Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

By definition, Jose Mourinho is art, because you can see whatever you want in him. He can be a tactical genius; a stubborn ox afraid of the light; a master motivator; a petulant, selfish irritant; an expert at creating unity within his team while also an expert at blowing it up from within. And all of these things can…Read more...

It was always going to be very weird to see a Rangers team without Henrik Lundqvist and a Capitals team with him this upcoming season, assuming the NHL and players can ever figure out when and how that will happen. Frighteningly, we will not see the latter scenario, as Lundqvist has announced he will not play this…Read more...

If you’re a college basketball fan, you probably feel a certain way about Dick Vitale. But, love him or hate him, it’s impossible to ignore the impact he’s had on the game.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Thursday that Russia cannot use its name, flag, or anthem in the next two Olympics or in any world championship for two years.

It’s two months until pitchers and catchers are supposed to report to spring training, if all goes according to plan (yeah, right), and Major League Baseball still hasn’t determined whether or not the universal designated hitter will remain in effect for the 2021 season.

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn showed up to the press conference in a “Team ‘GGG’ Golovkin.” Gennadiy Golovkin seemed flattered.

Yes, it’s only preseason, but given last night’s glimpse, and the Knicks roster’s construction, it’s fair to wonder.

So, you made it through your first round of the playoffs and you’re on to the semifinals. Congratulations! I would like to take a moment to pat my degenerate self on the back — of 27 fantasy football rosters, I had 17 make the playoffs, and all 17 are on to the next round. That was easily my best week ever in fantasy…Read more...

The NFL is apparently moving toward adding a 17th game to the season next year, though it put off officially doing so until sometime in the new year.Read more...

It’s likely that it won’t become that much of a story, due to the fact that the Houston Texans suck, or that the NFL will almost certainly want it to go away, and that not much will come of it because of that. But the fact that multiple Texans attended a restaurant opening in Houston because Deshaun Watson is part…Read more...

In another edition of the NFL trying to do right, yet failing, the Green Bay Packers recently gave more than $750,000 to the city of Green Bay for police body cameras in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., according to the Washington Post.

Sarah Fuller won’t get to play in Vanderbilt’s final game against Georgia due to COVID protocols.Read more...

High Stakes Poker is back with a lot of the familiar names and faces that made it a hit more than a decade ago.

We get caught up in a lot of drama and narrative when following the NBA, and that’s a lot of what makes it fun. Sometimes, though, there’s something neat about going over the bedrock numbers.

The announcement by MLB on Wednesday that the 1920-1948 Negro Leagues would be recognized as major league was very welcome news.

Citing loyalty, Giannis Antetokounmpo found 228 million reasons to remain with the Milwaukee Bucks for the next five seasons.

Giannis Antetokounmpo saved the NBA.

I don’t want to be hard on James Harden. We all ... look different after this year. Cooped up in our house, downing comfort foods more often than we have in the five years previous combined. For me, it’s peanut butter M&Ms. You have yours. Something you run to when it all gets too much, which it does every couple days…Read more...

In wonderful news, University of Florida star basketball player Keyontae Johnson is in stable condition and is breathing on his own and “even FaceTimed the team,” according to his parents, Nika and Marrecus Johnson.Read more...

Karma always finds a way to win.Read more...

If it feels like MLB owners are always coming here for an argument, that’s pretty much because they always are. While the comatose-snail-slow free agent and trade market can be partially traced to the usual, contemporary miserliness of the cabal of 30 (though most certainly not collusion, no sir), another percentage…Read more...

Sooner or later, it all comes crashing down.

Back-to-back MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo rolled the dice and decided that he will stay a Milwaukee Buck for the foreseeable future.

In a seemingly never-ending debate, there appears to be a new king of the mountain each week for who the best wide receiver in the NFL is. Ask 10 people and you’ll get 10 different answers — some prefer size, some prefer route running, some prefer speed. It’s like asking me what my favorite kind of whiskey is — the…Read more...

It’s no secret that the NFL wants a piece of the younger demographic. But SpongeBob graphics and slime won’t cut it.

