sports Page 402 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

<em>Thursday Night Football</em>, Week 11: Rhamondre Stevenson has the tools to be a feature back in the NFL
New England is one of the biggest surprises of the NFL season. While there was certainly skepticism surrounding rookie QB Mac Jones, most doubters had their sights set on the lack of talent at the Patriots’ offensive skill positions....

Grading the NFL’s safest and grossest stadium food
For almost two years now, we’ve all (well, sensible folk anyway) been worried about a global pandemic. Amid something so widespread like this, other health factors or worries might have gone under the radar as a result. One of these health factors is the safety and hygiene standards in those NFL sta...
![Ref allegedly uses N-word during Tennessee high school basketball game [UPDATED]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/2caaeeea486c3f05f6b12ba0b82d0bc2.jpg)
Ref allegedly uses N-word during Tennessee high school basketball game [UPDATED]
The story out of Smyrna, Tenn., on Wednesday night appears to be both rage-inducing and fairly self-explanatory, but there’s a lot more that needs explanation, and a lot of questions that need answering. ...

The Rays keep on winning due to their financial situation, not despite it
The most fascinating aspect about the Tampa Bay Rays competing and winning in the AL East — Kevin Cash repeated as AL manager of the year, and Randy Arozarena took home rookie of the year honors this week — is how they do it not despite their financial shortfalls but almost with the help of them....

Cam Newton was present on the field Sunday, but Panthers need the 'old Cam' back to lead them
It has been all smiles in Charlotte since Cam Newton signed with the team that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2011. Last week, the Carolina Panthers went on the road and defeated the Arizona Cardinals — who were playing without two of their best, Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins — who have the best re...

How much do innings matter?
Nothing gets pretty inane arguments going like individual baseball awards. I can’t claim to be above them, but I also have never claimed to be a functioning member of society. To a lot of people, and they aren’t completely wrong to think so, who we give a Cy Young or MVP award to is a statement on w...

Will the knuckleball ever make a comeback?
The knuckleball might not be dead, but it’s certainly on life support. There are only two active players who’ve primarily used a knuckleball at the Major League level: Steven Wright, who is currently a free agent and hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2019 and Mickey Jannis, who is also a free agent...

Even WWE wrestlers think <em>Survivor Series</em> sucks
Generally, the fall has always been the downtime on the WWE calendar. Before SmackDown on Friday nights became the A-show, WWE was happy to cede the floor to Monday Night Football and let its booking from September through the end of the year get even lazier and more banal than it normally is, which...

Seattle GM: Who needs a Gold Glove shortstop who hits home runs?
Jerry Dipoto is either stupid or a liar. Probably the latter, but don’t discount the former....

Back to the future with the USFL
Mullets, mom jeans, the United States Football League — you’d be forgiven for thinking you woke up back in the ’80s this morning. Fox Sports announced its sponsored relaunch of the short-lived league, scheduled for the spring of 2022. With an eight-team, two-conference model, spring football will re...

Jets are going with Joe Flacco instead of Mike White on Sunday, so watch something else
New York Jets Rookie quarterback Zach Wilson has still not recovered from his knee injury, but that doesn’t mean we get another week of the Mike White experience. The Jets instead will be going with a face from their recent past against the Miami Dolphins — 36-year-old Joe Flacco. They traded a sixt...

It’s fine, this is fine. No really, it’s fine
In the euphoria of the US’s latest “Dos a Cero” triumph over Mexico, most US fans probably joked with their friends that they would follow this up with a turgid and flat performance in Jamaica. Joke to mask the pain, because we all suspected it, just at differing levels. Maybe some thought they woul...

If an athlete buys an ownership stake in a team and no one knows it, does it make a sound?
What’s the point of owning a sports franchise if you can’t make irresponsible trades, overpay role players, furtively watch from a dimly lit owner’s box or make Roger Goodell eat shit?...

Brett Favre still owes cash in Mississippi boondoggle
Brett Favre is now on the other end of a handoff, as the Office of the State Auditor in Mississippi has given the attorney general’s office the go-ahead to try to get back the nearly quarter of a million dollars that the Hall-of-Fame quarterback owes his home state....

You never forget your first time
This Canada thing is real. I mean in soccer. I know that Canada is a real country. I’ve even been there once. Unless that was an elaborate hoax that involved constructing the entire city of Montreal for a weekend just to pull the wool over my eyes. In which case, that’s just impressive....

Take a look at Iman Shumpert ripping up the dance floor on <i>Dancing with the Stars</i>
At 31 years old, Iman Shumpert would appear to be too young to be done with an NBA career. He hasn’t officially retired, but he hasn’t been on a roster since 2019. Even though he’s not on the court, he’s still making great use of his time. Shumpert has been acting on Showtime’s The Chi and BET’s Twe...

Every player can’t be the MVP, so let’s stop chanting it at everybody
There’s a growing trend that’s gained too much momentum lately in arenas around the NBA. Fans chanting “MVP” for any player that gives even a halfway decent performance on a given night. This isn’t meant to discourage fans from chanting, but I’m only asking if we can think of something more suited f...

An injury-prone flamethrower to the Angels — what could possibly go wrong?
The Los Angeles Angels had 12 different pitchers hit the IR in 2021 due to non-COVID-related injuries. That number was just six in 2020, but seeing as how the season was only 60 games, you could argue that 2020 was worse for the Angels in the pitcher injury department. In 2019, the Angels had 20 pit...

Marcus Stroman cuts the Yankees instead of his hair
The Yankees’ policy on personal appearance has long been worthy of mockery, and mockery it has received, for decades, going back to Don Mattingly’s appearance on The Simpsons, when Montgomery Burns kept telling the first baseman to cut his sideburns....

Giannis may seem like body armor dunking a basketball, but he has some of the same mental health issues as others
That singular focus on greatness, nothing else matters, no price is too steep, and there is always more sweat to be poured into the workspace... it turns out is not healthy. For one, where does an obsession like that even come from? For Giannis Antetokounmpo it came from a place of fear....