ball Page 499 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Bill Walton Learned How To Enjoy Baseball In Real Time
On the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, former NBA superstar Bill Walton made his way into the broadcast booth of NBC Sports Chicago to be the color commentator for a White Sox-Angels game. Walton was his usual self whenever he spoke, taking quantum leaps from topic to topic as he transitioned between...

Making Pass Interference Reviewable Isn't Going To Make It Any Clearer
The play above was flagged. If you didn’t watch—and, dear reader, I sincerely hope you had something better to do last night than watch a Bengals-Skins preseason game into the fourth quarter—can you guess what the call was? Can you guess which player was flagged? More to the point, can you guess wha...

Why Your Team Sucks 2019: Pittsburgh Steelers
Some people are fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This 2019 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here....

Coach Who Made $850,000 Last Year Says His Unpaid Players Are Required To Donate $50 To Program
At a post-workout press conference earlier this week, Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns coach Billy Napier announced a rather odd initiative for the members of his football team. Napier said that, starting this year, all scholarship members of the team will be required to donate a minimum of $50 to ...

Aaron Rodgers Is Worried About Lamar Jackson's Safety, Too
It’s hard to get enough of Lamar Jackson’s highlight-reel runs, but during Thursday night’s preseason game against the Packers, every muscle on my body tightened up when the young Ravens QB took off to the end zone for a 20-yard run featuring multiple busted tackles. It got called back for a flag, s...

Kyler Murray's Snap Clap Might Be A Problem
Kyler Murray played four series in the Cardinals’ loss to the Raiders on Thursday, going 3-for-8 for 12 yards. Not great. But also who cares, it’s preseason. Potentially much more relevant were the two false start penalties he was called for in the first quarter....

Bryce Harper's Walk-Off Grand Slam Was Pure Catharsis
The Philadelphia Phillies were down to the Chicago Cubs entering the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday night. The Cubs have had a dicey bullpen all season long, so this was by no means a sure thing, but that doesn’t make what happened any less nad-rocking, for all but the most committed Bryce Har...

Jon Gruden Turns Worrying Shade Of Red Over Preseason Delay-Of-Game Penalty
Mike Glennon threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to [checks notes] Rico Gafford in the first quarter of Thursday night’s Raiders-Cardinals preseason game on ESPN. Immediately afterward, with the poor, addled fans in attendance still buzzing over the hookup, Oakland’s field goal unit took a delay of game ...

Ronald Acuña Jr. Gives Gravity The Middle Finger, Robs Home Run
Ronald Acuña Jr. has been an absolute stud for the Braves as of late, and even when his team hasn’t been performing to the best of their abilities, he still finds a way to remind the folks at home just how much better he is compared to the bums around him. The latest exemplar of this talent separati...

Dodgers' Kristopher Negrón Faceplants Attempting Diving Catch, Comes Up With Nose Full Of Blood
Things were already going poorly for the Dodgers going into the bottom of the fifth on Thursday, as the team had only just broken up a no-hitter against the Marlins(!) and had allowed the National League bottom-feeder to build a 6-1 lead. But things soon got decidedly worse when Miami’s Lewis Brinso...

There Is No Ethical Dissent Under Capitalism
It’s safe to say Jay-Z, to some extent, takes cues from Colin Kaepernick. Jay-Z has expressed his admiration of the former quarterback before, once calling him an “iconic figure.” In the aftermath of Kaepernick’s black-balling from the NFL for his peaceful protest of police killing unarmed black men...

The Nihilist's Guide To DeMarcus Cousins's Injury
If karma exists, DeMarcus Cousins did some ethereal being mighty wrong. If this is just bad luck, Cousins not only has his own but several other people’s as well....

Kyle Long Tried To Beat A Teammate With His Own Helmet And Then Barfed
Training camp fights are a relatively common occurrence, but few are as eventful as the scrap that took place on Wednesday between Bears offensive lineman Kyle Long and defensive lineman Jalen Dalton. Here is a description of the fight that is just packed with evocative imagery:...
![Dammit, DeMarcus Cousins Tore His ACL [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/yah1gljw3ofscwkals7h.jpg)
Dammit, DeMarcus Cousins Tore His ACL [Update]
After suffering in obscurity on the worst team in pro sports for seven years, getting free from the mess in Sacramento only to tear his Achilles midway through a career season on a playoff-bound squad with another star, and seeing his chance at a ring go up in smoke thanks to a string of brutal inju...

Why Your Team Sucks 2019: Tennessee Titans
Some people are fans of the Tennessee Titans. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Tennessee Titans. This 2019 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here....

Team USA Routed In Bleak Scrimmage Against D-League Crew
Team USA still needs to winnow its pool of 15 finalists down to 12 before the FIBA World Cup begins on September 1. No one else is getting added to this team, but perhaps they should burn down the roster and start all over....

Clayton Kershaw's Reinvention Makes The Dodgers Even Scarier
Clayton Kershaw looks like a completely different pitcher than he did several years and hundreds of innings ago, but the results are pretty much the same. With a two-hitter win against the Marlins on Wednesday, the Dodgers starter improved to 12-2 on the year with a 2.63 ERA, efficiently striking ou...

That Sure Blew Up In Mickey Callaway's Face
The Mets have somehow gotten themselves into playoff contention, which is both good news and bad news for them. The good news, obviously, is that they may yet have a successful season after a very lame first half. The bad news is that now people are actually paying attention to the Mets, and that me...
![Man Dies After Choking During Taco-Eating Contest At Minor League Baseball Game [Updates]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/an4o6pi1xbi1jfm5uvjf.png)
Man Dies After Choking During Taco-Eating Contest At Minor League Baseball Game [Updates]
A Fresno man named Dana Hutchings died on Tuesday night after collapsing during a taco-eating contest at a Fresno Grizzlies game, according to a report from the Fresno Bee....
