explainers Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
How To Be A Soccer Fan
Towards the tail end of this past World Cup, more than a few readers emailed us looking for guidance on how to become a soccer fan. Never ones to disappoint our adoring readership, we've now obliged. Here's how we imagine that conversation would go....
The Many Crimes Of Luis Suárez, Soccer's Notorious Supervillain
The beauty of the World Cup—for Americans, at least—is that it exposes so many viewers to the nuances and enjoyments of an unfamiliar sport. This tournament has awoken the typical American sports fan to jaw-dropping goals, spectacular individual displays, unbridled joy followed by crushing disappoin...
The Non-Soccer Fan's Guide To The 2014 World Cup
We get it. Soccer is confusing, and it's hard to know where to start. You know what a big deal the World Cup is, and this is the year you're finally going to get into it, and then you check in over at Deadspin and, well, fuck no, you're not reading 3000 words about Algeria. Don't worry about it! Thi...
Atlético Madrid's Diego Simeone Is The World's Dopest Manager
Atlético Madrid and Barcelona are set to play the biggest league game in the history of the world today. Most of the cast in this production are well known—Barça are still Barça, though by all accounts their manager is not long for this city; we've touched on Atléti's players before—but the total ba...
GIF Explainers Explained, In Thomas Pynchon Explained In GIFs Form
As an Internet user, you're probably seeing an increasing number of GIF explainers lately, and also probably wondering what the deal is. They're pretty confusing, after all! The sites that run them just assume that you know what an animated image of the Insane Clown Posse has to do with scientists c...
A Major League Pitcher's Guide To Doctoring A Baseball
The old saying says that it's not illegal if you don't get caught. In baseball, sometimes it isn't illegal even if you do....
Run The Jules: Your Guide To The USMNT's Newest (Maybe?) Star
During last night's USA-Mexico friendly, USMNT fans finally got a glimpse of Julian Green, the 18-year-old superstar-in-the-making(?) who spurned Germany to play for the US. The massive excitement at his arrival is matched only by the massive amount we don't know about him. Who is this guy? Is he re...
What Is The Nae Nae? A Necessary Explainer
Friday afternoon, Mercer beat Duke in the NCAA Tournament. More importantly, Bears guard Kevin Canevari was so excited about beating Duke that he started dancing, brilliantly. Some people asked what the fuck he was doing. Others in the know and/or on Black Twitter recognized it immediately: Canevari...
The Non-Skier's Guide To Ski Racing (And Ski Crashing)
Olympic skiing began this morning—men's downhill, airing on tape delay at 11 a.m.—and if you're like most viewers, you either watch the sport with quadrennial befuddlement or you change the channel entirely. As a former ski racer, and someone who started scooting around on skis at about the same tim...
Who Is The Greek Freak? Your Guide To The NBA's Coolest Rookie
Unless you are a big Milwaukee Bucks fan or a basketball nerd who lives on the internet, it’s very likely that you have not yet been properly introduced to Giannis Antetokounmpo. It’s time for that to change, because he is the most exciting rookie in the NBA....
So Who's This Andrew Wiggins Kid? An Explainer
You've heard about him, and maybe watched this ridiculous YouTube video, or this one, or this one, or this one. He's Andrew Wiggins, the 18-year-old basketball phenom who's already been called the next LeBron James. Last May, Wiggins committed to the University of Kansas, where he'll likely stay for...
What's The Deal With The America's Cup? An Explainer
Don't be ashamed if the America's Cup, just hours away from completion, is only now popping up on your radar. This has been the longest, strangest, most controversial edition in the event's 162-year history. Here are answers to your most pressing questions so you can watch the final race like a pro....
Can Mario Williams Get His Engagement Ring Back From His Ex?
Ah, every annoying property/contract student's favorite hypo: the engagement ring. What happens when a really expensive gift is made in contemplation of some future occurrence that never happens? ...
Boston Marathon Bombings: What Happened And What Didn't
As with any crisis, early information is incomplete and sometimes outright wrong. The day after the Boston Marathon bombings, a clearer picture has emerged. Let's get up to speed with where things stand right now....
The Solution To Football Withdrawal Is On Your Television This Weekend: A Guide To Rugby Sevens
For a certain brand of American sports fan, this has to be the worst weekend in sports. The NFL season is over, the NBA has hit its mid-schedule doldrums, and hockey is being played somewhere, we think....
Who Is This Marshall Henderson Guy? Your Guide To College Basketball's Most Entertaining Gunner
You may not know it yet, but Marshall Henderson of Ole Miss is the most entertaining player in college basketball. Here's everything you need to know about him....
What's Hockey?
In preparation for the resumption of the long-delayed season, we've compiled a brief refresher on "hockey."...
This Isn't About Sandusky: Everything You Need To Know About Pennsylvania's Lawsuit Against The NCAA (And Why You Should Support It)
The commonwealth of Pennsylvania's antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, filed today in federal court in the middle district of Pennsylvania, makes the ultimate "Death to the NCAA" argument. It states that the NCAA's decision to slap the Penn State football program with unprecedented sanctions was "ar...
Everything You Need To Know About New Browns Quarterback Thad "The Champ" Lewis
Per Mary Kay Cabot, Browns head coach until Monday Pat Shurmur announced today that third-string quarterback Thad Lewis would start against the Steelers in Week 17, as Brandon Weeden and Colt McCoy are terrible "dealing with injuries." Lewis will be the Browns' 18th starting quarterback since 1999,...
Who The Hell Is Johnny Manziel, And Why Wasn't He Wearing A Shirt In His Mug Shot? A Guide
Yesterday, everyone but rival SEC partisans fell in love with the Texas A&M quarterback, a goofy-eared, smiley kid that beat the nigh-unbeatable Alabama football deathstar with an excitability and intuition that finally made good on the old "He's just like a kid out there!" announcer trope. That you...