seanebeckwith Page 14 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

An MLB postseason without suspense is like a ham no burger
Be it actual, or unspoken, the rules change for most postseasons. Hockey leaves its 3v3 overtime format in the regular season so game No. 57 doesn’t last forever, but reinstalls the old rules for the playoffs, leaving open the possibility for four-hour marathons. What is and isn’t a foul changes in ...

Mike Gundy eloquently dismantles Oklahoma for ending Bedlam
About 95 percent of the time, Mike Gundy’s rants are nails on a chalkboard, a car alarm at 5 a.m., or any alarm in the morning. However, the other 5 percent? Gold, Jerry, gold! The latest redeemable instance came at Big 12 media days, when the Oklahoma State head coach tore into Oklahoma, and justif...

If the New York Jets can’t revive Hard Knocks, HBO needs to cancel it
Congratulations to the New York Jets, the winner of a prize no NFL team wants: The honor and privilege of being on this season’s Hard Knocks. The show, which has gone from one of HBO’s bell cows to regularly scheduled programming, has lacked purpose for years primarily because teams and the NFL aren...

Try telling Kyrie Irving that ANTA is a significant step down from Nike
Kyrie Irving held a significant place in shoe culture up until he ran his mouth and got his Nike deal revoked. The mercurial point guard (pretty sure he single-handedly turned that phrase a cliche) consistently had the most popular sneaker at the company despite his on-again, off-again relationship ...

Consume PRIME drinks at your own risk — or on the cheap with this Prime Day deal
Happy PRIME Day! As part of our coverage here at Deadspin, I thought I’d do a little product testing for you, specifically Logan (Jake?) Paul’s controversial energy nectar that’s alleged to have enough caffeine to put a Clydesdale in the hospital. (The Pauls are sports figures, so this counts as spo...

DJ Hernandez ordered re-arrested over throwing brick at ESPN HQ
There’s not much to this story other than to recall the time when DJ Hernandez, brother of Aaron Hernandez, threw a brick at ESPN. The sibling of the New England Patriot no Mass-hole wants to acknowledge was ordered re-arrested Tuesday after failing to show up to a court hearing related to the brick...

Bob Huggins says resignation void because it was penned on invalid stationery
Thank the lord for Bob Huggins. This week — MLB All-Star week — is usually bereft of general sports storylines, and also a warning shot that we’re about to enter Little League World Series territory, aka the most mind-numbing stretch on the sports calendar. So, that’s why I say thank god for Huggins...

The case against fandom
Welcome to Deadspin’s The Sports Nihilist, where all is for naught and we are but accidental jolts of electrified meat stuck to the surface of a rock in an indifferent universe. Fuck you....

ESPN’s studio show format made its talent expendable
After weeks of speculation and rumors, ESPN gave us its own version of Black Monday, letting loose around 20 highly visible, and in a few cases, staple personalities Friday. Jeff Van Gundy, Suzy Kolber, Jalen Rose, Keyshawn Johnson, Matt Hasselback, Todd McShay, Max Kellerman, Steve Young, and LaPho...

The $100M questions for the NBA free agents who cashed in
Before anybody evaluates contracts or shouts that Fred VanVleet is overpaid from the mountaintop, let’s take a moment to congratulate all of the free agents who just guaranteed themselves and their families generational wealth. Tyrese Haliburton, Jerami Grant, Desmond Bane, Kyrie Irving, Cam Johnson...

James Harden is chasing an ideal that doesn’t exist
It’s fair to ask the question, what does James Harden want? Is it a ring? Is it a lifestyle? Is it his own team? The 33-year-old former one-man wrecking crew is no longer an indestructible pinball, bouncing off of everything, and amassing high score after high score. No team is going to hand him the...

Nicholas Petit-Frere didn’t know he couldn’t place bets at work
Four more gambling-related suspensions were handed down to NFL players, the league announced Thursday. Isaiah Rodgers, Rashod Berry, Demetrius Taylor, and Nicholas Petit-Frere all received punishment for their actions, some harsher than others. ...

Domingo Germán throws perfect game, but he’s still a domestic abuser
Domingo Germán achieved the pinnacle of single-game pitching performances Wednesday night, throwing only the 24th perfect game in MLB history, the first by a Dominican-born player, the fourth by a New York Yankee, and the first since in baseball Felix Hernandez in 2012. There have been plenty of no-...

Stop hating on the NCAA for being spineless
Criticizing the NCAA is the lowest of low-hanging fruit. You can essentially pick the apples up off the ground, and have a roiling take. The latest punishments, or lack thereof, handed down to LSU football and men’s basketball last week were predictably lax and anything but a hindrance for schools t...

If schadenfreude is Damian Lillard’s last gift to Trail Blazer fans, so be it
Seemingly the entire world of sports media is screaming at Damian Lillard to pick up his basketball and go to a contender. It’s demand-a-trade season, we do it every summer, and Dame is off galavanting with Veronica Corningstone, while a bevy of Champ Kinds pine for his musk. Brian Windhorst, Stephe...

NHL creates inclusivity coalition after inclusivity committee proved ineffective
There are few committees and panels less effective than company-created inclusivity programs. It’s not quite on the level of egregiousness as a business conducting an internal investigation of its own toxic culture, but it’s in the same ballpark — or in this case arena. The NHL and its players’ asso...

NewCo is a perfect nondescript moniker for the PGA Tour-LIV partnership
If you were looking for evidence of the PGA Tour’s reluctance to partner with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, just take a gander at the new name of the proposed new company. May I present to you: NewCo. It’s as if one, if not all sides, said “Let’s get this over” before hashing out the deta...

The Yankees need to smash the panic button for doldrum of storylines reasons
We’re entering Brian Cashman territory with Aaron Boone. The Bronx at one point was the most hostile work environment in MLB. The standards were ridiculously high, and someone would’ve lashed out by now considering how long it’s been since the New York Yankees ran the American League. The head of th...

MLB, NHL vying to see which league can botch Pride representation more
If you put NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in a maze, which one finds the cheese the quickest? In recent weeks, both rat overlords of their sports have taken stances — veiled or otherwise — against Pride in order to “protect their players.”...

There’s less shame in porn than on the set of <i>First Take</i>
The easiest way to get clicks for the past week or so hasn’t been Victor Wembanyama content, or Damian Lillard trade destinations. No, if you really wanted to gin up page views and subscribers, put Zion Williamson and Moriah Mills in a headline. It’s the reason why Stephen A. Smith has repeatedly go...