Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Apparently, taking a good hard look at the fairness of your playoff format is contagious these days.Read more...

MLB wants everyone to focus on the World Series right now. The organization wants the baseball world’s focus on the matchup between Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander and Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper; the Aaron Nola vs. Yordan Alvarez showdown; and the fact that it’s a 1-seed going against a 6-seed,…Read more...

Tuesday night was Klay Thompson’s 651st regular-season game as a Golden State Warrior. When you add the 145 playoff games, Thompson’s been a part of 796 games in his career, and he’d never been ejected from one — until Tuesday night in Phoenix.Read more...

A few days ago, Major League Baseball announced its finalists for the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards.

The Green Bay Packers’ loss to the Washington Commanders was far from Aaron Rodgers’ fault.Read more...

It’s hard to get a vibe on the NBA after one week of games. The Wizards started last 10-3, and New York fans were excitedly yelling “Bing bong!” before both came to depressing finishes. Klay Thompson didn’t return until midseason, and it looks like it may take Jamal Murray and Kawhi Leonard some time before they…Read more...

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It’s now generally accepted that playoff baseball is confusing. Given that every series is a week long at most, and it’s distilling down teams that have played for six months, everything is in bounds. Small moments like a pitching change here or a cutoff man missed there that would just be barely a bubble on the sea…Read more...

Kanye West is an antisemite. And that’s not a controversial statement. Blurting out disgusting and derogatory things about Judaism and Jewish people is a repeated pattern for Ye, not one prejudiced comment swept under the rug by a press release talking about how wrong he was and how much learning he can do to better…Read more...

This piece was posted nearly two hours before Jaylen Brown announced he was leaving Kanye West’s Donda Sports marketing firm. It has been updated with the latest news.Read more...

Ben Simmons fouled out again Monday night. He’s fouled out of two of his first three games as a member of the Brooklyn Nets and has nearly as many fouls as points. So far, Simmons has posted 17 points, 14 fouls, 18 rebounds, and 21 assists in three games. This is the guy who was once touted as the “next” LeBron James…Read more...

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Phil Kessel has never been here for your shit. Which might be one of the reasons he’s going to break the consecutive games streak by playing in his 990th straight game tonight for Vegas.

The NFL finally trying college offenses and mobile QBs after snubbing its nose at them for decades is like praising your child for going diaper-free at 25 years old. Not only was it long overdue, but the negligence is concerning. All of these NFL writers love to tout the innovation from this new generation of coaches…Read more...

Last season we did our weekly rookie quarterback tracker, but with only one taken in the first round of 2022, we’ve moved onto another highly coveted position. For 2022 we’ll keep track of all six first-round wide receivers and their progress throughout the year. Some of our first-round rookies are already off to the…Read more...

I’m a New England Patriots fan that loves how Bill Belichick coaches football. I’m a New England Patriots fan that’s always hated how Bill Belichick drafts quarterbacks. Two things can be true at the same time.Read more...

There has been reason for NFL analysts and fans far and wide to complain about the Chicago Bears roster since offseason workouts began.Read more...

It’s time to check in on the teams that can’t get out of their own way. We’re nearing the halfway point of the 2022 NFL season and it’s been unpredictable, but there are always a few teams we expect to disappoint their fan base. Now let’s get into the powerless ranking for Week 7.

Today, a Russian court upheld the nine-year sentence for WNBA player Brittney Griner. Nine years for a small amount of cannabis oil in her luggage.Read more...

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Before they ever officiate a professional game, NFL officials have the league’s nearly 300-page rulebook drilled into their hippocampus. Which is why we know the two officials captured on video appearing to collect an autograph from Tampa Bay Bucs receiver Mike Evans had to have known better.

Aaron Judge hadn’t been a free agent for…well, he’s not even a free agent yet at all, and already there is buzz that the Dodgers will be hot on his ass as they bid to create a 125-win team. The kicker is that according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the Dodgers would ask Mookie Betts to move to second base to accommodate…Read more...

There is no getting it back from the Patriots or their fans. They’d have to go through a couple of decades of haplessness, and that’s only because most of the Pats fans you know will be dead by then, and only then could you get some peace. Such has been their track record. The battle is lost, so you have to take your…Read more...

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Jerry Jones is a salesman and says whatever is needed at any given time. When Dak Prescott went down with an injured thumb in Week 1, Jones seemed ready to replace him permanently in favor of Cooper Rush after just a couple of games. Prescott returned for Dallas’ Week 7 matchup, which they won over the Detroit Lions,…Read more...

Professional sports are like many other industries. The goals of management and the employees are not always aligned.

If there were American coaches who were hoping that Jesse Marsch could be the first through the wall as a Yank managing in the big five leagues in Europe, they might be discussing a retreat right now.Read more...

