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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...

It appears Russia’s hardline obsession with punishing drug offenders has its limit after all. On Wednesday morning, Russia released a U.S. citizen and former marine, Trevor Reed, as part of prisoner exchange. In July 2020, Reed was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison following an altercation with Russian police…Read more...

Remember when the NBA tried new basketballs, and the response was so overwhelmingly negative that the league switched back to the old balls midseason? If you fall into the Venn diagram of baseball and basketball fans, you probably recall this story, but if you’re strictly a baseball person, what happened is the ball…Read more...

The playoffs have started, and it’s been one of the most chaotic first rounds in recent memory. Both conferences feel very wide open thanks to critical injuries and various superstars playing underwhelming basketball. Going into this year’s postseason, it felt like a rematch of last year’s Finals between the Phoenix…Read more...

That isn’t to say that Madrid won last night, because they most certainly didn’t. 4-3 results when you have the three is a loss in the scorebook. And it’s that kind of biting analysis that keeps you coming back. But Madrid “won” in that a one-goal deficit when the second leg is at home, where white-shirted gremlins…Read more...

Mark Emmert announced his resignation yesterday, stepping down as president of the NCAA, a position he’d held since November 1, 2010.

In Minnesota, chicken lives matter more than Black ones.Read more...

I do appreciate that Jerry Jones will actually get in front of a microphone and talk to the people. It’s something that his brethren in NFL ownership refuse to do, and maybe if they did they would have the most valuable sports franchise in the entire world. Is Jones talking for the sake of transparency in a way that…Read more...

The annoying after effect of the Los Angeles Rams winning the Super Bowl is we have to pretend that everything they do is cute or cool. Matthew Stafford’s appearance in an AT&T commercial was the first ad I can remember seeing him in, and now I have to laugh at him winking at the camera until the NBA Playoffs end in…Read more...

If nothing else, you have to respect Kevin Durant for staying on brand at all times. The Brooklyn Nets completed one of the most disappointing seasons of all time by being swept in the first round by the Boston Celtics, and being the first team eliminated from the 2022 NBA Playoffs. Their experiment didn’t work. They…Read more...

This time of year is far and away the most frantic for a sports fan. Usually both the NBA and NHL are in their playoffs, with three or four games per night each. This year, the NHL is dragging ass a bit, and there really is only one playoff race, but it still means one has to keep tabs on it. The NBA is now deep into…Read more...

After months of speculation concerning the contents of the “scandalous” sealed letter that supposedly contained evidence of a previously unknown cheating scandal involving the New York Yankees, the contents were allegedly revealed in a report by Andy Martino, an MLB Insider for SportsNet New York, in which he says SNY…Read more...