Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

There are some traditions in sports that, while aesthetically pleasing, aren’t really enjoyed by the players all that much. The handshake line in the NHL playoffs comes to mind. While we enjoy what we think of as the ultimate act of sportsmanship, talk to a lot of players privately and they’d tell you they could do…Read more...

Congratulations are in order for Jimmy Haslam and the Cleveland Browns. The NFL’s independent investigation into former head coach Hue Jackson’s claims that the team paid him to lose games found “no evidence” to substantiate those allegations, proving that the team did not intentionally lose games but rather tried and…Read more...

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This train is never late. The NHL had a good night last night. The playoffs kicked off, and it’s hard to find a bad matchup anywhere (though Flames-Stars and Avs-Predators should be nothing more than ritual killings). And though there were only two competitive games of the four last night (the Canes didn’t pull away…Read more...

Before the Utah Jazz even began their first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, there were significant questions about their chemistry, viability as a winner, and ceiling. It was no secret that their two superstars, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, don’t care for one another. The tension between the…Read more...

The news that yet another NFL player was both popped and suspended for using banned performance enhancing drugs wasn’t a shock.

Look who gets to be the good guy. It is hard to get ejected from an NBA playoff game, but Draymond Green figured out how to pull it off on Sunday. He got sent to the showers in the first half for clocking Brandon Clarke during the Golden State Warriors Game 1, 117-116 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies. He knows…Read more...

When Urban Meyer first got hired to talk about football on TV for FOX, it was after he left Ohio State due to a scandal that he could have avoided if he weren’t such a trash human being. And since history loves to repeat itself, it looks like Urban Meyer is about to get hired to talk about football on TV for FOX —…Read more...

If you have a young daughter, I feel for you today. She will likely be part of the first group of American women to have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. If you’re a woman living in a red state, you’re about to have fewer rights than women in blue states.Read more...

The only thing worse than having to listen to Gus Johnson these days, and he’s been a real chore for years now, is having to listen to someone trying to be Gus Johnson.

Just as the future was beginning to look bright for the Arizona Cardinals, it has been looking rough since Week 14. They led not only the NFC West, but the entire conference for much of the season. Then No. 1 wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins went down with a torn MCL in a home loss to a division rival, the Los Angeles…Read more...

There’s a misconception that USC has spent the first few months of the Lincoln Riley era dragging a golden bus across the country and purchasing college football stars at every stop. As of May 2, the Trojans rank second in 247 Sports’ Transfer Team Rankings, but most of those student-athletes are easily replaceable…Read more...

It’s hard to judge just how important it is that an American manager finally “makes it” in Europe. It would certainly be cool, but for what it means for men’s American soccer overall trails by miles to how players make it in the world’s best leagues. The US needs a load of players making a fist of it to construct a…Read more...

So Jack Harlow is gunning for the top NBA celebrity fan award. It’s clear with him taking logo threes during the celebrity all star game, recording singles about Tyler Herro, and getting advice from Kawhi Leonard about how to improve his game. Part of the charm of the NBA is the celebrities in courtside seats, under…Read more...

Welcome, once more, to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH, in which we catalogue the most bleak recesses of professional athletics and mock them. Hooray!Read more...

Last week, a worker “allegedly” had intentions of finding another job if his current employer didn’t give him a raise he’d proven he earned. The worker knew his value and “allegedly” felt like he should be paid more after outperforming his deal. You would think that something like this would be applauded, given that…Read more...

No, that’s not being such a shitfuck organization that they’ve basically gotten themselves erased from NHL history or PR. Watch any of these ads for the Stanley Cup playoffs, and you won’t see one highlight or shot of a Hawk. Even though they won the Cup three times, or were the most popular team for a near decade, or…Read more...

The talent pendulum swings between NFL Drafts at a dizzying rate. The 2022 NFL Draft was a mirage in the desert for teams thirsty for a franchise quarterback. Aside from Kenny Pickett and his leprechaun hands, teams distanced themselves from the top signal-callers, who were mocked as first-rounders to desperate teams…Read more...

Before Feb. 8, New Orleans Pelicans executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin was getting dragged for the team’s sorry state he oversaw. The Pelicans were 21 and 32, headed toward another disastrous season until that point. At the same time, Zion Williamson avoided the team at all costs,…Read more...

I know there’s a lot of obstacles. First off, hockey is probably the most provincial sport we have, and once everyone’s team is out, those fans tend to not give a fuck about whatever happens next. We’ve spent so much time coming up with reasons to hate everyone else it’s impossible to change gears. We just want…Read more...

I’m onto your game here, Odell Beckham Jr. Publicly, annoying your buddy Deebo Samuel during his contract dispute with the San Francisco 49ers, it’s more than simply a joke. You see this wide receiver contract market. You saw the record contracts that were signed by Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill when they were traded…Read more...

The playoffs are not about individual accomplishments. This is the time where players make every single sacrifice from points to minutes without complaint — at least they’re supposed to. That’s why there aren’t any playoff awards except for Finals MVP and, of course, the championship.Read more...

Round 5 has wrapped up, and all the big names have been plucked off the board and placed onto their future rosters. Quarterbacks fell, punters rose, Chattanooga had a first-round pick — what a weekend it’s been. With a dwindling selection left, we take a look at the winners of this year’s draft.Read more...

