Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

For all of you NBA podcast lovers out there, you’ll soon have another to add to your favorites list. Former Boston Celtics and Hall of Famers Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett seem to be jumping into the NBA podcasting arena. Pierce posted a tease for the new venture via Twitter on Monday morning.

This weekend, I went to a fall craft show with my mom in rural northern Illinois. Is this a good idea during a pandemic? No, it is not, but the organizers promoted the event as being “masks mandatory,” and it was outside (kinda), and my mom really wanted to go, so off I went.Read more...

In four-plus years as the head coach in San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan has gone 31-38. He’s finished either third or last-place in his division in three of his four full seasons, and despite his teams consistently finishing in the top half of the league in terms of total offense and defense, they are consistently…Read more...

The Russell Westbrook era is underway in Los Angeles, and after his first couple of games in a Lakers uniform, Mr. Triple-double accounted for 14 turnovers in 39 minutes. He had 9 in one game alone. Sure, it is only the preseason, and the games and turnovers don’t count, as the future Hall of Famer would attest.Read more...

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

The NHL is back on its regular schedule after two straight pandemic-curtailed seasons, and that means it kicks off right now, even though it still doesn’t feel like hockey season outside in most of North America.

Back in 2016, Bleacher Report wrote this in a profile of former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden:Read more...

The biggest myth in the NFL is that Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the league.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have now crossed the Rangers Line. The most famous Stanley Cup drought in history belonged to New York, which for years had to hear “1940” chants until Mark Messier, Mike Richter, and company finally broke the hex in 1994.

The Red Sox kneecapped the Rays, 6-5, in the bottom of the ninth last night — another walkoff — and the ending of a series usually launches a 1,000 ships carrying annoying narratives. The big one from this one is that the Rays’ way of doing things, with their positionless pitching staff, essentially, was found out…Read more...

There isn’t much to add to the whole Jon Gruden dumbassery that my colleagues Carron Phillips didn’t address yesterday or Criss Partee the day before. Gruden never deserved his position, certainly didn’t do much to earn it while he was there, and then was found out as a world-class asshole who also didn’t win enough…Read more...

Former NBA Sixth Man of the Year J.R. Smith has officially embarked on his journey into the world of collegiate sports. On Monday, Smith debuted for the North Carolina A&T men’s golf team. But the first round of his college athletic career wasn’t as productive as he’d indeed hoped.

Call me crazy, but the Golden State Warriors will be a force in the Western Conference this season. Yes, you heard me correctly. Golden State will be a thorn in the side of every team in the West this year, because everyone is sleeping on them, apparently.

When this World Cup qualifying cycle began, we had hoped that the U.S. would surprise us and break new ground on what they could do. And they’ve done that, we just didn’t know it would be showing us how bad they can play at times.Read more...

Look, I had to pick someone. This division is sadness. If the NHL had relegation, at least three-quarters of the league would probably be booted before the season started, just to save the time and travel costs. So, really, no one has expectations that I can bust. Vegas doesn’t even really have to be good, or awake,…Read more...

2022 will be longtime St. Louis Cardinals’ backstop Yadier Molina’s final season. When Yadi finally calls it quits, he will leave an incredible legacy behind — one of defensive prowess, solid offense, and fear being struck into the hearts of baserunners everywhere.Read more...

The 2021 NFL season is starting to pick up and we’re finally starting to get a clear picture of which teams are about that action and which teams are not. We can talk another day about the teams that are actually for real. This is about the teams that are not. As we do each week, let’s take a look at which teams are…Read more...

If I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…

The 2021 NFL season is starting to pick up, and we are learning a lot about certain teams, with some starting to show us exactly who they are.

If it wasn’t clear to you before that the Browns and Chargers were two of the best teams in the league, then you need to go to Jameis Winston’s eye doctor.

It was a weird one on the Southside. The story of Dusty Baker being a goofus when the postseason comes has faded over the years, even if some still reach for it. He’s learned how the game has changed in the past decade. He just can’t seem to catch a break.

MLB America has a real dilemma.

I’m not here to claim that anyone should feel sorry for the Tampa Bay Rays. While MLB would love to position them as the plucky underdog, what they really are is the model that almost every team owner has pointed to while yelling at their front office saying, “Why can’t we win that cheaply?!” while simultaneously…Read more...

Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder III lived up to the hype surrounding it and then some. On Saturday night in Las Vegas, Fury and Wilder showed the world what a heavyweight championship bout should look like. Fury retained his heavyweight championships along with his undefeated (31-0-1) record. The match was hard-hitting…Read more...

Alabama just got beat for the first time in close to two years on Saturday.Read more...

