ant Page 286 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

If you ever wanted to be an NFL player, this was your year
Tuf Borland, Mac McCain, Luther Kirk, Paul Quessenberry, and Pooka Williams all joined an elite group this year. Not many people can say that they have played in an NFL game, but these five men all did exactly that this season....

Changes are coming to the NFL scouting combine that are long overdue
Today is one of those days in which the NFL has made a good decision. It doesn’t happen often. The decision to add an extra game to the schedule in a sport that can cause brain damage, during a world-wide pandemic, might be a short term financial win, but it’s making the product worse and is ethical...

Dirk Nowitzki is the GOAT for the Mavericks and will soon have his jersey retired
The Dallas Mavericks aren’t wasting any more time. They will honor the GOAT of their franchise on Wednesday when they hang Dirk Nowitzki’s No. 41 jersey in the rafters of the American Airlines Center in Dallas....

Give DeMar DeRozan his flowers for putting the Bulls in first place
What a three-game stretch for the fifth-leading scorer in the NBA, DeMar DeRozan. Mr. Anti-analytics has been letting his mid-range shot fly all season, propelling him to a scoring average of 26.9 points per game. With 28 points and six assists on Monday DeRozan was the Chicago Bulls’ leader in poin...

Aussie Open rules don’t apply to Novak Djokovic
Yet again, the major sports set out to prove that the rules don’t apply to the moneymakers — even when the rules are in the interest of public health and ending an ongoing pandemic. Twenty-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic will be allowed to play in the Australian Open after receiving a medical ...

You play to win the game… or do you?
More than half of the NFL remains in playoff contention heading into the final week of the season. That includes teams like the Packers, who have clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason, and it includes teams like the Raiders and Chargers, who play each other but can both get into th...

Stop blaming Vontaze Burfict for Antonio Brown's idiocy
In case you haven’t heard, Antonio Brown did something never before seen in an NFL game this past Sunday. In the middle of a pivotal game against the New York Jets, Brown took off his pads, threw his undershirt and gloves into the stands, and promptly ran across the field bare-chested giving the fan...

There’s no getting around it, the NFL despises women
There was a time in my life when nothing was as exciting as the start of the NFL season, the Bears season, here in Chicagoland....

Bruce Arians is also to blame (Brady, too)
It’s easy to just want to blame this all on Antonio Brown....

From Antonio Brown’s outburst to Aaron Rodgers' performance – Sunday was proof that the NFL will put up with anybody if they’re good enough
Antonio Brown needs help. But we know that in the same we know how good he is at football. This season, we found out that Aaron Rodgers is a “critical thinker” that believes he’s the smartest person in every room. He’s also extremely good....

Week 17 NFL Takeaways: It’s time to start thinking MVP and there are three players who have separated themselves from the pack, and one is a surprise
Would ya look at that. No bye weeks, the first Sunday of the season in which every game not on Monday Night Football is played on Sunday, and we get an entertaining week of football....
![Good riddance, Antonio Brown [UPDATED]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/22b1c13e392ffe060f1e0e0e95ddc949.jpg)
Good riddance, Antonio Brown [UPDATED]
Something rather odd occurred during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers-New York Jets game, where Antonio Brown pulled off his jersey and shoulder pads in the third quarter and threw up the peace sign as he walked toward the locker room....

The fight for the USMNT’s #9 spot moves to the European theater
As it’s always been (and sometimes it feels always will be) that the one big hole on the US Men’s international team is the one up top, a central striker. You never want to be in a place where you’re wondering if there’s any way to make Jozy Altidore 10 years younger. It’s Jozy Altidore, after all. ...

Week 17 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets
Happy New Year, though sadly, that means we’re winding down on the football calendar, entering the penultimate week of the campaign. Let’s make the most of it while we still have regular season football....

Changing the World Cup to every two years could (but won’t) help soccer’s have-nots
Changing the World Cup to a biennial event is an awful idea. That’s not the most groundbreaking statement, but I wanted to put it bluntly because that’s the point I want you to remember from the rest of this. And if FIFA president Gianni Infantino is to be believed, and the move has a majority backi...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR: The worst of 2021
Happy holidays, you filthy animals, and welcome to Deadspin’s annual IDIOT OF THE YEAR extravaganza. Within these hallowed slides are 50 of the year’s least bearable dorks, whose transgressions range from “just kinda silly,” to “dangerously stupid,” to “Trevor Bauer.”...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR: Bishop Sycamore, Antonio Brown, and other honorable mentions
Bishop Sycamore, for getting itself broadcast on ESPN despite being a fake school and not winning a game in two years...

Magic wants no part of scripted series about the Showtime Lakers
It’s a shame that Magic Johnson wants no part of this new HBO series about the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s. The trailer for Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, was released in early December, and the series will debut on HBO Max in March 2022....

Top 10 sports moments of 2021
Happy New Years’ Eve everybody! I hope you’re getting ready to kiss 2021 goodbye and good riddance, but before we celebrate another revolution around the sun and kick off 2022, I want to take one last look at some cool moments from the past 365 days....

IDIOT OF THE YEAR #4: Chicago Blackhawks, equal parts heinous and incompetent
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities! Nos. 50 through 11 are available for your enjoyment here. And our top 10 thus far:...