There are a lot of stunning things about the way hockey is unable to be more than a niche sport. At least stylistically, it is probably the most advanced sport, or could be. The jerseys are the best in sports, should be fashionable, and with the white playing surface, it’s the one that pops off the screen the most in…Read more...

October 18, 2019, dawned the final preseason game for the Miami Heat of last year. Kendrick Nunn earned the starting nod alongside Justise Winslow, Duncan Robinson, Bam Adebayo, and Meyers Leonard. The Heat did battle with the Houston Rockets, who played Russell Westbrook and James Harden a combined 61 minutes, with…Read more...

Just two weeks after the Philadelphia Eagles had a meaningless, miraculous cover against the Seattle Seahawks, Monday Night Football delivered an even more ridiculous bad beat.

Let’s get this done at the top. This is how you greet a player returning from the locker room after “cramps”:

Things are never as good as they seem, and so it has proven with Cleveland’s MLB team’s name change. The hunch was that they would always wait until 2022 to actually change the name, much like how the Washington Football Team couldn’t find another one for this year. The excuse they’ll trot out is the “logistics” for a…Read more...

[Update]: According to a statement put out by Florida Men’s Basketball, Johnson is now able to follow simple commands.Read more...

Kyrie Irving spoke to reporters for the first time this season on Monday afternoon, clarifying his ‘pawn’ comments in the process.

It really does suck to be the middle child.

In some ways, anything like this is folly when a team has already hired Dave Dombrowski as President of Baseball. The Phillies clearly aren’t going to wait around for Theo Epstein to finish his year with a Eurorail pass as he takes up poetry or dyes his hair purple or whatever means of self-discovery he has planned…Read more...

It’s time once again to highlight the teams stinking up the joint every single week.Read more...

Sports broadcasting continues to be an incestuous display of nepotism, and it’s nauseating. At 25 years old, Jac Collinsworth magically gets to work alongside his daddy Cris on Sunday Night Football, because of course he does.

I can see that some of you have already found the podcast, ahead of the announcement, because you’ve downrated it with one star before the first episode even went up. Kudos to you for having such initiative! Seriously though, stop being so weird.

Ain’t nobody gonna start defending Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, or as my homie Jarod Hector of TrueHoop calls him, “The Broke Boy.” There’s no “but,” either, that’s just the opening disclaimer to the following passage.Read more...

In sports, it’s not about how you start. More often, it’s about how you finish.

I’ve been looking forward to this game ever since I realized that the NFL’s kings of folding under pressure would face off against each other.

The NFL seemed to get full control over its COVID situation in Week 14, after a week that saw players literally being pulled out of pregame warmups because of positive tests.

I thought y’all said this whole team was trash?

Whatever you or I may think or know, the Steelers will retire Ben Roethlisberger’s No. 7 one day, and maybe even one day soon. We can’t win. He’ll be revered by perhaps the most slovenly and up-its-own-ass fanbase in American sports, he’ll probably get a TV gig if he wants one (the fact that he can’t string four words…Read more...

It’s not all that surprising after the Washington Football Team, belatedly, saw the light of the indecency of its name. Cleveland’s MLB team had been moving toward changing its name for a while now, as they began to de-emphasize their Chief Wahoo logo with hats and jerseys that just featured the block “C” or the…Read more...

For the past few years in the Premier League, there’s been a “Big 6” and the rest. The hope has been that some team from outside that aristocratic cabal could crash the party and stay, like Everton or or Leicester or West Ham, all teams that have at least the resources to compete at that level. Anything to break up…Read more...

You can set your watch to Minnesota sports. The Twins will never win a playoff game, the Timberwolves will see anyone with a name you can remember leave to accomplish anything, and no one will ever remember the Wild even exist, as everyone is more concerned with the Gophers anyway. And the Vikings will watch their…Read more...

A taped-on mask is probably the best metaphor we have for the 2020 NFL season.

In one of the trolliest moments of the year, Josh Jacobs, running back for the Las Vegas Raiders, took to Instagram before today’s game and instilled panic in the hearts of fantasy managers everywhere.Read more...