seanebeckwith Page 16 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Lionel Messi is the only person who can move tickets like Taylor Swift
This article is a veritable dream for those enslaved (or in love) with SEO-driven content. Taylor Swift and Lionel Messi in the same headline? If I could fold in the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Yankees, and Dallas Cowboys, I’d be up for a $10 Starbucks gift card. While I’m not ruling that out — I n...

Does Dalvin Cook’s departure foreshadow a Kirk Cousins exit?
The Minnesota Vikings have made it official: It’s all on Kirk Cousins. Skol and longtime running back Dalvin Cook are parting ways, according to Tom Pelissero, and thus the front office is putting the onus squarely on Cousins’ shoulders. Whether this is a new direction for the offense, or general ma...

Josh Allen is good enough for the Madden cover, but how about Hailee Steinfeld?
If you were wondering what gets me through this job, it’s shoehorning something I want to write about into a sports story. So, seeing as I can’t get Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse out of my head a couple of days after watching it, I’m going to talk about Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Spider-Gwen ...

Michael Block killed golf
It’s not a coincidence that the day after Michael Block failed to qualify for the US Open, the PGA Tour panic merged with its alleged arch-nemesis LIV. There was a star vacuum left once Greg Norman and obscene sums of money convinced a lot of big names to defect to the LIV Tour. I don’t have to go t...

Nuggets' Mike Malone has coached more in the past two days than he has all playoffs
In-game coaching is only a part of the equation, which is evident by the way Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone has been waving his hands and trying to get his players attention since their Game 1 win. While he can’t call a timeout, huddle up his team, and scream at them to stay focused, he’s been ...

Horse racing needs a stoppage, not a change of scenery
One of the rebuttals to Churchill Downs’ suspension of horse racing after this weekend was that officials couldn’t find proof of the venue’s role in the dozen horses who’ve died there this year. While that logic comes off like an amusement park owner saying “Nothing to see here” as kids get launched...

French Open fans are the best
It was never a secret that Novak Djokovic was the third wheel to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Yet the Serbian planted himself into the conversation in two ways. First, a machine-like greatness over the past 12 years — 21 of his 22 Grand Slams have come since 2011, which is a period of condensed d...

5 activities better suited for an MLB stadium series than Pickleball
Here at Deadspin, we’ve penned so much inflammatory shit about pickleball that I feel bad degrading Americans for working out. If you want to spend your summer playing jumbo Ping-Pong, that’s OK. Lather up a sweat, burn some calories, and spend $89.95 on a paddle that assuredly won’t collect dust in...

If Adam Silver thinks Ja Morant’s punishment will distract from the Finals, you know it’s harsh
As far as bad omens go, NBA commissioner Adam Silver saying he’s going to save sharing the results of the Ja Morant investigation until after the Finals because it would be unfair to the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat is pretty bad. Silver’s comments about the pending discipline for one the league’s ...

Monty Williams isn’t the only person from the Suns who could help the Pistons
There are a few talented teams in the NBA who’ve been waiting to pop like an unpollinated flower, and the Detroit Pistons are hoping Monty Williams is one such catalyst. He was able to help turn around the Phoenix Suns, with the assistance of Chris Paul and the blossoming of Devin Booker, and mold t...

The Garbiñe Muguruz tennis selfie-turned-seduction story is an outlier
Attractive people can get away with things non-thirst-inducing people cannot, and as fucked up as it is to overtly tell anyone that they’re not pretty enough to do something, it’s true. Whether that’s cutting in line, waiting for drinks, wearing crop tops, or turning a selfie with a Wimbledon winner...

Student-athletes getting paid is not ruining college athletics
The way NIL deals are covered, you’d think they’re illegal. The go-to analogy for every college football pundit over 50 is it’s the Wild West, a time period of American history readily associated with outlaws, bank robberies, train heists, gunslingers, genocide, and general lawlessness. Also rampant...

Sports serving as a weekly reminder that racism is thriving
It’s easy to disregard and move past Sloane Stephens’ comments about the worsening racial abuse that’s directed her way on social media. Sports and racism go hand-in-hand, with a new story of prejudice seemingly weekly. The world’s never short on assholes, and this is basically a reminder to not be ...

A fix for horse racing that’s more than an ‘emergency meeting’
Horse racing regulatory and safety officials, along with representatives from Churchill Downs, are holding an emergency meeting today in response to two more horse deaths at the famed track in Louisville, Ky. this spring. The reason I’m writing this before the actual meet-and-greet is that nothing i...

The Miami Heat have the Boston Celtics right where they want them
Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals is going to decide nature vs. nurture, talent vs. culture, once and for all. Jimmy Butler has been giving the cameras a wry smile and an occasional wink since the Miami Heat lost Game 4, and even went as far as to say “We can and we will win this series.” Desp...

Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan are the real losers of their feud
I’m not going to blast Scottie Pippen for blasting Michael Jordan because, frankly, I’m over this bickering. Ever since The Last Dance, Pippen has come off like a jilted child, upset that his abusive father didn’t give him credit for his contributions. And Jordan has more or less kept alpha-dogging ...

Jon Gruden embarks on 12-step process to be an NFL head coach again
Remember when an NFL team had to pay Jon Gruden $100 million to lure him outside of the booth? There was a time when front offices watched Monday Night Football, and were impressed by Gruden’s QB camp. Cam Newton or Andrew Luck or Patrick Mahomes would wander into a film room, and sit through Chucky...

MLB scheduling change making it easier for American League East to assert its dominance
Six months or so after the NFC East was the best division in football, the American League East has overtaken MLB. No team is below .500 as of Friday morning/early afternoon, and the fives clubs are a combined 105-56 against opponents outside the division. The Tampa Bay Rays (37-15) and Baltimore Or...

Life after greatness: What happens when a sport loses its GOAT?
There’s no denying that GOATs are great for a sport when they’re still active. Michael Jordan, Tony Hawk, and other best-to-ever-do-its pushed their sports to popularity not seen since, but led to fans coming down off a trip so perfect that they were left fiending for the next fix of greatness perso...

Talk about the Denver Nuggets, you cowards!
The Denver Nuggets are in the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, and I’m sincere when I say that’s not a backhanded compliment. Yet it seems as if I’m one of only a few media members who actually wants to talk about the team that won the Western Conference Finals. The league and its...