mat Page 58 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

NFL Week 8: Hear me out… The winless Lions are not terrible
The Detroit Lions are the last remaining winless team in the NFL. Coincidentally, the Detroit Pistons are the last winless team remaining in the NBA, but that’s irrelevant right now. The fact is that, despite the Lions record starting with a zero, they’re one of the best terrible teams we’ve seen in...

Aaron Rodgers is still the best player in the NFL
Don’t look now, but Aaron Rodgers is the MVP of the NFL — again....
![Someone notify the Nobel Prize committee — this new Rooney Rule is racial equity perfected [sarcasm font]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/bdf0705824e606d94b927a96e8d1f56d.png)
Someone notify the Nobel Prize committee — this new Rooney Rule is racial equity perfected [sarcasm font]
The NFL is continuing its tradition of not doing enough to promote diversity by doubling the Rooney Rule requirement to interview at least two external minority general manager/executive/coordinator candidates. Head coaching slots were already under this rule, but now, along with GM roles, must incl...

The Athletics begin their Major League’ing
The news flashed out of nowhere, which is probably the most worrying thing. The Padres hired Bob Melvin as a manager, which is great for them. Melvin has been making the most out of whatever he’s been given in Oakland for a decade now, and a lot of that time it has been a mishmash of misfit toys. He...

LSU, USC head coach candidate deniers auditioning for vacancies this weekend
I’m about as sick of the college football coaching carousel chatter as Mike Tomlin. I know reporters are obligated to ask these questions, but it’s like asking a child standing in front of a puddle of spilt milk, “Did you do this?” There needs to be a word for asking a question you know you’re not g...

This is fine: Cardinals make internal hire after firing previous internal hire
Oliver Marmol was introduced as the new manager of the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday. At 35, he’s the youngest manager the Cardinals have had since Marty Marion, who was 34, in 1951. He’s also younger than eight players from last season’s roster, including Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright. Perhaps...

QTNA: Would you have given Tom Brady his 600th touchdown ball back?
As human beings trying to do good on Earth, life should not always be about money. We should be more concerned with how we treat others, and once we leave this place, when others are asked about us, they should be able to genuinely say that we were good instead of simply offering platitudes. However...

Why am I happy for Dusty Baker? Am I? Should I be?
I have some sympathy for anyone who has to sell this World Series. While it would be honest, if it is one’s job to write about MLB’s climax, you can’t really attract eyes and hearts by constantly beating the drum of “Boy, everyone sure hates these assholes!” You do have to find some angle that can g...

Jared Goff has sweet-n-sour revenge on his mind heading back to Los Angeles
Anytime professional athletes are ushered out of town in favor of another player, the first meeting against their old team tends to bring out the best in the banished player. So, when Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions play the Rams in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon, you know Goff will be hell-bent on p...

We’re not even getting the best teams in this year’s World Series
The fourth and 12th-best teams in baseball will meet in the World Series, as Atlanta wrapped up its first pennant in 22 years with a 4-2 triumph over the Dodgers in Game 6 of the NLCS on Saturday night. ...

Week 7 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser, and Prop Bets
It was only inevitable to endure our first below-.500 week of the campaign. The key is to put that behind us and move on....

Turns out Oklahoma’s Heisman candidate was their backup QB all along!
This year’s Heisman race felt a lot like last year’s race early on, in that no one really dropped jaws instantly a la Lamar Jackson, Reggie Bush or Johnny Football. It will probably end up going to Bryce Young, just because Alabama will be 12-2/13-1 and his stats will be better than everyone else’s....

Week 6 Powerless Rankings: A win for the Jags, a bad week to be a Lions fan
The 2021 NFL season is starting to pick up and we’re finally starting to get a clear picture of which teams are about that action and which teams are not. We can talk another day about the teams that are actually for real. This is about the teams that are not. As we do each week, let’s take a look a...

Bungee jumping mascots, bad football, and a practice squad kicker ending a 20-game losing streak: Jags-Dolphins in England had it all
Once again, the NFL attempted to make Europe even less interested in American football with a poorly-played product on the pitch featuring the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, those who attended the game will share quite a laugh at a pub near Tottenham Hotspur Stadium....

Mohamed Salah is on one
I suppose being as analytic-minded as I can get that I’m going to be hypocritical here. It doesn’t help (or hurt, depending on your point of view) that I love Mohamed Salah in every sense of the word, to an extent that my vulnerability is teetering on “highly damaging.” So take that as you will....

Good not being good enough is the Cardinal Way, apparently
Is the Cardinals’ “philosophy” hiring underwhelming coaching staffs?...

NFL Week 6: Chargers and Cardinals each try to prove they’re the best team in the league
There is a void at the top of the NFL right now. With Kansas City sputtering at 2-3 and failing to keep opponents from scoring more than 25 every single week, the power has shifted. Nobody knows who the top dog is anymore, and every team that had become so used to playing second or third fiddle to t...

Wait… why isn’t Kyle Shanahan on the hot seat?
In four-plus years as the head coach in San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan has gone 31-38. He’s finished either third or last-place in his division in three of his four full seasons, and despite his teams consistently finishing in the top half of the league in terms of total offense and defense, they are ...

32 teams need to hear this: There is no pitching formula for the playoffs
Many years ago now, baseball pundits and fans tried to come up with a “secret sauce” for success in the playoffs. It can be pretty infuriating to simply accept that the sport’s biggest prize is handed out at the conclusion of a tournament that is essentially random. There had to be a reason these th...
