ja Page 38 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Bill Belichick tried to eff around without a first-class Tom Brady clone and found out
From the beginning, Bill Belichick flaunted the egalitarian team culture he sought to establish in New England. Before they took the field for Super Bowl XXXVI, the St. Louis Rams’ Show on Turf offensive starters followed tradition by exiting the dimly lit tunnel one by one by one into the spotlight...

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 ...

Revenge is a dish best served in the NFL playoffs
According to Christopher Wallace’s definition, beef is when you need two gats to go to sleep; when your moms ain’t safe up in the streets; when I see you, guaranteed to be an ICU; when you make your enemies, start your Jeep; and when you roll no less than 30 deep. While I don’t know how many of this...

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...

Here's to Golden State learning to age gracefully
Golden State is probably permanently entrenched as a middle-of-the-pack team. There are no renovating crumbling support beams around their Big 3 pillars because they are the source of deterioration. All they can do now is continue their reign as the most well-adjusted teammates ever cobbled together...

The latest NBA-Netflix project shows just how little creativity is left in Hollywood
Netflix is teaming up with the NBA to do a basketball version of the NFL Quarterback Show series. Since Hollywood and sports are about copycatting what’s worked in the past, it’s no surprise the streaming service is immediately following up with a hoop’s version. Cameras will follow around five of t...

Hockey players need therapists, too
The National Hockey League Player Association is launching a mental health initiative called First Line, which will educate players about depression, anxiety, substance use, and self-harm. ...

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...

The NBA needs to check on Ja Morant during his absence
The 2023-24 NBA season is over for Ja Morant and, quite frankly, it barely got started. He began the season with a 25-game suspension for a second offense of inappropriate use of a firearm on social media. Morant played all of nine games before suffering a shoulder injury that the Memphis Grizzlies ...
![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...

The Atlanta Hawks have gone from up-and-coming to an Eastern Conference afterthought
It wasn’t long ago that the Atlanta Hawks were on the cusp of an NBA Finals appearance. They turned a 41-win campaign (in a 72-game season) into what many thought would be a launching point as perennial contenders. Now the Hawks’ halftime show announcements are more exciting than what’s happening on...

Patriots may bring back another failed HC if Bill Belichick stays
Another former member of the New England Patriots coaching staff who couldn’t succeed when out on his own may return if the team elects to keep Bill Belichick on as head coach....
![Wander Franco may not be allowed back in the US, facing lesser charge: report [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/db19dcc9cf59fd5978e0c3a1cc840b54.jpg)
Wander Franco may not be allowed back in the US, facing lesser charge: report [Update]
Update: Wander Franco is now facing a lesser charge following further analysis of evidence by a judge in the Dominican Republic. The original accusations of commercial and sexual exploitation and money laundering have now been lowered to sexual and psychological abuse, according to a judge’s resolut...

Sick, Sad World of Sports: Jumbo holiday edition
The holidays are a stressful time for everyone, including criminals, athletes moonlighting as criminals, and criminals moonlighting as athletes. ...

It's NBA trading season and these are the players who should be dealt next
Nobody expected the NBA trade season’s first domino to fall on New Year’s Weekend. When OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi Flynn were traded from the Toronto Raptors to the New York Knicks for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a 2023 second-round pick (from Detroit), the trade season officia...

Leave it to Jameis Winston to ruin the most innocuous play in football
By now you’ve seen the video of recently fired Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith telling off Saints head coach Dennis Allen with NSFW language after the Saints dispatched Atlanta, 48-17. Jameis Winston’s audible, which allowed Jamaal Williams to rumble into the end zone for his first touchdown of ...

I have some feelings about the Tiger Woods-Nike breakup
Just when I was ready to declare that there is nothing to believe in on this planet, I feel even more comfortable making that declaration now that Tiger Woods will no longer be wearing that red Nike shirt on Sundays. ...