Another day, another bigot begging for karma to bite him in the ass. This time it’s Jon Gruden, who never thought the racist remarks he made in correspondence several years ago would see the light of day.

Enjoy it now, Cincinnati, because they’re going to find a way to screw you over in the end.

Kyrie Irving is out of any kind of legitimate explanations for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine, because there aren’t any. The vaccine is FDA approved, millions of people have been safely vaccinated, and it’s been shown that even though vaccinated people can still get coronavirus, unvaccinated people are far more…Read more...

College football has been real wacky in 2021. Who would’ve thought Clemson would immediately fall apart without Trevor Lawrence? Who would’ve thought Spencer Rattler would look so inconsistent? Who would’ve thought that USC would collapse the way they did? Okay, a lot of people probably predicted that last one.Read more...

Another week, another 3-1 showing. Life would be grand if this could somehow be the result through every single weekend.

We’ve reached a point where none of this bullshit is surprising. It’s just exhausting.Read more...

Tonight will be the first time in MLB history we see the Dodgers and Giants compete in the postseason. For such a storied rivalry, it’s crazy to think that in the year 2021, there’s still something new for these franchises to experience with one another. Sure, there are some discrepancies like the 1889 World Series…Read more...

Every few months, a secret meeting is held between those in power within baseball’s culture to decide who and what is going to do, or say, something that reminds the world that they intend to keep the sport as hateful and white as possible.

In 2021, there are two NFL games slated to play in London. The first is happening this weekend as the Atlanta Falcons take on the New York Jets. Now… you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Gee, that matchup sounds awful. If we’re really trying to expand the sport, why don’t we show London the absolute best our sport…Read more...

Kyrie Irving ain’t walking through that door…tonight.

Some people watch NFL games, and others just read about them. If you are in the latter category and visited ESPN’s website or saw its article on Twitter, your opening frame and video would be this:

There were just a handful of games going on last night, but enough fodder produced from both to last as long as that box of Graham Crackers in your pantry.

One of the more popular and most intensely argued sports debates that happen every couple of weeks, it seems, is the debate over who’s a Hall of Famer and who isn’t. No matter the sport, this is a conversation that can go on for hours, whether it’s happening on TV, radio, or in the barbershop.

The Washington Nationals were eliminated from playoff contention fairly early this season. They finished last in the NL East and had the third-worst record in the Senior Circuit. Their season was pretty much over by the time the trade deadline rolled around. With several of their star players set to become either free…Read more...

The NFC West is the best division in football. Don’t give me any of that AFC North business. I love the Browns and Ravens. I think the Bengals are on the upswing of their rebuild, but Cincy and the Steelers are still definitely not contenders in the AFC. Any team in the NFC West could win the conference given the…Read more...

One month into the NFL season and look at the Dallas Cowboys defense. No longer are they atrocious on the defensive side of the ball. It’s the way they’re doing it that is more shocking. This Cowboys defense is creating turnovers in ways we haven’t seen from them in a while. But I’ll warn you, Cowboys fans. Please…Read more...

The NBA has a mess on its hands now.

Protesting is American as capitalism. However, the support your protest will — or won’t — receive in this country is always determined by the race and gender of the protesters.

I noticed Dodgers fans were already bitching to protect themselves even before first pitch about the unfairness of the playoff system that saw their team win 106 games yet faced with the indignity of having to play in the Wild-Card Game. Followed nicely with Yankees fans complaining last night, because nothing happens…Read more...

As big of a sports town as Chicago is, we’ve never really had the hometown kid lead a team to glory. Dick Butkus was about as close as we got, and that was 60 years ago. Isiah Thomas and Dwyane Wade ended up being rivals of Chicago, even though they’re from here. By the time Wade became a Bull, he was basically here…Read more...

Somewhere around the seventh inning, I said to myself, “I’ve seen this game.” I know it all too well, as a Northsider who’s had to crawl through the river of shit that is hating the Cardinals as much as I and the rest of us do. I may have left the Cubs behind, but that distaste never goes away.

If you tuned out for a day or two and were wondering where in the world Ben Simmons is…

Believe it or not, it was actually the Yankees’ fault. Though, if you were on Bombers Twitter last night, you might’ve thought The Green Monster, that renowned 37-foot-high, left-field wall at Fenway, bribed the umpires, stole signs for the Sawx, and ran over Geritt Cole’s hamstring with a Honda Accord.

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr has looked remarkably solid thus far in 2021. After years of failing to live up to his MVP-caliber season in 2015, Carr was starting to look like his former self once again, then the Chargers reminded everyone just how average Carr has been over the last six years. After the game,…Read more...

As a college football fan, I am begging everyone to please stop.