Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

(TW: Racist language)

Odell Beckham Jr. has joined the Los Angeles Rams.Read more...

If you’d asked anyone outside of Miami who was going to win the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Ravens and Dolphins, I’d assume about 95 percent of people would have said the Ravens. There was no discernible metric where the Dolphins had the advantage, but you can’t measure heart, I guess.

There isn’t one crescendo to World Cup qualifying, but the U.S. hosting Mexico tonight is just about as close it gets. They’ll play again in the spring of course, and both have other matches to negotiate. But this is one of the games that gets highlighted as soon as the schedule is announced, and even after two…Read more...

I’m not sure how AEW has put together a card that is the equal, or maybe even better than All Out in September. But this Full Gear one could easily surpass it. The stories are a little more fleshed out, and it also has Bryan Danielson in the ring instead of just making his debut. This has a chance to be wrestling’s…Read more...

We were thisclose from Bill Belichick having to play against his last two quarterbacks in the same season.

It’s probably not fair to go in on a team for a bad performance on a Thursday night. Thursday Night Football shouldn’t exist, there isn’t enough time for teams to recover from the previous week, and for the most part something is always off. It’s a game of bumper cars where everyone’s blindfolded. But still, the …Read more...

It’s time for Sacramento to bag Marvin Bagley III, if the latest report about him refusing to check into Sunday’s game against Phoenix is true.

Since the game’s inception in 2006, the Fall Stars Game has been a showcase for upcoming Major League Baseball talent. Cody Bellinger, Pete Alonso, Vlad Guerrero Jr., Harrison Bader, and Ronald Acuna Jr. are just some of the great names who’ve come up to the big leagues and already made their mark after having played…Read more...

The dream may finally soon become a reality: NFL Sunday Ticket accessible without a satellite dish. The Athletic reported in September that the NFL’s preferred destination for Sunday Ticket is Apple, but this process is obviously going to be a competition with the rights going to the highest bidder. Now Sports…Read more...

The NFL-Adam Schefter Pipeline hit another kink yesterday when the ESPN insider reported on a tip from Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook’s agent, alleging that Cook was a victim of domestic violence and extortion. Just a few hours later, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Cook’s former girlfriend filed…Read more...

Uh-oh! Break out the Bojangles biscuits and the Cookout trays — don’t pass on the milkshake today — because Cam Newton is once again a Panther.

David Griffin is David Griffin’s biggest problem.

The 30-day notice to vacate has been sent out, and teams around the NBA have been warned. That’s a notice to vacate wins courtesy of your Golden State Warriors. The other half of the Splash Brothers, Klay Thompson, is on schedule to make his return to the active roster much sooner than anyone thought coming into this…Read more...

There isn’t anyone involved in Steven Gerrard taking over as manager for Aston Villa that doesn’t know the deal here. The ending that Gerrard wants is that this is the route to land him as manager of Liverpool one day, the club that he — mostly single-handedly — kept relevant for his playing career (and tragically costRead more...

The negotiations for a new Major League Baseball collective bargaining agreement promise to be arduous. There are a lot of issues to sort out and a lot of mistrust between the two sides, but on one longstanding bone of contention, there’s a reason for the players to finally give.

Normally I would say that this game doesn’t need to be played. We know who will win. It won’t be close, and anybody looking to get some excitement in their life from watching NFL football will be sorely disappointed in the final outcome. I’m floored that the Ravens are only 7.5-point favorites, but then I think back…Read more...

The week of UFC 268, ESPN’s Max Kellerman interviewed UFC Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman to preview his then-upcoming championship defense against Colby Covington — whom he beat for the second time on Saturday — but then Kellerman asked Usman what was next after UFC 268. Kellerman made logical suggestions, trying…Read more...

Saying Evan Mobley and Scottie Barnes are outperforming Cade Cunningham and Jalen Green is accurate. That also makes it seem like Cunningham and Green were somehow mistakes. To be clear, none of the top four picks in the 2021 NBA Draft look like misses, which is awesome for the Pistons, Rockets, Cavs and Raptors.

I suppose one of the less heralded benefits of being ungodly rich is that no one is going to tell you you’re not funny and you’re killing Fozzy Bear. Isn’t that how we ended up with John Mulaney?

The 2019-20 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers were a much deeper team than just two stars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, and Alex Caruso were all key contributors on a team that finished the regular season 11th in offensive rating and third in defensive rating. Over…Read more...

Believe it or not, the Washington Wizards are in a three-way tie for the top spot in the Eastern Conference 10 games into the season. Washington is flying under the radar at 7-3, while teams like the Bulls and Heat get everyone’s attention for improving their rosters in the offseason. But the Wizards are saying, “Hold…Read more...

How does the saying go? If you don’t know history, you’re bound to hire a couple goons to take a tire iron to your competition?

