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Donald Trump’s speech this afternoon was relatively lucid. He stayed on topic, and he even used a series of facts to prove his point, which was that Mariano Rivera was the greatest baseball pitcher of all time. It wasn’t quite diplomacy, but this 15-minute speech about baseball might have been the least embarrassing…Read more...

After two games, the Miami Dolphins are, well, you know. Everyone knows. After two weeks, everybody knows. Everybody can smell it.Read more...

A thing you get familiar with, if you ever write critically about the Democratic Party or about its establishment politicians from any perspective located to their left, is people giving you grief for having failed to support the team. “This is why the Democrats will [lose again in 2020/never win/never stay in power]…Read more...

Things got weird at the end of Arizona State’s ugly 10-7 victory over No. 18 Michigan State in East Lansing last Saturday. The Spartans were in ASU territory and with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter, MSU kicker Matt Coghlin appeared to connect from 42 yards and redeem two earlier misses by sending the game to…Read more...

I watched the NFL on CBS this Sunday because I knew they had no choice but to talk about Antonio Brown. Brown was sued earlier this week by a former trainer, Britney Taylor, who said that Brown sexually assaulted and raped her when she worked for him. The day before, Brown had been signed by the New England Patriots,…Read more...

Ben Roethlisberger was knocked out of the second half of his team’s loss to the Seahawks Sunday after he injured his throwing arm on a pass in the second quarter. Big Ben grimaced from the bench through the second half as Mason Rudolph threw a pair of touchdowns and nearly marshaled a late comeback, and today it…Read more...

Following months of ideological clashing and semantic disagreements on the meaning of the word “political,” the largest Seattle Sounders supporter group took a more disruptive approach to its fight against MLS’s ban on protest signs, represented most clearly by those bearing the Iron Front logo. After the stadium…Read more...

Sports Illustrated’s Robert Klemko has published a long story about Antonio Brown and his various business and personal relationships. Through interviews and the examination of court documents and police reports, Klemko outlines a pattern of behavior that is defined by accusations of refusing to pay for services,…Read more...

Jon Gruden’s merry band of football louts began their game against the flamethrowing Kansas City Chiefs yesterday afternoon by surprising everyone and scoring on their first two drives. Derek Carr’s accuracy (as well as a 43-yard pass interference call against Tyrann Mathieu) helped the Raiders to a 10-0 lead after…Read more...

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After Drew Brees injured his hand in the Saints’ game against the Rams on Sunday, Adam Schefter is reporting that the quarterback will need surgery on his thumb, which is expected to keep him off the field for six weeks.Read more...

We’ve always known that Italian soccer has a racism problem, but striker Romelu Lukaku’s arrival in Serie A seems to have encouraged soccer fans and observers in the country to step up and get extra racist. Lukaku first endured monkey chants from Cagliari fans, then his own dumbass fans wrote him a letter explaining…Read more...

For the second straight week, Eli Manning was outplayed by the quarterback opposite him, and this time, it felt a whole lot worse. While there’s not much shame in losing in Dallas to Dak Prescott when he throws for over 400 yards and puts up a perfect 158.3 QB rating, Week 2 brought fewer chances for excuses. When the…Read more...

Tennis watched on TV has nothing on tennis watched from the stands. Tennis watched from the stands, in turn, has nothing on tennis watched while standing right on the court. That’s one perk of being a ball person, one of the many workers crucial to the smooth function of a tennis tournament. They enjoy a rare vantage…Read more...

At some point, Zlatan Ibrahimović will wear out his welcome in MLS, but that moment has thankfully not come just yet. Beyond all the shit-talking and dunking on MLS of the likes which we here at Deadspin can only aspire to, Zlatan’s still got it on the field, which must make his shtick easier to take. On Sunday, he…Read more...

If Adam Vinatieri were a normal kicker, the Colts would just cut him today. Vinatieiri has had a nightmare start to his season, missing a pair of extra points in Indianapolis’s 19-17 win over the Titans, a week after missing two FGs and an XP in a six-point loss to the Chargers. That’s nine points left on the board…Read more...

