Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Now that my undefeated record of picking No. 13 seeds or lower in the NCAA Tournament publicly is still intact after Furman’s victory over Virginia on Thursday, I’m deciding to not rest on my laurels and tell you all about another prediction I made earlier this week. For fans of Deadspin’s Agree to Disagree video…Read more...

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When you’re so incredibly talented at something, it tends to give you a false sense of confidence in other areas of your life. Perhaps no one in a star’s inner circle wants to be cast out so they evolve into yes-men, or a player’s competitive drive makes them believe anything is possible. I’m not a sports psychologist…Read more...

Every year a group of players enters the NBA playoffs with the weight of their legacy on their shoulders. And every year, all but one player exits bearing even more weight than they went in with. This season is no different, despite the unprecedented parity in the league. So we’ve pinpointed the players, both veterans…Read more...

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Whether you call it irony or coincidence, the best team playing during college basketball’s biggest moment during a month that’s dedicated to the history of women makes too much sense. Yes, we all think of the men’s game when we think of March Madness. And yes, the men’s game brings in all the money. But, commerce and…Read more...

That’s the question for one-half of 95.7 The Game’s Morning Roast in San Francisco. Great Drake impersonation, getting all in your feelings after being called out for posting a Tweet about Andrew Wiggins’ personal issue — an issue he wants to keep private. Why go through the trouble of getting worked up after the…Read more...

If you’re like me — an NBA fan who pivots to college basketball for a few weeks in March — the best part of the NCAA tournament is the unknown. What I don’t know about draft stock, a coach, a player, a team, or anything, makes the discovery all the more entertaining.Read more...

On Mar. 1, the Los Angeles Police Department Protective League — the local union — presented a proposal. The rank-and-file officers desire to limit the types of calls to which they provide a response. Two of those types of calls include mental health and welfare checks. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council…Read more...

Ja Morant will be back on the court next week at some point. Which is good…maybe? One gets the sense that no one around him is really looking out for him, including his employer. But the NBA has a lot of money invested in him, so they need to rehab his image but do so quickly so he can get back on the court and remind…Read more...

One of the first thrilling finishes of the 2023 NCAA Tournament also gave us our first March Badness play to consume in the form of Virginia’s stunning 68-67 loss to the Furman Paladins. Clad in Willy Wonka purple, Furman earned their golden ticket to the tournament for the first time in 43 years, after winning the…Read more...

When there’s a way to have a trash take on sports, enter Keith Olbermann. This time, it’s about the World Baseball Classic, because what matters most to Mr. Olbermann is the Major League Baseball season, as the yearly league is much more important to those who don’t see value in the global tournament. Odd flex, but OK.

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In a year devoid of a dominant blue blood or player, college basketball stayed in the headlines for the worst reasons. Preseason No. 1 UNC whiffed on the season and missed the tournament entirely. Gonzaga is relying on a normal supply of veteran talent, but is less interesting to watch for casual fans without a…Read more...

I get it. I totally get why Jimmy Butler reportedly gets under the skin of his teammates. He had a point when he was with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Those young players needed to have enough energy to not get mauled by him at practice. But what happened recently is worthy of the NBA bringing the amnesty clause back…Read more...

The debate about fighting in hockey has always been overly loud for what was actually being debated, if debate ever even took place. One side of it always tended to be pretty shrill. The natural evolution of the game to a speed and skill one has lessened fighting to a rarer and rarer occurrence on its own. Teams are…Read more...

The election of a FIFA president is probably as close as we can get to a world president, as being the governor of the world’s most popular sport certainly allows one to wield an insane amount of power and influence. What exactly Gianni Infantino has done to earn a second term is anyone’s guess, other than promising a…Read more...

Jalen Carter’s last few weeks went from bad to worse on Wednesday, when Georgia football held its Pro Day. Carter, the two-time national-champion defensive tackle with the Bulldogs, was without a shred of doubt considered one of the best players available in the 2023 NFL Draft, with many believing if the Chicago Bears…Read more...

If you love the behind-the-scenes aspect of the NFL with trades and free agency, you’ll love this. People often wonder how trade rumors get started, and if you’re one of them, DeAndre Hopkins gave a crash course on how to light the match that ignites a rumor. While trade talk about Hopkins has been out there, he was…Read more...

March Madness is officially here. And if you’re reading this you more than likely have a game on in the background as you’re working from home — or in the office — or did the smart thing and took the first two “real” days of the NCAA Tournament off. But, outside of the upsets, brackets, and copious amounts of college…Read more...

No more bubbles. No more first four in or out. No more teams wondering if they made the most exclusive group in college basketball. Only 68 teams of the 350+ Division-I squads have a chance to become national champions now. Before the First Four begins on Tuesday, we’ve ranked every team that hopes to win the whole…Read more...

While we understand that today is supposed to be about basketball. The inadequacy of Alabama’s basketball program, the university, and law enforcement have given us reason to pause for something more important — additional information on the fact that the number of members, former members, student-athletes, and people…Read more...

Damian Lillard was in the news Wednesday for sounding like an old head during an appearance on J.J. Redick’s The Old Man and the Three podcast. From saying young players were entitled, to worrying about the direction of the league, and all the championship tropes that have followed him in between, if anyone wanted to…Read more...

Colorado, you can have Deion Sanders. I hope he enjoys Boulder which he claims has “no crime,” and I hope the university enjoys him until he moves on to a job with more money and prestige and says that he was instructed by God to do so. I also hope that Jackson State continues to thrive sans the man with the gold…Read more...