College basketball is back in all its upset-heavy glory. Opening night saw No. 17 Ohio State coming THIS close to dropping one to Akron, Navy beating No. 25 Virginia out of nowhere, and a fun Top-10 matchup between No. 10 Kentucky and No. 9 Duke kicking off the biggest story of this season:

Despite being only 29 years old, based on his statistics and games missed due to injuries the past few seasons,Odell Beckham Jr. could be in the twilight of his career. Through six games this season, OBJ is averaging the fewest yards per game, fewest receptions per game, lowest catch rate, fewest yards per target, and…Read more...

Talk of unionizing professional wrestling pops up at least once a year, with it usually coming on the heels of another needless round of WWE releases due to “budget cuts” like my colleague Sam Fels wrote about regarding their most recent cuts last week.

It was no brainer that Cole Anthony would be a top NBA draft pick one day. He was the starting point guard his first day at Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, N.Y., a feat that legendary point guards Kenny Smith and Kenny Anderson didn’t reach. Anthony was the No. 1 point guard prospect in America in 2019 and he…Read more...

I know, I know. There’s nothing MLS fans hate more than someone who doesn’t watch as regularly as they do telling them what’s wrong with their league. Even with my expanded efforts to watch, understand, and develop an attachment to our domestic league, I’m still a long way off from being a tried and true “MLS fan.”…Read more...

You can’t make this sh*t up.

The second set of College Football Playoff rankings was released last night, much to the dismay of anyone who really still thought the playoff committee wasn’t microdosing quaaludes every Saturday before turning on the television. For those of you out there thinking, you just complained about this last week! Are you…Read more...

Many people, including myself, find it strange that Kevin Durant likes to engage with people on social media, specifically people who make negative comments.

On Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys laid an egg so big that it looks like the inexplicable and yearly Dak Prescott MVP discussion has gone away... for now.

Mets team president Sandy Alderson offered up a Michael Scott-ism on Tuesday to explain why his team hasn’t been able to hire a general manager yet, saying their greatest strength — massive market — also is their greatest weakness.

In 2013, Tottenham Hotspur hired a new manager with some unconventional training methods. He introduced NFL-style tackling, encouraged players who kicked the ball over the goal, danced the robot, and asked his players for “60% effort, 1000% of the time.”

It’ll be another banner day for the NHL when whatever story is waiting about Anaheim GM and president Bob Murray drops.

It was a fine display yesterday of the cycle of white people who have never been told they’re wrong for various reasons.

Who doesn’t like earning money, huh? Everyone does. That’s why we all can use some friendly betting advice from time to time. To that end, if you’re looking just to do straight bets, there’s a new trend in NFL betting that’s been incredibly positive for some people.Read more...

Stephen Curry had one of those nights on Monday inside Chase Center against the Atlanta Hawks. You know, one of those nights where you start off hot and just get hotter as the game flows along until you look up and you’ve dropped 50 on fools. Yeah, me neither. But that’s precisely the kind of night Curry had against…Read more...

Read more...

ESPN did it again on Monday night: They went too far with the tragedy/trauma porn.

Outside of Ohio State, it’s hard to definitively say what’s real and what’s Iowa in the Big 10. The conference has had six teams ranked in the top 10 — Penn State twice, Iowa twice, Michigan and Michigan State — lose over the past five weeks. Two of those six upsets have come at (and due to) the hands of David Bell…Read more...

Everybody hates punting. I know there’s a big movement to give punters the respect they deserve, and yes, punters are people, but you can’t deny that punting is the worst part of football. When the most exciting part of a punt is how favorably/unfavorably it bounces, you know it’s not an exciting part of the game.…Read more...

Every now and again in life, you just have to fight back and say “enough is enough.” Reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokić had a come-to-Jesus moment Monday night when he shoulder tackled Markieff Morris of the Miami Heat.

It’s not 1971, it’s not 1983, it’s not 1995, it’s not even 2001, but Nebraska it can’t be like this. They haven’t finished a season at or above .500 since 2016. Since Scott Frost became coach in 2018, they’ve finished with a winning percentage better than .400 once. Nebraska is making some changes, many in fact, but…Read more...

If it feels like I come here every four to six weeks or so to bemoan WWE’s latest release and wonder how they could waste such a talent so thoroughly that they’re simply discarded like the recycling, it’s kind of because I do. We could do this all day, and by now you probably already have your own list of wrestlers…Read more...

Villanova is a better basketball program than Michigan State. That’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. The Wildcats have more program wins and national titles than the Spartans.

It was comeback city in Chicago last night, as the Bulls and the Bears both mounted fourth quarter efforts against their respective opponents, to — ahem — varied success.

Aaron Rodgers has turned himself into the latest iteration of Rudy Gobert, the guy who fucked around and found out when it came to COVID-19 protocols. Rodgers’ lies throughout his coronavirus saga have made him a rightful target of scorn from everyone who has actually taken this pandemic seriously — including a couple…Read more...

Generally, I think it’s loser shit to blame the refs or bad calls for a loss. There’s almost always a chance to overcome them, and either you’re good enough or you’re not. I’m not even salty as a Bears fan about losing to the Steelers, 29-27, due to a couple of horrible calls, because in the grand scheme of things the…Read more...

We’ve reached the midway point 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 9.