Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Determining an NFL head coach’s value is difficult as hell. Sometimes it’s easy, like with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Urban Meyer, or the New York Giants and Brian Daboll. But most of the time, figuring out how much of a team’s success is based more on the coach or the talent on their roster is an impossible task.…Read more...

If there’s one thing we know about Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, it’s his love of the spotlight. The when, where, or why never matters. Shove a camera or live microphone in his face, and he’ll spew Cowboys propaganda to no end. So, when Jones cancels his weekly date (every Tuesday morning following a Cowboys game)…Read more...

White Sox pitcher Mike Clevinger is under investigation by Major League Baseball following allegations of domestic violence, per a report in The Athletic, and confirmed by ESPN.Read more...

Are you a single-celled organism? Do you feel like too much contemporary sports talk is just a bunch of nerds and women screaming about analytics, or that everyone on the TV talks too fast? Do you miss smoking in hospital wards? Then, Jason Whitlock has dug up some stale, low-hanging fruit disguised as sports takes,…Read more...

The idea that the NHL regular season is just an 82-game preseason is maybe the last vestige of a time when 16 of the then 21 teams made the playoffs. These days, when exactly half the teams are culled, some genuinely decent teams don’t make it. Teams like the Knights last year can rack up over 90 points and not make…Read more...

Tom Brady has officially entered the curmudgeon stage (of life, it would seem) after an exchange on his “Let’s Go!” podcast with Jim Gray and Larry Fitzgerald. Gray asked Brady a general question, the same one every sports outlet is asking after Tom’s 23rd season in the NFL. A simple question about a timetable was…Read more...

In a sign that ESPN and other networks can choose to devote broadcast hours to new and emerging sports, the American sports cable channel announced that it was adding pickleball to the lineup.

After an abrupt end to a Super Bowl-or-bust season, Buffalo Bills’ wide receiver Stefon Diggs broke his silence Monday night on social media, responding to his apparent frustration with quarterback Josh Allen and quick attempts to leave the stadium moments after his team’s 27-10 AFC Divisional Round loss to the…Read more...

WWE kicks its Wrestlemania season into fifth gear this week with Saturday night’s Royal Rumble. Even those who have soured on the product New York has been putting out come back in for the Rumble — for the most part — due to its uniqueness and penchant for surprises, and setting up what the build to Wrestlemania will…Read more...

When it comes to injuries, one of the ways in which the NBA and the NFL have similar dangers are ankle injuries. Harm to that area of the body is why the San Francisco 49ers are currently starting the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft at quarterback in the playoffs, and why Patrick Mahomes completed the Kansas City…Read more...

After a pair of scintillating comeback victories over the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies jolted the Los Angeles Lakers back to life, their embattled General Manager Rob Pelinka decided to clock in for the first time this season by finalizing a deal that would acquire Rui Hachimura from the Washington…Read more...

There are few people on this Earth who can stare down a couple of billion dollars, and well over 10 times what Artie Moreno paid for the Angels originally, and say to themselves, “You know what? I’m good actually.” That is a level of comfort and confidence only the smallest group will know.Read more...

We’re down to the final four teams remaining in the NFL playoffs. One of these teams will make history by winning LVII. All these teams have numerous playmakers, but like anything else, there are always a few who stand out above the rest. So, we’ll rank the top five non-QB playmakers remaining in the NFL postseason.Read more...

The Dallas Cowboys in-house media pulled no punches in the way that it covered Sunday’s 19-12 playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.Read more...

Gregg Berhalter’s days are numbered at the helm of the United States men’s national team. The Yanks didn’t win a knockout stage game in Qatar and Berhalter is under investigation from a domestic violence incident that occurred 31 years ago, where he admitted to kicking his now wife. US Soccer only learned it happened…Read more...

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Fred Warner’s role as the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive quarterback is to exist as destructive offensive antimatter. Every type of matter in the universe has an antimatter equivalent. Once they make contact, annihilation ensues. Similar physics applies to the gridiron. Warner is a defensive particle that has the…Read more...

