ty Page 268 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Houston Astros don’t deserve a first-round bye

With playoff baseball rapidly approaching and the standings nearly complete, this feels like a good time to point out a flaw in the new six-team format (other than increasing the number of games per round). If you’re going to hand out first-round byes, give them to the two best teams in each league....

Is Josh Allen going to stand up for his Black teammates?

No matter your take on Josh Allen’s style of play, what can’t be denied is that his on-field success is due almost entirely to his Black teammates — the ones of the race that Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula “allegedly” told to “go back to Africa.”...

Michigan State should not benefit from Mel Tucker, but it will

Secretly, the grossest thing about this Mel Tucker scandal — outside of all the unverifiable tips being sent to the Deadspin general email — is that Michigan State might actually benefit from its own incompetence. Tucker would be owed an $80 million buyout if he were fired for being an abhorrent foo...

Here is what we kind of learned from the USMNT’s week

As we and many others stress, international friendlies are weird. Especially when everyone has to fly over from Europe for two games that don’t count for anything while trying to not get hurt. And for the USMNT, there weren’t really too many players trying to carve out a role, or a bigger role, with...

Don't be fooled by the NFL teams that played above and below expectations in Week 1

Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books, and as usual, we’ve got some extreme overreactions to some of the action. We see this every year early on when teams play far above their expected output or well below. So, let’s figure out which teams may have fooled the masses during the opening week of th...

Are Tua and Tyreek the best duo in the NFL? | Agree to Disagree

Stephen A. Smith defended Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ racist past

Stephen A. Smith has two options. Stand by his man and deal with the consequences, or apologize and hold Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones accountable for past and present racist allegations that have become too big to ignore....

The New York Mets get their guy, now what?

David Stearns coming back to New York to become president of baseball operations for the Mets was about one of the worst-kept secrets in baseball. The Mets asked to talk to him after he stepped down from his post in Milwaukee and were denied access after last season, but it didn’t take a cocaine-add...

Art Briles is still hanging around college football because idiot coaches keep bringing him around

For the second year in a row, Art Briles’ name has been associated with a college football program. And for the second year in a row, it’s because an idiot, posing as a coach, brought him around. Hue Jackson, meet Jeff Lebby....

Michigan State thinks the answer to another public sexual misconduct scandal is more Mark Dantonio

In February 2020, Mark Dantonio — by far the most successful football coach in Michigan State’s history — retired. The stress of managing 120 student-athletes every year wore on him, Dantonio said. He wanted to make his life less complicated, so he was stepping away from football and East Lansing....

The Astros are just going to win again, aren't they?

There’s been a lot to get excited about in the American League, and a lot of new....

Mel Tucker was the highest-paid Black coach in college football history — he blew it because he’s a creep

Two years ago, Mel Tucker blazed a trail for Black head coaches. One day ago, Mel Tucker set them back....

As predicted, Dolphins-Chargers was the buried gem of Week 1

The Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers gave us a late Sunday afternoon thriller and lived up to the hype of being the game of the week that most people didn’t have available to watch. ...

Michigan State's Mel Tucker has been suspended [Updated]

[Updated at 4:17 pm ET] The Title IX investigation into sexual harassment claims against head football coach Mel Tucker has been ongoing since December of 2022, but it only took a few hours of media scrutiny for MSU to decide to discipline him. Funny how that works....

Getting Travis Kelce, Chris Jones back won't fix Kansas City's flaws

No matter how it went down, it was shocking to see the Kanas City Chiefs lose last night. Even with the Detroit Lions being a trendy upset pick and KC being down its second and third-best players in Travis Kelce and Chris Jones, the defending Super Bowl champions have found a way more times than not...

Ever wonder what the worst team of NFL starters would look like? Here it is

On an individual level, NFL Top 100 Player Lists are what get people excited. We get it. Patrick Mahomes is number one and the most competitive race is the scrum for number two. However, half of NFL fandom is groaning about the weak links on each unit. There’s enough glowing coverage of the NFL out ...

Cincinnati Bengals take care of their franchise QB, but won't retain one of his top targets [Updated]

Well that was easy, and Joe Burrow didn’t even have to pull the old fake injury/shadow holdout move. According to reports, the Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback agreed to a five-year, $275 million contract extension with the team. The deal comes with $219 million guaranteed, making Burrow the highest ...

Oddsmakers are singing ‘Hail to the Chiefs’, but buyer beware

The sports-driven corner of the internet nearly descended into armageddon on Tuesday when it was revealed that Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce hyperextended his knee during practice. His long-term status came into the forefront and every fantasy owner that picked him in the first round of...

Mel Tucker gets paid too much to be this cavalier with his players

The college football season is back, and with it, negligent and dangerous coaching decisions. In East Lansing on Friday, senior receiver Alante Brown was knocked out while blocking on the first kickoff of the game. He was carted off, but somehow managed to return to action, taking a kick 16 yards be...

Why have there been so many WNBA broadcasting blunders this season?

Broadcasters in the 2023 WNBA season are mostly pronouncing players’ names right. Considering the frequency with which on-air talent mispronounced players’ names (or misnamed players) in recent years, this is a triumph....