Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The media coverage up to the Saudi Tour pro-am at Bedminster, N.J., led the public to believe that Donald Trump embracing one of the countries involved in 9/11 during a golf tournament would generate a great deal of backlash.

When Kyler Murray signed his $230.5 million contract extension this past Monday, it seemed as though the disputes that plagued the Cardinals’ offseason were finally behind them. Until the public started looking into Murray’s contract details. Within minutes, it was revealed that the contract included an “independent…Read more...

The most awkward episode of The Office is without a doubt “Scott’s Tots.” In it, Michael Scott has to tell a class of underprivileged students that his promise to pay for their college 15 years ago isn’t going to happen. For a series that specialized in uncomfortable moments, the Dunder Mifflin manager handing out…Read more...

We can only hope that Lamar Jackson will fight, not cave.Read more...

Who will win this year’s NFL quarterback roulette?

In the aftermath of Golden State’s 2022 NBA title, the expectation was that the Warriors and billionaire owner Joe Lacob’s Midas Touch would continue forever. While reporting on Golden State’s $171 million luxury tax bill, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst referred to its championship as a checkbook win. That phrase took on a…Read more...

The Angels lost last night. They did so with Shohei Ohtani on the mound, striking out over 10 hitters again. It’s this thing he does. But it didn’t matter, as the Halos never scored and lost 2-0 to the Rangers. Ohtani has struck out 10 hitters or more in six straight starts. The Angels lost the last two, though to be…Read more...

The Cincinnati Bengals were every analyst’s nightmare last season. Nobody expected them to win the AFC North. They did. Nobody expected them to reach the Super Bowl. They did. Now, in 2022, everyone is expecting similar results, maybe not another Super Bowl appearance, but at least 10 wins and a playoff berth.

As much as I want to yell at colleges, “This is your responsibility!” every time a student-athlete gets a NIL deal, I occasionally get distracted by how perfect the partnership is. Whether it’s an unheralded Kansas fullback turning a game-winning two-point conversion into an Applebee’s eating spree, or Alabama’s…Read more...

Whatever wink, wink, nod, nod, jab, jab agreement Andrew Benintendi has with the Yankees, his vaccination status wasn’t discussed in the trade talks that ended with him in pinstripes, if the verified tweeters are to be believed. Other verifieds are alleging that the left fielder is willing to get the routine shot —…Read more...

From the beginning, Brittney Griner’s status has been the most unique American hostage situation in modern history. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, her celebrity status, and her identity as a Black lesbian woman have heightened the urge to get her home as quickly as possible in a wartime climate that’s raised the…Read more...

Do you think Mike Trout ever has regrets?

John Parker Wilson, Greg McElroy, A.J. McCarron, Matt Ryan, and Ryan Tannehill. Those are the men that are responsible for why one of the best wide receivers over the last decade-plus has underwhelming touchdown numbers.

There isn’t anyone more desirable at this year’s MLB trade deadline than Juan Soto. He’s a 23-year-old slugger with more potential than a boulder sitting at the top of a steep hill (that’s a science joke for all the professors out there). It was clear that several teams were going to call the Nationals about Soto as…Read more...

“Sixteen just seems to be out there,” Gene Smith, Ohio State’s athletic director, said at the Big Ten media days. “You can’t ignore it.”

Most English fans, if not all of them, would have been nodding their heads when the final whistle of W Euro 2022’s second semifinal sounded. Because it signaled that Germany would be waiting at Wembley in the final for England and the only thing between the English and the women’s team’s first major trophy. This is…Read more...

Max Scherzer being a little too intense for his own good has rarely been in question. He would tell you his intensity and downright borderline psychosis when on the mound is what makes him the surefire Hall of Famer that he is. One wonders if that’s true. But that’s how he is. No changing it now.Read more...

Brittney Griner has been detained in a Russian prison since her arrest in February of this year, while simultaneously existing in limbo as negotiations have taken place to free her. As Griner’s high-profile trial has played out in public view, the negotiations to end her Russian captivity have progressed behind the…Read more...

The Dodgers have a few glaring holes on their roster.

One of the more annoying things in life is when a person thinks a job title denotes leadership. Whether it’s newly-promoted assistant manager Greg trying to rally the staff during the lunch rush at Jimmy John’s, a CEO expecting underlings to laugh at all his jokes, or quarterbacks buying their offensive linemen gifts,…Read more...

Now that the Saudi Golf Tour has announced a $405 million purse and 14 tournaments for 2023, those see-through excuses and talking that defecting golfers have been tossing out at press conferences are even weaker than they were before — a feat that we honestly didn’t think was possible.Read more...

The New York Mets are currently 60-37 — first place in the NL East — despite the fact that their best pitcher, two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom hasn’t pitched a single game for them all year. DeGrom has been nursing a series of injuries, particularly with his shoulder, for more than a year now. The light at…Read more...

Chris Carson’s penchant for putting his head down and plowing through defenders’ chests with the brute force of a medieval jouster made him one of the NFL’s most intimidating runners. As the perfect spiritual successor to Beast Mode, he made a career out of crashing through and over would-be tacklers. When he was able…Read more...

