ale Page 67 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Donald Trump taking away Miami's spotlight like OJ's Bronco chase
June is typically the unofficial end of the sports calendar and a month-long sporting season finale. Once the calendar flips to late July, MLB’s All-Star festivities, intermittent tennis Grand Slams, and international football competitions are the major scheduled events to keep us going until the NF...

What Lionel Messi coming to MLS means — and what it doesn’t
MLS, arguably, have already gotten what they wanted from the signing of Lionel Messi. They were in the headlines the past couple days, a place the league has struggled to stay in. It is something, for the league, that ESPN.com has a Messi headline right next to a headline about Liverpool signing Ale...

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 ...

Skip Bayless gives us another reason to hate him
The takes don’t get created by themselves, so I understand that it takes a lot for Skip Bayless to have enough of them to fill up a two-hour television program. However, speculating on how someone’s personal life is affecting their play is usually a bridge too far. That goes double when it’s informa...
![Alek Manoah has been so awful the Blue Jays sent him to the rookie circuit [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/24a6964601a11ab80c478c4a478a38c6.jpg)
Alek Manoah has been so awful the Blue Jays sent him to the rookie circuit [Update]
A 30,000-foot view of the Toronto Blue Jays so far this season wouldn’t detect any huge problems. The offense, while maybe not tearing a hole in the Earth or indeed time as might have been predicted, is still 11th in MLB in runs. Bo Bichette is second in batting average, Vladito is bashing the shit ...

WNBA, NSWL TV rights are more valuable than ever as leagues seek new deals
Hours before the WNBA’s New York Liberty were set to take the court against the Connecticut Sky at 2 p.m. on Sunday, the crowd near the players’ entrance was already entrenched. Parents and their kids, couples, and groups of friends, many decked out in shirts and shoes with that distinctive Statue s...

Colts' Isaiah Rodgers investigated by NFL for betting on football
It may appear hypocritical that the NFL — and the rest of professional sports — are willing to shake hands and sign contracts with the legal sports betting companies and then turn around and punish the players for gambling, but it has to be done. For all of the ethical questions surrounding the NFL,...

Florida Panthers faceplanted in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final
It’s not that the Florida Panthers haven’t faced adversity in this playoff run. They were down 3-1 to the Bruins. But then, nothing was expected of them, so it’s not like they had much to lose. They certainly do now, so close to the parade, and they certainly appeared intent on losing it all in Game...

Jimmy Butler was good enough in Game 2
There was a little too much fouling of 3-point shooters for my taste on Sunday night, but other than that, the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets played quite the thrilling Game 2. The Nuggets threw run after run at the Heat, who ate every blow and kept countering. Eventually the Heat put the Nuggets on ...

The Columbus Blue Jackets hate their players
In the discussion of most irrelevant franchises in North American sports, the Columbus Blue Jackets would be high on the list, if not on top of it, if anyone could remember them enough to add them. You’d think they’d take some inspiration from one of their former fellow whos-its, the Denver Nuggets,...

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...

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. ...

Heat can't get past Nuggets on guts alone
For once a Miami Heat 2023 playoff game played out the way that was expected. The Denver Nuggets are bigger, more talented, and won Game 1 of the NBA Finals by a double-digit margin — 104-93....

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...

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 definitive NBA Finals player rankings
The NBA Finals are upon us, and it’s time to rank the players involved. You’ll notice Tyler Herro is just an honorable mention, and that’s due to his injury status and not fully knowing when he’ll play in the series. These rankings are based on the level of importance and influence each player will ...

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...

Will Nikola Jokić lead Denver to its first title or will Jimmy Butler fulfill his playoff prophecy?
One of the least anticipated matchups in recent memory is upon us. The Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat. Let’s be real here. No LeBron, no Jayson Tatum, and no Boston Celtics legends in the stands. Media members have been openly grousing all week about having to cover the Nuggets. That’s a cornball pos...
