it Page 707 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Lawsuit: Ex-Penn State Football Doc Says James Franklin Interfered On Decision To Clear Players
In a lawsuit filed last week, the former orthopedic physician for Penn State’s football team said Nittany Lions coach James Franklin pressured him to clear players to return to game action before they were ready. The civil lawsuit was filed Friday in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. In the complaint, D...

The Reason Justin Verlander Had A Reporter Barred From The Club House Is So Dumb
It seems we finally have an explanation for why Astros pitcher Justin Verlander insisted on having Detroit Free Press reporter Anthony Fenech blocked from entering the Astros’ club house after a game last week. You probably won’t be able to guess where this is going....

I Hereby Declare The Lions The Most Miserable NFL Franchise
Which franchise is the NFL’s poop standard (obviously, the inverse of the gold standard)? Part of what’s fascinating about football’s ongoing analytics revolution is the unknown—that there are possibilities we haven’t even considered for what we may someday be able to do with the application of high...

Someone Please Tell Me How The Hell Stephen Piscotty Made This Catch
Oakland A’s left fielder Stephen Piscotty was briefly in a bad situation on Saturday. While trying to track a Buster Posey liner that was hit in his direction, Piscotty ended up looking directly at the sun, which caused him to lose track of the rapidly descending ball. In a futile attempt to prevent...

Report: The Colts Aren't Going To Be Dicks About Andrew Luck's Money
For as many questions as Andrew Luck leaves behind with his sudden retirement, there is a fair amount that people actually understand about the implications of his retirement from a financial sense. Part of the sacrifice that historically comes with calling it a career earlier than expected—in addi...

Chargers' Chris Peace "Dicked" Geno Smith
Late in the fourth quarter during Saturday’s game between the Seahawks and Chargers, Chris Peace, an undrafted free agent from Virginia, got Los Angeles’ lone sack of the game against Seattle. It was a clutch defensive play, given that it forced a fourth down, and put the Chargers in a position to p...

Crystal Palace's Patrick van Aanholt Scores Late Winner To Bring Down Toothless Manchester United
It appears that no matter how hard they try, Manchester United are unable to shake the fact that mediocrity is now a staple characteristic of the once-dominant (if that even means anything anymore) club. Case in point is the fact that the focus of this summer’s transfer window was to bolster the def...

The Orioles Probably Didn't Even Notice They Were Eliminated From Playoff Contention
The Orioles brought the inevitable to reality on Friday, officially getting eliminated from playoff contention with a 7-1 loss to the Rays. All things considered, the news probably isn’t hitting the clubhouse too hard. For one thing, the players will get a much-needed break away from this hellish se...

The NBA Tries To Make Its Luke Walton Problem Go Away
It’s Friday afternoon, that time when every American sports league dumps the news it would rather you not see. Today, that meant the NBA announced the results of the league’s investigation into sexual assault allegations against Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton. ...

We're The Staff Of Deadspin. Let's Chat!
The week’s all but blogged out. We’re down below in the comments, hanging out and waiting for your questions. Ask us stuff, and we will answer it! Update: We’re done!...

IIHF Bans Evgeny Kuznetsov For Four Years After Positive Cocaine Test
The International Ice Hockey Federation announced today that Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov will be suspended from international hockey for four years after testing positive for cocaine in late May. The statement says:...
![Astros Bar Reporter From Postgame Presser At Justin Verlander's Request [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/v21wickhqyoo6fcrd7ix.jpg)
Astros Bar Reporter From Postgame Presser At Justin Verlander's Request [Update]
A Detroit Free Press reporter was barred from the Houston Astros’ postgame press conference last night because Justin Verlander said he would refuse to speak with media if the reporter was present....

How Early Is Too Early To Be Nervous About Mitch Marner?
Everything is fine in Toronto, because training camp doesn’t even start for another few weeks. But ... is it really? The negotiations between the Maple Leafs and their wunderkind RFA winger Mitch Marner have, perhaps unsurprisingly, plodded through the offseason with minimal progress, or at least wi...

Larry Bird Complains After Artist’s Mural Makes Him Seem Too Interesting
Artist Jules Muck recently painted a mural of Larry Bird in the Fountain Square section of Indianapolis, which features the image of Bird in his Indiana State jersey doing the “Shh!” gesture, similar to the Nov. 28, 1977 cover of Sports Illustrated. This time, though, Bird is doing the shushing inst...

Manager Ascends To New Level Of Consciousness, Makes Completely Logical Connection Between The Handball Rule And Brexit
The modern discourse is a never-ending cascade of Expanding Brain memes. Everyone plays their part, and when Deadspin is doing its job well, we provide takes that belong to one of the latter panels, ones hopefully more sophisticated than this but less out-there than this. Proving that our angle on t...

Baseball Maniac Hunter Strickland Broke His Nose With A Barbell To The Face
Last time we checked in on Nationals pitcher Hunter Strickland, he was sending himself to the injured list for two months after punching a wall. While not as self-evidently stupid, his most recent injury is just as bizarre: in the run-up to Tuesday’s game against the Pirates, Strickland got hit in t...

Little Leaguer On Pirates Game: “Not A Lot Of People Here”
Poor Pittsburgh. They have this gorgeous stadium, maybe the best in baseball, and yet the team is next-to-last in the National League after going 7-28 since the All-Star Break. They rank 24th in attendance with 19,692 fans a game. And now children are ragging on that fact!...

By Banning Protest Signs, MLS Is Trying To Lobotomize The Fandom It Asked For
MLS and its clubs are currently embroiled in a fight against their own supporters over what the league claims are violations of its anti-politics rules. Over the last two weeks, multiple fans in multiple stadiums have been ejected for banners that run afoul of the league’s Fan Code of Conduct. There...

After Retrial, T.J. Simers Wins $15.45 Million Judgment Against The <i>Los Angeles Times</i>
Both sides eventually appealed a 2015 verdict that granted former Los Angeles Times hack sports columnist T.J. Simers $7.1 million in an age and disability discrimination suit against the paper. The Times appealed because holy shit, $7.1 million! Simers appealed because the amount was less than the...

Banger King Rúben Neves Scores The First Great Goal Of The Premier League Season
One of the best ongoing statistical oddities in English soccer is that Wolverhampton Wanderers youngster Rúben Neves has never scored for the club from inside the penalty box in open play. Heading into Monday’s game against Manchester United, the 22-year-old Portuguese midfielder had 12 goals for Wo...