Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The NFL community is on Tom Brady watch. And by the NFL, I mean the producers at ESPN and Adam Schefter. If you’re wondering where he’s going to end up, you’ve come to a place. (And should probably return to your Google search.)Read more...

One-half of the best professional wrestling tag team of all-time to never get a chance in a major promotion died Tuesday night. Jay Briscoe was involved in a fatal car crash in Laurel, Delaware. Briscoe, whose real name was Jamin Pugh, was 38.

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As a former employee of Pro Football Focus, I can confidently tell you that the rating system the company built its reputation on is utter hogwash. I want to be clear, PFF is an incredible company that provides great analysis through articles, and advanced stats that only they keep track of, but their overall player…Read more...

This is becoming, sadly and infuriatingly, a familiar story in sports. The NHL wants you to believe that “hockey is for everyone,” except that it never seems to filter down to anyone in the game below the tagline.

Walk into any bar in Baltimore and randomly shout the name “Angelos.” Chances are someone within earshot will have some sort of visceral thoughts on the family that own a majority of the Orioles. Same as Steinbrenner in The Bronx or Buss in Los Angeles. The Angelos family patriarch, Peter, is 93. Team CEO, son John…Read more...

I found myself getting distracted several times while watching the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins’ Wild Card weekend matchup. This time it wasn’t from fans hurling ice chunks at Dolphin players but it was by what Mike McDaniel was wearing on his head.

Artists are often great at capitalizing on a moment and saying what everyone is thinking in a creative and eye-capturing fashion. Enter Preston Pannek, whose mural of Luka Dončić holding a “Please send help” sign perfectly encapsulates the season the Dallas Mavericks are having. And like any fascist government, upset…Read more...

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson exists as an extension of the Ozzie Newsome era. The final pick of the first round of the 2019 Draft has been absolutely dynamite, yet oddly polarizing. Since assuming control of a 4-5 Ravens team from Joe Flacco midway through the 2018 campaign, Jackson has consistently…Read more...

The biggest lies in human history are as follows:Read more...

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The NFL used to be a league full of expression and originality, and much of that was on display in the endzone during touchdown celebrations. We used to look forward to certain players scoring in anticipation of their signature dance or seeing what new move they’d come up with that week. All the originality seems to…Read more...

George Santos, Anthony Devolder, or whatever identity he’s assumed by the time this is published, pulled off one of the most daring cons in U.S. history during the midterm election cycle. In an era of con artists exploring extreme lengths to swindle their way into office, Santos faking a resume, spending months…Read more...

For all of the teams vying for one of the top three quarterbacks in the 2023 NFL Draft — or pretty much any organization in search of a new option under center — the most important factor is the coach. That’s an obvious statement, and one I felt dumb writing, but count me among the many who thought Daniel Jones wasn’t…Read more...

While Arsenal have gobbled up most of the world’s oxygen in the “came from nowhere to lead the league” category, there’s another team in Europe that’s outside the usual cast of characters that is destroying the competition. And while Arsenal may be a joy to watch, they’ve got nothing on S.S.C. Napoli, currently the…Read more...

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When Tampa Bay wide receiver Russell Gage went down late in the fourth quarter of the Buccaneers’ Wild Card matchup with the Dallas Cowboys, everybody in the stadium and everyone watching on television held their breaths — again. For the second consecutive broadcast, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were calling a Monday…Read more...

There isn’t much the Dallas Cowboys haven’t accomplished in their storied history. Despite not reaching the mountaintop in nearly three decades, Dallas has achieved more than most NFL franchises can imagine. The Cowboys had never beaten Tom Brady before Monday night’s wildcard game with Tampa Bay. Brady was 7-0…Read more...

One of my many personal nightmares, as a Chicago Bears fan, is of course the 2010 NFC Championship game. The one where Jay Cutler got hurt and launched 1,000 ships of idiotic takes he, the Bears, and really we as a city never recovered from. And of course, it was the Green Bay Packers. Oh, what we might have had in…Read more...

Monday night, Dallas Cowboys’ kicker Brett Maher, a man who has made more 60-yard field goals than anyone in NFL history, went one for five on extra points. Because Tampa Bay basically had their asses handed to them by Dallas, (despite the ESPN crew’s insistence that “you can never count Tom Brady out!”), the topic of…Read more...

Hey, what a SUPER Wild Card Weekend, am I right? We might not have seen great NFL football, or great officiating, or even great decision-making from players and coaches alike, but we did see plenty of chaos. And, as we all know, chaos is where the real fun begins — unless your team is the one fumbling around in the…Read more...

For a sport that has been struggling to retain youthful viewers, blackouts are an incredibly dumb aspect of streaming games. You can watch any team you want to...except the teams near where you live. Throughout most of Nevada, the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers, L.A. Angels, San Francisco …Read more...

It didn’t take long for Dana White to get back to business as usual.

Capping off a week of pretty wild wrestling news, I suppose it was somewhat comforting that it ended with a familiar dumbass debate within the industry. Talks of board takeovers and sales to oppressive foreign regimes, that’s above most wrestling fans’ paygrade (though it won’t stop us from chiming in, because that’s…Read more...

Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ obsession with anything that is of interest to minorities or marginalized groups has gone past disturbing. In his worldview, the only discrimination that matters is anything that benefits disadvantaged communities. The newest target of his anti-woke diatribes is the NHL. On Feb. 2, the…Read more...

FS1 analyst Nick Wright finally did what his name suggests and got something right. During the Buffalo Bills-Miami Dolphins wild card game Sunday afternoon, Wright posted a tweet aimed at Josh Allen regarding all the interceptions he’s thrown this season and how he rarely receives the blame.

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I can’t confirm that Robert Griffin III took a shot at Michael Vick Saturday on Twitter. But the fact that Griffin tweeted out a paraphrased version of what Vick said on Fox NFL Kickoff, it’s not farfetched to believe that those comments didn’t sit right with RGIII.

It’s admittedly a convenient time to ask whether or not Erling Haaland has made Manchester City a better football team or not, especially if you’re not of the Citizen persuasion. Though given my incredible motherfuck powers, maybe this is the worst time to ask.Read more...

Brock Purdy’s NFL playoff debut was a tour-de-force performance that shattered the paradigm for rookie NFL quarterbacks. In one game, the San Francisco 49ers’ virtuoso logged more playoff touchdowns than Jimmy Garoppolo has in his entire Niners career.

The San Francisco 49ers are hot. Winners of 11 in a row and doing most of it with a rookie seventh-round pick at quarterback, this Niners squad is the most dangerous team in the postseason. Despite the outstanding play of Brock Purdy, San Francisco’s success has been possible due to their stifling defense. During the…Read more...

There are levels to collapses. There’s the March Madness telegraphed loss, where one group of 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds gets tight, and the other group gets hot. Obviously, we’ve seen golfers do it, and there’s not a lot funnier than a guy going from the 17th tee box to the beer tent. And then there’s the Chargers, who…Read more...

If only Washington could’ve seen its quarterback calamity coming. In early March when the Commanders struck a deal with the Colts to acquire Carson Wentz to be its next starting QB, it was correctly seen as kicking the can down the road. It was even more obvious when the season opener rolled around in September. In…Read more...

Poor officiating during a Week 18 game between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks has NFL referees under scrutiny.Read more...

I’ll be upset if there are no upsets during Wild Card Weekend, which kicks off today. That upset may not happen in the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers game, and perhaps not with the Los Angeles Chargers-Jacksonville Jaguars. But bettors seem convinced that the biggest upset of the week will come from Brian…Read more...

You know we’re nearing peak NBA midseason slog when teams resort to parlor tricks to attract fans and viewers. Case and point: The San Antonio Spurs hosted a game at the Alamodome on Friday that broke the NBA attendance record.Read more...

The San Francisco 49ers have a long road ahead of them if they want to win their first Super Bowl since 1995. Not necessarily because they’re going to face a lot of strong competition — the NFC is rather weak this year — but because they have to win four straight games with 2022's Mr. Irrelevant under center. Leading…Read more...

Social media combined with name, image, and likeness (NIL) has changed college athletics forever. That’s been a given since NIL was made available to student-athletes starting in July 2021. Athletes’ influence on social media has only gained more traction over the years as platforms lean into those with large…Read more...

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There’s been a ton of chatter this week about who’s on upset alert, and most of that talk has surrounded two NFC teams prone to losing in the most extravagant ways possible when it comes to the playoffs. The Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings are 2.5- and 3-point favorites, respectively, in matchups against the …Read more...

Both North Carolina’s and Kentucky’s men’s basketball teams have already lost six games this season. Two of the college basketball’s blueblood programs are struggling, and the NCAA Tournament might not be in the cards for them — but it’s not like this hasn’t happened before.

Automatic strike zones, or ABS, or Robo-umps, have been the Valhalla for a certain section of baseball fans (one I happen to be a part of). Watching Angel Hernandez or Doug Eddings try and guess where the strike zone is today and then acting like the world’s biggest ass-boil when anyone points out that they shouldn’t…Read more...

The NFL postseason is upon us, and as usual, anything can happen when it’s, win or go home. This year’s AFC field feels like a three-team race, while the NFC looks pretty open. Some teams don’t have a great shot, but it’s always fun to play matchmaker and look at the most exciting potential Super Bowl matchups.Read more...

The NFL didn’t actually mess this one up. My apologies for bracing for impact on anything the league does these days, especially when it involves Buffalo. The league announced that a possible AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills would happen at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The…Read more...

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Thursday night’s playoff rematch between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets will be like many big-time NBA regular-season matchups — incomplete.

So, it looks, feels, and now sounds like Derek Carr is officially done with the Raiders organization. Carr has been a big part of Raider Nation since entering the NFL in 2014. Carr was benched to end the season, and just days after the 2022 campaign ended, he posted what can only be categorized as a “farewell” tweet…Read more...

The MLS season always comes out of the weeds in a surprise fashion, mostly due to its placing its start right when the business end of the European season begins (Champions League knockout rounds, closing stages of domestic seasons, etc.). It’s only 44 days until MLS starts its season, and though the league always…Read more...

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Is it at all surprising that a more difficult entry point for Thursday Night Football games led to a drop in ratings? With the news that Amazon had to compensate advertisers because it didn’t meet the expected viewership numbers, it might be time to ask: How suitable is the streaming model for live sports?