vic Page 33 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Mike MacDonald, Michigan exchange student, heads back to the NFL
John Harbaugh let Jim have a little Mike MacDonald — as a treat. But after a successful one-year loaner program that I have to assume is kind of like studying abroad for NFL position coaches into the weird, wonderful land of college football, MacDonald has been brought back to the Ravens as the prog...

Porzingis to the basket and the cash... D'OH!
The hottest new trend in NBA betting seems to be first basket parlays. Essentially, a bettor guesses which player will score the first basket in a given game. On December 29, 2021, Jim James thought he’d give one of these parlays a shot. He put $100 on a four-game parlay assuming that Jaylen Brown w...

Don’t fumble the bag
Just like a loose ball, when the bag is in reach, you dive headfirst for it. Every summer, a handful of teams, big and small markets, choose to resign, extend, or offer big money to one of their rising players. Sometimes it works out. Other times, you’re stuck with Kevin Love. Although kudos to Love...

Preposter-Russ!
In his inaugural season with the Los Angeles Lakers, former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook has been underwhelming to say the least. Over his last ten games, the Brodie has averaged 15.2 points per game while shooting an abysmal 36.4 percent from the field and 21.4 percent from deep....

An older, more economical Rafa Nadal can still fight
Because he’s five years the junior of Roger Federer, it’s been interesting to watch Rafa Nadal’s career kind of trail in Federer’s wake and how much it follows this same path. At 35, much like Federer did at age 35, Nadal entered this Australian Open off a huge injury layoff, as he didn’t play after...

What to make of Nick Kyrgios?
You wouldn’t have noticed two nights ago, or two mornings ago, as it tends to be with the Australian Open. Daniil Medvedev, currently the favorite to win the whole tournament, beat Nick Kyrgios in four sets. Kyrgios didn’t make it that easy on him, and won the third set while hitting some amazing sh...

Turns out, rumors of OBJ’s football demise were greatly exaggerated
Everything’s coming up Odell in 2022. Halfway through the fall, Odell Beckham Jr.’s future in the league looked dim. Season after season had been shortened by one injury or another, and he was in the middle of what was quickly turning out to be the worst year of his career — he hadn’t scored a singl...

Novak Djokovic threw a temper tantrum for the ages
Novak Djokovic has effectively chosen to remain unvaccinated over his bid to break the men’s Grand Slam singles record. That may not have been his aim, but his choice nonetheless has consequences....

Novak Djokovic finally loses in Australia
It’s finally over. Novak Djokovic’s appeal of the revocation of his visa by Australia’s Immigration Minister was rejected, and the country finally got to punt his water-mutating brain elsewhere. Which means Djokovic will not be breaking the record for most Grand Slam titles in Melbourne, though that...

Hit the road, Novak
No-vax Djokovic is having a hell of a time trying to play in the Australian Open, a Grand Slam he has won a record nine times, because it turns out this pandemic is serious business. He had his visa revoked for a second time and faces deportation because he’s not vaccinated, according to ESPN. He’s ...

Can Russell Westbrook even fix this?
It’s not breaking news that things are not going well for Russell Westbrook with the Lakers, but things reached a particularly embarrassing point on Wednesday night as the Sacramento Kings’ game ops trolled the former MVP with an “Ice Cold Player Of The Game” scoreboard graphic, on a night when the ...

Remember when Novak Djokovic called out Naomi Osaka for not following the rules?
I’m as sick of Novak Djokovic as you are, and as my colleague Grace McDermott wrote yesterday, we’d stop writing about him if he’d stop making us. ...

What did Novak know, and when did he know it?
We’d stop writing about the guy if he stopped giving us fresh crap to write about....

A joy Alabama will never know
I heard a story from a Cubs fan in New York in November of 2016. I can’t remember who or where exactly. If you heard it too, feel free to remind me on Twitter. Anyway, the guy was parading around Manhattan the day after the Cubs won the World Series in his Cubs hat, as you do. He happened to cross p...

The Djokovics are making steamed hams
Perhaps in the social media age, or just our vindictive society, being the best ever at something is going to cause a mass amount of idiocy around you. Then again, when you’re the author of that idiocy, maybe we have to admit that to be the best ever to play any sport, it takes such a singular focus...

White coaches owned the NFL’s ‘Black Monday’ before it even started
Even when you’re twice – and sometimes three times – as good, it still doesn’t matter. Because in the NFL, owners would rather lose with someone that looks like them instead of winning with a Black head coach....

See? Americans love ties!
You could feel the collective frustration of every sports fan outside of Pittsburgh last night. It was as if we all punched the couch at the same time. You could hear it in the wind, a spiritual “THUNK.”...
![Fire when ready, Broncos [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/06ce103a532ef6cdcee8875d9e305d70.jpg)
Fire when ready, Broncos [Updated]
Generally, when there’s talk about interest in hiring you as a coordinator before you’re even fired as a head coach, it’s a sign that you’re seen as a good football mind. It might even be a sign that the team you’re about to be fired from ought to rethink things. Clearly you’re in demand, and maybe ...

Let me breakdown this Djokovic-Aussie mess
Let’s just begin by talking about Novak Djokovic’s skills. He is very, very good at hitting fuzzy, yellow, bouncy tennis balls. He can hit them very hard, and yet he can also hit them very softly. He makes people clap with delight with how he hits tennis balls. He wins very large trophies. Hitting f...
![Novak Djokovic denied entry into Australia over visa issue [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/b66888400ab4c7e638ff0fb6a8e5618c.jpg)
Novak Djokovic denied entry into Australia over visa issue [Updated]
The Australian Open might have given the controversial OK to unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic, but the Victorian State Government in Australia has not proved quite as accommodating....