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On the Broncos’ final drive of the game, Joe Flacco finally looked like the elite quarterback that John Elway thought he was when the Denver GM signed the ex-Raven this offseason. After leading his team 50 yards down the field, Flacco faced a 4th-and-3 on the Bears’ 12-yard line. The quarterback then mentally reverted…Read more...

The Las Vegas Aces and Chicago Sky went back and forth throughout today’s highly entertaining single-elimination playoff game, and as the final seconds were ticking away, it looked like the Sky were on their way to escaping with a 92-90 win. That is not what happened.

Cooper Kupp became God—or Marshawn Lynch, take your pick—for 66 yards against the Saints on Sunday when he turned a slew of failed strip attempts and bad tackles into one of the most impressive near-touchdown runs you’ll see this year.

Jared Goff fumbled, and Saints defensive end Cam Jordan picked it up. He was on his way to an 87-yard touchdown when the referees blew the play dead. Crew chief Walt Anderson ruled that Goff’s arm was going forward. Incomplete pass.Read more...

The Dolphins, a team set up to execute one of the most brazen tanking campaigns in NFL history, were so bad in Week 1 that a handful of players were reportedly calling their agents after the game and begging to be traded. Somehow, Miami was even worse today against the Patriots.

First, the good: Lamar Jackson spent the first two quarters of today’s game against the Cardinals looking poised to pick up where he left off in Miami. The first Ravens drive of the game was a seven-play, 96-yard drive that ended with an easy touchdown throw to tight end Mark Andrews.

Drew Brees was taken out of Sunday’s Saints-Rams game after the quarterback suffered a hand injury on a throw where Aaron Donald was barreling down at him. Brees was able to get the throw off, but his hand collided with Donald’s outstretched arm.

Today’s game between the Texans and Jaguars was not entertaining, and Jaguars starting quarterback and character from a country song Gardner Minshew wasn’t all that great for most of the game. But in the final two minutes, with his team trailing 13-6, Minshew decided to put the fellas on his back and try to go win the…Read more...

After the Steelers’ Week 1 destruction at the hands of the Patriots, Pittsburgh wide receiver Donte Moncrief told reporters that he had played his “worst game ever.” That wasn’t a hyperbolic description, either. Moncrief finished that game with three catches on 10 targets for seven yards, and he was credited with four…Read more...

Lions receiver Kenny Golladay has shown in the past that he has the skillset to be a solid hard-hitting safety, so perhaps that’s why Matthew Stafford felt comfortable throwing his target a pass so close to Chargers corner Casey Hayward. Golladay’s defense was technically worse this time around, but it was aggressive…Read more...

The block, by Pittsburgh safety Sean Davis, was unnecessary. Steelers linebacker Mark Barron was going to return a fumble for a touchdown without his help. But Davis hit Tyler Lockett in the back, and it was a penalty for illegal block in the back.Read more...

Jacksonville hasn’t exactly started out on the best foot this season, what with their starting quarterback breaking his clavicle and allowing Sammy Watkins score three touchdowns last Sunday, but it’s still early enough in the year where things like that shouldn’t be wearing people down. Yet, less than one quarter…Read more...

The Tennessee Titans just kicked off their first home game of the season, and attempted to wow the home fans with a pregame pyrotechnic display. It didn’t go very well!

Mike Fiers pitched 1.2 innings for the Athletics in their 8-6 win over the Rangers on Saturday. He struck out one batter, walked another, and gave up three earned runs. Also of note: he shaved his facial hair into a G-shape before the game.Read more...

The National Basketball Players Association sent a letter to the NCAA on behalf of player agents that outlines those agents’ refusal to be a part of a new certification process that the collegiate association wants to implement. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski obtained the signed letter and tweeted it out on Saturday.

When Sun Tzu wrote Art of War around 500 B.C., there’s no way he could have possibly imagined his philosophies getting used in the context of a fight amongst baseball fans in Cleveland, but that’s exactly what appears to have happened on Saturday night. In the ninth chapter, so to speak, Tzu writes about the benefits…Read more...

