Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Here’s another way to take a stand one year after George Floyd’s killing, NFL.

Less than eight months ago, Tyler Herro was being labeled the “next great shooting guard” in a league filled to the brim with high-end backcourt talent. Herro was set to help lead the Miami Heat on multiple deep playoff runs as part of the team’s new Big 3 — along with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Herro was so highly…Read more...

There’s an old George Carlin bit — I guess they’re all old now (sigh) — about The Big Club. Still rings true today, even though it’s some 25 years old now or more. And while that “Big Club” may not be owned by China, it’s certainly still a slave to the money that China can provide them. Which is just another form of…Read more...

If you think the no-hitters are getting out of control in Major League Baseball, you ought to check out the high school scene in northern Connecticut.Read more...

In America, there are two types of racism. Type-A is often “tolerated.” It leads to microaggressions, redlining, gerrymandering, and voter suppression. These are the people that will donate money to just causes, but also get uncomfortable when their daughter brings a Black man home. Type-B, on the other hand, is in…Read more...

The reflex is to point and laugh at the Edmonton Oilers once again. It’s combined with frustration that the game’s best player is leashed to such a clown car of an organization, one of the most brilliant individual seasons going completely to waste. And if you’re a long-term hockey writer or analyst who spends your…Read more...

“Fucking Christ.”

It’s a Trash Talking Tuesday, and today I’m trashing USA Baseball.Read more...

The NBA is lost.

Interesting decision out of Portland. We talked about Olivia Moultrie’s case against the NWSL as she seeks to play professionally at 15 years old for Portland Thorns FC. The NWSL has an age minimum of 18, but that wasn’t collectively bargained, just something the league installed. Considering MLS allows teenagers to…Read more...

Aaron Rodgers emerged from the soundstage he built in his home to practice for his Jeopardy! audition last night. He was part of Kenny Mayne’s last Sportscenter on the WWL, which also commemorated the end of ESPN having anyone with an identifiable personality on their flagship show.

Former NFL tight end Greg Olsen, who had his best seasons with the Carolina Panthers, is going through every parent’s worst nightmare. In a distressing thread on Twitter, Olsen detailed the serious and difficult situation he, his wife Kara, and his son T.J. are facing.

For the first time this offseason, Deshaun Watson is doing the Houston Texans a favor, even if he doesn’t mean to. His motives on this, I’m sure, have nothing to do with what’s in the best interest of the team and are purely selfish, but still — in demanding a trade, Watson reportedly won’t show up to OTAs, which…Read more...

The pandemic Olympics continue to be one smooth operation.

What is Kemba Walker now?

The warping of European soccer and its priorities make judging Leicester City’s last week of the season decidedly foggy. Twenty years ago or so it would be easy. Win the FA Cup, finish fifth, that’s an unqualified success. But that’s not the world we live in anymore, and that’s what makes it so unclear.Read more...

Sports aren’t always a young person’s game.

Julio Jones may have just been ambushed with questions about his possible trade without knowing he was live on television. Shannon Sharpe called Julio Jones from his cell phone live on FS1’s “Undisputed” this morning. Without telling Jones they were live, he asked “do you want to go to the Cowboys, or do you want to…Read more...

In a sport as random and silly, and at times downright stupid, as hockey, it’s oxymoronic to try and weave some overarching narrative from a playoff exit. Games and series are decided on a few bounces and deflections most of the time. Change any one variable, and you can get a completely different result, and see a…Read more...

The opening weekend of the playoffs confirmed that the future of the NBA is in good hands. Young, playmaking guards highlighted the weekend and not only brought their game, but brought their attitude, disrespect, and pettiness as well.

Do you remember Monica Seles?

On Sunday, almost eight years to the day since the last time it happened — May 16, 2013 — the Knicks had a chance to win a playoff game inside Madison Square Garden. As usual, they didn’t. And shockingly enough, Knicks fans are dumbfounded about how this happened, as if this isn’t a franchise that hasn’t been to the…Read more...

Even as just a casual basketball fan, I have not missed out on the schadenfreude of the New York Knicks the past decade. It’s always affirming when a place that considers itself essential to a sport, perhaps to the world through that sport, is rendered irrelevant. Watching the Knicks’ sense of self become a house of…Read more...

Before the 2021 PGA championship, Vegas gave Phil Mickelson 200-1 odds to win his sixth major. You probably didn’t give him much of a chance, either. Lefty came in 69th place in his last tournament and missed the cut at the one before. He couldn’t crack the top 20 at the 2021 Masters. Hell, he couldn’t break into the…Read more...

“It’s not a big deal.”Read more...

