ink Page 7 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Stanford is the most vulnerable school in college athletics because of conference realignment
The domino effect of Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC (leading to the dismantling of the Pac-12 two years later) is a turn of events that would’ve been nearly impossible to predict. The catalyst for the Power Five’s west coast entry point being almost no more wasn’t UCLA and USC tra...

Why Dave Portnoy is bad for business
There is a part of me that feels sorry for Dave Portnoy. He left a good job with a sports outlet to establish — with some help from his parents — Barstool Sports, to a point that it was bought out by a major company. PENN Entertainment purchased a 36 percent stake in Barstool Sports in 2019, and pa...

Enjoy Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney before reality comes for Wrexham
The main reason Ted Lasso should call it a series is because every run comes to an end; players age, rosters get turned over, and somebody ends up being the bad guy. The show was so averse to conflict that its most compelling heel turn was retconned almost immediately in order to avoid any ambiguity...

Pat McAfee certainly knows the douchebag playbook
When you hand a bloated gas bag a Brink’s truck to work for your company, it can’t be much of a surprise when he acts like a bloated gas bag. People tend to keep doing whatever made them rich. Pat McAfee at least figured out that much, and ESPN is almost certainly getting what it paid for, whatever ...

The Oakland A’s might not even be the worst team this year, let alone all time
Coming into the 2023 season, many thought that the Oakland A’s had the potential to be not just the worst team in baseball this year, but the worst of all time....

Bronny James collapses at USC practice
LeBron James’ oldest son, freshman USC Trojans point guard Bronny James, suffered cardiac arrest while practicing Monday and collapsed on the court. The positive news is that according to a statement by a James family spokesman, Bronny was evaluated and treated in the ICU and ultimately released. Ho...

Evander Holyfield allowed Donald Trump to make $2.5 million off his 2021 boxing match
God looks out for fools and babies. But, does that grace get extended to 58-year-old men? Or can we just admit that Evander Holyfield played himself?...

Trade James Harden for Grade-A role players, you coward!
When Daryl Morey says he’s not going to be irrational with a James Harden trade, he is to be trusted. We saw what happened with Ben Simmons, and the plain-clothes staring contest that resulted in Harden becoming a Philadelphia 76er. It was an arduous ordeal that festered until mid-February 2022, and...

These NFL teams haven't been on HBO’s <i>Hard Knocks</i>
Football season is near, which means HBO is gearing up to give us another season of all-access on Hard Knocks that won’t feature anything worth seeing....

Consume PRIME drinks at your own risk — or on the cheap with this Prime Day deal
Happy PRIME Day! As part of our coverage here at Deadspin, I thought I’d do a little product testing for you, specifically Logan (Jake?) Paul’s controversial energy nectar that’s alleged to have enough caffeine to put a Clydesdale in the hospital. (The Pauls are sports figures, so this counts as spo...

Cooper Flagg was playing in the wrong summer league
Victor Wembanyama’s NBA summer league debut was a mixed bag that had quick-take artists calling him Raef “LaFrench” after a 3-for-14 shooting performance. Nevermind that he rejected several shots and affected a slew of others. On Sunday night, Wembanyama had to respond to the best player in a summer...

Women’s World Cup 2023 preview: Can anyone stop the Nords in Group A?
It’s Norway and then everyone else. That’s how Group A will shake out, even with hosts New Zealand trying to defend home territory from two European foes and a debutant from Asia. The runaway favorites to win the group are the Nordic, who will be one of the countries making the journey from the nort...

Building and destroying men: The Greater Toronto Hockey League's assault on childhood
Scott Fraser inhales deeply. “I got way too many things in the vault, brother.”...

The Yankees need to smash the panic button for doldrum of storylines reasons
We’re entering Brian Cashman territory with Aaron Boone. The Bronx at one point was the most hostile work environment in MLB. The standards were ridiculously high, and someone would’ve lashed out by now considering how long it’s been since the New York Yankees ran the American League. The head of th...

First-round NBA Draft grades on a pass/fail system
If you’re like most underachievers and procrastinators, the letter grade doesn’t matter as long as you pass. I’ve lived most of my life by the mantra that “C’s are for degrees” and look where it’s gotten me: Writing about sports for living, and passing judgment upon others without retaliation....

The Cincinnati Reds are in first place, but they’re not there yet, and their owner still sucks
Given where the NL Central is, and where their various teams are in their “processes,” it’s not really a huge shock that the first part of the season was the Pittsburgh Pirates burning hot for a bit, fizzling out, and now a new, young, rebuilding team can rise to the top for a while and see what lif...
![Alek Manoah has been so awful the Blue Jays sent him to the rookie circuit [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/24a6964601a11ab80c478c4a478a38c6.jpg)
Alek Manoah has been so awful the Blue Jays sent him to the rookie circuit [Update]
A 30,000-foot view of the Toronto Blue Jays so far this season wouldn’t detect any huge problems. The offense, while maybe not tearing a hole in the Earth or indeed time as might have been predicted, is still 11th in MLB in runs. Bo Bichette is second in batting average, Vladito is bashing the shit ...

Sage Steele’s beef with ESPN is legit, but you can’t play the victim after being the villain
Despite how she may identify, Sage Steele is a Black woman. That needs to be addressed because, within the sports media landscape, you’d be hard-pressed to find many, or even a few, women — especially Black ones — and Black people who’ll advocate for her. What also needs to be addressed is that Stee...

It's the end of an era for Ted Lasso, no matter what fate awaits the beloved Midwestern coach
I can’t remember looking forward to a single episode of a television show more than this week’s season-three finale of Apple TV’s Ted Lasso since “Felina”, the series finale of Breaking Bad, which aired on AMC on Sept. 29, 2013. Literally a decade ago, my roommates and I during my senior year of co...