Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The NHL would love for you to believe that Toronto’s 10-7 win/what-have-ya over Detroit on Saturday — and to a much lesser extent the hapless Devils and Hawks hurling themselves at each other to the tune of an 8-5 scoreline on Friday — as evidence that it’s goal-apalooza on the ice these days. The reality is that…Read more...

Glenn Jacobs sounds like the name of a serious-minded small-town Southern mayor with libertarian sensibilities but a stable worldview. That is until you realize that he spent the last three decades playing Kane, a character who can best be described as Michael Myers but obsessed with fire instead of sharp knives;…Read more...

You know you shouldn’t have hired someone if you have to release a statement days after you hired them to explain why you hired them.

Part of it was due to still being on vacation, and the other part was my general obliviousness. But I only realized at the last minute that MLS started its season this weekend, about 12 minutes after the last one ended with NYCFC’s manager in his undies in the rain in Portland, thanks to having to wrap up before…Read more...

Zion Williamson’s absence from the New Orleans Pelicans has of late led to tons of speculation about his future. Former teammate JJ Redick made the rounds on ESPN shows to talk about Zion’s lack of professionalism, even saying on First Take that he had even addressed it with Zion in front of the team when he was still…Read more...

It is so simple, at least to anyone not entangled in the middle of the mess. All of Poland, Czechia, and Sweden have said they will refuse to play Russia in World Cup qualifiers at the end of March. While a ban from FIFA isn’t going to end Russia’s occupation of Ukraine, there is no pressure point that shouldn’t be…Read more...

Since spectators have returned to high school sporting events, hate speech and verbal abuse from fans has become more noticeable, if not more common. It’s almost as if the decline in social interactions reset fans to their baser instincts, and they forgot how to at least act civilized. Across the country, fans have…Read more...

If Saturday was a precursor to March Madness, then all of our brackets are more doomed than usual. Seven of the AP top 10 teams fell in a wild day of upsets, including every top six team. No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Auburn, No. 4 Purdue, No. 5 Kansas, No. 6 Kentucky, and No. 9 Texas Tech all caught Ls.Read more...

The NCAA Tournament has become one of the most unpredictable, edge-of-your-seat sporting events of the year due to its knockout nature. It’s a clash of college basketball styles coming together as the calendar turns from winter to spring, pitting teams that usually never see each other on the same court with their…Read more...

Good things come to those who are great. Paige Bueckers made her return from injury Friday night in a 93-38 runaway win over St. John’s. Despite playing on a minutes restrictions, the sophomore, reigning national player of the year, and “Walking highlight” couldn’t help but highlight.Read more...

Sacramento Kings’ guard De’Aaron Fox has been picking pockets both on and off the basketball court lately. After announcing his NFT program “SwipaTheFox” in December and launching it in January, it took less than two months for Fox to shut down the program with more than $1.5 million unpaid to its nearly 100,000…Read more...

Yes, it’s only one game. But what a game it was.Read more...

Middle America’s most depressing battle of in-school ineptitude — Fred Hoiberg versus Scott Frost — has been extended. Nebraska announced Hoiberg is coming back, and he’s bringing his six Big Ten wins in nearly three years with him. Will Scott Frost, an awe-inspiring 10 conference wins over four seasons, finish his…Read more...

Alexander Ovechkin finally addressed the crisis in Ukraine, saying some words in a press conference in Philadelphia that sounded nice but were ultimately meaningless.

Oh goodie, misery. The last portion of the NBA season kicked off Thursday, and that means Cancun is in sight for at least 10 franchises. With their seasons already in the blender, they might as well add ice, Cointreau, Casamigos, agave, and an FT of lime juice before kicking back in the training pool with a tank-arita…Read more...

Think what you want about Bronny James’ NBA prospects, one thing that isn’t a question is his entrepreneurial spirit, much like his father, LeBron James. But before Bronny gets anywhere close to the NBA, he’s taking his talents to the undergarments business.Read more...

Deion Sanders banned a Black reporter from covering his program. Eddie George had to be convinced by a white man to take a job at a Historically Black College and University. And now Hue Jackson — a man with an 11-44 record as an NFL head coach — has hired Art Briles, a serial rape enabler, to his staff at Grambling…Read more...

Tom Brady, don’t do it.

The scenes coming out of Ukraine are intense, surreal, and incredibly concerning. “World War 3” also trended on Twitter on Thursday, and the impact of the conflict continued to reach across the sports world.Read more...

With only two games left in the regular season, the LSU women’s basketball team sits at No. 8 in the national rankings. Sitting second in their conference, behind consensus No. 1 South Carolina, we can finally, confidently say that the Kim Mulkey-led Tigers have turned things around.Read more...

As far as approval ratings go, Alexander Ovechkin’s standing among Washington, D.C., natives is as high as it gets. He’s arguably the greatest professional athlete to call the District of Columbia home. He’s been there for 17 seasons. He’s a 12-time all-star. He led the Capitals to a Stanley Cup title, the first title…Read more...

Jimmy Butler has missed 19 games, Kyle Lowry has missed 15, and Bam Adebayo has missed 25. Yet, as the NBA regular season resumes tonight after the All-Star Break, the Miami Heat are in first place in the Eastern Conference. The Heat have the same winning percentage as the second-place Chicago Bulls, but have beaten…Read more...

Maybe Troy Aikman was more peeved about not calling the Dallas Cowboys Wild Card Game last month than we initially thought?

