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Deep down, Liverpool supporters would tell you they didn’t want to do this to Rafa Benitez when he was announced as Everton’s manager before the season. Or, to put it more accurately, they didn’t want to have to do this. Benitez is still, and will always, be loved by the red half of Liverpool for bringing the club’s…Read more...

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) decided that enough was enough and it could not continue its business relationship with China, but the right decision could come with a significant financial cost. WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon released a statement that the organization will be suspending all tournaments in…Read more...

The G League celebrated its 20th season of competition this season but is only on its second of genuine interest to NBA fans. Instead of the occasional player who makes the leap from AAA to a rotation player or a raw draft pick trying to hone their skills, there wasn’t too much to get amped about until last year with…Read more...

There are plenty of reasons to ignore Buster Olney, not only for the duration of the lockout, but beyond. ESPN’s baseball version of Adam Schefter is routinely a water carrier for some of the worst the sport has to offer, from caping for Zack Scott, to floating “ideas” that he then accidentally reveals are straight…Read more...

The Aaron Rodgers “farewell to Green Bay” tour bus keeps rolling along and has claimed a few more bystanders that were run into, then backed over, in the process. This time it’s the Packers’ coaching staff catching the brunt of this blame game Rodgers loves to play.

The NFL sent out a press release this week that screamed, “Hey look, we did a good thing,” while being completely oblivious to the fact that their actions were shameful – which is very on brand for this league.Read more...

Major League Baseball is now locking out its players, and given that it’s the offseason, there shouldn’t be much way to notice other than the sudden lack of hot stove activity. The league, though, has gone out of its way to remind everyone online, taking all player-related content off of MLB.com, right down to…Read more...

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) decided that enough was enough and it could not continue its business relationship with China, but the right decision could come with a significant financial cost. WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon released a statement that the organization will be suspending all tournaments in…Read more...

I can’t say that Rob Manfred is bad at his job, at least not entirely. Because his job is to make sure that all 30 owners squeeze the sport for every last dollar possible, and he’s done that. It doesn’t really matter if he kills the league in the process, because his bosses don’t care. It’s simply about making sure…Read more...

Brian Kelly just left a Notre Dame team in playoff contention for $95 million. Lincoln Riley said good-bye to his SEC future and reportedly took $110 millon to attempt to revive a mediocre USC program. Ed Orgeron can sit at home doing nothing but drinking beer and eating gumbo for the next four years and rake in $16…Read more...

It appears that the going rate for tampering punishments in the NBA is a second round draft pick. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the NBA has concluded its tampering investigations into the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat for sign and trades during the 2021 offseason. Both teams were punished with the loss of…Read more...

Some people have the innate ability to make people dislike them no matter how great they are at whatever it is they do. James Harden is one of those personalities in the NBA. Harden isn’t necessarily a bad guy, but for some reason, many fans and even other players don’t really jive with him.Read more...

Can’t we go six months without a scandal in Major League Baseball? Just six months. That’s all I’m asking for.Read more...

It’s amazing how far above average quarterback play can get you in the NFL. A lot of these teams trying to crack the hard candy shell of contending — the Broncos, Dolphins, Falcons, Colts — can take leaps with the right QB, and in the Bucs case, win it all.Read more...

So If you feel like you heard some faint swearing in the air, and it vaguely sounded French (though Quebecois only vaguely sound French), don’t worry, you weren’t alone.

Injuries and Michael Porter Jr. go together like Urban Meyer and scandals. This is why it’s so odd that the uber-talented 23-year-old that’s about to have his third back surgery is an anti-vaxxer.Read more...

Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH! The year is almost over, mercifully. Here are some people who stood out in November for doing dumb things.Read more...

The Board of Elections in New York has released the full results of the mayoral election, confirming that Democrat Eric Adams got 753,801 votes, more than doubling Republican Curtis Sliwa’s tally of 302,680. Of course, we already knew that Adams won in a landslide — we knew that it was going to be that way all along.…Read more...

The MLS playoffs concluded their second round last night, with some of its trademark goofiness. And in true nothing-means-anything fashion of the whole league, both No. 1 seeds failed to win a game.

I’m done with the Steph Curry talk. No more! Moratorium on all things Golden State. There’s not a take to be had. He’s underrated, he’s overrated, he’s the most influential player since Bill Russell, he’s hated, he’s not hated. I don’t care. He’s oversaturated.

And so MLB heads into the final jump today, with the current CBA expiring today at 11:59 p.m. It’s important to remember that the owners don’t have to lock out the players when it expires. They can keep talking, and both sides would if both sides felt there was progress being made. Apparently, they don’t (though take…Read more...

Former No. 1 overall pick and slam dunk champion Blake Griffin received a rude awakening recently when he was not only benched by head coach Steve Nash but removed from the Nets’ rotation altogether. LaMarcus Aldridge certainly appears to have more left in the tank than Griffin, so being replaced by LA doesn’t seem…Read more...

WWE’s writers have never had a problem importing strife from real life into its storylines. About the time I was getting back into the whole thing, Paige was referencing the death of Charlotte Flair’s brother in the build-up to a match between the two. Jeff Hardy’s problems with drinking and getting behind the wheel…Read more...

I’m not big on catchphrases, sayings, or, in general, life advice that before Twitter and Instagram would’ve been an AIM Away Message or a bumper sticker. However, I do have a saying I use sometimes that I believe Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter should take to heart: Check your privilege at the door.Read more...

We knew Hot Stove season was going to come earlier than usual, given the ongoing MLB CBA dispute, but holy smokes! This got nuts real quick! Over the weekend, a myriad of moves were made involving the biggest free agents on the market.Read more...

