jr Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Is Pat McAfee doing some kind of bizarre performance art?
A week after Pat McAfee failed spectacularly in his quest to “CHECK!” noted anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist Aaron Rodgers, announced that “Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays” were done for the year, and then had Rodgers back on the show the very next day, I have begun to ask myself if what McAfee is doing i...

This has been the best 7 days in Michigan sports history
Sports are about numbers, and that isn’t just because scores are kept. A player’s height and weight matter, they’re ages, too. But the best moments are when things occur that haven’t happened in a long time, as sports are also a marker of time. We just witnessed the best seven days that a place with...

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...

Ken Rosenthal goes full <i>Minority Report </i>with latest Wander Franco take
Wanna see a whiff?...

Purdue and Houston's losses are not a death knell
Last night was a seismic – and historically unprecedented – night for the men’s college basketball rankings. ...

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...

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. ...

A soft, out-of-conference schedule is the way to go for major college football programs
The oddsmakers got it right with Washington on Monday night. The underdog Huskies ran out of magic wishes in the National Championship Game and for once did not beat the point spread against them. Their lack of girth was exposed all night on Monday in a 34-13 loss to Michigan. Neither team faced str...

The playoffs will not be easy for the Ravens and 49ers
The end of the NFL regular season is always a sad day. It signals that only four weeks of NFL games remain until the second week of September. That means I have to spend my next seven months of Sunday afternoons with commercials since there is no RedZone for the rest of the season. (Also, RedZone on...

The natives are getting restless at Ohio State and LSU
There’s natural staff turnover — primarily assistants getting poached for better opportunities elsewhere — and then there’s what Ohio State and LSU are purportedly doing. Each head coach is under pressure to make changes after showings not up to program standards, and if history is an indication of ...

Darvin Ham is not the reason the Lakers are losing
News flash: The Miami Heat are a better coached team than the Los Angeles Lakers. It showed in the fourth quarter of their Wednesday night matchup. Erik Spoelstra has been with the Heat organization since 1995 — its head coach since 2008. Following nine seasons as an NBA player, Darvin Ham was an as...

What’s going on at Harvard with Claudine Gay is similar to how the NFL, sports, and America operate
Claudine Gay is the new Nikole Hannah-Jones in the same way that Eric Bieniemy is the latest version of Sherman Lewis. And while there’s a big difference between being a leader at an institution of higher learning and coaching football, the common denominator remains the same — excluding Black peopl...

The College Football Playoff semifinals felt like the glory days of the sport
From the moment that Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard and Joey Galloway breathed a sigh of relief after Rece Davis said “naysayers” on College Gameday, the College Football Playoff semifinals were off and running. With Michigan taking on Alabama and Washington going up against Texas, there were great expe...

Why, exactly, does Omar Vizquel deserve a second chance?
If there’s one thing you can count on in sports, it’s the desire of a certain segment of the media to rehabilitate their favorite players and coaches, no matter the harm done. There was the infamous Adam Schefter softball interview with Greg Hardy shortly after he was accused of doing this to his th...

Celebrating 2024 with the best players to ever wear 24
Happy New Year! We’re on to ‘24. Years have become synonymous with athletes and their jersey numbers recently (ask any 23-year-old how their “Jordan Year” is going). In honor of the trend, here are the greatest athletes to ever wear No. 24....

Youth is wasted on the young, unless you are these NBA teams
So, who has the hottest young talent in the league? We’re analyzing the five teams who have built the best through the draft across positions and skill sets. No room for wannabes here – gotta be 25 or below to even join the party. We’re also looking for impact players, not DNPs, with dreams bigger t...

New Year’s Six bowl games kicked off with a barely watchable product
The Cotton Bowl felt like a watershed moment for anyone watching — or casually following along on gamecast. The latter would’ve been the preferred method for a slap fight that featured 16 punts. Missouri mercifully gave fans a touchdown to start the fourth quarter, and would add another score for a ...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR 2023: The complete rankings
Welcome to the grand finale of Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities. Here’s hoping 2024 will be better. It probably won’t....
![Terrence Shannon Jr. taking Illinois to court, seeks reinstatement [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/ad793e73838ec457aca1da63063acc88.jpg)
Terrence Shannon Jr. taking Illinois to court, seeks reinstatement [Update]
Updated Jan. 9: Terrence Shannon Jr. is seeking legal action against the University of Illinois which would allow him to return to the basketball team while facing a rape charge....

IDIOT OF THE YEAR: 10 more for the worst of 2023 (Nos. 30-21)
Oh, the hell with it, you know the drill by now. Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR continues on, as does the meaningless treadmill of existence. All is for naught and free will is an illusion!...