Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Bless the Atlanta Falcons' heart: They are shooting their shot. There are reports from national and local Atlanta insiders that the Dirty Birds want Bill Belichick to be their next head coach. On Wednesday, ESPN's Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler reported that the Falcons have a strong interest in Belichick, if he were...Read more...

The NFL is a small-sample league. Before you can even blink, 18 games have flown by and we're left trying to make sense of everything that happened. It means that luck can play a massive part in whether a team succeeds or fails, with a few bounces of the ball defining the entire story for an entire season.Read more...

According to Christopher Wallace's definition, beef is when you need two gats to go to sleep; when your moms ain't safe up in the streets; when I see you, guaranteed to be an ICU; when you make your enemies, start your Jeep; and when you roll no less than 30 deep. While I don't know how many of this Wild-Card...Read more...

Ah, yes, we've gotten to that point in the European football season where most everyone asks themselves, Why are these teams in Saudi Arabia?" before quickly correcting themselves.Read more...

After 18 weeks of grueling NFL action, we've made it to Wild-Card Weekend and the first round of the postseason. We often hear the term must-win" during the regular season, but once a team makes it this deep into January, every game is truly a must-win scenario. Like any other week, there's always a chance that the...Read more...

Wanna see a whiff?Read more...

There's one storyline the NFL hasn't highlighted heading into the postseason, and that's probably for legal reasons. At least, I can't imagine the league's attorneys would advise them to showcase its entire roster of Black head coaches making the playoffs, considering Brian Flores' lawsuit is still pending.Read more...

Yes, we get it. Bill Belichick is arguably the greatest coach in NFL history. He's also one of the sport's biggest jerks.Read more...

Kim Mulkey has consistently shown us where she stands on social matters. She leans to The Right, which is her right. But when 83 percent of your team are women of color, it's on you to answer for how your employer's decisions will affect them.Read more...

The NFL playoffs are officially set. All the ups and downs, laughs and years, improbable comebacks and unprecedented collapses, none of those mean anything now. All that's left is a four-week sprint to immortality.Read more...

It's one thing when a sport either ignores or is oblivious to whatever is surrounding a certain player or individual. It's quite another when they know and just don't care. Such is the case with this week's announcement that the ATP Tour players had chosen Alexander Zverev to their players' council.Read more...

I did not get the memo that Festivus had been moved from Dec. 23 to the entire month of January. Grievances have been aired and an expansion for that holiday is the only explanation I have for why so many celebrities are beginning the year by verbally going upside the heads of those whom they dislike.Read more...

Bill Belichick is no longer the head coach of the New England Patriots, a position he's held for nearly a quarter century, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter and Mike Reiss.Read more...

Retirement for coaches like Nick Saban are always shocking, especially when Alabama hadn't really lost a step. Maybe a half-step, but certainly nowhere near Bobby Bowden or Joe Paterno levels, and that's going to lead to a ton of speculation about why he's doing this now, as reports say the coach is calling it a careerRead more...

Golden State is probably permanently entrenched as a middle of the pack team. There's no renovating crumbling support beams around their Big 3 pillars because they are the source of deterioration. All they can do now is continue their reign as the most well-adjusted teammates ever cobbled together in a modern NBA...Read more...

Not many football coaches are able to dominate both college and the NFL. Jimmy Johnson was able to do so, but also ran so hot that it burned his relationship with Jerry Jones and he eventually burned out of coaching entirely after a few seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Pete Carroll has spent much of the last 20 years...Read more...

Be careful what you ax for, ESPN. The network's decision - because it certainly wasn't Pat McAfee's - to terminate Aaron Rodgers' scheduled diatribes now gives viewers little to no reason to tune into the $86 million program. Seriously, who is pining for McAfee's armpits, censored frat humor and AJ Hawk's vacant stare?Read more...

Pete Carroll will no longer be the Seattle Seahawks head coach, and instead serve in an advisory role with the franchise, owner Jody Allen announced Wednesday.Read more...

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Netflix is teaming up with the NBA to do a basketball version of the NFL Quarterback Show series. Since Hollywood and sports are about copycatting what's worked in the past, it's no surprise the streaming service is immediately following up with a hoop's version. Cameras will follow around five of the NBA's brightest:...Read more...

To make it clear right at the top, here are all the things Matt Eberflus was allowed to do to keep his job: Completely waste training camp, except getting pretty much half the team hurt. Mr Track Shoes" didn't have his team ready to start the season, starting 0-4 and looking bewildered while doing it. Having two...Read more...

As maize-and-blue confetti streamed from the NRG Stadium rafters, it felt like the Big Ten's harvest was finally ripening. The national title game was decided when Michigan outmuscled Alabama a week earlier, but Monday night's national title was merely the coup de grace in a process that began five months ago after...Read more...

While the New York Giants didn't intend to undergo drastic changes this offseason, they are now. On the same day that head coach Brian Daboll said he expected both offensive and defensive coordinators to return, the latter reportedly went scorched earth on his boss before storming out. With Wink Martindale gone, and...Read more...

Aaron Rodgers, who spouted his usual garbage on The Pat McAfee Show yesterday, will no longer be appearing in his weekly paid spot on the ESPN program.Read more...