No one will ever feel bad for Luis Suárez. We’ve seen him try to eat several opponents (though it did lead to one of the best terrace songs of all-time, “He cheats! He dives! He likes his snacks alive!”) Even more seriously, he was suspended for racially abusing Patrice Evra, an event that, had it happened today…Read more...

There’s a lot at stake for Kawhi Leonard.

Before yesterday, I had no idea what a Yurchenko double pike was. But Simone Biles taught me, and probably some of you, last night.

It sounds stupid to almost everyone who loosely followed the Panthers-Lightning Game 4 yesterday, considering that the Cats gave up six goals and lost by four. But for most of the game, especially in the first period, Florida kicked the absolute shit out of the Lightning. They relentlessly attacked what can still be a…Read more...

Shortly after 3 p.m., the puck dropped for game four of the Islanders-Penguins series. But it was 5 o’clock somewhere at the ol’ barn in Nassau County.

The Patriots have reportedly been weighing the idea of trading for Julio Jones, and the seven-time Pro Bowl receiver is said to be interested in going to New England, so it makes all the sense in the world for the Falcons not to trade him.

In a day and age where Phil Mickelson makes more money starring in advertisements about psoriatic arthritis than playing golf, you’d think his days of winning majors were far behind him.

After José Godoy became the 20,000th player in major league history on Friday, Rays’ shortstop Taylor Walls debuted on Sunday, becoming No. 20,001.

The start of Trail Blazers-Nuggets was bumped to ESPN2 as Jose Ramírez and Josh Taylor fought for the undisputed junior welterweight title on ESPN, which is barely fathomable in 2021. Taylor won by unanimous decision, and ESPN switched over to the action in Denver with 6:40 left in the first quarter.

Let’s all process this together, because that shit was a lot.

Baseball has gone through an entire “repressed Catholic kid going into their freshman year of college”-type transformation over the past several years. With baseball moving ever closer to a “three true outcomes” game, several pitchers have revitalized their careers and several more have just started to find success at…Read more...

Last night’s Memphis-Golden State Play-In game was epic. Not quite as epic as the Warriors-Lakers game that happened two days earlier, but still really fun. While it was winding down, I noticed a few things:

Ja Morant needed one of these, and it came at the exact time it was supposed to for a rising star of his projected caliber.Read more...

Wilmer Difo has played second base, shortstop, third base, and all three outfield positions during his career with the Nationals and Pirates, and now he can add pitching to his resume.Read more...

In 1975, Bob Watson scored Major League Baseball’s one millionth run, an achievement which earned him one million Tootsie Rolls and one million pennies from the candy company, all of which Watson donated to charity.Read more...

The Yankees and White Sox combined for 26 strikeouts in a nine-inning game. In 2012, that’s not so surprising. What is a bit of a stunner is that Aroldis Chapman didn’t get any of those K’s. Carlos Rodón fanned 13, Jordan Montgomery punched out 11, and Michael Kopech added two whiffs out of the Chicago bullpen.Read more...

Stephen Curry scored 39 points on Friday night, shooting 13-for-28 from the field with six three-pointers… and it wasn’t enough.

Maybe it’s the break-up, maybe it’s Maybelline. Look, we all handle heartbreak differently. Some of us change our hair color. Some of us go on soul-searching trips. I sob uncontrollably for a few hours while I re-download Tinder for the 30th time. For former MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez, launching makeup for men with…Read more...

Fifteen counts of sexual assault against a minor. For such horrific charges as statutory sexual assault and corruption of a minor.Read more...

Y’all are already mad over ‘Player X’ not appearing on at least one of these ballots, so we’re gathered here today to commemorate those unable to join their peers as NBA Award Finalists.Read more...

Baseball America has ranked this year’s top 50 names in college baseball, and it’s a good list.Read more...

Down eight points and with just over two minutes remaining in the NFC Championship Game, Packers head coach Matt Lafleur opted to kick a field goal instead of going for the tie. The entire NFL world collectively scratched their heads and muttered, “Huh?” at the sight of the NFL’s MVP, Aaron Rodgers, walking off the…Read more...

Congratulations Jacksonville Jaguars — what I can only assume is a publicity stunt in signing Tim Tebow has proven to be effective for the local Florida Men and Women who are still fawning over the 2009 Heisman trophy-winning quarterback. As of this morning, five of the top-selling items on NFL shop are Tebow…Read more...

“Fuck them kids” — Michael Jordan...Read more...

Tim Tebow is attempting a return to football, attending minicamp with the Jacksonville Jaguars, this time as a tight end after he ran out of chances as a quarterback in 2015 when the Philadelphia Eagles cut him. In the interim, Tebow pursued a baseball career, making it as far as Triple-A in the Mets system.Read more...