I, along with the rest of the Notre Dame fanbase, was hit with an absolute punch in the gut yesterday that has thrown me for the loop of my life. Maybe Jack Swarbrick saw this coming, but this announcement was a complete blindside to everyone else involved with Notre Dame football, players included. As I made my way…Read more...

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Everybody knows LaVar Ball is a character who’s never short on words, but he’s also someone whose words you should be taken with a grain of salt at times. Ball’s latest plan is to have all three sons reunite in Chicago as Bulls.Read more...

There were too many openings at too many big colleges for a notable school or two not to be on the losing side even after being on the side of winning for so long. In a not so subtle reminder that there’s always a bigger fish, Lincoln Riley opted for Southern California rather than the Southeastern Conference as he…Read more...

I wouldn’t pretend to not have a personal connection to Javier Báez, who is signing with the Detroit Tigers at some point today for six years, $140 million. He’s always been the most interesting player to watch first on the Cubs, back when I cared a lot, and in baseball overall. And it was both good and bad, which is…Read more...

In the olden days of 2016, many of the favorite people you like to follow on Twitter or watch on TV were upset that three future first-round draft picks in Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, LSU’s Leonard Fournette, and Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers were sitting out of their bowl games due to injury, as they chose to…Read more...

It took 10 years for Michigan to beat Ohio State, and what feels like another 10 years in college football has passed since the Wolverines finally claimed their first-ever spot in a Big Ten championship game.

It’s Week 12 of the NFL season, and rookie quarterbacks are always front and center, with some living up to the hype and others not as much. With that, let’s look at how the 2021 rookie class fared in Week 12.

If you’re a Notre Dame fan, and I assume you’re done trashing your underground hovel and listening to your entire Bob Seger collection, you can look forward to the fact that you’re only about 10 months away from watching Brian Kelly getting his brains beaten in by various SEC schools. It’s a cold world in college…Read more...

Sometimes in life, you just need to admit that you were wrong and not continue attempting to fit a square peg in a round hole. The New York Knicks may be coming to this realization already regarding their big offseason acquisition, hometown favorite Kemba Walker. Today, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau announced that …Read more...

The Dallas Cowboys are continuing to deal with the spread of COVID-19 in their organization. This time it’s their coach, Mike McCarthy. The Cowboys announced on Monday that McCarthy tested positive and will not be with the team in person as they prepare for Thursday’s game against the New Orleans Saints and he will…Read more...

No, I’m not asking, “Does it mean anything for the Mets?” Because as we all know, everything is meaningless to the Mets. Look for Scherzer to head for an MRI in June and discover that there are dozens of tiny, ambulatory gummy bears living in there. This is the Mets, after all.Read more...

Denver Nuggets’ forward Michael Porter Jr. is going under the knife... again. His agent told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Porter will have to undergo surgery on his lower back and will miss an “indefinite” period of time — the same time frame the Nuggets gave when they announced he was out of the lineup with a back…Read more...

Phoenix Suns shooting guard Devin Booker is following in the footsteps of his mentor, Kobe Bryant, staking his claim as the best at his position in the NBA. Like Bryant, it’s taken Booker a few years to scale that mountain of elite two-guards, but I think we can say he has arrived at the peak.

It’s a sensationalist headline, and obviously one I don’t truly believe, at least fully. That doesn’t make it a lie either, and Kulikov sums up the Minnesota Wild’s surprising start that has them atop the Central Division by four points.Read more...

One of the things that make sports so beautiful is that they are an example of people coming together from different walks of life all in the name of the team. Black, white, gay, straight, male, female, non-binary, it doesn’t matter – they’re are all playing for the name on the front of their jerseys. But, no matter…Read more...

The scariest thing about the Green Bay Packers is that they will only get better as the season goes on.

Happy late Turkey Day. I hope those who enjoy Christmas music were at least able to hold out until after the Thanksgiving meal.Read more...

In some ways, NFL teams and fanbases can be a lot like that friend you have who makes terrible romantic choices. No matter how many times you explain to them that no, they can’t “fix” that person, or “save” them, they still try. And it always ends in tears when said romantic prospect turns out to be what they’ve…Read more...

Counting on a horrible blunder to score and holding on for dear life to scrape a 1-1 draw against Chelsea isn’t where Manchester United are supposed to find themselves. But at least admitting that’s what they are is a first step in the right direction in a long time. Having any sort of strategy on the field is a step…Read more...

The Minnesota Timberwolves are on the rise. It’s possible to play a thrilling late November NBA game in the middle of an exciting College Football rivalry Saturday, and the Timberwolves played a double overtime thriller against the Philadelphia 76ers. It was center Joel Embiid’s return to the lineup after a battle…Read more...

Ever since Scottie Pippen’s memoir, Unguarded, was announced months ago, and excerpts were leaked of him taking wide-open shots at Michael Jordan, it feels like the onslaught against the GOAT has been unwavering. Now Pippen has taken aim at another recognized GOAT in seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady.Read more...

There’s nothing hockey seems to love more than its lineage or dynasties, at least among its playing ranks. If you’re the son of a former NHL-er, any skill above being able to lace up your skates properly will almost certainly see you get drafted. Bounce around on hockey Twitter even for just a little bit, and I’ll…Read more...

If CeeDee Lamb didn’t get hurt leading up to halftime, the column was looking at a 4-0 week. Instead, we took an otherwise delicious 3-1 showing going into Thanksgiving. Let’s be thankful for not having action on any of those wacky games and opting to wait till the weekend.Read more...