it Page 308 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Maple Leafs have unexpected problem; Winnipeg surprises everyone; Hockey players & psychologists?
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...

Trevor Bauer is confused; More Wander Franco controversy; Marcus Stroman's 'hate' signing
Mere days after I wrote about the penchant of accused athletes to find a friendly face in the sportswriting community to help them rehab their image among the mouth-breathers in the fandom, Trevor Bauer offered himself up as Exhibit A, launching his own redemption tour in a nakedly desperate attempt...

NFL teams ripe for an upset; Aaron Rodgers is still a dolt; So is Jameis Winston; All the coaches & GMs who got axed
After 18 weeks of grueling NFL action, we’ve made it to Wild-Card Weekend and the first round of the postseason. We often hear the term “must-win” during the regular season, but once a team makes it this deep into January, every game is truly a must-win scenario. Like any other week, there’s always ...

Boom or bust: A look at the NFL's best and worst rookies
Now that the regular season is done, many NFL rookies made headlines for their skills and ability to transition well into the professional game. Pre-draft, there was lots of speculation about who would be a bust and who would excel greatly. Here is our list of booms and busts amongst NFL rookies for...
![Day, not location changed for Bills-Steelers game [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/286492c185ed0fe07a6b83ed3026ea71.jpg)
Day, not location changed for Bills-Steelers game [Updated]
Updated Jan. 13: New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the Bills-Steelers game will be postponed to Monday at 4:30 p.m. ET....

Yankees, desperate for arms, sign pitcher who hates them
It says something about the state of the New York Yankees these days, this self-imposed state, that instead of shopping at the top of the market for someone, anyone, to join Gerrit Cole that isn’t made of dead bugs (Carlos Rodon) or terrible (pretty much everyone else, and Rodon) they’ll turn to a p...

A Chiefs-Eric Bieniemy reunion could be on the horizon if Kansas City falters
Sometimes certain pairings in life become so successful that they are forever tied at the hip in the minds of the masses. In sports, we see it all the time, no matter how the relationship ends. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will always be tied to one another just like Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson, a...

These are the biggest flops of the 2023 NFL season
The NFL is a small-sample league. Before you can even blink, 18 games have flown by and we’re left trying to make sense of everything that happened. It means that luck can play a massive part in whether a team succeeds or fails, with a few bounces of the ball defining the entire story for an entire ...

ESPN earned 30+ Emmys using fake names for on-air talent
Updated Jan. 12: According to a report by the New York Post, ESPN’s former senior vice president of production Lee Fitting’s dismissal was directly tied to the fake-name Emmy scheme....

The NFL’s Black coaches are turning Wild-Card Weekend into a diversity showcase
There’s one storyline the NFL hasn’t highlighted heading into the postseason, and that’s probably for legal reasons. At least, I can’t imagine the league’s attorneys would advise them to showcase its entire roster of Black head coaches making the playoffs, considering Brian Flores’ lawsuit is still ...

Kim Mulkey must be questioned about LSU’s recent diversity scrub
Kim Mulkey has consistently shown us where she stands on social matters. She leans to The Right, which is her right. But when 83 percent of your team are women of color, it’s on you to answer for how your employer’s decisions will affect them....

Every team in the NFL playoffs, ranked
The NFL playoffs are officially set. All the ups and downs, laughs and years, improbable comebacks and unprecedented collapses, none of those mean anything now. All that’s left is a four-week sprint to immortality. ...

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...

Who had Pete Caroll on their fired NFL coaches bingo card?
Pete Carroll will no longer be the Seattle Seahawks head coach, and instead serve in an advisory role with the franchise, owner Jody Allen announced Wednesday....

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...

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...

Mike Vrabel won't be out of a job for long
The Tennessee Titans wasted no time getting their offseason started and they’ve already begun to clean house by parting ways with head coach Mike Vrabel. We already knew the organization was leaning toward a rebuild with Derrick Henry’s future up in the air seemingly all season. But saying goodbye t...
![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...