ick Page 309 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, in all the best ways
They actually went through with it....

50 years ago today, Ali and Frazier stepped into the ring and delivered a divided nation its greatest sporting spectacle
Professional boxing had come a long way in the half-century that preceded March 8, 1971, the night Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali stepped into the Madison Square Garden ring for what remains history’s greatest heavyweight championship fight....

Is Overtime Elite the amateur sports game changer we’ve been waiting for?
It’s probably too soon to tell, but the new paid basketball league for 16- to 18-year-olds is certainly intriguing....

It’s not like the NHL to make a reasoned argument
I’m not usually so happy to be wrong as I was on Saturday night, when the NHL announced that Tom Wilson is suspended seven games for his Friday night hit on Brandon Carlo....

Julius Randle is the perfect New York Knick for right now
Kristaps Porzingis was great, but he wasn’t Julius Randle....

Deadspin Wayback Machine: A look back at some of sports’ great relics
One of the great things about sports is the comfort that they provide. While the world is always changing, sometimes at a pace that’s hard to process, sports are largely static. If you watch a football game from 50 years ago, there certainly are differences in strategy and the size and speed of the ...

Let's make some NFL free agency predictions
Someone in the NFL league office apparently doesn’t understand that March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day, because they decided to make that the day that free agency begins this year. Thinking about it a little more though, nothing goes together quite like Guinness and top-tier talent changing teams and cau...

Remembering Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America and the scene that made ‘In Da Face’ a thing
Frustrated by many erroneous foul calls on his star player Rik Smits, Dave Magarity found himself pacing up and down the sidelines at Madison Square Garden. It was another game, one of many for the Marist head coach. At the time, there was nothing remarkable about it. But what Magarity didn’t know w...

Dennis Smith Jr. is quietly reviving his career in Detroit
Let’s first acknowledge that Dennis Smith Jr. is not all the way back yet. He’s not even shooting 40 percent from the field this season. But even if he’s not back to where he was as a top-10 prospect coming from the 2017 NBA Draft Class, he’s far above where he stood toward the latter half of his Ne...

Ravens’ 'spot and choose' overtime idea could revolutionize football
The Ravens are reportedly making a proposal to the NFL to change the overtime rules to a “spot and choose” system under which the winner of the coin toss would get to pick where the ball goes on the field and the other team would decide whether it wants to play offense or defense....

Joey Ryan might be the worst person in the world
That’s a highly contested honor these days, so I acknowledge the enormity of the statement. Still, you have to recognize when someone is putting in the effort to take that mantle, as disturbing as it may be....

It was a day to be ‘committed’ — apparently
The theme of yesterday was being “committed.” Not actually being committed though, just saying it out loud. The Cleveland baseball team said it, after the story broke about them covering up Mickey Callaway’s behavior while he was their pitching coach. But, as Craig Calcaterra points out, just about ...

Dear Performative Cowards: An open letter to men in sports media
One of my former bosses used to kiss me. All the time. On the cheek mainly, but close enough to the mouth to make me really uncomfortable. Not that being kissed every time I saw him wasn’t bad enough. It was. He also told me when he liked something I was wearing, calling it “sexy” or “hot.”...

Comeback not-kid Alex Smith reportedly will soon be out of Washington, so here are his best landing spots
The 2020 NFL Comeback Player of the Year will not be back in Washington. According to Ian Rapoport and Kim Jones, Alex Smith is expected to be released by the Washington Football Team anytime now. He could be a free agent as soon as [checks notes] today....

When it comes to guys like Mickey Callaway, sports are the problem, can they be the solution?
I suppose the small flower growing out of the fertilizer of the way women are still treated in sports currently is that while organizations like MLB and the Angels dither about what should be done with Mickey Callaway, it only gives masterful reporters like Britt Ghiroli and Katie Strang, and the br...

Sin City: Knights make awful bet with ‘tout’ site, get roasted, then end partnership quicker than a Vegas marriage
It was only a matter of time before the Vegas Golden Knights made some sort of shady deal, right? It is Vegas, after all....

You should probably prepare for a Patrick Kane MVP campaign again
As I’ve remarked a few times before, just because the shape and structure of the seasons have been so greatly altered hasn’t kept the favorites from reaching the top. It’s no different in the NHL, where all four divisions are led by the teams you would expect, and if they’re not, those teams are sim...

J.J. Watt is signed with Arizona, so can the Texans please free Deshaun Watson now?
Welp, it looks like years of inexcusable dysfunction, a souring relationship with a franchise QB, and a week of cryptic tweets have led us here....

Rick Pitino’s ‘Larry Bird is not walking through that door’ speech is now old enough to drink
On this day, 21 year ago, one of the greatest quotes in sports history happened....
