state Page 85 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Yes, Nets got swept, but Kevin Durant still has time for Barkley and everyone that has something to say about it
If nothing else, you have to respect Kevin Durant for staying on brand at all times. The Brooklyn Nets completed one of the most disappointing seasons of all time by being swept in the first round by the Boston Celtics, and being the first team eliminated from the 2022 NBA Playoffs. Their experiment...

It was a good night to get one’s s**t wrecked
This time of year is far and away the most frantic for a sports fan. Usually both the NBA and NHL are in their playoffs, with three or four games per night each. This year, the NHL is dragging ass a bit, and there really is only one playoff race, but it still means one has to keep tabs on it. The NB...
![A grim reminder of our insane gun culture [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/1a1e9b3d7069c79a9034dfb87b055746.png)
A grim reminder of our insane gun culture [Updated]
As gunshots rang out near a recent Little League game in North Charleston, S.C., every kid in sight knew how to act immediately. The game was no longer important. Get down and wait until the adults around them have deemed it’s safe to get up from sprawling on the ground. And try to stay alive....

Take Your Pick: The 32 best NFL first rounders at each draft slot since 2002
The NFL Draft is all about predicting the future. There are countless guesses as to which players will fit in a certain system or what position groups have the deepest talent pool that could affect where the league trends down the line. In preparation for those hypotheticals, most will look back at ...

The Nets are so weird
And thus ends yet another attempt by the Brooklyn Nets to skip the line and crash into the NBA penthouse. Actually, “another Nets experiment” sounds a little more apt. Because the Nets, the Brooklyn version, have always felt like one....

Funny how the Boston Celtics took off once Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens were out of the way
Ime Udoka is who so many fans — and media members — desperately wanted Brad Stevens to be....

Maybe Jack Eichel just isn’t that guy
If you’re trying to blow your own face off and fall down a sewer for comedic effect instead of securing a playoff spot, you’d have to give the Vegas Golden Knights an Emmy for their performance last night. Needing just about every point they can get to pass the Dallas Stars for the last wildcard spo...

The Mocking 2022 NFL Draft: Which realistic picks would anger their fans the most?
If you’ve followed this NFL Draft closely, you know that consensus isn’t exactly a thing. There’s no quarterback prospect worth lusting over, and even if that won’t stop teams from reaching on one, we won’t have a storyline until Chicago actually drafts Mitch Trubisky with the No. 2 overall pick....

Joe Schoen is aiming to rid the Giants of any trace of Dave Gettleman
January 10, 2022 was a dreary day for Cowboys, Eagles, and Commanders fans across the world as the New York Giants announced general manager Dave Gettleman’s retirement. In his four years as GM, Gettleman made so many unthinkably bad moves that he became more valuable to the Cowboys than Dak Prescot...

Baker Mayfield’s mood isn’t going be improved by his statue at Oklahoma
You wouldn’t know it to look at it, but the Baker Mayfield Heisman statue has gone up in Norman. It’s no Cristiano-Ronaldo-bust-level disaster, but it’s also definitely not Baker Mayfield’s face. My best hypothesis right now is that the sculptor took a guess at what the Heisman-winning quarterback i...

Blame Jerry Jones
Former Seattle Seahawks All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner was one of the headlining defensive names of this year’s free agency pool. Wagner, who does not have an agent and represents himself, joined Rich Eisen earlier this week to discuss his journey through free agency and eventual signing with the L...

2022 NFL Draft: Here are the worst fits for each of the big-name quarterbacks
We’re exactly six days away from the NFL draft, and yet we still aren’t sure what the first round is going to look like. Perhaps Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown, and/or Terry McLaurin are traded in the next few days and shake up the first round. Maybe the Panthers make a move for Baker Mayfield. And I don’...

Ranking the top postseason performances in Miami Heat history
Jimmy Butler had a memorable Game 4 against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, dropping 56 points in a 119-114 victory over the No. 1 seed....

Deebo Samuel wanting out of San Fran adds another mystery to an eventful offseason
Deebo Samuel’s emergence as a gadget-receiver was San Francisco’s equivalent to discovering they could channel electricity. With a defective quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo under center, Samuel changed the whole game for their offense and left defenses guessing....

Who would’ve thunk? People in Oakland aren’t attending A’s games
We’re less than two weeks into the MLB season and just like everyone predicted, the Oakland Athletics are tied for first place in their division...wait, what? Yeah, it’s early, but the A’s were supposed to be the cellar dwellers of the AL West. They spent a whopping $0 in free agency and traded away...

NBA Playoff ratings were on fire opening weekend, but that’s not the only way to define the league’s success
Television ratings are one of the most archaic ways to measure what people care about. We’re more than 20 years into the new millennium. Who has time to be held to a live television schedule? I remember as a child watching an episode of Home Improvement when Tim “The Toolman” Taylor was trying to av...

It runs in the family
Say what you will about NIL — you can’t deny it’s giving the world some incredible content. Legendary golfer John Daly’s son, 18-year-old John Daly II, has officially inked a sponsorship deal with Hooters, and gave us the most incredible statement of all time:...

Record-breaking Hobey Baker winning goalie suspended for trillionth of a gram of banned substance
In the age of NIL and PEDs, college athletes must be cautious about every ingredient in any protein shake or supplement is reckless....

The NWSL has some good Twitter beef
If Drive to Survive on Netflix has taught us anything, it’s that people love the story behind the story, and it can rocket the popularity of a sport if they allow people to see it. But you don’t need a Netflix special to get into some personality and character. Twitter can do that for you, as long a...

Reboot USFL will be remembered for its chicken salad, not the football
The contemporary USFL is the chicken salad of spring professional football leagues. In theory, it may feature the name of two ingredients people love, but it’s a stomach-churning and second-rate mixture in practice. For example, USFL running back De’Veon Smith was cut by his Pittsburgh Maulers team ...