Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

The Phoenix Suns are creating their own internal hotline for employees to report tips about their allegedly racist and sexist overlord of an owner, according to ESPN. The move comes amid an investigation over allegations that Robert Sarver not only sucks as being an owner but also is a reprehensible human being.Read more...

Lakers rookie Austin Reaves is making professional basketball look relatable — by being visibly very confused about whatever scheme LeBron James was attempting to communicate to him during last night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets.

When the 2022 Men’s NCAA Tournament starts in March, it’ll be the first time fans will be back in the stands as teams will be playing in venues across the country since 2019. The 2021 tournament took place in a bubble in Indiana, and the 2020 tourney was canceled. However, I want to pitch an idea for the 2023 Men’s…Read more...

It’s a good opportunity for the industry giant to bring back lapsed fans.Read more...

Keith Yandle isn’t a household name because he’s spent most of his 16-year NHL career with putrid teams, including this season with the woebegone Flyers, who have somehow gotten even worse since their coaching change.Read more...

In his inaugural season with the Los Angeles Lakers, former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook has been underwhelming to say the least. Over his last ten games, the Brodie has averaged 15.2 points per game while shooting an abysmal 36.4 percent from the field and 21.4 percent from deep.Read more...

Wherever you land on the Hall of Fame debate — be it a certain player or the whole process or anything in between — or wherever you are on the CBA negotiations, yesterday was simply a hilarious day for how people want players rewarded for what they do on the field, be it money or esteem.Read more...

We’ve known for several years now that 2022 was going to be a landmark year which would set the standard for Major League Baseball Hall of Fame voting for years to come. Baseball progressives had been pleading their case for years for people like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens to make the Hall of Fame. Even I stepped…Read more...

Most Lakers fans would agree that the Russell Westbrook trade has been nothing short of a bust this season. If that move is seen as a bust, I wonder what a trade for Rockets guard John Wall would be deemed? NBA Insider Marc Stein reports that the Rockets would be interested in bringing Westbrook back to Houston in…Read more...

If you looked at Sean Payton’s search history, last night would show a Google query for “how not to cry during a speech.”

It’s been beaten into the ground and then shot repeatedly, but it’s hard to stress enough how different and weird this World Cup qualifying schedule is. Just the three-game windows, spread over just seven days, make for nearly impossible logistics.Read more...

Lamar Jackson, you don’t want to go down this road. There’s nothing at the end of it but disappointment. Stay far away from any road that leads to Antonio Brown.

I feel like we have this conversation every other year. When a beloved team loses in overtime without their offense ever taking the field, NFL fans get divided into two extreme camps.Read more...

After a thrilling weekend of walk-off field goals, two-minute drill exhibitions, and not leaving your couch for seven hours at a time, the field has narrowed down to the final four teams as we head into conference championship Sunday. We’ve got somewhat of an unexpected lineup here, with the exception of the Chiefs —…Read more...

Ever since former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant left the team, he’s been a harsh critic of the onfield product produced by Jerry Jones’ organization. Bryant is seen posting on Twitter often and many times directing his critiques the way of Cowboys QB Dak Prescott. Bryant and Prescott’s lack of chemistry…Read more...

First things first, this is not a complaint about Rams-49ers being the matchup for the NFC Championship Game. The upsets in the Divisional Round happened fair and square, and both California teams deserve to play for a spot in the Super Bowl.

Because he’s five years the junior of Roger Federer, it’s been interesting to watch Rafa Nadal’s career kind of trail in Federer’s wake and how much it follows this same path. At 35, much like Federer did at age 35, Nadal entered this Australian Open off a huge injury layoff, as he didn’t play after the French Open…Read more...

It’s the time of year when teams start to lock down NCAA Tournament spots. Regardless of any collapse, combined with the easier games remaining on schedules, college basketball’s elite know when the calendar flips to February that their postseason lives aren’t on the line every night.Read more...

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Do me a favor, search “Cam Reddish” on Twitter and see what you find. Yes, I know Twitter is a place where a lot of idiotic and terrible takes call home – especially when it comes to sports, particularly the NBA. But, now and then, people come together in unity to form one tribe – like we all did on Sunday to roast…Read more...

Internet brain rot has claimed another public figure. John Stockton is so firm in his anti-vax and anti-mask stance that the college program he is the most famous face of, Gonzaga — a place he grew up blocks away from, where his father played football, a place from which he was No. 16 overall pick in the 1984 NBA…Read more...

While the MLB owners and MLBPA actually talked to each other yesterday, and even plan on talking to each other today with spring training coming over the horizon, the news out of yesterday’s meeting was that MLB owners expressed to the players that they basically had no problem canceling regular-season games to get…Read more...

Alex Caruso’s wrist is broken. He is going to miss the next 6-8 weeks of action for the Bulls. Grayson Allen, the person who knocked Caruso out of the air and caused his injury, has been suspended by the NBA for one game. If this seems a bit imbalanced to you, it’s because you have common sense.Read more...

