Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Title IX turns 50 this month and, although the law is responsible for so much progress, the work is unfinished. The celebrations and acknowledgements are on the way, but for years women who play sports have been required to be thankful for scraps, and those days are over.Read more...

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A lot of the point of baseball throughout its ridiculously long history (when you consider any other sport that’s come since or started at the same time) was to argue about it. Most of that was good. Arguing which shortstop was better or how a pitcher should attack with two strikes or who should trade for whom. The…Read more...

Bradley Beal was expected to be the crown jewel of free agency this offseason. It was beginning to feel like things were falling into place for that to happen on Tuesday when it was reported by Michael Scotto of Hoopshype that Beal would be declining his $36.4 million player option for the 2022-23 season and become an…Read more...

The Ohio State University, after a three-year legal battle, has officially registered a trademark for “THE.” Yeah, you wouldn’t think you could do that for t*e most common words in t*e English language, right? Marc Jacobs was also attempting to trademark “THE,” and t*e U.S. Patent and Trademark Office initially…Read more...

Klay Thompson earned the right to act like an over-served fiancée during a bachelor party, with friends helping him keep all his valuables on his person and clearing out so he can showcase a dance move that looked a lot better when he tried it at home. When you spend two years rehabbing torn tendons and watching your…Read more...

Ah, if there’s anything that will make you feel the slightest semblance of sympathy for Roger Goodell in this situation, it’s watching him testify before the House Oversight Committee. Emphasis on slight, though — among the periods of being inexplicably interrogated about Dave Portnoy and baby formula, Goodell also…Read more...

Steph Curry isn’t your average, ordinary, everyday basketball player. What a hot take from me, right? Sizzling! I had to put my keyboard in an ice bath after typing out those words. He’s the greatest shooter of all time. He’s arguably a top-10 player all-time and cemented his legacy with a fourth NBA title and first…Read more...

We’re still very much in a time where teams in any sport are going to overreact to playoff results. They have 82 or 162 games of sample size where they play everyone and aren’t confined to one matchup with one team at one time with one status of health, but whatever happens in four to seven games still sends teams…Read more...

She has had enough. Michele Tafoya has taken a look at the current state of society and a new message is necessary. She sees people afraid to give opinions in public, afraid to repost whatever she thinks is necessary to be expressed on social media, and much like Frank Constanza when he rained blows upon the man in…Read more...

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The Chet Holmgren vs. Paolo Banchero vs. Jabari Smith debate as to who will be the first player taken in tomorrow’s NBA Draft has been the talk of the entire season (and offseason). Three one-and-dones from great schools representing the way it’s been done for decades, two of them not yet 20 years old. You get the…Read more...

The most exciting time, other than any actual championship, for a fan of a team that is supposedly in a total rebuild is when the hopes for the future start to populate that Major League roster. There isn’t any pressure of “having” to win, and no longer are these players relegated to the myth of whispers, reports, and…Read more...

Today is the one-year anniversary of MLB’s ban on sticky substances. In that time, we’ve seen a massive decrease in spin rate, a few suspensions, plus a striptease or two from Max Scherzer and company. Even most fans seemed to like the change. Yes sir, everything was going according to plan for Rob Manfred and…Read more...

The evil empire has returned in a major way. The New York Yankees became a championship contender following the trade in which they acquired 2017 National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton, just one month after he won the award. The Bombers won 100 games in 2018 and 103 in 2019, but suffered some setbacks in the next two…Read more...

The next week is shaping up to be a volatile one for Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets. You could start a drinking game for every time that lede’s been written this season and you’d end up a vegetable. It may ring hollow, but this one is the most critical game of brinksmanship of his Nets tenure.

Hockey — as weird, random, and boorish as it can get — is a pretty simple game at times. The storylines coming out of Game 3 were that the Tampa Bay Lightning authored some market correction to get back into the Stanley Cup Final after a 6-2 win to get the series to 2-1. And with no team having won on the road yet,…Read more...

Disgraced Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson now only has four pending lawsuits brought against him. That’s because 20 cases against the former Houston Texans starter have settled, attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents the women suing Watson, said in a statement on Tuesday.

On the list of things NBA players don’t want to do, playing in Sacramento has to be close to No. 1, right? When Ben Simmons presented Philly with his platter of preferred trade destinations, an exec said he wanted to go to one of the three California teams, which was either an oversight because there are four NBA…Read more...

This morning’s rumor mill may have proven that the PGA Tour is resting on a more delicate balance than we’d all like to pretend. Brooks Koepka’s departure surprised absolutely nobody — he can’t stay away from beating Bryson for that long, and he also gave the shadiest and vaguest possible responses to questions about…Read more...

Of course, “wrong” is a relative term. In any sense that WWE cares about, or its most dedicated fans care about, WWE is as far from “wrong” as can be. Their TV deals are for more money than Scrooge McDuck could fit into his vault. The ratings remain strong enough to keep USA and Fox happy. The arenas are full for the…Read more...

The Orlando Magic seems to have finally figured it out. Since Dwight Howard left in the clumsiest way possible in 2012, the franchise has been mired in mediocrity. They have been the poster child for the dreaded NBA purgatory. Since Howard’s departure, they’ve made the playoffs twice, losing in the first round in five…Read more...

Sporting higher-ups being brought in front of a government hearing isn’t restricted to these borders, as yesterday the CEO, president, and chief of the board of governors of Hockey Canada were questioned by Canadian MPs over a settled lawsuit by a woman claiming she was gang-raped by eight players who were part of a…Read more...

