Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

It’s pretty safe to say there will be some significant shakeups coming soon to the Philadelphia Sixers if their season ends tomorrow night. There might still be changes even if they surprisingly extend their first-round series against the Boston Celtics for more than five games.

It’s SummerSlam weekend in the WWE, essentially serving as its calendar’s counterpoint to Wrestlemania. It’s almost at the opposite end of the year, and it’s seen as the show and weekend for the “real fans,” whereas ’Mania is seen as for the masses. Included in this weekend’s festivities is NXT’s 30th “Takeover,” the…Read more...

LeBron James found himself Friday defending his throne, which he has recently extended to not only his play on the court, but leadership on fixing our structurally racist system of casting a ballot.

“Don’t make us write obituaries”Read more...

While they’ve pretty much been a plague their entire existence, never have the New York Mets come across being an actual incubus themselves. At least of an actual virus.Read more...

Wednesday night, after a hot mic caught him using a homophobic slur, Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman didn’t know if he’d ever be putting on headphones for Fox Sports again.Read more...

The Olympics saddle cities with debt and isolate local businesses from the games. So why would companies want anything to do with the Olympics? Turns out, many don’t.Read more...

Sunday’s Champions League Final will be the first that is between Europe’s “Old Money” and “New Money.”Read more...

No matter which team is lucky enough to have the NBA ping-pong balls bounce its way tonight in the draft lottery, the decision should be simple.Read more...

Maybe every day is a bad day for Curt Schilling. More accurately, every day where Curt Schilling is lurking somewhere is a bad day for the rest of us, or at least has a high chance of becoming one. Because that means there’s a threat that Schilling will dive headlong in front of a camera, or onto social media, or both,…Read more...

The moment seemed it would never come because of COVID-19, but the 2020 NBA Draft lottery is here. We’ll finally get this year’s draft order.Read more...

On its website, WWE’s Be a STAR program (which stands for Show Tolerance And Respect), boasts 150,000 anti-bullying rallies and a reach of more than a half-million kids, globally. The site claims the program is “an effort to give students the tools they need to drive effective learning, decision-making, creativity,…Read more...

(Although it will be very on-brand of me to do a literal middle finger history someday soon)

This might just become a daily Padres appreciation moment. It’s not our fault. Sometimes what will be will be and you can’t run from what has to be. The Padres decided it would be fun to hit a grand slam off the Rangers for a third straight game, but to turn it from just a pint of ice cream into a sundae, this one was…Read more...

Early on in their careers, all broadcasters get the same sage advice: Don’t say anything OFF the air you wouldn’t say ON the air. You never know when a mic is hot.Read more...

Alan Hodish was at home with his family on Long Island a few weeks ago when he heard his name on national television.

Fernando Tatis Jr. is an MVP candidate at the age of 21, leading the National League in home runs nearly halfway through this abbreviated season while sparking the San Diego Padres into contention for what would be their first playoff appearance since 2006.

As NBA players sport their personal fashion entering the ESPN athletic complex in Orlando, Fla., the outfits and style reflect evergreen messages most of our country should agree with by now: “Vote,” “Black Lives Matter,” “8:46,” and the latest, “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.”Read more...

Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri filed a countersuit on Tuesday against a Bay Area police officer in response to an altercation between the two men.Read more...

The custom of baseball, after some manager bitches about unwritten rules that he very well may have made up, is that everyone wants the whole conflict to go away as quickly as possible. You’ll hear some pregame quotes about going overboard or respecting the opponent or some other boilerplate horseshit. Luckily,…Read more...

When scrolling through Twitter on an idle afternoon, you might come across a headline like, “Manny Machado makes great running catch in right.” And you probably don’t think much of it. Machado is a great defensive player and athlete and stretching back into the outfield to make a play on a flare is certainly in his…Read more...

Dale Hawerchuk was a man in the right time, but the wrong place.Read more...

How do you accidentally type the N-word?Read more...

The pandemic continues to expose the glaring dysfunction in our society. This time in college sports.Read more...

UPDATE: Notre Dame announced it will switch to online classes for the next two weeks.Read more...

Today, I’m trashing Indians’ pitchers Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac for trying to blame the media for the rift they created in the clubhouse.Read more...

