ill Page 149 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

LeBron James is Team USA’s shadow GM and possibly its next director
LeBron James is back to doing what he does best, flexing those roster construction muscles as the league’s greatest shadow GM. According to Shams Charania and Joe Vardon’s report in The Athletic, an effort to recruit Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Jayson Tatum and Draymond Green, is being...

The Giants and Vikings are who we thought they'd be
Bill Parcells was correct when he said “you are what your record says you are.” In all sports, the champion is decided by who wins the tournament, and the seeding is determined by victories leading up to it. ...

As predicted, Dolphins-Chargers was the buried gem of Week 1
The Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers gave us a late Sunday afternoon thriller and lived up to the hype of being the game of the week that most people didn’t have available to watch. ...

If it wasn't for bad luck, the Ravens might not have any at all
Rarely does heartbreak come dressed as a Week 1 rout over a hapless opponent on your home field, but this is the NFL—and the Baltimore Ravens, specifically—where injuries love mocking the faithful.There must be a hive of some sort near M&T Bank Stadium, because the injury bug is again coming after t...

Joe Burrow was chum in the water for Jim Schwartz and Cleveland's defense
Watching Joe Burrow slinging a wet ball against Cleveland’s bloodthirsty defense in Week 1 was akin to noticing a shark fin circling towards a helpless swimmer. Kevin Stefanski hired blitzing connoisseur Jim Schwartz this offseason to install a pressure scheme to activate his lethargic defense an he...

Willy Adames doesn’t agree that you should never meet your heroes
It’s hard to remember that baseball players were wide-eyed kids like all of us at one point. Sure, there’s plenty of antics caught on camera in the dugout that remind us they’re playing a kids’ game. But given the amount of work, training, and coaching these guys get, it’s hard to picture them ridin...
![Michigan State's Mel Tucker has been suspended [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/662f342034a41f1815def2e3503f5c03.jpg)
Michigan State's Mel Tucker has been suspended [Updated]
[Updated at 4:17 pm ET] The Title IX investigation into sexual harassment claims against head football coach Mel Tucker has been ongoing since December of 2022, but it only took a few hours of media scrutiny for MSU to decide to discipline him. Funny how that works....

Coco Gauff will write her own story
When Coco Gauff beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon in 2019, a flood of expectations followed considering she was 15, American, Black, and had just ousted tennis royalty. The talent and potential was obvious enough, yet there are too many variables and unknowns to account for that calling anything a fo...

Ever wonder what the worst team of NFL starters would look like? Here it is
On an individual level, NFL Top 100 Player Lists are what get people excited. We get it. Patrick Mahomes is number one and the most competitive race is the scrum for number two. However, half of NFL fandom is groaning about the weak links on each unit. There’s enough glowing coverage of the NFL out ...
![Cincinnati Bengals take care of their franchise QB, but won't retain one of his top targets [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/ecb00f7342943ac5112c91c3e9bc0591.jpg)
Cincinnati Bengals take care of their franchise QB, but won't retain one of his top targets [Updated]
Well that was easy, and Joe Burrow didn’t even have to pull the old fake injury/shadow holdout move. According to reports, the Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback agreed to a five-year, $275 million contract extension with the team. The deal comes with $219 million guaranteed, making Burrow the highest ...

USA’s FIBA World Cup loss to Germany proves something needs to change before the 2024 Olympics
The Americans will leave this year’s FIBA World Cup without a title....

Kim Mulkey getting paid is just latest evidence that college sports is alive and well
Locking in Kim Mulkey as a Bayou Bengal for life was always a matter of when, not if, especially coming after leading LSU to a national championship in her second season on campus. No matter what you think of Mulkey off the court — and trust me, there’s plenty to criticize — she’s one heck of a bask...

Russell Wilson and his diva ways weren't ready for a coach like Sean Payton
Sean Payton is an old-school head coach in his approach and one of the few remaining in the NFL. As part of the Bill Parcells coaching tree, Payton mirrors his mentor in many ways regarding his no-nonsense way of dealing with players. It doesn’t matter who the player is or what they think of themsel...

Caleb Williams can return to USC instead of playing for the NFL team with the No. 1 overall pick
Caleb Williams’ father is absolutely right. Carl Williams talked to GQ’s Sam Schube for a profile about his son. He said that the NFL Draft system is “completely backwards.” After years of playing and training with the best programs at each level of football, Caleb is now forced to go play for the w...

Dillon Brooks and Luka Dončić take NBA antics international
NBA players can’t help themselves sometimes, even while playing under international rules. Canada played Slovenia in a FIBA World Cup matchup Wednesday morning, with the Canadians coming out on top, 100-89. Multiple NBA players headlined this game — mainly for Team Canada — but once Luka Dončić (Slo...

The Texas Rangers are backing up
For avid horseplayers, there comes a point in most races, especially when your steed has shot out to the lead from the opening of the gates, where it becomes pretty clear you’re going to lose. Somewhere on that far turn, your horse’s gait is shrinking, the jockey is working just a little too hard fo...

Coco Gauff is proof that tennis is wack without Black women
They used to not want Althea Gibson’s “kind” around. Now we don’t know where tennis would be without them. That’s how you ace an opportunity....

Ben Shelton feels limitless
There’s been a lament, until recently, that on the men’s side American tennis just had a ceiling. And that ceiling wasn’t anywhere close to winning a Grand Slam. Which is a little unfair to Andy Roddick, who without the existence of Roger Federer would have been a multi-Wimbledon champion and probab...

Hard Knocks Finale: Robert Saleh ended the season with a winner
In some ways, being a head coach is like being a late-night host. Day and day out, for an entire season, this person has to perform. There may be only 17 games in an NFL season, but every single day a head coach is forced to perform for the media, the players, and bosses. So many speeches, PowerPoin...

Jerry Jones traded for Trey Lance and didn't even tell Mike McCarthy
Recently, Jerry Jones made a front-office move that shocked many around the NFL. The Dallas Cowboys owner traded a fourth-round draft pick to the San Francisco 49ers for Trey Lance. In the aftermath of that deal, what wasn’t reported at the time is that Jones made the swap without consulting his foo...