Finally, the Texas Rangers’ front office is attempting to position the franchise out of American League irrelevance. The team hasn’t won a postseason game since 2015 and, in the seven years since, Texas has tried to revamp its roster multiple times with players like Ian Desmond, Mike Napoli — eligible for the Hall of…Read more...

It’s pretty standard now, bordering on canon, that Tony Khan will spit out a great pay-per-view whenever he needs to. And now it’s with multiple companies. Last Saturday, it was Ring of Honor’s turn, with “Death Before Dishonor.” And by any measure, it was a banger. Not perfect — rarely is a show ever perfect — but…Read more...

During the spring of 2019, New York Giants’ former general manager Dave Gettleman made a declaration during the pre-draft process after falling in love with a certain prospect. “After the three series I watched, I saw a professional quarterback. So that’s when I was in full-blown love,” he said about Daniel Jones at…Read more...

College football is changing faster than it can handle. There are no playbooks or 100-level courses for what’s next in the sport. It feels like when I took a journalism business class after the Recession, and the professor was asking the students for suggestions.Read more...

It is not very English to win semifinals at major tournaments. Glorious defeat is kind of their thing, and has been for decades.

Julio Jones is joining forces with Tom Brady.Read more...

Stick with me here.

The 2022 Hall of Fame class was loaded. When Jimmy Rollins, Tim Hudson, and Prince Fielder are some of the low-end first-years, and two of them don’t even receive five percent of the vote, you know it’s an insane class. Between Álex Rodríguez, David Ortiz, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens, 2022 was one of the most…Read more...

Top 10 NFL lists are typically there to incite a reaction. But Mike Sando’s 2022 QB Tiers List thwacks you upside the head over and over. The exclusion of Lamar Jackson from quarterback top 10 lists this offseason is standard operating protocol, but the disdain for the league’s top black quarterbacks slipped through…Read more...

Kyler Murray has found himself in detention — or, at least, the NFL’s version of it. As details of his new $230 million contract extension with the Arizona Cardinals come out, the rockiness of his offseason relationship with the team suddenly makes a whole lot more sense.Read more...

I can’t believe what I’m about to say: The Angels have to trade Shohei Ohtani.

Stop calling it a retirement. Without the details of alleged hush payments skyrocketing well beyond $12 million to keep various women quiet, now-former WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon would still be in unquestioned power. He didn’t leave his post of 40 years unprovoked or out of humility to transition the…Read more...

The biggest hurdle Bronny James will have to clear to make the NBA might be one that his dad can’t boost him over. Partially lost in NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s many comments during the summer league a couple of weeks ago was his support for lowering the age limit from 19 to 18, something that needs to happen prior…Read more...

Welcome to the new Big Ten! As a lifelong Midwesterner, I have a certain fondness for the conference, and I wanted to preserve some major rivalries while keeping an open mind for expansion to new markets.

This new ACC is all about the show. We kept a couple of rivalries but our main goal is to entertain you. There are Hurricanes, Badgers, three different Tigers, and some of the most annoying people on the planet wearing their stupid scarlet. So lean back in your drop top, and turn on the 8 Ball & MJG, because this…Read more...

Nostalgia doesn’t fix everything. Looking at a photo of your ex won’t bring them back. They’re likely off with Claude, galavanting around the South of France.

Picking in the middle of the rounds made strategizing to keep rivals together a challenge, but we’ve got the finances to thrive once we’re inevitably forced to categorize student-athletes as employees.

With the snake-draft format, I was the only one forced to make every selection in pairs. I focused on the rivalries that make college sports great to a fault, which got harder as the draft went along. I more than held my own, starting with a heavy hitter and securing one of the most underrated rivalries in college…Read more...

It’s the kind of trade that’s only cooked up at the bar, and almost certainly not before midnight. It’s only then and there that the right kind of desperation can be tuned into, as fans of whatever team it may be, try and live in denial for just a little while longer that their window of contending hasn’t slammed…Read more...

Read more...

Five years after Michael Jordan infamously told the world that “the ceiling is the roof,” his team looks to still be as confused as we are.

It was a familiar refrain, somewhere around 2016 or 2017, when the Black N’ Gold version of NXT was arguably at its zenith, and arguably the best wrestling going on the planet at that moment. Any fan would watch yet another banger of an NXT Takeover and think, “Man, when Hunter (Triple H) takes over creative from…Read more...

When Nolan Arenado bitched his way out of Colorado, every baseball fan understood. Arenado had signed a monster extension with the team on the back of two straight playoff appearances, and the Rockies looked at least stable for the first time in a long while, if not completely on the upswing. Part of signing that…Read more...

Read more...

The Boston Celtics have reached their offseason garden of forking paths. After falling short in the NBA Finals, they now seem willing to break up their young tandem, and potentially a fulcrum of their asphyxiating defense.Read more...

The first 12 months of NIL have taught us a valuable lesson — that a lot of college football coaches are “pocket-watchers.”Read more...

Aaron Judge has quieted down the pen-protector, analytic geeks.