ac Page 358 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

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...

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...

Frank Vogel is an upgrade over Monty Williams — for a discount price
A year after getting unceremoniously released through the trap door LeBron James has designed into the floor beneath the head coach’s seat on the bench, Frank Vogel has re-emerged as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns. The 49-year-old Vogel and the Phoenix Suns are familiar with each other’s games. ...

Phoenix Suns hiring Frank Vogel to succeed Monty Williams
The Phoenix Suns plan to hire Frank Vogel as their next coach, according to ESPN’s NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski....

Miami Heat can’t survive NBA Finals with a punchdrunk Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Buckets was in standby mode for Game 1. Maybe it was the altitude that Ball Center resides at, or the altitude of expectations, but regular season Jimmy Butler pulled up for Game 1. Butler seemed more intent on picking his spots and taking the Denver Nuggets’ temperature. Likewise, the Miami H...

Sometimes basketball is as simple as having taller guys everywhere
I wouldn’t pretend to be a basketball expert. My colleague Stephen will be around later to do that stuff. I do know there are myriad ways of designing an offense and defense and how to guard pick-and-rolls and rotations and a bunch of other things that coaches play with throughout a playoff series. ...

Remember former USMNT striker Chris Wondolowski? He just led a team to victory as a goalkeeper
The Soccer Tournament, or TST for short, started its inaugural 32-team, 7-on-7 showcase earlier today and it’s a clusterfuck. And like all televised abnormalities of society, at least we get to watch. The nature of the tournament gives way for more unique scenarios to happen, like a goalkeeper scori...

Here's who could end up yelling at Skip Bayless if Shannon Sharpe leaves <i>Undisputed</i>
After years of sitting opposite Skip Bayless on Fox Sports’ Undisputed desk, Shannon Sharpe is reportedly departing the show soon after the NBA Finals’ conclusion. As enticing as it would be for Skip Bayless to host a one-man show, I think that would be too much for even his most ardent supporters. ...

Sage Steele’s beef with ESPN is legit, but you can’t play the victim after being the villain
Despite how she may identify, Sage Steele is a Black woman. That needs to be addressed because, within the sports media landscape, you’d be hard-pressed to find many, or even a few, women — especially Black ones — and Black people who’ll advocate for her. What also needs to be addressed is that Stee...

Toronto trolls Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass for his bigoted views
In a rare display of an MLB team following the lead of its fans, or at least being in the vicinity, something satisfying took place last night in Toronto when bigoted Blue Jays asshat Anthony Bass came out of the pen:...

The Philadelphia Phillies' offense is doing that thing again
The Philadelphia Phillies are an imperfect being. Yes, they’ve been that way for pretty much their entire existence. But every baseball fan/watcher knows that the recent vintage of the Fightins is kind of a top-heavy outfit, that generally plays defense like it’s just about to sneeze, and the bullpe...

Where should the USMNT players move this summer?
There’s going to be a lot of movement for the top end of the USMNT roster, but what would be best for them? We mean other than Ibiza or The Algarve on vacation. Though they should do that too. They’ve earned it. But after the Nations League semis and (hopefully) final, the main cogs of the USMNT wil...

The San Diego Padres are the first to get out of their Bally Sports TV deal
In a few years, baseball TV will look very different. We’re getting a glimpse now, thanks to Bally Sports missing a payment to the San Diego Padres, essentially ending their rights deal. MLB is stepping in already, and starting later today MLB is taking over the broadcasts for the Padres. And of cou...

Lakers' former core excelling outside of Los Angeles
It’s not always the case that you can trace the current crop of key NBA players to a single team during a single season. But that’s exactly what the 2017-2018 season was for the Los Angeles Lakers. That season was two years removed from the retirement of Kobe Bryant, who won five championships with ...

Was Golden State's Bob Myers encouraged to resign, or did he just not get a contract worthy of his ego?
Bob Myers’ reign as the strategic basketball mind behind the premier dynasty of the past decade came to a conclusion on Tuesday afternoon when the 48-year-old team president and general manager stepped aside on Tuesday morning. The Splash Brothers were the core of Golden State’s five NBA title quest...

What are the Florida Panthers, really?
The NHL will be more than happy to hook their star to an NBA narrative, so while all the fans north of the border bitch about a Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights, the offices probably aren’t upset about getting linked through dual South Florida 8-seeds playing f...

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...

DeAndre Hopkins' Instagram story fuels rumors of where he'll sign
After a few months of speculation and trade rumors, the Arizona Cardinals decided to cut WR DeAndre Hopkins. According to Sports Illustrated, only the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs engaged in “substantive” trade talks with the Cards. The reason a trade didn’t go through, per Albert Breer, was...

Anthony Bennett and the NBA Lottery's biggest draft busts of the last decade
Every day, fans of Aleksej “Poku” Pokusevski, Josh Green, or James Wiseman swear next year is the year their favorite players are not the bums the rest of the NBA thinks they are. I went through the last decade, from 2013-2023, and highlighted the 10 players who are on track to be the biggest busts ...