The National Hockey League Player Association is launching a mental health initiative called First Line, which will educate players about depression, anxiety, substance use, and self-harm.Read more...

Updated Jan. 10: Bedard will miss 6-8 weeks after undergoing surgery to repair his fractured jaw, according to Chicago Blackhawks physician Dr. Michael Terry.Read more...

Instead of just being angry that his team's AFC Wild Card game against the Miami Dolphins will only be available on streaming, Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Charles Omenihu decided to take action.Read more...

What If I told you that we're almost at the halfway point of the NBA season and two teams with two of the best young players in the league don't have 10 wins between them? And what if I told you that tonight's matchup between Cade Cunningham's Detroit Pistons and Victor Wembanyama's San Antonio Spurs should be a game...Read more...

B.S. for me, but not for thee.Read more...

Updated Jan. 10: Free agent MLB pitcher Julio Urias will not face a felony charge for allegedly assaulting his wife at an MLS game in September, TMZ Sports is reporting.Read more...

Last night was a seismic - and historically unprecedented - night for the men's college basketball rankings.Read more...

There isn't a lot of leverage for any player who gets drafted in our four major sports. Football players aren't going to sit and do nothing for a year. High school baseball players, or even college juniors, can go back to school. Basketball players don't have even that much.Read more...

One chapter in the Draymond Green saga is closing and a new one is beginning. He was reinstated by the NBA and has returned to the Golden State Warriors' facility. Green has been away from the team for more than three weeks and is currently working to ramp himself up for game activity.Read more...

With 2024 in full swing, let's award the winners and losers of the first half of the NBA season. It's been a banner year, but not without controversy and major development. Many questions are left unanswered. Will the Lakers regain their contender status? Can the Thunder compete this year? Are the Knicks back? But,...Read more...

This article is based on data from Sportradar.Read more...

The Tennessee Titans wasted no time getting their offseason started and they've already begun to clean house by parting ways with head coach Mike Vrabel. We already knew the organization was leaning toward a rebuild with Derrick Henry's future up in the air seemingly all season. But saying goodbye to Vrabel so...Read more...

The 2023-24 NBA season is over for Ja Morant and, quite frankly, it barely got started. He began the season with a 25-game suspension for a second offense of inappropriate use of a firearm on social media. Morant played all of nine games before suffering a shoulder injury that the Memphis Grizzlies announced is going...Read more...

Jets QB Aaron Rodgers has done and said many stupid things over a course of just the last few years. These are those things.Read more...

A week after trying to link Jimmy Kimmel to Jeffery Epstein's list, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned to The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday to clear the air - but never said sorry.Read more...

The distinction between NFL fans, and football fans, is never more apparent than with draft hype. Each year, experts laud some schmuck quarterback whose archetype fits their formula as a franchise savior, and NFL fans inhale the assessment so often, so blindly that they really believe Drake Maye is a better prospect...Read more...

After a week of controversy, New York Jets signal-caller Aaron Rodgers was welcomed back to The Pat McAfee Show with applause and a standing ovation from its host. (To be fair, McAfee is always standing, though at least he's wearing sleeves today.)Read more...

It wasn't long ago that the Atlanta Hawks were on the cusp of an NBA Finals appearance. They turned a 41-win campaign (in a 72-game season) into what many thought would be a launching point as perennial contenders. Now the Hawks' halftime show announcements are more exciting than what's happening on the court....Read more...

It's hard to be an afterthought for an NHL team in Canada, and yet it kind of feels like the Winnipeg Jets are one. They're not grouped with either of the other blocks. They aren't near Toronto or Montreal in the Atlantic Division, and even the Ottawa Senators get more shine from being caught between the two. They're...Read more...

Updated Jan. 9: Yonkers Public Schools have fired a high school girls basketball coach and dismissed a player from the team as a result of an antisemitic incident Thursday night, the New York Post reported.Read more...

Now that Jim Harbaugh and Michigan are national champions, Connor Stalions' name is officially etched into history. Whenever U-M fans dine out on this title, which they assuredly will do, detractors, haters, run-of-the-mill conspiracy theorists, and others will shout Connor Stalions!" as if he was Keyser Soze, the...Read more...

The New Orleans Saints are reportedly interested in adding Jon Gruden, who resigned after his racist, sexist, and homophobic emails surfaced, to their coaching staff.Read more...

Another former member of the New England Patriots coaching staff who couldn't succeed when out on his own may return if the team elects to keep Bill Belichick on as head coach.Read more...

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco, who is accused of having a relationship with a 14-year-old girl and giving her mom a car and hush money for her consent, likely won't be allowed back into the United States, the Athletic is reporting.Read more...

Updated Jan. 9: The Jan. 3 fire at Tyreek Hill's house - caused by two children playing with a lighter they thought was a toy - caused $2.3 million in damages, according to the incident report obtained by TMZ Sports.Read more...

Ever since I got older than college, I have felt that college sports are a cesspool that should have been abolished long ago. At least the major ones. If the NBA and NFL want a developmental league, let them pay for it. But there are some pulls from childhood that never go away, including the one from Ann Arbor,...Read more...