Before Sixers fans could even breathe a sigh of relief over the possibility of going to a Game 7 despite a 3-0 lead, they’re gasping for air upon hearing the news that Joel Embiid is out indefinitely with a right orbital fracture and a mild concussion. The injury, courtesy of an elbow from Pascal Siakam late in…Read more...

You can blame Trae Young for a lot of Atlanta’s first-round exit to Miami. He was 22-for-69 from the floor, shot 17 percent from 3, and had as many turnovers (31) as he did assists (31). He didn’t even listen in on the huddle before the last play of their season, so if you want to destroy him, feel free. I’m not going…Read more...

Well, the second round passed without a QB in sight, making this draft just the third in the past 30 years to only see one quarterback selected in the first two rounds. And perhaps even more surprisingly, Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder went ahead of projected favorite Malik Willis, who the Seahawks passed on. Ridder went…Read more...

According to a report from Nicholas McGee of ‘The 33rd Team,’ the 49ers received multiple “Tyreek Hill/Davante Adams-type offers for Deebo Samuel” prior to the draft.

OK, we have our first villain of the NIL era.

The MLB suspended Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer for two seasons over sexual assault allegations Friday.Read more...

The Ravens, Jets, Chiefs, and Giants were a few of the clear winners during Day 1 of the NFL Draft. Whether it was trading up to get high-end cornerbacks or pass rushers, or just making solid decisions with the picks they already had, those teams won the night based on who they added to their rosters and how little…Read more...

Round 1 is done, and it came with drama, surprise picks (you don’t see a Chattanooga guy in the first round to the Patriots every day), and some big names left on the board for Day 2. Before the second and third rounds kick off tonight at 7 p.m. EST, we’re looking at some of the best players left on the board and…Read more...

It’s a widely known fact that Kyrie Irving is delusional. He’s a man of the people while walking among them unvaccinated. He thinks the Earth is flat, and has the NBA figured out even though he’s essentially a losing player without LeBron James. However, when he said he was going to keep “managing” the Nets franchise…Read more...

Don’t talk about it. Be about it.

The first 10 picks of the NFL Draft are the Oscars in reverse. The biggest honorees are rewarded first. Fans show up and shout insults at the host and bone-rattling contact with Roger Goodell is encouraged.

There is a storm coming and Day 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft is just a fraction of what is to come. Tonight showed that the wide receiver market has become so inflated that teams would rather take a risk on young, unproven rookies than proven Pro Bowl-caliber veterans.

The NFL Draft, one of only two days on the NFL calendar that provides good endorphins for every single NFL fan. The other is when Scott Hanson returns to NFL Red Zone Week 1 to say for the first time nine months, “seven hours of uninterrupted football.” At both moments, there is no concrete knowledge about how fans’…Read more...

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Whenever I see sports media beef, my reaction is to wonder what’s for dinner or daydream about literally anything else. So when I saw that Draymond Green ripped Bill Simmons for Simmons’ saying, “Fuck Jalen Green,” I looked out the window and pondered whether this spring sprinkle in Chicago was going to develop into a…Read more...

The New York Mets have been hit by a lot of pitches this season. Currently, Mets are being hit by pitches about 0.95 times per game. They’ve been hit 19 times in 20 games. That’s six more hit batsmen than the next closest team, Baltimore, and 30 points higher than the most plunked team of 2021, Cincinnati.

It’s hard to know what standards soon-to-be former NCAA President Mark Emmert held himself to. His idiocy, incompetency and overall aloof nature have been well documented. It’s an interesting topic in the changing landscape of college athletics what the role of overseeing those sports and athletes should be. Whatever…Read more...

Andrew Whitaker, a championship-winning track star and cornerback from Washington University in St. Louis, has a Masters degree and a plan to go to medical school. But for now, his focus is on becoming one of the few Division III athletes to get signed to the NFL. Med school can wait.Read more...

Doc Rivers sounded more shook than ever on Wednesday defending his history of coaching teams who have flamed out after taking resounding leads in past playoffs series’. His voice typically cracks, but in defending himself from criticism of his numerous shortcomings, he sounded more like a First Take guest debater…Read more...

Will it be Travon Walker? Aidan Hutchinson? Kayvon Thibodeaux? Whoever your gut is telling you is probably a safe bet — well, safer than most bets, anyway.

Let’s be honest, the only way the 49ers get to a Super Bowl next season is if their defense stays healthy and Deebo Samuel has another MVP-type season. And the only way he does that is if he remains healthy while being used like a pee wee team’s best player. He’s the answer to the question, “What are we going to do,…Read more...

These kids know their worth.

One of the unfortunate results of new technology is that a person’s worst moments live on forever on video. Getting beat up used to only live in the memories of the people who witnessed it, but with camera phones, the entire world can now watch someone get clocked on demand.Read more...

Will 2022 be the year that New York NFL football finally gives its metropolitan area something to watch on Sundays? Following double-digit victory seasons from the Jets in 2015 and the yacht club Giants in 2016, neither franchise has sniffed a .500 record since. At first glance, tri-state area residents waking up on a…Read more...

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Look at these dumb fuckers! They’re $10 million over the salary cap and still couldn’t finish in the top three of a division full of fuckwits and bindle-carriers! They couldn’t finish ahead of the Kings! The Kings who are led by Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, whose tires are so bald they make sparks on…Read more...

It’s no secret that the Oakland A’s are struggling with attendance. They’ve been struggling in that department for years. 2022 is a whole different monster for the A’s, though. After two series on the road to open the season, the A’s came back home to a modest crowd of 17,503. That number dropped drastically for Game…Read more...