Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

If you thought Run the Jewels’ RTJ3 slapped, just wait until a new interracial rap duo from North Carolina releases their debut project. They don’t have a name yet, but for now let’s just call them “A Couple of Forwards for the Hornets.”

Former L.A. Laker and Clipper Montrezl Harrell completely showed out in his debut with the Washington Wizards Wednesday night — but not just in the context of the game. Harrell scored 22 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in the Wizards’ 98-93 victory over the Toronto Raptors. But it was Harrell’s interaction with…Read more...

The Browns and the Broncos play tonight in Ohio in what might be one of the most mediocre Thursday night matchups that we’ll see all season.

Greg McDermott was “this close” to signing TyTy Washington — arguably the highest-ranked recruit in the history of Creighton basketball — last season in a year in which he was coaching a Top-25 team. But then, he just had to mess it all up by saying something super racist:

It’s 2021. Only a single win away from the Word Series, the Atlanta Braves seem poised to take one of the most visible stages in American sports for the first time since 1999. If they do, 10 million people will be tuning in to their home games to see their majority white fanbase in their majority white suburb joining…Read more...

Night two of the NBA season came through strong, delivering a double-overtime thriller where the New York Knicks bested the Boston Celtics, 138-134, in front of the home crowd at Madison Square Garden. This night was supposed to be about the return of NYC’s own Kemba Walker, but by the end of the night, it was about a…Read more...

Whether the label of “pastime” still applies to baseball, specifically Major League Baseball, I don’t know. It’s certainly not America’s favorite sport anymore, if that’s what gives a game and league that mantle. But it certainly does represent what America is these days, which isn’t a good thing.Read more...

The Dolphins are 1-5 and very much not the team pundits and oddsmakers thought they would be (they need to go 9-2 the rest of the way to hit that 9.5 O/U win total). A large part of that is that second-year QB and alleged franchise savior Tua Tagovailoa hasn’t lived up to expectations.Read more...

This is not about ripping Keith Olbermann. If you want to do that, you can start with “Why I Think Trump Is Finished (And My Work Is Done),” from November 28, 2017, a time at which Trump was far from finished. You can go forward or backward from there, it doesn’t really matter, and he’d admit himself that he can rub…Read more...

On Sunday night, Seahawks’ lineman Darrell Taylor went in for a tackle and ended up motionless on the field. It was a frightening moment in a sport filled with injuries. The very real threat of a concussion is ever-present in the NFL, along with less-likely injuries like paralysis or even death.

J.J. Watt could’ve gone to just about any team he wanted in free agency last year. At age 32 and in his 11th year in the league, it’s more probable than not that he’s entered the twilight of his career, but with three DPOY awards under his belt, anyone would’ve taken him.

I know better than to write the Dodgers’ eulogy now. We’re just where we’ve been before. The series should be over, and if it wasn’t for Cody Bellinger guessing right on a high fastball on Tuesday, it would be. The Braves’ 9-2 win in Game 4 only makes it 3-1, which is exactly where they were against the Dodgers last…Read more...

Kyrie Irving has been the talk of the town around sports and entertainment circles for his stance against the COVID-19 vaccination. Irving continues to display an extreme lack of self-awareness and overvalued self-importance. Just days after Irving posted a video where he spoke about his decision to be vaccinated,…Read more...

In private moments everyone on the team has to have looked up at the sky at least once and asked, why?

What is choking? Choking is the belief that a certain team or player cannot hold a lead. They cannot win close games, and almost anytime a win is being handed to them on a silver platter, they cannot finish their opponents off.Read more...

Much to Washington State’s chagrin, their Nick Rolovich troubles aren’t over yet (and that doesn’t even count his 5-6 record with the Cougars). After Rolovich received several warnings from the Washington State University administration and athletic department that he would be removed as head coach if he didn’t get…Read more...

The NBA season officially began Tuesday night with a doubleheader, and in the main event, the hoops world was treated to a showdown between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers. One thing I took away from the season opener is what I’ve been saying all along. The Warriors will contend this season…Read more...

Americans, it’s time to organize petitions, start jogging and go cold turkey on the carbs because you just might be able to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics if a new sport garners enough of a following.Read more...

The most recent Sunday Night Football matchup featured the Russell Wilson-less Seahawks taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field. The game itself was nothing special as the Steelers managed to squeak by the injury-riddled Seahawks 23-20 in overtime. Aside from the weird fumble play that happened at the end of…Read more...

I start a lot of these with the phrase, “I knew better.” Whether it’s tuning into Monday Night Raw, or believing in the Carolina Hurricanes, or something else, you say that phrase enough and it becomes clear that, no, I don’t actually know better. I’m just a gullible giblet.Read more...

It was déjà vu in Milwaukee last night as the Bucks took on the Brooklyn Nets in their season opener — a team they had last faced in a Game 7 overtime thriller in the Eastern Conference Semifinals just a few months earlier. In that one, memorably, the Bucks were saved from a loss by none other than Kevin Durant’s …Read more...

Steve Bruce was managing at Aston Villa in the Championship, one level below the English Premier League, when a cabbage was thrown at him from the stands before a 3-3 draw against last-place Preston North End.

I’ll admit — when Miami’s turnover chain was introduced in 2017, it was cool. Undoubtedly, definitely, undeniably cool. The Hurricanes were a solid team that year at 10-3, and as a freshman at Notre Dame, it was just incredibly demoralizing to watch them pull out the chain: not once… not twice… but FOUR separate…Read more...

In the first two games of the Josh Gordon era in Kansas City, there haven’t been many opportunities for him to shine on the field. In limited time, Gordon has one catch in two games for 11 yards. I guess it’s safe to say Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is bringing him along slowly.Read more...