Last year’s draft is already looking like an all-time great. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t gems to be had in the 2022 NBA Draft. Analysts have said this is a four-person draft. But with the league experiencing greater parity than it has in the last two decades, the need for high-impact role players is at a…Read more...

The funny thing about sportswriters complaining about how a professional season is too long is if you ask a person if they’re overworked, how many are going to say no? Any amount of work is too much. Interview me after a long shift or following a session with a therapist, and I’m ready to chase get retired quick…Read more...

In the NBA, the playoffs are truly a second season. There are no more back-to-backs, but there are also no more rest games for players. Also, there are no more sub-.400 teams on the schedule. To recover from a bad loss in the postseason, requires returning to the court 48 hours later and playing against the very same…Read more...

What is Shaedon Sharpe? Future bust? Future superstar? Role player? Sharpe is the enigma of this Thursday’s draft. He could be many different things, perhaps a few at the same time. The only thing we know for sure is he’s going to be a Lottery pick. Nevertheless, Sharpe has been projected to go in the Top 10 in almost…Read more...

To stay physically and mentally fit with zero setbacks for a grueling, 10-month soccer season is impossible. Truly putting on the blinders from the outside world for a month, maintaining your peak condition both on the field and away from training was the treacherous, yet not impossible goal. Curtailing every day to…Read more...

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The black swan theory was an idea developed by former Stock trader Nassim Taleb in 2007. As explained by Taleb, the theoretical black swan can be summarized as an event or outlier outside the realm of realistic expectations that has an extreme impact on history and makes experts invent explanations, but not until well…Read more...

This is not said very often, but poor Michael Jordan. The NBA legend got Whitleyed by Kenny Atkinson. Jordan was about to start a new life with Atkinson leading his Charlotte Hornets. They fit together as well as Byron and Whitley in the fifth season of A Different World, but then Dwayne Wayne, a.k.a. The Golden State…Read more...

More than in previous seasons, these playoffs exposed frauds masquerading as superstars. The list is long — Donovan Mitchell, Zach LaVine, Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker. You can add Jayson Tatum to that list. After putting on a blitzkrieg throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, his game fell apart…Read more...

Finding a Father’s Day gift is difficult, especially when you have a dad like mine who keeps every tool and gadget — outside of that marble-headed Coors putter he broke that was a real life Billy Baroo and the only club of his I coveted — in pristine condition. If there’s an oil or a treatment for it, he’ll find it…Read more...

The College World Series has officially kicked off, and with one hell of an opening day. On Friday, the Oklahoma Sooners racked up eight runs in the first two innings against Texas A&M, including a three-run homer from catcher Jimmy Crooks. The Aggies just couldn’t catch up for the rest of the game and dropped it 13-8.Read more...

Sometimes it just feels good to be right. After proclaiming before the NBA Finals started that the Boston Celtics had zero chance against the Golden State Warriors, the Dubs beat the Celtics by double-digits in Game 6 to end the series 4-2. Many across the internet chided this bold proclamation based on the Cinderella…Read more...

Phil Mickelson slid out of the U.S. Open on the oil slick he oozed in on not a penny richer from his appearance in Brookline, Mass. He missed the cut after a 3-over round Friday that put him at +11 after 36 holes, and if you don’t make it to the final two days of the tournament, you don’t get a cent toward your…Read more...

“Unprecedented” and “significant.” From ProFootballTalk and the Washington Post, these are the two words we have right now to describe what the NFL is planning for Deshaun Watson’s punishment for breaking the league’s Personal Conduct Policy. Both publications have reportedly spoken to insiders familiar with the NFL’s…Read more...

Rory McIlroy has never been bad — not even close to it — but he has lost his grasp on greatness (or, at the very least, how the sport has chosen to define the word) in the eight years since he last won a major tournament. He’s found continued success on the Tour, racking up consistent wins and high World Golf Ranking…Read more...

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There is no team that embodies the feeling of wanting to shut off your Playstation and whip your controller at the wall more than the Warriors.

As Wednesday’s bombshell report dropped of WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon allegedly having a sexual relationship with an ex-company staffer and paying her $3 million in hush money, no longtime wrestling fan read the headline and was shocked. McMahon has been the Harvey Weinstein of professional wrestling. A…Read more...

As Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals ended late Wednesday night, with the opening game of the championship series going to overtime, a hero and villain presented themself. For Colorado, Andre Burakovsky, a player commonly thought to be one needed to step up in order to lift the Cup did just that. In defeat, Tampa Bay…Read more...

It was only a week ago or so that I wondered… Last night provided an answer about why you’d bother.Read more...

Steph Curry collected the Finals MVP last night that, the award that for some reason, some people think was required to validate him. As repeated ad nauseam by me and others, there are few players who changed the game completely, and Curry is one of them. Even when he was off, as he was in Game 5, he warps a defense…Read more...

Vince McMahon, longtime WWE impresario, is stepping down as chairman and CEO during an investigation into an allegation he paid a former employee $3M in hush money to keep their sexual affair quiet, the company announced Friday.

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Sue Bird announced today that this WNBA season will be her last after 21 years in the league. She was drafted first overall in 2002 to the Seattle Storm, where she has remained throughout her two-decade career, during which she was a 12-time All-Star and won four WNBA championships, the most recent in 2020.

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Lane Kiffin’s dog is on a quest for lunch.