Don’t be fooled by the 49ers’ Week 7, 44-23 loss to the Chiefs. San Francisco is good, and they’re only going to get better as the season moves along. Kansas City has rolled over many teams similarly during Patrick Mahomes’ tenure. Remember, there isn’t a Chiefs equivalent in the NFC. The Niners possess the formula to…Read more...

As the target of a chorus of boos, fuck yous and a barrage of middle fingers, Republican Senator Ted Cruz somehow managed to outshine the Houston Astros as the most detested figure in New York.Read more...

“New York Yankees” and “inferiority complex” are two combinations of words that have probably never met in a sentence for over 100 years or so. This is the New York Yankees, the absolute biggest symbol of American exceptionalism, even when it’s a sport that no other place plays. They’re the Yankees, the most…Read more...

It’s a struggle to get billionaire owners to see themselves as the public views them. When you’re heavily isolated and surrounded by yes men, it’s easy to think your plan for league domination is flawless, and your various exploits are on the level and wouldn’t get any person without an army of lawyers at least five…Read more...

For sure, all the Bryce Harper bashers are in hiding today.

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Seven weeks into the 2022 season, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady are Thelma and Louisa’ing it over the cliff. The 3-4 Bucs’ and 3-4 Packers’ anemic offenses are the weak links being carried by their defenses, as their venerable future Hall of Fame quarterbacks are throwing away winnable games. At this point in 2021, the…Read more...

It’s not usually supposed to work like this in baseball. The quirk, some would say the beauty, of the game is that the big at-bats can fall to anyone. They don’t always fall to a team’s star player, and in fact they rarely do. Opponents spell out a strategy most of the time to make sure they don’t.

During NBA Commish Adam Silver’s apology tour session with beleaguered Phoenix Suns employees this weekend, he was confronted with another concern. In addition to apologizing for suspended team Governor Robert Sarver and his decades of misconduct, Silver was also besieged by a flood of questions about the problem of…Read more...

The Denver Broncos have decided to deactivate Russell Wilson for their Week 7 matchup against the New York Jets due to a hamstring injury, and it could be the best move they’ve made all season. After a 2-4 start to the year, Wilson hasn’t nearly been the guy the Broncos thought they were trading for on the field.

Crowbarring a World Cup into the middle of the club season in winter was always a dumb idea, probably equal to the idea that the tournament ever could have been held in the summer in Qatar, which is what the country and FIFA were originally selling when they awarded it to Qatar (and it was literally for sale).…Read more...

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s gridiron shakeup, 49 months old exactly on Saturday, further cemented the Tigers’ spot among college football’s elite. One of the highest-rated collegiate prospects of all-time, then-true freshman Trevor Lawrence, replaced Kelly Bryant as the team’s starting quarterback after…Read more...

There are 17 gazillion things happening in sports right now, and as much as I’d like to update you on all the happenings of the opening weeks of the NBA and NHL, the World Series-deciding MLB rounds, College Football Playoff-ramification slates, and every NFL, EPL, MMA, boxing match, game, contest, and face-off in…Read more...

At the beginning of the 2021-22 NBA season, the rule changes were irksome to players used to getting touch fouls by lunging into unsuspecting defenders to draw contact and a whistle. Trae Young, Damian Lillard, and James Harden were just a few stars to sound off about the changes, but as the season progressed, they…Read more...

It shouldn’t matter which team completes Group E of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Anything less than a first-place finish in the quartet for the United States women’s national team will be a tremendous disappointment. It doesn’t matter that fellow global power the Netherlands is also in the group. Vietnam is locked…Read more...

Was it internet trolls or just a limited-time option?Read more...

Champagne isn’t the only thing the Houston Astros are keeping on ice.Read more...

If you can’t beat ‘em, hire the manager that beat you. Yeah! That’s the phrase. At least it is for the Texas Rangers, who successfully courted Bruce Bochy out of three-year retirement to become their new manager. Bochy is best known to Texas as the mafioso who picked them apart in the 2010 World Series with the…Read more...

There’s no denying that the ALCS is a bigger draw than the NLCS this year. The Yankees always garner eyeballs, New York and Houston have a recent, contentious history, and there is no fence straddling when it comes to the Astros’ cheating scandal. Either they should have a postseason ban like a college basketball…Read more...

Expecting the college football gods to give us a second helping of last week’s madness is asking a lot. Four undefeated Top-10 schools fell, and three different crowds rushed the field, with the Vols starting a GoFundMe-type deal for their goalposts that were dumped into the Tennessee River.

The spotlight Deion Sanders has brought to historically black college football programs has been unparalleled. Interest is at an all-time high and Sanders has championed multiplying exposure for the talent at HBCU programs. Sanders was specifically referring to the players, but the same sentiments could be said for…Read more...

There are two NFC teams playing in Week 7 of the NFL season with a winning record. That’s right, one for each middle finger to average gridiron play. There’s only four in total. Two are on a BYE? Philadelphia (6-0) and Minnesota (5-1). Dallas, using mostly a backup quarterback to get to this point, is half of the…Read more...

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