il Page 450 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

This week’s award for grossest act goes to the ATP Tour players
It’s one thing when a sport either ignores or is oblivious to whatever is surrounding a certain player or individual. It’s quite another when they know and just don’t care. Such is the case with this week’s announcement that the ATP Tour players had chosen Alexander Zverev to their players’ council....

Stephen A. Smith says he 'hates' Jason Whitlock, calls him 'a devil'
I did not get the memo that Festivus had been moved from Dec. 23 to the entire month of January. Grievances have been aired and an expansion for that holiday is the only explanation I have for why so many celebrities are beginning the year by verbally going upside the heads of those whom they dislik...

Bill Belichick done in New England, ending speculation
Bill Belichick is no longer the head coach of the New England Patriots, a position he’s held for nearly a quarter century, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Mike Reiss....

Here's to Golden State learning to age gracefully
Golden State is probably permanently entrenched as a middle-of-the-pack team. There are no renovating crumbling support beams around their Big 3 pillars because they are the source of deterioration. All they can do now is continue their reign as the most well-adjusted teammates ever cobbled together...

On Pete Carroll and how to be a great coach without being a jerk
Not many football coaches can dominate both college and the NFL. Jimmy Johnson was able to do so, but also ran so hot that it burned his relationship with Jerry Jones and he eventually burned out of coaching entirely after a few seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Pete Carroll has spent much of the las...

Here are 8 candidates to fill the Aaron Rodgers-sized hole on the Pat McAfee Show
Be careful what you ax for, ESPN. The network’s decision — because it certainly wasn’t Pat McAfee’s — to terminate Aaron Rodgers’ scheduled diatribes now gives viewers little to no reason to tune into the $86 million program. Seriously, who is pining for McAfee’s armpits, censored frat humor and AJ ...

The Bears once again do the minimum in the most backward way possible
To make it clear right at the top, here are all the things Matt Eberflus was allowed to do to keep his job: Completely waste training camp, except getting pretty much half the team hurt. “Mr Track Shoes” didn’t have his team ready to start the season, starting 0-4 and looking bewildered while doing ...

Michigan’s national title is a crop in the Big Ten’s budding football harvest
As maize-and-blue confetti streamed from the NRG Stadium rafters, it felt like the Big Ten’s harvest was finally ripening. The national title game was decided when Michigan outmuscled Alabama a week earlier, but Monday night’s national title was merely the coup de grâce in a process that began five ...

The luster on Brian Daboll’s bald head rubbed off in record time
While the New York Giants didn’t intend to undergo drastic changes this offseason, they are now. On the same day that head coach Brian Daboll said he expected both offensive and defensive coordinators to return, the latter reportedly went scorched earth on his boss before storming out. With Wink Mar...

Hockey players need therapists, too
The National Hockey League Player Association is launching a mental health initiative called First Line, which will educate players about depression, anxiety, substance use, and self-harm. ...

Pistons-Spurs matchup should be mandatory viewing for fringe NBA prospects
What If I told you that we’re almost at the halfway point of the NBA season and two teams with two of the best young players in the league don’t have 10 wins between them? And what if I told you that tonight’s matchup between Cade Cunningham’s Detroit Pistons and Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spur...

Purdue and Houston's losses are not a death knell
Last night was a seismic – and historically unprecedented – night for the men’s college basketball rankings. ...

Cutter Gauthier forcing the Flyers' hand could be start of a new trend in the NHL
There isn’t a lot of leverage for any player who gets drafted in our four major sports. Football players aren’t going to sit and do nothing for a year. High school baseball players, or even college juniors, can go back to school. Basketball players don’t have even that much. ...

As the NBA season approaches the halfway point, let's look at the winners and losers so far
With 2024 in full swing, let’s award the winners and losers of the first half of the NBA season. It’s been a banner year, but not without controversy and major development. Many questions are left unanswered. Will the Lakers regain their contender status? Can the Thunder compete this year? Are the K...

The NBA needs to check on Ja Morant during his absence
The 2023-24 NBA season is over for Ja Morant and, quite frankly, it barely got started. He began the season with a 25-game suspension for a second offense of inappropriate use of a firearm on social media. Morant played all of nine games before suffering a shoulder injury that the Memphis Grizzlies ...
![San Francisco 49ers fire DC Steve Wilks after Super Bowl LVIII loss [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/1ef4ca96da9eb6ed7f574e0392ed764f.jpg)
San Francisco 49ers fire DC Steve Wilks after Super Bowl LVIII loss [Updated]
It’s one of the toughest times of the NFL calendar. The end of the regular season has been unofficially dubbed “Black Monday” for the head coaches, general managers, and coordinators who will ultimately lose their jobs. In some cases, a relationship has simply run its course, and a business-driven l...

Any GM who prefers Drake Maye over Caleb Williams is a moron
The distinction between NFL fans, and football fans, is never more apparent than with draft hype. Each year, experts laud some schmuck quarterback whose archetype fits their formula as a franchise savior, and NFL fans inhale the assessment so often, so blindly that they really believe Drake Maye is ...

The Winnipeg Jets zoomed to the top of the NHL while you weren't looking
It’s hard to be an afterthought for an NHL team in Canada, and yet it kind of feels like the Winnipeg Jets are one. They’re not grouped with either of the other blocks. They aren’t near Toronto or Montreal in the Atlantic Division, and even the Ottawa Senators get more shine from being caught betwee...

Connor Stalions is the biggest victor from Michigan’s title win
Now that Jim Harbaugh and Michigan are national champions, Connor Stalions’ name is officially etched into history. Whenever U-M fans dine out on this title, which they assuredly will do, detractors, haters, run-of-the-mill conspiracy theorists, and others will shout “Connor Stalions!” as if he was ...

Patriots may bring back another failed HC if Bill Belichick stays
Another former member of the New England Patriots coaching staff who couldn’t succeed when out on his own may return if the team elects to keep Bill Belichick on as head coach....