sports Page 381 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

So who is going to play hockey at the Olympics?
This week, maybe even today, the NHL will announce that it won’t be sending its players to Beijing for the Olympics. Too many games have already been postponed to keep the three-week break needed for the Olympics, and even with the complications of buildings being booked for concerts during it, that...

Could Wizards players’ public comments bring Bradley Beal trade rumors back to the forefront?
One of the hottest NBA trade rumors over the past year has involved Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal. The only problem is Beal hasn’t actually expressed any interest publicly in leaving the nation’s capital. His feelings on staying in Washington could change soon, though, with some of his Wizar...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR 2021: Countdown begins with Stephen A. Smith, Adam Silver, Johnny Damon, and more luminaries
Happy holidays, you filthy animals, and welcome to Deadspin’s annual IDIOT OF THE YEAR extravaganza. Within these hallowed slides are 50 of the year’s least bearable dorks, whose transgressions range from “just kinda silly,” to “dangerously stupid,” to “Trevor Bauer.”...

Tom Brady lost his cool, and his MVP award, on Sunday night
Tom Brady was mad as hell Sunday night....

Week 15: COVID messed up this week’s schedule, and three teams might have messed up their postseason
Week 15 of the NFL season provided us a very much not needed throwback to the 2020 NFL season. Players and coaches have tested positive at times in 2021, but this past week COVID hit like a Spider-Man movie. It was everywhere and re-acquainted us with a familiar friend: Re-scheduled games....

Week 15 NFL Powerless Ranking: Jags are better without Meyer... but still lose
Welcome to this week’s NFL Powerless Rankings. We’re in the home stretch of the NFL season, and we know the contenders from the pretenders at this point. We’ll talk about the contenders later because this list is about the less fortunate teams in the league. Let’s check out the worst of the worst fr...

The Coach Prime Predicament: Why Deion Sanders’ success at Jackson State is a slippery slope for HBCUs
Being a controversial figure that evicts strong emotions on both sides of the coin is what Deion Sanders has always been the best at — outside of shutting down your favorite wide receiver. From his playing days to his past and current job as a coach/leader of young athletes, Sanders’ resume shows a ...

If going for two is your thing, then make it your thing
The going-for-two discussion will likely become the most annoying debate in sports, usurping reliever usage and Hall-of-Fame credentials. Poor execution is different than a poor decision, and the play-call for the Baltimore Ravens in their 31-30 loss to the Packers was pretty piss-poor. Two weeks ag...

Covidmania is here and it's attempting to ruin sports… again
Well, here we go again. It’s Covidmania in professional sports right now, and no league seems exempt from the ramifications of powering through the pandemic. The NBA announced early Sunday afternoon that it had postponed five games due to the glut of players in COVID-19 health and safety protocols. ...

Deron Williams defeated Frank Gore via split decision and Gore is already saying he’s ready for another taste
All current, former, and future NBA players should thank and praise former NBA All-Star Deron Williams for bringing a little credibility back to the ballers arena. For those who still believe that all basketball players are soft in comparison to their football counterparts, then you probably didn’t ...

Week 15 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets
So remember last week when I was sick? Yeah uh, that turned out to be COVID. Just like so many players the last several days, I, too, fell victim to the COVID list. Nevertheless, that didn’t prevent another 3-1 week, our sixth straight winning showing. Now that I’m activated, I can get back to conti...

Buck Showalter is the right guy in Queens
If it feels a bit like the end times lately, that feeling probably isn’t helped by the New York Mets — yes, the New York Mets — conducting themselves as a competent organization with a legitimate plan and hopes. ...

The NFL adopts the Donald Trump method of COVID testing
You would think we’ve moved past the “ignorance is bliss” line of thinking with COVID now that we’re over a year and a half in, right? Simply not getting tested is the easy way out, sure. Is it the safe, or smart, or logical way out? No, none of the above. But apparently the NFL and NFLPA aren’t rea...

Stats don't lie: Tua is one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL
Miami Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has not played poorly in his NFL career. He’s got a 10-7 record as a starter and, believe it or not, he recorded the 10th-highest passer rating for a qualified rookie quarterback since 2000 last year. Despite those numbers though, when compared to the two q...

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving become eighth, ninth Nets players to enter COVID protocols
Kevin Durant and, yes, Kyrie Irving, have entered the chat, err, COVID protocols, becoming the eighth and ninth Nets player to do so, and Brooklyn seems to be going the way of the Chicago Bulls, who are on a break from action due to a similar rash of positive tests....
![[UPDATE] This is fine: Kyrie Irving already in COVID protocols](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/0124ba961e791e1e056e5b9b9ac99d38.jpg)
[UPDATE] This is fine: Kyrie Irving already in COVID protocols
Less than two hours after this piece was published, the Nets announced that Kyrie Irving has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, because of course he did....

YouTube TV cuts off game feed on Lakers
Cord-cutting Lakers fans enjoyed one of their better moments of the season Friday night as YouTube TV cut off ESPN and all the other Disney-owned channels at midnight Eastern amid that bane of streamers and cable customers alike, a carriage dispute....

NFL Week 15: Four straight days of games with COVID taking over
The NFL, despite all its ongoing problems with CTE, horrible additions to the rulebook, and comically bad press with the likes of Jon Gruden and Dan Snyder, did have one thing going for it throughout the 2021 season: They hadn’t had a serious COVID outbreak....

Liverpool manager makes the case for not shutting down English Premier League — and he might be onto something
With seemingly every major sports league in “This is fine” mode, the prevailing logic on how to calm the spread of the virus is to take a break to allow the latest variant-induced wave to pass so COVID-ravaged teams don’t have to scramble to fill lineups. English Premier League clubs have been hit s...

Remember the part where schools are supposed to protect student-athletes?
As of this afternoon, more than 15 Division I men’s basketball programs have announced a COVID outbreak-related pause on all team activities, 10 of which are currently active. Games are being canceled left and right — in the past 24 hours alone, matchups between UNC and UCLA, Ohio State and Kentucky...