The Houston Texans’ plan to leverage home field advantage and an at-times terrifying defense fell through when they allowed Kansas City’s Knile Davis to return the game’s opening kickoff 106 yards for a score. ESPN Deportes’s Álvaro Martín captured the shock almost as well as the vacuum-like sound of Texans fans gasping. [ESPN Deportes] To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] ( PGP key) or find him on Twitter @bubbaprog. …
Some people are fans of the Carolina Panthers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Carolina Panthers. This 2019 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here. Your team: Carolina Panthers. Your 2018 record: 7-9. This is how it works. This is how it has always worked. The Panthers consistently alternate, on annual basis, between being a legitimate contender and being a heap of ground-up otter meat. 2018 represented the latter brand of modern Panthers. They started 6-2 and subsequently dropped seven in a row. They needed a miracle field goal from two states away to beat a hilariously dysfunctional Giants outfit. They got a new owner but the old grope-happy plantation master who USED to own the team still gets to keep his statue…
Last week, Deadspin released its favorite sports moments of the year. The collection is beautifully written and well-curated on the whole, but it has one glaring flaw—there are no baby races. Baby racing, the practice of placing unsuspecting infants on a basketball court and demanding that they crawl toward their cooing parents for the viewing pleasure of thousands of onlookers, is easily the best form of halftime entertainment. It is also a dumb, perfect sport in its own right. The baby race has no room for pretensions or inane rules; this is simple raw humanity on display. Babies do not care about the people watching or their incentives to win or the idea of playing the game the right way. They care only about themselves, and baby racing is better for it. And the world is better for…
If you want to own Terrelle Pryor's Big Ten championship ring, it's being auctioned off on eBay right now. You only have to beat the current bid of $16,499! From the listing by bumpininc: This may be the single most famous piece of Ohio State memorabilia available! This ring was the start of the Tattoo Scandal involving former Ohio State players Terrelle Pryor, Boom Herron, Devier Posey, Mike Adams, Solomon Thomas, former coach Jim Tressel, and tattoo shop owner Ed Rife. This ring was originally owned by Terrelle Pryor, former quarterback for THE Ohio State Buckeyes and current starting quarterback for the Oakland Raiders. It was given to Edward Rife in exchange for tattoos, although Rife contends that he purchased the ring from Pryor. This exact ring sold on eBay back in …
Some people are fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This 2012 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read the other Why Your Team Sucks 2012 previews here. 1. He's Todd Haley and you're not. I can't think of a better 1-2 asshole punch than Todd Haley working with Ben Roethlisberger. CBS should have an iso camera trained on Haley at all times that streams online, just so I can watch him mouth out curse words at my leisure. I can already see the sideline conversation between these two after every series: HALEY: You see this? (twirls ball on index finger) This is a ball and I'm so fucking badass I can spin it on my finger for five seconds plus. YOUR ONE JOB IS TO GET RID OF THE FUCKIN…
Drew Magary's Balls Deep column runs every Thursday afternoon. Drew's new book, "Men With Balls," featuring 100% new material, is available for pre-order here. You can email Drew here. Read him during the week at KSK. If there is one saving grace about August, which is a fucking hot waste of a month, it is that August is the month in which we begin to prepare for the delight that is fall. We buy school supplies. We leaf through fall TV and movie previews (Pacino! DeNiro! Together! Three decades too late!). We buy fall clothing. I know I love heading out to Old Navy, picking out two new shirts, getting excited about wearing them, and then growing sick to death of them within a week.And, of course, we prepare for football. A long time ago, I used to get jazzed for f…
data-mm-id=”_uin00je9k”>Buddy Hield has been moved to the bench and Bogdan Bogdanovic will replace him in the starting lineup as the Sacramento Kings attempt to turn their awful season around. Hield has taken a huge step back this season just months after he agreed to a four-year, $86 million extension. His struggles line up perfectly with Sacramento's terrible campaign.The Kings will start Bogdan Bogdanovic in place of Buddy Hield league sources tell @ShamsCharania and myself. The Kings have lost six straight and 15 of 18— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) January 24, 2020The Kings finished 39-43 last season and looked to be ramping up for a playoff run during the 2019-20 season. Instead, they're languishing near the bottom of the Western Conference at 15-29. They have current…
data-mm-id=”_u72lab27p”>A letter sent to 40 Los Angeles Times employees portends very bad things for the future due to coronavirus-related concerns. The New York Times' Marc Tracy reports:Internal Los Angeles Times letter sent to 40 employees indicated 16-week furloughs that could convert to layoffs. Due to covid, "The Times has lost more than one-third of its advertising revenue and expects to lose more than half of its advertising revenue in the coming months."— marc tracy (@marcatracy) April 14, 2020Other changes, per company spokesoman:* Execs on business and editorial side taking paycuts;* Suspending 401(k) matching;* Meeting with union reps to discuss "expense-saving initiatives"— marc tracy (@marcatracy) April 14, 2020A 16-week furlough translates to…
data-mm-id=”_pso68pwxm”>Brad Stevens is a very good coach. The last five years at the helm of the Boston Celtics have proven that much. But one of his flaws, some might call it, is that he doesn't tend to let the younger guys play through their mistakes. Sure, he did it with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, but as top-five picks they're exceptions. When it comes to mid- and late-first-round picks in the Brad Stevens era, players have to be nearly immaculate to stay on the court. Some of that is a function of the team's construction. The last few years have granted Stevens a deep enough roster that he doesn't have to play rookies and sophomores because he had steady vets who do exactly as they're asked, even if the upside is low comparatively. That is not the case…
data-mm-id=”_44ulf0e3p”>Since returning from a knee injury in Week 10, Nick Chubb has been on fire. The Cleveland Browns running back has led the team on a three-week winning streak to improve its record to 8-3. All the while he's been putting up some gaudy numbers. His performance has helped the Browns overcome the shortcomings of quarterback Baker Mayfield. Chubb has been excellent in the seven games he's played this season. So far he's rushed for 719 yards and six touchdowns on 115 attempts. Among running backs, that's an NFL-best 6.3 yards per carry. He has also regularly done things like this. Chubb is third in the league in yards per game (102.7) and has been over 100 yards in five of the seven games he's played in. It's worth noting he's paired…