ball Page 549 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Arrogant Dickwad Umpire Shouts "I Can Do Anything I Want" After Goading A.J. Hinch Into An Ejection
In the top of the second inning of Wednesday night’s Astros-Rangers game, home plate umpire Ron Kulpa called a low strike on a pitch from Rangers starter Mike Minor. It was not Kulpa’s first controversial strike zone call of the evening, and it greatly displeased the Astros bench. Kulpa, a sensitive...

Nationals Reliever Trevor Rosenthal Is Stuck On Infinity
A fun little quirk of the first few days of a new baseball season is the wild swings of relievers’ statistics. A seventh inning guy who gets roughed up in the wrong spot can spend a week with gruesome numbers; a specialist who serves up a dinger to his lone assignment can spend a night or two with a...

Gregg Popovich Gets Himself Ejected Just 63 Seconds Into Spurs Game
Spurs head coach and noted curmudgeon Gregg Popovich must’ve had someplace else he needed to be Wednesday night. At the 10:57 mark of the first quarter of his team’s game against the Denver Nuggets—just 63 seconds after tipoff—Popovich was hit with a double-technical and ejected....

A Reasoned And Correct Ranking Of NBA Teams, By Their Suitability For Zion Williamson
Zion Williamson is going to be the first overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft. What follows is a reasoned and near-scientific ranking of all NBA teams in order of how cool it would be if they had Williamson as a rookie. Only 14 teams are actually in the running to win the draft lottery for the right t...

Matthew Stafford's Wife Kelly Announces She's Having Surgery For A Brain Tumor
Kelly Stafford, wife of Lions QB Matthew Stafford, announced via her Instagram today that she will have brain surgery later this month after a recent MRI uncovered a tumor. Stafford said doctors discovered an acoustic neuroma on her cranial nerves; thankfully, the tumor is benign....

Good Lord, This Jose Alvarado Pitch Is Nasty
Jose Alvarado is just beginning his third year pitching out of the Rays’ bullpen, and all you really need to know about him is that his fastball is absolutely obscene. Here’s a 99 mph pitch from his appearance today against the Rockies—a pitch that let him finish striking out the side—which somehow ...

Geno Auriemma: It's A Real Shame Players Won't Let Coaches Bully Them Anymore
Man, don’t you miss the good old days when coaches could get away with whatever they wanted? Are you sick of these snowflake athletes who can’t put up with some bullying? Do you think it’s time someone stood up for verbal abuse? Guess what, Geno Auriemma’s finally the one to take that stand. Thank y...

Xander Bogaerts Didn't Learn His Lesson, And It Cost The Red Sox A Chance To Win
Xander Bogaerts clearly did not remember what he learned on Monday night. Don’t run on Ramon Laureano! He’ll put you in the trash can from a mile away....

They’re Gonna Fuck Up This New <i>Joker</i> Movie And I’m Already Annoyed
In theory, I am the ideal target audience for this new Joker trailer because I am the kind of broad-minded jackass who would shell out $12 for anything Joker-related, and because I’m one of five people who won’t openly recoil at the idea of a gritty PG-13 Joker origin story shot exclusively as an ho...

Luke Voit Was Steamed About Getting Hit And Then Shown Up
The Yankees lineup is all busted up, so you can understand why the remaining healthy players might be a little more sensitive than usual about potentially getting hurt themselves. This is how we ended up with Yankees first baseman Luke Voit appearing to call Tigers pitcher Joe Jimenez a “fucking fat...

Bryce Harper Pummeled The Nats Until He Heard Cheers
If there were any questions about how Nationals fans would greet Bryce Harper in his return to Washington, they were answered well before first pitch. A tribute video—the thing that usually inspires warm fuzzies, before the rancor begins—was played on the scoreboard and booed vociferously. Then Harp...

Russell Westbrook Dedicates Historic 20-20-20 Triple-Double To Slain Rapper Nipsey Hussle
Russell Westbrook completed the ultra-rare double triple-double Tuesday night, in a 119–103 Thunder win over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers. The counting stats are absurd: 20 points, 20 rebounds, and 21 assists, in 37 minutes. He had 10 assists in the first quarter, and 17 by the mid-point of the t...

Nationals Fans Greet Bryce Harper With Lots And Lots Of Booing
Bryce Harper returned to Nationals Park Tuesday night, making his first appearance in Washington since he signed his mega-deal with the Phillies back in February. Fans who’d been waiting to unleash their burns on Bryce were forced to wait through a 45-minute rain delay, but that’s a small price to p...
![Reports: The AAF Is Circling The Drain [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/f5hfcdxdaxceoh72qgcs.jpg)
Reports: The AAF Is Circling The Drain [Update]
Six days after majority owner Tom Dundon threatened to shutter the Alliance of American Football, the league will reportedly suspend all football operations. There were two weeks left in the regular season schedule as well as a four-team postseason, and it now appears that neither will ever happen....

Onions, Ranked
Today, we’re talking about pizza, worst places to die, the NCAA tournament, and more....

The History And Future Of The Franchise Tag, The Bane Of The NFL's Best Players
The top of this year’s NFL free agent class was stocked with defensive linemen and edge rushers. Most never hit the market....

This Is The Face Of A Man Getting Pulled In The Seventh Inning Of A No-Hitter
It didn’t take too long for the Baltimore Orioles, who came into this season with one of the most clown-ass rosters ever assembled in the history of clown-ass rosters, to do away with whatever good will might have been earned by taking two of three from the Yankees to open the season. They did so by...

Report: The Nationals' Second Offer To Bryce Harper Was Smaller Than The First
Tuesday night the Phillies travel to Washington, and with them, their new superstar Bryce Harper returns to the city where he spent seven extremely productive seasons and became the face of the Nationals. But D.C.’s relationship with Harper, especially in the later years, was increasingly fraught, s...

The Yankees Are Torn Up And Full Of Holes
How are things for the Yankees in the season’s early going? Well, their new third outfielder got to New York so hurriedly he’s living in a hotel room with his mom and his cats. They aren’t sure who their starter is going to be on Wednesday and may throw a bullpen game. Someone called Mike Tauchman w...

Max Muncy Bat Flips On A Harmless Fly Out Like A Complete Buster
Bat flips are great, as a stylish way of punctuating a mighty dinger. It’s less cool but probably acceptable to bat flip after a particularly well-hit non-dinger, if that non-dinger should be a walk-off RBI single. However broadly you are prepared to abide the spread of the bat flip, probably baseba...