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Antonio Brown will play for the Patriots in today’s game against the Miami Dolphins.

In an interview on Thursday with CBS’ Reena Ninan, Rob Gronkowski spoke about the head injuries he suffered throughout his career. The former Patriots tight end said he suffered “probably, like, 20 concussions” with about five of them resulting in blackouts. It’s a harrowing reminder of just how damaging football can…Read more...

Iowa and Iowa State met last night and participated in the annual tradition of putting on the most consistently terrible rivalry game in college football. Last night’s edition of the clash truly lived up to its El Assico nickname, in no small part because of how Iowa State managed to finally lose it.

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So, you’re trailing 17-10, fourth-and-goal at the one-yard line, five minutes left in the fourth quarter. What do you do? Trick question: You’re Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, a lame as hell coward, so you kick a field goal.

Junior kicker Jacob Godek nailed a 37-yard field goal attempt in overtime against Georgia Tech on Saturday to hand the Yellow Jackets an embarrassing upset loss at home in a game where The Citadel ran all over their opponents. The visiting Bulldogs rushed for a total of 320 yards, with most plays coming from the…Read more...

For a whole host of reasons (Maryland scoring two points in the first half, the first third down conversion of the game coming just before halftime, a seven-yard Temple punt in the fourth quarter, Maryland still not scoring after that, etc.), Maryland-Temple can be safely shelved among the worst, dumbest football…Read more...

There aren’t a lot of options in most playbooks for a fourth-and-16 situation, but that didn’t get Mississippi State out of that exact scenario late in the fourth quarter against Kansas State on Saturday. After quarterback Garrett Shrader snapped the ball, and all of his receivers went running down the field, the…Read more...

In what could end up being the most stunning upset of season, recently-promoted Norwich City took down defending Premier League champions on Saturday, 3-2. The result came on the back of a stellar performance from Norwich’s Finnish veteran Teemu Pukki and a putrid display from City’s two center halves, Nicolás…Read more...

The NWSL announced Saturday that a Utah Royals fan has been banned from all games at Utah’s Rio Tinto Stadium and all National Women’s Soccer League games, after the fan yelled racist taunts at the Portland Thorns’ black goalkeeper Adrianna Franch during a Thorns-Royals game earlier this month.

Saturday’s Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint-Germain and Strasbourg featured disgruntled Brazilian winger Neymar in the PSG starting lineup for the first time since his transfer request to Barcelona came to an unceremonious end. While it did take the entirety of regulation for him to impact the game in some tangible…Read more...

After struggling to get anything going offensively for a majority of the game, UNC scored 18 unanswered points in the second half to cut a 21-point Wake Forest lead down to three on Friday. The Tar Heels then forced the Demon Deacons to settle for a field goal, which capped off a drive that left just 1:09 for a…Read more...

Between this and the doping, I don’t think I can let my children watch horse racing anymore. At a meeting of House Republicans in Baltimore on Friday, Mike Pence offered a vaguely perturbing, folksy anecdote about Triple Crown winner American Pharoah once biting him on the arm, turning it into a dopey metaphor for…Read more...

The NFL handed a six-game suspension to Bills rookie linebacker Tyrell Dodson on Thursday for violating the league’s personal conduct policy following a domestic violence arrest in late May. The suspension came just one day after he came to an agreement with prosecutors to “defer a domestic violence charge of…Read more...

The fervor that students who attend SEC schools have for their respective football programs is so well known that it’s become cliché for religious comparisons to be made. But for University of Alabama coach Nick Saban, that level of fandom has just not been cutting it lately, and he’s gone so far as to repeatedly call…Read more...

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The Wall Street Journal reported today that the U.S. Department of Justice has launched criminal investigations into sexual abuse across multiple U.S. Olympic organizations as well as “potential financial and business misconduct throughout the U.S. Olympic system.” Other news outlets later reported that their own…Read more...