When a point guard averages 27 points and 10 assists, you must be talking about one of the best in the game. Trae Young is that dude. He has solidified himself as one of the most lethal scorers in the NBA. He is known as a shooter, with some going as far as comparing him to Steph Curry. We all know he can score, but…Read more...

Maybe you were a wee lad or lass all the way back in…2006? Is that what it says here? OK. Well maybe you were just in high school or college then, and that was the last big Serie A scandal, known as “Calciopoli,” which saw Juventus punted to Serie B and other clubs docked points and money. That was about influencing…Read more...

Don’t let anyone tell you the NBA schedule during the regular season is a poor entertainment product. Of course, a single game does not impact a team’s overall record the same way that it does an NFL team. In the NBA teams play multiple games per week. That is not changing anytime soon, especially with the Golden…Read more...

Shannon Sharpe’s sideline tirade directed toward the Memphis Grizzlies turned the retired NFL tight end and Undisputed co-host into a trending figure during Friday night’s NBA on ESPN matchup. Sharpe’s feud with the Grizzlies just before halftime distracted from what was an otherwise entertaining game and on Monday’s…Read more...

In November, Mater Dei High School in Orange County, Calif. lost its first football game since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Bryce Young’s high-school program was defeated by St. John Bosco, 24-22, at the Rose Bowl in the Southern Section Division I Championship Game. There’s no shame for high school kids in losing a…Read more...

The Las Vegas Aces kicked off the WNBA free agency negotiation period on Saturday, Jan. 21, by kicking Dearica Hamby from the sidewalks of Sin City to the curbs of the City of Angels. Neither “The Heave,” which made Hamby into both a fan favorite and a household name among league aficionados, nor her repeat Sixth…Read more...

We’re down to four and they were arguably the NFL’s four best teams all season long — the Bengals, 49ers, Eagles, and Chiefs. For all the offseason shuffling of quarterbacks and coaches, three of the four teams from last year’s conference championship weekend, with the lone exception being the team that won last…Read more...

Another NFL season ends in disappointment for the Dallas Cowboys after falling to the San Francisco 49ers, 19-12, in the divisional round. Following big losses, we always want to know who gets the most blame. You surely can’t blame Dallas’ defense, as they held a hot Niners offense under 20 points. This game was there…Read more...

It is perfect that the most popular team in Mexico is the Dallas Cowboys, because the Mexican national soccer team and the Cowboys, they’re the same thing. A completely overhyped do-nothing outfit with a fanbase that is convinced of its team’s and their own greatness with absolutely nothing to support that. And every…Read more...

The Cincinnati Bengals were a prime regression candidate prior to the beginning of the 2022 NFL season. At 10-7, the main reason that they won the AFC North in 2021 was Lamar Jackson’s late season injury. He went down when the Baltimore Ravens had the best record in the conference at 8-3, and they went winless the…Read more...

Reboots from the previous millennium are all over television these days. If this is the direction that entertainment is heading, of course the NFL would bring back one of it’s classic programs, the Dallas Cowboys vs. the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs.Read more...

Daniel Jones’ sputtering whip finally broke down Saturday. The red light has been on all season, but for 19 games, Brian Daboll’s offensive alchemy kept the New York Giants’ well-oiled machine rolling down the NFL interstate at 40 miles per hour. Their makeshift season reached its dead end in a sobering 38-7 loss to…Read more...

As the NFL community awaits Tom Brady’s decision about the next step in his career, one can’t help but notice the changing of the guard we witnessed during the 2022 season. For the first time since 2009, the divisional round of the postseason does not include a game where Brady or Aaron Rodgers is on the field. Over a…Read more...

For an organization that has spent almost its entire existence accomplishing nothing, the amount of noise the Vancouver Canucks generate is certainly outsized. Three lost Stanley Cup Finals is the sum of their 53-year existence, and yet it feels like the drama they create always seeps into the greater hockey world, if…Read more...

Even on one leg Patrick Mahomes is better than Trevor Lawrence on his favorite day. If you weren’t aware, Lawrence had never lost on a Saturday until yesterday, when the Kansas City Chiefs outlasted the Jacksonville Jaguars, 27-20. In a game that was supposedly predetermined, postseason football happened and the…Read more...