Do not ask me to go anywhere right now that involves air travel. My fanny is parked right here on the West Coast until further notice. I am going nowhere unless my sedan can get me there, and it had better be before parking fills up on my street. There have been two recent stories of frightening flight experiences.…Read more...

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If I asked you, before the WBC, which team might have a player seriously injured not just during the World Baseball Classic, but doing something non-play involved during the WBC that feels like the baseball gods got loaded and said, “Hey watch this!”, there would only be one answer, right? You couldn’t possibly think…Read more...

Entitlement in sports is nothing new. We see it every day, especially in the social media age. Whether it be the athletes participating, organizations, or fans, everyone feels they have a right to something. Wednesday morning in San Francisco, a sensitive topic was broached by the morning show on 95.7 The Game, asking…Read more...

What FC Barcelona will tell you is that their comfortable lead atop La Liga at the moment (nine points) is indicative of being recovered from their years in financial hell. That all the levers they pulled (and the symbolism of Barca constantly talking about pulling their levers is hard to miss) have paid off and…Read more...

On Wednesday, after meeting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant was suspended eight games by the league for conduct detrimental to the league.Read more...

It’s hard to quantify team chemistry. There’s no proven formula to get a group of guys to like each other, and even if they do, it doesn’t always remain that way. So count “Andrew Bogut’s removal” among the many things that went the Golden State Warriors’ way over the past seven to eight years. Because the retired…Read more...

A huge portion of local sports broadcasting is in jeopardy after Diamond Sports Group, responsible for nearly half of local MLB, NHL, and NBA games under the Bally Sports brand, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in Texas. The conglomerates’ financial troubles stem from expensive broadcast rights agreements…Read more...

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Updated: “It is my intention to play for the Jets,” Aaron Rodgers said Wednesday on The Pat McAfee Show.Read more...

Forget the vaccine skepticism. Forget the 9/11 truther nonsense. Forget the darkness retreats. This time he’s truly lost his mind.Read more...

Draymond Green is the NBA’s antagonist. He’s always involved in some altercation on the court or spouting off in the media and, more recently, on his own podcast. You can always count on Green speaking his mind and rarely biting his tongue. The latest example came on “The Draymond Green Show” podcast when Green…Read more...

Finding advantages other teams don’t have is a key to success in the NFL. If it’s a rare every-down running back, keep him and pay him. Could you imagine one of the NFL teams with an elite quarterback shipping them away no matter what assets they receive in return? Then you have what the Las Vegas Raiders reportedly…Read more...

There’s a phenomenon, a quirk, a thing that happens every so often with coaches, a subtle or sometimes overt change, that I believe tips their hand to whether they’ve quiet quit on the job. When a skipper knows his time at a job is coming to an end, he’ll change his attire. It can be as obvious as Nathaniel Hackett…Read more...

Nikola Jokić possesses the most versatile skill set in the entire league. Assists — he’ll dish him. Points — he’ll score ‘em. Rebounds — he’ll grab ‘em in droves. His defensive impact is questionable, despite what metrics might imply, but there’s one area where his game-changing skill has translated to the other end.Read more...

Lamar Jackson represents himself in his contract negotiations, and he is now speaking for himself while the insiders release whatever morsels of information they have about the marathon discussions between him and the Baltimore Ravens about an extension. Some new information has come from Adam Schefter, and Lamar…Read more...

Twitter may have turned even more into a hellscape barometer about the slow, wheezing death of our society since the rejected Star Trek villain took over, and yet it never fails to regularly toss up some nuggets that can delight, or bewilder, an individual…Read more...

I’m firmly in the corner of you should never pay a running back for all the cliche arguments that go along with it. But there are exceptions to every rule, like when a running back is more receiver than Derrick Henry. Quarterbacks love having outlet guys on their team, and like you could argue that in 2022 Austin…Read more...

I’m truly shocked to hear that the mega-smash hit Power Slap: Road to the Title on TBS got canceled after just eight episodes, according to MMA Fighting. About as shocked as one can be when I 100 percent predicted this over a month ago. It’s a show where someone gets slapped, and then someone else gets slapped. And…Read more...

America’s Team is worth more money than any other team in the NFL. In fact, the Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable team in the world, according to Forbes. Whether you want to believe they are still “America’s Team” or not is irrelevant. The Cowboys are raking in dollar bills hand over fist. So, it’s got to be…Read more...

Every time the XFL or USFL tries to make a comeback, they debut a bunch of wrinkles to make the game more exciting. The epitome was the WWE’s XFL getting rid of fair catches in an attempt to spread the CTE around to all of its workforce. The latest fad is a rule in the spirit of make-it, take-it where teams eschew…Read more...

Last year, I believe I was the only person on the internet who sang the praises of Saint Peter’s before the NCAA Tournament. And then it shocked the nation by beating then-No. 2 seed Kentucky. And the Peacocks won two more games before they ended their season one step short of the Final Four. I’m back this year to…Read more...

Last month, NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin was pulled from TV during Super Bowl week due to a misconduct allegation made against him. Since then, things have become a mess. The saga continued on Tuesday.Read more...

Despite being shoved into the middle of the season and in a country that was in no way up to the standards of hosting such a thing, the last World Cup ended up being a hit for what went on on the field. Exciting conclusion to the group stages, classic games in the knockout stages, and a memorable winner cementing the…Read more...

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