Last week, The Associated Press ran a feature on Fernando Tatis Jr., the 21-year-old San Diego Padres shortstop who is living up to the hype as baseball’s best prospect.Read more...

The NBA finally got past the opening act, and now that everybody got a beer, went to the bathroom one last time, and the house-lights have gone down, the real show has begun. The actual playoffs started yesterday, and they were a small lesson in glorious defeat. That’s kind of what the playoffs are, though. Yesterday…Read more...

The Democratic National Convention starts tonight in a way reminiscent of televised live pro sports. There will be no crowd, cheers may be artificial, and personal bubbles — instead of congregating in Milwaukee — will be used to keep everyone safe.

What must it feel like to be a woman covering football at ESPN to see this latest news from Bristol.

Perhaps there’s no coming back from getting utterly shamed 8-2 in a Champions League quarterfinal. Even if this is something of a makeshift Champions League tournament, 8-2 is 8-2. Barcelona have their own “Belo Horizonte” now, and cleaning up after it is going to be a massive undertaking.Read more...

In yet another incident demonstrating the hellscape the world has become, and especially for female athletes/performers/celebrities, WWE star Sonya Deville was forced to flee her house to escape a man attempting to take her hostage who had stalked her for months online.

When the dust clears on the 2020 NBA playoffs, there will be a new king in the Association.

If you ever need to find someone who doesn’t get it, you can generally consult Ohio State to come up with a candidate for you. That’s what we have currently with quarterback Justin Fields starting a petition, which currently has 200,000 signatures, to get the Big Ten to reverse its decision to not play football this…Read more...

The Cardinals’ season restart is running into more hurdles, but at least this time it’s on an actual baseball field.

The Big 12, ACC, and SEC remain adamant on playing sports this fall, despite the NCAA’s own top doctor suggesting otherwise.Read more...

There’s probably a harsh life lesson in going unbeaten in a rearranged season and becoming one of the biggest stories in the NBA and still not even making the play-in round. This is the Phoenix Suns’ lot in life at the moment. Sometimes you can do everything perfectly and it still won’t matter and other people will…Read more...

“The last thing I would want to do is put anyone at risk,” Cleveland Indians pitcher Zach Plesac says, looking directly into the camera while driving down a city street.

In the latest falling domino, the NCAA this afternoon announced it would not be having fall championships in any sport … that’s not football. The NCAA has decided that soccer, cross country, women’s field hockey and volleyball are not safe for kids to participate in due to the pandemic. They have some hope to move…Read more...

Everyone has had it with Dan Synder, including his ownership partners.Read more...

Televised sports are entertainment — just like video games, Netflix, and pornography. The industry serves no other practical purpose in society. Farmers produce food. Builders produce homes. Professional athletics deliver fucking Mitsubishi commercials and $19 stadium beers and an irrational sense of tribal identity.…Read more...

Kemah Siverand went undrafted out of Oklahoma State, but the cornerback signed as a free agent with the Seattle Seahawks. On Tuesday, Siverand was cut, a move that ordinarily would draw little notice.Read more...

If it’s a new day, it must mean that someone else in the Cardinals organization tested positive for COVID-19. And whaddya know..Read more...

Dick Allen was a seven-time All-Star, the 1964 National League Rookie of the Year, and the 1972 American League MVP. He won two home run titles, led his league in on-base percentage twice and OPS four times.Read more...

By the end of the night, The Bubble is going to pop for two teams in Orlando.

If only these big-time college football coaches had the same energy for Black Lives Matter.Read more...

On the same day that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that the Cowboys will play in front of their fans when the NFL season kicks off, it must turn his incredibly stretched skin red and close to rupture to know that another team in Dallas was the first to play in front of fans last night.

One of the best moments in pro wrestling history just reached a whole other level of legendary status.

Churchill Downs announced today that 23,000 people will be able to attend September’s Kentucky Derby in accordance with the track’s health and safety plan.

It’s long been a truth to college football coaches that any problem can be solved by making sure players study their playbooks more. Creating a “bubble,” as they see it in their mind, is actually utopia to pretty much every college football coach. An environment where all a player can do is stay in one room until…Read more...