has won so many Lombardi Trophies that he just doesn’t seem to care anymore. It must be like being so rich that you can have whatever and however many cars you want, and just hand the keys to your McLaren to your teenager. After all, if something happens to it, it’s not a big deal – you have another one in…Read more...

The NBA is doing the most right now.

With the Super Bowl over, it’s time to begin arguing about this year’s Madden cover.

It didn’t take tarot cards and an 800-number to figure out where the Mavericks/anthem debate was going to go. And never let it be said that the NHL and hockey in general would miss a chance to try and show just how traditional and loyal they are, while actually showing exactly what they really are. Dallas Stars, come…Read more...

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the New York City subway system has been shut down overnight since last spring, ostensibly for deep cleaning, even though trains can be cleaned at their terminals during the day, and even though trains have continued running during overnight hours all along, just empty.Read more...

It was never going to work. Not in a million years.

The Australian Open is candy for the insomnia and drunk crowd, both of which I happen to be a member. I guess it has the same charm as New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom. Not only is it a must-see event, but you know that only the truly die-hard fans are watching along with you... or the truly lost. And those…Read more...

If this isn’t a metaphor for New York baseball I don’t know what is.Read more...

Somehow, someone decided that that speculation of Tom Brady’s standing amongst all athletes following Sunday’s Super Bowl was a spectacular idea. And days later, here we are, still extrapolating over it.

Donovan Mitchell doesn’t care about your defense. Donovan Mitchell doesn’t care about an open Rudy Goebert. Donovan Mitchell doesn’t care about Shaq. Donovan Mitchell is just going to Donovan Mitchell — and for Utah Jazz fans, that’s a very good thing. Mitchell called game with a deadly series of moves on a stepback…Read more...

It’s no secret that the blue bloods of college basketball have been worse this year than an Amy Schumer stand-up special.

Once Tom Brady won his seventh Super Bowl ring on Sunday, you knew people would gush all over the 43-year-old Tampa Bay quarterback.

Somehow it escaped most everyone’s attention for 13 home games that the Dallas Mavericks weren’t playing the national anthem before any of them, which pretty much tells you how important the tradition actually was in the first place. The Mavs hadn’t been allowing fans into the arena until Monday’s game, so there…Read more...

For all the trouble that the NBA and NHL are having with their current seasons, it’s all the more remarkable what Major League Baseball was able to achieve outside of a bubble last year.Read more...

Hiring practices in the major sports leagues have been under the microscope of late. Especially in the NFL, where overqualified Black candidates can’t seem to get jobs ahead of white ones that seemingly come from nowhere, or are retreads, or if you’re the Lions you find a guy who had spent the previous decade batting…Read more...

Longtime Toronto Raptor Kyle Lowry is one expiring contract who could swing the NBA championship picture as much as anyone likely to be dealt by March 25’s deadline. That is, outside of a shocking Bradley Beal or Ben Simmons transaction. Or perhaps a Victor Oladipo re-routing, but even that’s dependent on fit.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) today said the pilot in the helicopter crash that killed Kobe and Gigi Bryant and six other passengers violated federal rules by flying into clouds, where the pilot became disoriented in the air.

It’s Trash Talking Tuesday, and today I’m trashing all the prisoners of the moment sports fans and analysts who wanted to crown Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes the GOAT prematurely.

Bruh…Read more...

Still want to remove Patrick Mahomes from your GOAT list? Consider the circumstances first.

Tom Brady’s minions are at it again.

Gonna be a bit of a smorgasbord today. That’s ok, not all of them are gross or a petri dish of foodborne illness. There’s a Polish buffet around here that would change your life. Anyway, to it…

If you were wondering, yes, the NFL thinks you’re stupid.