sports Page 65 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

It's time for the Mavericks to fire Jason Kidd and Nico Harrison
No team in recent memory has failed to build around a generational superstar more than the Dallas Mavericks have with Luka Dončić. We are not talking about Anthony Davis in New Orleans. Dončić is a consistent top-five MVP candidate and First-Team All-NBA every season, one of a handful of players of ...

Why would the UFL release its schedule during Super Bowl week?
There’s strength in numbers, but bad planning can weaken anything. When the XFL and USFL officially announced their merger as the UFL in December, it was to expand pro football in a country that’s obsessed over the game....

ESPN, Fox, Warner Brothers creating sports streaming service
ESPN, Fox, and Warner Brothers have announced that they will launch a joint streaming service sometime this year, dedicated to broadcasting live games across 15 networks and all big four leagues....
![So much for Saquon Barkley being a 'Giant for life' [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/f3c6d802297990b5c4a9b9cb3e1da6ba.jpg)
So much for Saquon Barkley being a 'Giant for life' [Update]
It’s official. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the New York Giants will not give running back Saquon Barkley the franchise tag. He will hit the open market for the first time since entering the league in 2018. ...

Here's what it will take to win Super Bowl LVIII
Football fans across the globe, be sure to enjoy the build-up to Super Bowl LVII, San Francisco 49ers vs. Kansas City Chiefs. Another NFL game of significance will not be played until Sept. 5. That Thursday evening will be in the midst of an American presidential election campaign, and we should all...

Baseball Prospectus' 2024 projections have fan bases losing their minds
It’s easy to tell when there will be leather popping and maple and ash cracking on some distant Florida or Arizona field. No, it’s not the fact that it doesn’t quite get dark at 4 pm anymore. Not even Valentine’s Day or President’s Day. Nope, spring training is always around the corner when the PECO...

The NFL's multi-billion dollar empire has a lawn-care problem
If there is one aspect of sports in which the NFL should have an unquestioned expertise, it should be in the maintenance of its playing surfaces. If the NBA and NHL can share stadiums and puzzle piece courts together over ice, then the NFL should be able to have the grass in pristine condition at th...

First woman, openly gay NFL coach torn over which of her former teams to root for in Super Bowl
Katie Sowers was a member of Kyle Shanahan’s coaching staff the last time the San Francisco 49ers were in the Super Bowl. That was back in 2020, when the Niners took on the Kansas City Chiefs, whom Sowers would join as an offensive assistant the following season....

Philly should shut down Joel Embiid for the rest of the season
A meniscus injury might be the most dangerous of all knee injuries for the simple fact that it’s not treated like a major knee injury. Reigning MVP Joel Embiid just underwent a procedure to repair a meniscus injury in his left knee, and will be reevaluated in four weeks, but for someone with his his...

The most outlandish Super Bowl LVIII prop bets
This is going to be the biggest Super Bowl for gambling in recent memory. The American Gaming Association estimates that Americans will wager a combined $23.1 billion on the Big Game this year, up from $16 billion year-over-year. ...

So, Mike Vrabel didn't get a job because he's physically too big?
Now that this year’s coaching musical chairs are done, we can focus on those passed over by NFL organizations. One of the most unexpected names on this list is former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel. On top of that, one of the excuses circulating around the water cooler for why he wasn’t hir...

The Knicks and Ryan Arcidiacono are the cure to the NBA’s scoring surge
Somehow, the New York Knicks are MacGyvering their way to the top of the East in a super soldier league in a manner we haven’t seen since the ‘04 Pistons. OG Anunoby’s arrival has fortified Tom Thibodeau’s defense into the NBA’s Fort Knox, and once Mitchell Robinson returns, the paint in Madison Squ...

The A’s move to Las Vegas gets worse every day
John Fisher, who might be the luckiest idiot alive because no dunderheaded maneuver he makes can seem to deprive him of the money that must’ve been chucked out of a moving car at him, has once again caught a break in that, with the Super Bowl being in Vegas this week, it’ll mask that the latest indi...

Let's take a look at how well Madden simulations have predicted the Super Bowl
Super Bowl LVIII week is upon us, as we’re merely days away from the showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. For a couple of decades now, we’ve had Super Bowl simulations played out via EA Sports’ John Madden Football video game. It’s been a crapshoot, in large part, with so...

This week’s Las Vegas Super Bowl is one giant ad for sports betting
Of all the pop culture to come out of Las Vegas, very little of it has been flattering. From Nicky Santoro killing a guy with a ballpoint pen to Clark gambling away the Griswald family savings, and the Sin City graphic novels in between, it’s very difficult to overlook the city’s unsavory history — ...

Dude, it's only second-grade basketball . . .
There has been a lot said and written about horrible youth sports parents. Just recently, former NBA player Matt Barnes allegedly told a high school student announcing a game between Harvard-Westlake and Crespi Carmelite High School — where the small forward’s son plays — that he’d slap the sh*t out...

Roger Goodell gets exposed again at the Super Bowl
They got rid of Jim Trotter. They moved the Commissioner’s annual Super Bowl press conference to Monday — and made it invite-only. They thought they did everything they could to protect Roger Goodell. They thought wrong. ...
![Matt Barnes removed from Sacramento Kings broadcast [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/bcbb4072e4d668fd7e20eec343b0dad9.jpg)
Matt Barnes removed from Sacramento Kings broadcast [Update]
Updated Feb. 21: Matt Barnes has been removed from the Sacramento Kings broadcasting team, weeks after the news of him putting his hands on a high school broadcaster, a spokesperson from NBC Sports California told The Sacramento Bee. ...

And the highest payroll in the AL Central goes to . . . the Kansas City Royals?
If there’s a surer sign that baseball has had a winter of discontent, at least for everyone outside the LA metro area, it’s that the highest payroll in the American League Central belongs to the Kansas City Royals. That’s after they inked star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to an 11-year extension that’s ...

Kadarius Toney almost made it through Super Bowl Opening Night without saying something stupid
The Kansas City Chiefs allowed Kadarius Toney to board their charter flight to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. With only one game remaining on the schedule, the Chiefs have no reason to limit the pool of players available to play on Sunday. Even if that player disputed the reason he was listed as inac...