il Page 631 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Record-breaking NIL contract will have the NCAA pocket-watching again
The NIL landscape has opened up a world of big and small endorsement opportunities that have no tangible connections to college campuses. This deal, the largest NIL one ever signed by a non-professional athlete, has placed a spotlight on the hinterland of the NIL landscape....

Goodbye and good riddance to Will Wade
It took way too long to oust Will Wade from his place atop LSU men’s basketball, but the deserved guillotine finally made its swift chop on Saturday afternoon, a major moment in the 4-year-plus NCAA investigation into wrongdoing surrounding his time in Baton Rouge. Wade was fired with cause, meaning...

Anyone banking on a Milwaukee Bucks championship repeat is in for a rude awakening
The Milwaukee Bucks took one on the chin Saturday night in prime time against the Golden State Warriors, falling in defeat 122-109. What’s even more concerning than the loss is that Warriors superstar Stephen Curry scored just eight points. Curry was on the floor for a total of 35 minutes. That stat...

Familia latest Phillies’ free agent folly
The Phillies had a 4.60 bullpen ERA last season, sixth-worst in the major leagues. Philadelphia relievers’ 2.36 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranked 19th in the majors in 2021. And the Phillies’ bullpen corps served up 89 homers last year, tied for seventh-most in baseball....

Kyrie brings loser energy to Brooklyn
Thanks to a change in arena policy last week removing the vaccine requirement for entry, Kyrie Irving was allowed in the building in Brooklyn on Saturday night for the first time all season – as a spectator, for Duke-Virginia Tech in the ACC championship game....

If OBJ didn’t work out in Cleveland, don’t expect Amari Cooper to either
Amari Cooper is a good receiver. He’s not as good as Odell Beckham Jr. was when he left New York for Cleveland though. Sure, there are some arguments you could make against the latter statement. For example, perhaps Cooper hasn’t been a true No. 1 in Dallas since CeeDee Lamb got there. Doubtful, but...

Portland’s six-game losing streak is worse than you think
The Portland Trailblazers are not the worst team in the NBA. They’re far from it actually. However, their past six games would indicate otherwise. They’re tanking like there’s no tomorrow. Since their Feb. 24 matchup at home against the Golden State Warriors, the Trail Blazers have lost every game t...

Winning Time Episode 2: “Is That All There Is?”
“You look like one of us,” a young woman tells Jerry West at a bar, fresh off a championship but stuck in his own ennui. The woman is part of a group mourning a deceased loved one, some dude named Bob. West is three hours removed from winning his first NBA championship in 1971, after six attempts. W...

MLB free agency predictions - who will go where?
With over 200 names still facing free agency and less than one month to go before the start of the MLB season, we are in for an absolute flurry of moves. There are still dozens of big names on the table for any team looking to make a game-changing acquisition. Those teams that were right on the bord...

Auburn getting upset in the SEC tourney could be a bad omen
Auburn men’s basketball has the odds-on favorite to go No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft on its roster. It has two possible lottery picks in its front court. All it had to do was win a couple games in the conference tournament, and its No. 4 AP Poll ranking most likely would’ve translated into one of t...

What Duke fan wants to watch this again?
Damn, does someone at ACC Network have something personal against Coach K?...

Philadelphia fans were ready to boo Ben Simmons – they wound up booing their team
Irony was at play inside the Wells Fargo Center in Philly on Thursday night....

Return of the Mack
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Los Angeles Chargers and Chicago Bears are on the verge of finalizing a deal that would send Khalil Mack, to the Chargers in exchange for a 2022 second-round pick and 2023 sixth-rounder....

Jerry Jones making a run at NFL’s Most Despicable Owner
Jerry Jones has had a sordid history as an NFL magnate. But as he’s embarked on his twilight years, Jones has saved his worst for last....

NFT hacks Jeff Passan at height of lockout negotiations, completely whiffs opportunity
You know, back in the day, when things made sense and air was fresh and all french fries were crispy, when you hacked someone’s Twitter or Facebook or email, you did it for entertaining reasons. Remember the days of “Wetbutt” breaking Cubs trades (“Days Of Wetbutt” was an underrated Cinderella album...

U.K. finally gets around to sanctioning Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich
Roman’s got to go. Hand in your keys to the club before you do more damage to those who don’t deserve it. As it turns out, plenty of people who said politics had no place in sports really meant politics that they don’t agree with had no room at the table. Loud banishment of policy came at the inters...

Darius Garland is on one right now, so climb aboard the bandwagon before it fills up
I’m going to start this by listing off a bunch of reasons why Darius Garland has been overlooked this season, not explain them, and then give you a bunch of his highlight reels because this piece is about Garland. ...

Kylian Mbappé passes the audition but PSG spectacularly fail another test
While the word “narrative” has become something of a cinder block sitting in the intestines of sports, sometimes you just can’t avoid how much it’s beating you over the head. Kylian Mbappé lining up against Real Madrid in the round of 16 in the Champions League was one of those times. Mbappé is stil...
![ACC needs to bench Buddy Boeheim... and it did [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/47793058815003d7ef99b5dd27712975.jpg)
ACC needs to bench Buddy Boeheim... and it did [Updated]
The Atlantic Coast Conference needs to suspend Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim, the son of longtime Cuse head coach Jim Boeheim and the team’s leading scorer, for at least a game after he punched a Florida State player in the stomach during the second round of the conference tournament and didn’t even try ...

The Broncos and Packers have their QB situations locked up, but what about the other teams who need a QB?
The NFL landscape changed drastically Tuesday afternoon once the Russell Wilson to Denver news broke. Wilson and the Broncos swooped in just hours after the announcement of Aaron Rodgers’ new mega $200 million deal ($153 million guaranteed) and hijacked the headlines. In one moment, the balance of p...