After years of political tension between the countries, Russia officially invaded Ukraine on Wednesday, bringing swift sanctions and reaction from around the world, as countries almost unanimously opposed the actions spearheaded by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Michael Jordan laughed and said he “had no problem with The Glove,” in The Last Dance. Now it seems Gary Payton isn’t going to let Jordan have the last word.Read more...

With the NFL Combine less than a week away, draft season is upon us. This time last year, we were talking about the impact that several of the 2021 draftees were going to have on the teams that drafted them. Where 2021 saw numerous high-end quarterback prospects hit teams’ big boards, 2022 offers a plethora of edge…Read more...

The United States Women’s National Team was in Texas last night, which could not have come at a better time after news went viral from the state’s governor’s office.

In a horrifying turn of events, Art Briles is going to be employed on a college campus come fall.

While he rehabs a disc injury, Draymond Green is a perpetual motion, content-churning machine. He’s been ubiquitous this season, from mounting a legit case for Defensive Player of the Year to the airwaves during All-Star Weekend to his burgeoning podcast. In September, Green launched a podcast on Colin Cowherd’s…Read more...

Before this week, for most sports fans, German tennis player Alexander Zverev’s name didn’t ring a bell. Others likely remember the domestic abuse allegations levied against him before the 2021 U.S. Open. But now, everyone should be aware as a recent video showed him cursing out an umpire and smashing a tennis racket…Read more...

Denying complacency is a telltale sign of complacency. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan did just that when he said the tour has “zero complacency” while addressing the rival Saudi golf league with the urgency of someone conducting business on the turn.Read more...

iShameThe personalities are the most fun part about the NBA, but not only because they’re flashy or frequently appear in gossip blogs. Those players are fun, but it’s different types of personalities in the league that make it work.

Kyrie Irving took a gamble on his health when he began his crusade against New York City’s vaccine mandate. The mandate states that residents cannot enter indoor spaces, such as gyms, if they have not received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of Johnson & Johnson. His stance already caused…Read more...

It’s been 365 days since Tiger Woods almost lost his life on the side of a road near Los Angeles after driving over a median, through two lanes of oncoming traffic, and hit a tree. It had been just over a month since HBO’s Tiger, a two-part documentary on the golfer’s life and struggles with addiction, had aired,…Read more...

It’s been about two weeks since the monster NBA trade that interrupted Super Bowl week between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets. All that build-up and neither Ben Simmons nor James Harden have debuted with their new teams yet. Harden is dealing with a recurring hamstring injury. But what’s the deal with…Read more...

The United States Football League held Day 1 of its inaugural player draft last night. With the league opting to keep its available player pool a mystery until draft day, it was kind of exciting to finally get to see which formerly big names in the NFL and college football we’d see take the field for this reincarnated…Read more...

There goes Gilbert Arenas doing what he does best again, making teammates angry.

Glance around the basketball landscape and you’ll see skyscrapers cast a shadow over the courts again. A whole new host of bigs are on the verge of challenging the convention that the NBA is a guard’s league.

The boycott lasted less than 24 hours before the NFL walked back their restrictions.

Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years, I’m rockin’ my peers, puttin’ suckers in fear…Read more...

Not less than a week after the Russia Olympic Committee won 32 medals — second most overall but somehow ninth in the standings because of questionable Russia shit — Vladimir Putin appears to be preparing to invade the Ukraine. Now, the sporting world seems to be paying attention to the crisis in real-time as UEFA is…Read more...

When in doubt, blame the officials. It’s a common behavior in sports. When in doubt, smash a tennis racket against an umpire’s chair, nearly striking him, which could’ve caused major harm? Deeply disturbing and pitiful. And that’s exactly what German tennis player Alexander Zverev did Tuesday.

Brian Flores is gainfully employed again. But is it for the right reasons?

Phil Mickelson was served a delightful slice of shit sandwich Tuesday as he and one of his longtime sponsors KPMG parted ways. You’d have to assume it was over the golfer’s comments on his willingness to do deals with the Saudis for the betterment of golf, but you also can’t rule out Mickelson’s “colossal fuck wit”…Read more...

Perhaps Tom Izzo was testing the mettle of his players Tuesday when he called getting rid of the postgame handshake line “the biggest farce… of anything I’ve ever heard of” right before getting drubbed by Iowa. If the sound of his voice doesn’t give away his gruff stance, anyone who’s followed college basketball…Read more...

The latest episode of the soap opera that is the MLB lockout featured a five-hour meeting between the players and owners to discuss a collective bargaining agreement for the upcoming season. The two parties have been at each other’s throats since the lockout began on December 2 of last year.

When he came into the NBA as a generational talent in 2019, Zion Williamson was thought to be New Orleans’ basketball savior, the player to make The Big Easy one of the marquee stops in the league’s rotation. Now, continued talk about his investment in the Pelicans has hit a climax, with possibly the harshest…Read more...

Shaquille O’Neal is seen by many as the most physically dominant and imposing player the NBA has ever produced. Knowing this, you’d think O’Neal would be a lock as a top 10 all-time player on any list. ESPN recently released its ranking of the top 75 NBA players (76 to be exact) for the league’s 75th-anniversary team,…Read more...

Michael Jordan turned 59 years old last week, hasn’t played professional basketball since 2003, hit that game-winning shot against the Utah Jazz nearly 25 years ago, and the NBA still belongs to him.

Aaron Rodgers jumped back in the spotlight very quickly after last night’s viral Instagram post. The lengthy post was his first since the day of the NFL Honors ceremony in which he took home his second consecutive MVP award. What makes it intriguing, is that it has the tone of a person saying goodbye — almost like a…Read more...