messi Page 4 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

All talk, no substance
I know money isn’t really a thing to ESPN. $400 million a year certainly sounds like a lot of cheese, but it’s not really anything more than just an accounting number to them. So I shouldn’t be surprised that they don’t put much effort into their NHL coverage, despite that being the cost. ...

Hasn't Lionel Messi made enough money?
Lionel Messi’s time playing for Paris Saint-Germain has long appeared to be reaching its conclusion this summer, as signing another contract with the French giants never made sense. While a return to boyhood club Barcelona or Major League Soccer looked to be in his future, spurning both of those cho...

The Great Debates tournament: Elite 8
We have arrived at the Elite 8, and this round is going to be a good old-fashioned slobber knocker....

The Great Debates tournament: Sweet 16
It’s Sweet 16 time. The primaries are over and it is time for the general election. In real-life debates, this is about the time when candidates would be making disingenuous retorts about each other’s bad-faith arguments....

The 2026 World Cup is swole as fuck
Despite being shoved into the middle of the season and in a country that was in no way up to the standards of hosting such a thing, the last World Cup ended up being a hit for what went on on the field. Exciting conclusion to the group stages, classic games in the knockout stages, and a memorable wi...

Mikaela Shiffrin is the GOAT, and 'medalz culture' can shove it
I know I’m one of the few sports writers leaping to my keyboard to riff on Mikaela Shiffrin breaking the all-time record for wins — earning No. 87 in Åre, Sweden, and passing Ingemar Stenmark on Saturday — but I wanted to issue this as a reminder that Olympic success is kind of bullshit. The last im...

Real Madrid simply cannot be destroyed
Most every time it’s happened, when Liverpool are up 2-0 at Anfield within a game’s first 15 minutes, especially on a European night, and the stadium is coming loose with noise and the team is swarming, teams tend to fold. That kind of atmosphere once folded Lionel Messi’s Barcelona not so long ago....

10 logical ways for Aaron Rodgers to decide his future
When I heard about Aaron Rodgers’ plan to voluntarily go into solitary confinement for four days to figure out his future, I thought he was crazy. I mean, who does this? What kind of screwed up, delusional, narcissistic, ayahuasca-gobbling asshole does this? Has he not seen a prison movie? The only ...

IDIOT OF THE MONTH: New year, same jabronis
Welcome, once again, to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH, where we mock the monthly bottom-of-the-barrel in the sports world. Special shoutout to the very dead Bobby Hull!...

Qualifying for Copa America 2024 should only help the USMNT
Here’s a compliment sandwich. The 2024 Copa America, South America’s premier international soccer tournament, will again be played in the United States after America hosted the showcase for the first time in 2016. Despite being the host nation, the USMNT hasn’t directly qualified to play in the even...

'Salt Bae' can fuck right off
For some reason, Z-list “celebrity” chef “Salt Bae” was in Qatar for the World Cup, and he tried to get up close and personal with Lionel Messi and the rest of the Argentina squad after the final. ...

The best soccer players of all time to never win a World Cup
It’s the pinnacle of soccer. The World Cup is a spectacle unlike any other in sport. And to truly be considered the greatest to ever lace up your cleats, you need to have lifted the trophy. Why can’t Dan Marino be in the discussion for the greatest quarterback of all time? He never won a Super Bowl....

Taking a moment for Messi
It seems like something of a missed opportunity that my favorite Lionel Messi moment came 11 years ago. There’s been so much since. It just happened to be on my 30th birthday, on a day where pretty much everything went wrong (a fine introduction to one’s 30s, it could be easily argued). Barcelona th...

Lotta goals in the desert - World Cup Daily Diary: The Final
How do you chuck the trophy away twice and still walk away with it?...

Exploring how a 1-0 advantage in soccer compares to leads in other sports
The World Cup comes to a conclusion this weekend with the third-place game wrapping up earlier today — Croatia defeated tournament Cinderella Morocco 2-1 — and the finals between Argentina and France taking place tomorrow. Lionel Messi’s legacy is on the line, meanwhile, Kylian Mbappé is attempting ...

Leo's legacy is on the line
After Argentina easily dispatched Croatia in the World Cup semifinals, the prophecy of Lionel Messi lifting the one piece of hardware that’d separate him from many of soccer’s other all-time greats is one win away. He’ll have that chance in what’s likely his final game on the sports’ biggest stage. ...

It was a great day for the best to ever do it
If part of the reason you watch sports is to see things that will live forever, then Tuesday was a day for you....

Lotta goals in the desert - World Cup Daily Diary: Day Argentina
Sometimes those who cover the game have to fistfuck a narrative into fitting. And then sometimes Lionel Messi does that. ...

Maybe Neymar is just unlucky
While this World Cup has had its share of great stories, the overarching one that started well before the tournament was Lionel Messi. This is his tournament, whatever Argentina does. Either it’s the last great failure of him (it’s never by him when it comes to Argentina). It’s always that the rest ...

World Cup 2022 Diary: Day 21 - It's no Kane do for England again and Ronaldo walks off a loser... again
First things first: As the sport of soccer mourns, take a moment to remember Grant Wahl, a journalist of the highest order....