If there was a scouting report on Daryl Morey, under strengths it would read — “uncanny ability to never get blamed for creating disasters.”Read more...

Complaining about college athletics being crooked is as pointless as bitching about New York streets being dirty. So when yet another “bombshell” is rumored — say former University of Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt threatening to expose the athletic program in a lawsuit that “could ensnare the parties for years to…Read more...

Usually, opening day is met with optimism. Teams have yet to get blown out by 50, lose a key player to injury, or quit on a coach. (Well, except for that Ben Simmons situation.)

It was no secret that this season was going to be tougher for the Montreal Canadiens. They had to sneak into the playoffs last year when all they had to do was beat out the rest of the trash Canadian teams, and then went on a run because Carey Price was able to channel 2014 for a few weeks.Read more...

I’ll put it right here at the top when discussing the Astros 9-2 win in Game 4 over the Red Sox, because I’ve spent the latter half of my life having Red Sox fans yell at me in some sort of fashion anyway. The non-strike call Laz Diaz came up with on Jason Castro from Nathan Eovaldi’s curve in the ninth wasn’t that…Read more...

The old saying, “playing not to lose, instead of playing to win,” was used in some of the most hypocritical ways in the past. It was used in football to shame teams that jump in the prevent defense too early, or run the ball three consecutive plays when leading at the end of a game to try and run out the clock when…Read more...

Well, that’s one way to get your head in the game. Earlier today, Minnesota Timberwolves’ center Karl-Anthony Towns said his new pregame ritual to get him pumped up before games is to watch videos of gorillas… fighting to the death?!Read more...

For those who saw clips from the Philadelphia 76ers practice on Monday, it would have been reasonable to draw the conclusion that guard/forward Ben Simmons didn’t want to be there. One picture showed him practicing with his phone in his sweatpants pocket, and in a viral clip he was dribbling a basketball along the…Read more...

Most people will tell you that one of the keys to any good relationship is honesty. Honesty builds trust. Trust builds connection. Connection builds loyalty. When it comes to being a football coach though, maybe honesty isn’t the route you should always take.Read more...

The 2021 draft class will be a focal point of the NFL for years to come. It yielded some quarterbacks who have a chance to make a significant impact on their franchises this season and beyond.

The NBA’s opening night is upon us, and one of the great things about that is all 30 teams have hope and high expectations for themselves. Every NBA fan base across the nation can say this might be their team’s year. All those hopes and dreams are still in play until a player like Tyrese Haliburton of the Sacramento…Read more...

Rise and shine, it’s NBA day.Read more...

It’s a Trash Talking Tuesday on Deadspin, and today I’m trashing the Detroit Lions.Read more...

While it’s been fun to project the battle between AEW and WWE as a TV war, the reality has been that they’ve really been separate. Sure, AEW has vacuumed up a lot of talent that WWE left out in the alley when it was perfectly serviceable or better (is this just a Chicago thing? Every one of us had an apartment in our…Read more...

“Succession” is back, and everyone is amped to glorify rich assholes again. The fervor for its highly anticipated return is usually reserved for things like the McRib, mask-free vacations (still waiting on this one), the “Spider-Man: No Way Home” trailer or, as this post would have it, the NFL season.

The NBA is back, and the Western Conference is looking even more stacked than last year. The glamour division of the Pacific looks to be the standout of the association, with a strong possibility of sending four teams to the postseason. The second-best division in the west this year will be the Northwest. They might…Read more...

An intriguing trade was proposed recently on First Take by Stephen A. Smith, where he lobbied for the Green Bay Packers and Cleveland Browns to make a deal that teams Odell Beckham Jr. with Aaron Rodgers. Ultimately, I know this comes down to Smith wishing for anything that might knock the Dallas Cowboys off-course as…Read more...

Kyle Schwarber’s second-inning grand slam put the Astros into an early 6-0 deficit that they would never get the chance to overcome, as the Red Sox piled on the homers in Fenway Park during a rowdy ALCS Game 3 on Monday night. The early clout was a morale boost at home — on top of the four runs it delivered — all but…Read more...

If there is one town that shouldn’t take part in a premature celebration, it’s Atlanta.Read more...

We here at Deadspin sometimes have differing opinions. That might be hard to believe, but it’s true, and as we get closer to the start of the NBA season, many of us have conflicting ideas on how the season will play out. For example, my co-worker Criss Partee believes that with a healthy Klay Thompson, the Warriors…Read more...

In a few hours, the highly anticipated 2020-2021 NBA season will begin, and Ernie, Chuck, Kenny, and Shaq – a cop and Kobe Bryant’s former teammate – will be broadcasting live from Los Angeles – in the same place where the county is putting Bryant’s widow in a peculiar position.

In the aftermath of the garbage storm at Neyland Stadium that sent players and cheerleaders alike running from the sidelines — and saw Lane Kiffin embrace his inner Odell Beckham, Jr. — the SEC announced on Monday that the University of Tennessee would be fined $250,000 for their fans’ behavior during the Vols’ 31-26…Read more...

Hal Steinbrenner made things very clear on Tuesday morning.

“They” said Dallas won the Trae Young/Luka Dončić 2018 Draft day trade. Yet, “they,” and everybody else, are still waiting on Dončić to win a playoff series, as Young was a twisted ankle away from playing in the NBA Finals.Read more...

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has played a combined 61,090 combined regular season and playoff minutes, per Basketball-reference.com data. That is just 1,669 total minutes less than Hall of Fame forward Karl Malone and 5,207 minutes less than Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the two gold standards in…Read more...

More than a few of us wouldn’t have been able to stifle a laugh, or at least a smirk, when it was announced Washington State head coach Nick Rolovich got shitcanned because he wouldn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine.Read more...