Ever since NBC NFL analyst Tony Dungy tweeted out a common right-wing, anti-trans, completely-debunked talking point, much of sports media has been focused on Dungy’s history of aligning himself with anti-LGBT+ individuals and organizations. And rightly so. I myself was so outraged by Dungy’s transphobic remarks that…Read more...

Brian McBride, the general manager of the USMNT, is out, per sources. No exact reason has been given. The casual assumption is it had something to do with the drama that came to light after the U.S. was ousted from the World Cup.Read more...

The Joseph family had a memorable Friday night as P.O. Joseph of the Pittsburgh Penguins and brother Mathieu Joseph, playing for the Ottawa Senators, faced off for the first time as NHL players. Mom and dad were in the stands for the game for the occasion, and as only brothers can do, got put in timeout together for…Read more...

Last week, sports bettors across America chose the New York Giants to upset the Minnesota Vikings. According to OddsChecker US, 83.3 percent of bettors were putting money on the Giants to win outright last week. That’s nuts! Bettors have cooled off on the G-Men since. Only 50 percent of bets are being placed on them…Read more...

Has there been an athlete ever more hyped before becoming a professional, and lived up to those expectations, more than LeBron James? How many other high schoolers got solo covers of Sports Illustrated? Kevin Garnett graced the magazine’s front before James, while Sebastian Telfair did after. It’s completely…Read more...

About halfway through the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Wild Card game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars, Chargers’ kicker Cameron Dicker missed a seemingly insignificant field goal wide left. No matter though. The Chargers were up 10, and with so little time, three points wouldn’t matter,…Read more...

The easiest thing to write at the time I’m sitting down to do this would be to launch into a rant about Shannon Sharpe versus the Memphis Grizzlies. I wouldn’t even really have to think about it. Sharpe starting a Twitter fight from his courtside seats says it all in the headline. However, I’m stuck because the New…Read more...

The Memphis Grizzlies have always exuded extreme black Air Force energy. It’s one thing for their trash talk to agitate LeBron. However, their penchant for trash talk nearly approached Malice at the Palace levels on Friday night before halftime of a Friday night ESPN matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers, when a…Read more...

Patrick Mahomes. Joe Burrow. Jalen Hurts. Josh Allen. One of these four quarterbacks has a chance to do something that hasn’t been done in 23 years — win the MVP and the Super Bowl in the same year.

With Divisional Weekend right around the corner, it’s easy for fans to look for any reason to believe their adversaries should be disqualified. What better way to advance than by default, am I right? Recently, Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott — and the entire Eagles’ special teams unit for that matter — has…Read more...

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We’re down to the final eight. No one would’ve picked some of the teams still playing to be here at the beginning of the season, while others were givens. Yet, all are three wins away from winning the Super Bowl. The defending champions never looked the part and the defending runners-up are still part of the field. We…Read more...

There’s a difference between “working at the pleasure” of your alma mater and holding it hostage, and Jim Harbaugh is slowly creeping toward the latter. The University of Michigan coach made an overt pass at the Vikings opening a year ago at this time, and spent parts of this offseason chatting with the Denver Broncos…Read more...

When the Jaguars take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium, it will be Jacksonville’s first time playing in the Divisional Round since 2017 — which is also the last time the Jags made the playoffs. 2017 is coincidentally the same year in which members of the team kneeled against a politician’s…Read more...

Not long ago, former NFL QB Byron Leftwich was a hot-shot coaching candidate du jour. Last offseason, the moribund Jacksonville Jaguars — the team that drafted him — in particular, were ready to go all in on Leftwich as their next head coach.

Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett “The Triple Threat” Maher was anything but automatic during PATs during last Monday’s Wild Card Round victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That was the first Cowboys’ playoff road win since 1992, but Maher certainly didn’t help. He went 1-for-5 on PAT attempts, with zero points added via…Read more...

The thing that organizations like the Philadelphia Flyers, or the NHL, or the You Can Play Project, is that the stories they hope will just go away never do in the timeframe they’re counting on. They continue to fester, and everyone’s inaction on it only prolongs this. The Flyers and their coach, John Tortorella,…Read more...