The Southeastern Conference doesn’t have a plan only to dominate in football. The league’s leadership believes a monopoly, like its 12 of the last 16 national gridiron championships, including the last three with a trio of different schools, can be achieved across the board.

Another strong regular season ended in early postseason disappointment for the Tennessee Titans over the weekend. Led by Ryan Tannehill and the returning Derrick Henry, Tennessee fell to the Cincinnati Bengals, 19-16. After back-to-back one and done appearances in the playoffs, many people are wondering if it’s time…Read more...

Poor L.A. Rams. Their return to Los Angeles has been a rousing success. Yesterday’s chaotic win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers put the Rams in the NFC Championship Game for the second time in four seasons, and this time they will play the game at home. Sounds like all the makings of a trip to the Super Bowl that for…Read more...

It would be easy to label it “just another weekend in hockey.” And that’s what it was, as the NHL’s two minor leagues dealt with incidents of blatant and horrific racism.

Josh Allen had a spectacular postseason. A top-tier showing in NFL history. And it’s over after two games, eight quarters away from a probable lift of the Lombardi Trophy.Read more...

This was one of the best divisional round playoff weekends we’ve seen in quite a while. Sunday had to be the best, with both games going down to the wire with one decided in overtime.

Usually, when one player dominates a game, bending it to his will, you think of hat tricks and thunder-bastard goals and everything offensive. After all, soccer is judged on who scores and who doesn’t. And that goes for pretty much every sport.

Since value is defined as something of “great worth,” it means that Cooper Kupp is just that — ask Rams fans. After a season in which he led the NFL in receptions (145), receiving touchdowns (16), and receiving yards (1,947) — the receiver Triple Crown — Kupp caught 9 passes for 183 yards and one touchdown — including…Read more...

I doubt there will come a day when we regard the number of successful two-minute drills that a quarterback has authored as something all that special. It won’t ever become like pitcher wins in baseball, something we completely disregard now. The NFL and those who cover it will always pump it up to up the drama, and…Read more...

There was no way this could happen again.Read more...

Finally.

Shaquille O’Neal is stirring up trouble again with his comments stemming from a recent episode of The Big Podcast With Shaq. While discussing Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving and his part-time player status, O’Neal casually stated that things would get physical if he and Irving were on the same team.Read more...

Somehow the San Francisco 49ers did it again. They’ve gone on the road in the playoffs and come out the victor twice, despite subpar quarterback play from Jimmy Garoppolo. The Niners have shown that the dreaded “game manager” can still take a team deep into the postseason. For the second time in three years, San…Read more...

Generally as a fandom, when all you have is to delight in the follies of your rival, it means you have nothing of your own. The actual act is an admission of defeat, a lesser position. You’ve been beaten, humiliated, rendered to the sidelines, and all you can do is just watch and hope that the team(s) you hate will…Read more...

As punishment for finishing last in my fantasy football league, I now have to complete the Waffle House challenge. I must spend 24 straight hours in a Waffle House with one hour being subtracted for every waffle I eat. Under no circumstances am I allowed to leave. If there’s a grease fire, I go down with the ship.

There’s a common thread between playoffs across sports, whether it’s best-of-seven series, single-elimination, or even NASCAR’s weeks-long gauntlet to the Cup. If your team has a weakness, it’s going to get exposed.

When universal health care fails to pass in Congress, there’s always Mark Cuban to fall back on. The billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner launched an online pharmacy this week in order to combat the price gouging of prescription drugs by large pharmaceutical companies.Read more...

Sad to see our 10-game over/under win freeze out in the arctic atmosphere of Buffalo last Saturday. At least we still have plenty more playoff football to dive into while we keep riding our regular season profits.

Friday night was a “drink and you missed it” kind of night in the NBA, so if you didn’t catch (or forgot) the many highlights because you went out to dinner, the bar, a buddy’s place, or somewhere else other than in front of your TV watching games, allow me to fill you in while you scroll through your phone hopefully…Read more...

The average daily death toll from COVID-19 in the United States has been more than 2,000 over the past week, bringing the total number of people lost in this country to the pandemic to more than 864,000.Read more...

Be careful what you tweet for, people of the online realm. Mike McDaniel, the San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator who has gone viral for his “adorable” news conferences featuring references to Mike Jones and engaging answers, is ticking off all the boxes to be the next trendy, young, white guy who takes a head…Read more...

Don’t fret when you see Dick Butkus trending on Twitter — the legendary linebacker is still alive and kicking, with the emphasis heavy on “kicking.”

For the past two years, the Rams and Bucs have been operating like they’re LeBron James and they just got to L.A. While the Bucs signed their big-name QB, the Rams took out another mortgage on their future, trading quite a bit for Matthew Stafford.

When a team has as many holes as the Jacksonville Jaguars and is in rebuild mode, it can be difficult to determine who to take, not because of talent level, but because certain positions are more vital to a rebuild than others. Obviously, the most important position for a successful rebuild is quarterback, which the…Read more...

The Houston Texans confirmed Thursday that they interviewed former journeyman QB Josh McCown for their recently vacated head coaching role, and the word around the NFL rumor mill is that they really want to hire him.