ball Page 94 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Travis Kelce shakes off bad karma in first half of Jags game, convinces Mahomes ‘you belong with me’
It’s Week 2 of the NFL season and, as a non-Chiefs fan, I am already tired of Travis Kelce. He doesn’t come off as a bad person, necessarily, just a loud one, and one who likes to yell “We gotta fight…for the right…to paaaarrrrrty!!” every time he’s anywhere near a microphone. Here he is saying it a...

Deion Sanders is about to face his toughest test as a coach
Colorado nearly getting smacked with their first loss of the Deion Sanders era in a friendly atmosphere against an overmatched foe was a reminder that college football’s unpredictable nature goes both ways. Eventually, the underdogs become the hunted, and fortune shifts on a dime. At kickoff, Colora...

The Cubs are doing their best to piss away their wildcard spot
On the morning of September 7th, life was pretty good for the Chicago Cubs. They had just, essentially, ended the San Francisco Giants season by sweeping them in three games at Wrigley, leaving San Francisco 5.5 games behind the Cubs and 2.5 games out of any wildcard spot. The Cubs meanwhile were on...

The SEC is a one-bid conference — again
This is a weird season for the SEC thus far. Only one team appears worthy of the playoff, and Georgia didn’t exactly look like world beaters against South Carolina on Saturday either. Tennessee lost to Florida (who already lost to Utah), LSU lost to Florida State, and Alabama lost to Texas. Those th...
![Shohei Ohtani done for the season, let the sweepstakes begin [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/ada644d1521fd4cc76b93b6c7bfc1af3.jpg)
Shohei Ohtani done for the season, let the sweepstakes begin [Updated]
After a player dons a Los Angeles Angels uniform, it’s easy to picture him in any team’s colors. It’s a mercenary’s stopping ground, a place to get money, live in L.A., and soak up the pro ball lifestyle while not having to worry about winning or expectations. That’s why every coastal elite club sho...

The Houston Astros don’t deserve a first-round bye
With playoff baseball rapidly approaching and the standings nearly complete, this feels like a good time to point out a flaw in the new six-team format (other than increasing the number of games per round). If you’re going to hand out first-round byes, give them to the two best teams in each league....

Behold, the magic of the Blue Jays' face-plant!
It’s been a wonky season for the Toronto Blue Jays. It was supposed to be the one where they leaped from just a playoff team to AL East titan. Didn’t work out. Part of it is that Alek Manoah started throwing wiffle balls. Another part is that Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s power went to the zoo for most of...

Maybe the Rangers don't suck anymore? Baseball's most unpredictable team looks great right now
I can’t think of a more apropos recent example of a roller coaster during baseball’s regular season than this year’s Texas Rangers. In the month of August, the Rangers were viewed both as the American League’s leading contender to make the World Series and also had a large swath of their fan base th...

What was Chaim Bloom supposed to do?
Just how well is a GM/executive reign supposed to go when the first task given to them is to trade the best player in baseball? That was the road set out for Chaim Bloom, who came to Fenway from Tampa, probably with hopes that he could set up a Rays-with-money set-up like Andrew Friedman in Los Ange...

Name something dumber than Jay Norvell talking smack about Deion Sanders
This week, ESPN’s College GameDay is setting up shop in Boulder, Colo., for Prime University’s cakewalk contest against Colorado State. Colorado are 23-point favorites, but the Worldwide Leader needs a reason to hop onto the Deion bandwagon before it loses steam once the schedule toughens up. Even b...

The secret to Giannis' success: No fraternizing with the enemy
Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the brightest stars the NBA has to offer. He’s a two-time league MVP, NBA Champion, Finals MVP, seven-time All-Star, and All-NBA selection, among many other accolades. You might wonder how a guy who’s accomplished so much before age 30 keeps the fire lit to come back ...

Michigan State should not benefit from Mel Tucker, but it will
Secretly, the grossest thing about this Mel Tucker scandal — outside of all the unverifiable tips being sent to the Deadspin general email — is that Michigan State might actually benefit from its own incompetence. Tucker would be owed an $80 million buyout if he were fired for being an abhorrent foo...

Jets owner Woody Johnson would never sign Colin Kaepernick, no matter the year
Sometimes you just have to put the request in despite already knowing the outcome. That was the case when Colin Kaepernick’s agent reached out to the New York Jets after Aaron Rodgers went down with a torn Achilles on Monday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills....

The Atlanta machine just keeps rolling on
While Atlanta fans apparently are pretty touchy about any perceived criticism of their club, even we have to admit there’s something pretty baller about clinching the NL East one day after the Philadelphia Phillies broadcasters were bitching about the bravado Atlanta showed as they were kicking the ...

Lack of parity in college football playoff system has made the whole thing a bore
Entering the 10th and final year of the 4-team College Football Playoff, we have a 2-time defending national champion in Georgia, who is one of only five teams to win a title in the post-BCS era. It’s been an oversaturation at the top with the same teams playing in the most important games of the y...

Football is America's version of sportswashing
The sizzle of the grill, the smell of the pizza, the crack of the beer can, and the sound of brass bursting through the speakers, are all signs that football season has arrived. While activity and news from the sport are followed year-round, nothing replaces a week of real game action....

LeBron James, wife and 2 associates named in federal PED investigation
There hasn’t been a performance-enhancing drugs scandal in basketball. At least, not to the level of, say, the likes of BALCO and Major League Baseball. As close as we came was when the NBA started testing players for HGH before the beginning of the 2015-16 season. The trendy thing to do online at t...

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are still the heroes in <i>Welcome to Wrexham</i>, even when they’re the villains
The problem with Wrexham becoming such a story within the soccer world, thanks to the efforts of Ryan Reynolds, and Rob McElhenney making them so, is that the suspense is kind of removed from Season 2 of Welcome To Wrexham. We know how this one ends. Wrexham win the National League, and get promoted...

Josh Allen has to stop playing like Carson Wentz if the Bills are going to have a chance
Josh Allen’s trio of picks thrown to New York Jets safety Jordan Whitehead and his two fumbles on one play, were the kiss of death for the Buffalo Bills in their loss to a New York Jets team whose Super Bowl aspirations disappeared after Aaron Rodgers went down with a torn Achilles. However, being h...

Natural grass wouldn’t have prevented Aaron Rodgers’ injury
It’s always interesting to see how leagues and players’ unions react to injuries. Zaza Pachulia stepped under Kawhi Leonard’s foot, and now NBA defenders can’t impede a shooter’s landing zone. Buster Posey getting blasted by Scott Cousins led to MLB banning plays at the plate. On Monday, Aaron Rodge...